Linda Woodrow's design

Discussion in 'General chat' started by Zae, Mar 10, 2010.

  1. Zae

    Zae Junior Member

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    I have read the book at least a dozen times and am wondering if her mandala market garden design is worth trying to emulate.If it helps, I hale from Cowra NSW AUS.:)
     
  2. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    Welcome to the forum Zae.

    I suppose it depends on what you want to do, what the market garden market is like in your area, how dedicated you are to the idea (it would be a full time job running it as a market garden), what your situation is etc etc.

    If you are asking purely with regards to how well the design works - there are a few people here who have had some experience. Purplepear has been running his on a Community Assisted Agriculture basis for over three years now I think.

    There is also a 'group' under the community section of this forum dedicate to those who are interested in or working with a mandala garden. Perhaps you would like to check that out?

    Cheers
    Grahame
     
  3. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    Hey Zae, welcome. The Linda Woodrow design has many benefits in it.s ability to integrate systems to work together. If you have read the book many times you will no doubt be aware that things like having compost piles near to where the bulk of ingredients and the end use is a bonus every day. To have chickens gladly do the work of cultivating, debugging. and fertilizing is a huge help and then weeds, along with remnant vegetables and sprouted chook food become the feed for the chickens saving on purchases. The mandalas are a great place to work and seem to bring their own harmony.
    No specific concerns have arisen in the four years we have been running the garden. There have been no noticeable build-up of nitrogen from the chooks. Beds are given a green manure crop to freshen up may be once every two years or more but seem to get "rested" between plantings out and the chooks being back on. Good luck with the decision and maybe take Grahame's advice and duck into mandala town. They are a right friendly bunch in there.
     
  4. Zae

    Zae Junior Member

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    Thank you very much for the info guys - it helps alot
     
  5. garyb

    garyb Junior Member

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    Zae,

    I think there have been some problems with the robustness of the chook dome itself. An alternative design was developed a number of years ago called the 'geodesic' chook dome. Plans for it can be found on the Planting Milkwood site.

    Regards, Gary
     
  6. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    A lot has been said on the robustness of the dome and more information is available about simple modification to the original design that really work. Much of this info can be obtained at "Mandala town" in groups or in a tour of Purple Pear Organics.
     
  7. Zae

    Zae Junior Member

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    Just another quick question. Has anyone actually used Linda's mandala design and if so does it work? Would it work here do you think and how long would it take to set up/establish?
     
  8. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    I've often wondered as I wander around my mandala how many mandala gardens there are out there in the world. If you go into the groups page Zae you will see that there are at least 4 or 5 of the regular contributors who have various mandala gardens based on Woodrow's design. I wonder what you mean by does it work? Do you mean do the chickens really scratch? do the vegies really grow? I guess it depends on what your definition of success is.

    I can't imagine why the mandala system wouldn't work in Cowra, every person would need to tweek it according to their own unique place but the basics are pretty easy to set up.

    I reckon you could mark out an area in less than a day. It takes between two days and a week I reckon to knock up a good chook dome, depending on how handy you are and how meticulous you like to be. It might take you a little while to get your pond(s), again depending on how handy you are or if you need someone else to do it. Then it takes two weeks for the chooks to clear the first circle. If you are organised and get some seedlings started about 5 or 6 weeks before that you are off and racing. If you started now and you have the time to spend on it, I reckon you could be seeing some nice results in a couple of months. In six months (for two mandalas) the chooks will have done a complete circuit.

    To me it is something that is worth getting stuck into and then improving on it as you have the time/funds/resources to do so.
     
  9. stez

    stez Junior Member

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    This is not meant to be a disingenuous question, but how do you move the domes from one mandala to the next without dispersing the chooks?
     
  10. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    giday stez and welcome.
    Moving the domes is easy as they are lifted only slightly to move them and the chickens move with them - in fact they look forward to the move because it means new scratch and weeds and stuff to eat. If a chook or two get out then the rooster will call them back in and you just lift the side to allow it.

    Hope this helps
     
  11. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    I agree with Mr. Pear. It's easy. I think it takes me about 20-30 minutes to move all three of my domes, including putting in fresh water and nesting straw. I usually do it later in the afternoon or early evening so that if some of the girls get out (which happens only occasionally) and I can't hassle them back in, at least they can't do too much damage before they go home to roost. If I have a helping hand available it is very easy to shoo them back in.
     
  12. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    I Love having the pond. It is much better than i had anticipated to have the pond. I grow the plants that need to be kept really moist there and get in the pond and just flick out the water on to the garden. Though I suppose everyone else uses time systems, sprinklers and other more technical means. My hose is slow that's why i do it this way. I put the hose in the pond and sometimes use a bucket to get water out and pour it on the gardens. I love that pond despite all the tadpoles that are now swimming in it and the occasional dead toad - who can't get out poor things.

    I haven't planted mine as Linda did because I live in the tropics. But i am following her approach, except for the chook tractor. Maybe next year but I like my chickens running around the garden anyway.

    I think its a wonderful design. Do it. As yet, though I've only made four of the circles and haven't planted the fruit trees. I've got heaps of other things going on. I will get around to all that next year probably or later on anyway. Do you have flat land or a slope. I have a slope and levelled off each of the beds. Its quite a lot of work. It took me about a week before I wore out but i felt good doing it. Although its not perfectly finished, it can only get better from here.
     
  13. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    I'm a Linda Woodrow girl and so is Tulipwood (but she's offline at present - working too hard). I'm almost 2 years into my garden using her system and I would not hesitate for a second in recommending it. I'm doing it at backyard home grower for family use level. I don't have enough flat land to do the really nice circles within circles like Mark does at Purple Pear. Have a look for the topic "Eco's Lodge" and there's a link to my photos so you can see it in action. I made my dome in the original style and it has lasted the time well, but I don't get the ripping winds that others do. If there's a REALLY big storm coming I move the chooks to a small shelter under the house because I worry about the chooks and can't sleep! I keep dipping back into the book at regular intervals and learn more and more each time. I'm not strictly following her guilds - I did for the first 6 months - but now I plant what I know worked the last time, or something new that I want to try.
    When I'm moving the chooks on the same level they rarely escape - and Mark says they are so keen to get to that new spot they just follow the dome across, but when I go up a terrace I put them into a dog carry case first and move them that way so they don't escape!
    Just do it - you can always modify the system as you get the hang of it. The biggest challenge for me initially was the REST of my garden - it took a few months before I worked out that I had all this other space to grow stuff outside of the chook rotations and started working on a plan about how to use it - I couldn't just look it up in a book!
    Linda still has a blog that she writes up regularly https://witcheskitchen.com.au/
     
  14. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    The chickens will level the beds for you in a short amount of time with their scratching. And love doing it too.
     
  15. JoH

    JoH Junior Member

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    I have 3 circles and love the design (i.e half a full mandala). My dome is the original design with a "purple pear" structual modification and is holding up well. I can move it on my own all over my property but usually get my husband to help if I am negotiating getting it under a tree! As I only have three circles, my chooks spend most of their time free ranging. They get used to the dome moving and dont have a problem finding it again! I use them for "weeding" in what my mother would call "out of control" areas of my garden. The gardens seem to get better with each rotation (I have had my first circle in now for about a year and a half). Next time we get a huge rain I will move the chooks off though as they were on the garden during the last flood and seem to have compacted the soil somewhat.
     
  16. stez

    stez Junior Member

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    Thank you, purplepear. Another question: is it in any way cruel to keep chooks confined for 14 weeks to a dome of the size Linda Woodrow advocates? I have never kept chickens before and had always planned to run them in a series of rotating straw yards much bigger than the mandala system allows, but I keep coming back to the essential logic of the mandala and have decided that this will be the way for me to go. For the two 3-month periods when they are not tractoring I will probably still use the strawyard system. My question stems from the fact that in Nimbin it can be terribly muggy and hot for a lot of the year.

    Oh, by the way, your answer seems to suggest that the rooster's presence is a given - I had planned to dispense with him as I am not interested in breeding. What do you think?
     
  17. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Do you guys doing the chickens, grow enough feed for them, or are you having to buy food to supplement. I haven't figured out yet what i can grow for them. Perhaps I should start a new thread for that as its tropical here so your plants may not suit up here.
     
  18. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    We give ours suplementary feed Sunburn. The food left/grown on the beds will hold them for a week but the second week they are on the bed requires feed while they scratch their way through weed seeds and finish off the cultivation and manuring.
    We grow silverbeet and plantain for the chooks as well as fat hen and grains grown from their feed of from green manure crops. Rye gress has been a big hit in the later part of spring.
     
  19. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Plantain is a that horrible banana right? I give chooks lots of banana. We can't eat what we get given fast enough. I wonder if the beans from legumes will be good for them? I'm growing lab lab. I guess I will find out. I guess if you have the room you can grow more vegies than you need and give them to the chickens too. eeh its chilly ...
     
  20. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    I have wondered from time to time how my chooks feel about not being allowed out to free range. They don't appear stressed at all - good strong healthy birds that lay plenty. I have 7 in a 3 m diameter dome, so they aren't exactly living on top of each other, and they move to a new home every 2 - 3 weeks. I now have 10 beds so I can stretch out a 6 month rotation without having a "rest spot". I used to let them out for a bit when I first got them but they would sprint to the most recently planted bed and dig up all the seedlings. And now I have a cat that I worry will try to eat them.
    I'm further north of you and the temperatures are not an issue. You could have a bigger fixed run for their 3 months out of the rotation.
    I supplement with grain. I would buy a $22 bag every 6 weeks. They love their grain and I think they'd miss something nutritionally if they didn't get it. I grow a bit but not enough to replace a store bought supply.
     

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