Good day to you all I am a 33 years old man, married, father of one boy and just made my final decision and that is to turn my back to everything what the modern society is, produces, promotes and represents in terms of products, ideeas, ideologies, technology, methods and styles. As a result I decided to completly embrace permaculture, homesteading, humanism and critical thinking. It isn’t a decision made in haste … actually, since 2009 I think daily about all aspects involved in such a radical decision. The trigger, so to speak, was the lecture of „The One-Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka (whom I consider to be like a mentor for me) which I read twice in just one week, absorbing it’s spirit with my hole heart. Ever since that day I made a habit out of searching and reading such books while taking notes, thinking and deciding about why, when and how should I make the first steps in this direction. Now I am the owner of an entire library (thanks also to the generousity of Soil and Health website – if it is not allowed to mention it’s name I kindly ask the moderators to delete this part of my post) which I began to type, sort and arrange it in my bookshelfs. I am far from beeing completly original but, as much as I can, I shall try to become a reliable partner of conversation for any given member of this forum who wishes to get involved in different matters regarding permaculture (and on private channels on topics like homesteading, humanism and critical thinking). I will continue to post in this thread presenting my own particular initiative regarding my own permaculture farm. Greetings from N-V Romania!
Clarifications Hello annette! N-V must had been written N-W which means north-west in English but I got a little bit carried away at my debut and used the Romanian symbol for West (Vest with it's abbreviation V). Sorry for this! I would also like to explain my name: Excelsior Concordia is the name of my farm and both words are Latin. Excelsior means ever upward (or higher). Concordia means harmony (or with one heart). Quote from Wikipedia: "Concordia is the goddess of agreement, understanding, and marital harmony. Her Greek equivalent is Harmonia." The message I intended was to transmit a to everybody else that harmony should be taken at a higher level in our lives. Hopefully I will succeed in doing that! Have a nice day!
Hi there, I thought it was north west but wasn't sure The name of your property is lovely and I'm sure you will succeed. Cheers Annette
Thank you! Thank you, annette, for your kind words :handshake: In the coming posts I will start presenting details about the farm and my intentions regarding it. Hopefully I will be able to get and also to provide valuable advice, healthy suggestions and well founded ideas. I wish you all the best!
Step 1 - general presentation of the farm STEP 1 GENERAL PRESENTATION OF THE FARM (perhaps it would be a good ideea for others to explain us more about their farms in order for all of us to understand better the conditions we face ahead of the challenge itself) Calendar (until the end of 2013) During next spring I intend to start planting trees, dig trenches along the contour line of the hill and plant various weeds in order to prepare the field for the second year. I shall try to analyze the surroundings and see wich native plants exist in the wild and wich plants are most succesfull in the region. Location Positioned towards south-west, between the hills of north-west Romania. The surface is 18.000 square meters (1,8 hectare ~ 4,45 acres). Elevation around 200 m with an altitude diference of 25 m. Slope from an 5° angle to 15° angles in some places, 350 m lenght and 50 m wide. Soil is composed from clay, most of it, mixed with forest soil. Erosion risks exists. Climate Continental, temperate with slight mediteranean influence from west. Precipitations around 650mm/year most of them during autum and winter. Around 8.5° annual average temperature. Predominant wind from nort-west towards south-est. Other details There is a natural spring situated in the lower half of the field (I have yet to find it’s exact location). Bellow the spring there are around 5.000 square meters where natural vegetation flourishes thanks to the permanent moisture present in the soil while above the spring the hill is almost empty and with few shrubs plus a lot of wild mint. Watter table is just 4 m bellow the lowest point of the property. The land was used for corn production until 5 years ago. Has acces from a dirt road connecting it to a village. Sheeps were graizing it from time to time. Surounded by a small orchard (to the left), a corn field (to the right) and pastures (above and bellow). Because the field is located at the base of a small hill and since it is not exposed to east, the direct sun rays will delay their appearence aproximately 2 hours from the sunrise during the summer (when it’s hot) and so watter loss will be diminished in case of droughts (it’s not much but still is a factor to be taken into consideration). Located between two cities, each at 40 km from a 60.000 and a 120.000 inhabitans towns. Population in the area is old, youngsters have left seeking employment either abroad either in the surrounding industrial cities (as usual in the romanian countryside). Just 2 km north from this field there is wooded area of around 30 square km. *** *** *** Perhaps it would be a good ideea for you to use the example provided by Robert Hart in his book „Forest Farming” written together with Sholto Douglas!
Excelsior Concordia; Very interesting. I'm eighty and was contemplating a very similar route before I met Willie and settled back down, though I'm still working WITH the land. You mentioned a son. I am wondering what roll he is playing in this venture, and is your wife supportative and enthusiastic about this change? I get the feeling of a book coming out of this in several installments. "Little House In The Rumanian hills"lol
How to help your child to become a healthy and strong adult (physically and mentally) Hello Benjy136 Yes, I have a 4 years old son and in my plans I have a very special place for him. If you have a little patience to read, I shall explain exactly how he is going to be involved since it may be an interesting thing to talk about, at least for those who are parents. -> Because he is still small, his role will be as witness, at first, when he will accompany me on my visits to the site. Because of the natural surroundings and because I start to take him in excursions through the hills and mountains surrounding our city, he gets to know nature and he likes that so far. -> During the following years he will decide how much he wants to get involved but my plan for him is to make him spend weekends and parts of his vacations there. -> The big thing however will be this: together with a group of friends we want to create a humanitarian foundation which will be aimed at helping those in need by supplying them with fruits and vegetables produced in my permaculture farm: I shall produce and they shall deliver. Here, my son will get involved at both ends of the program by seeing how we make the fruits and veggies while after that he will assist us in providing relief to those who can't make it because they're poor. If there is a better way for me to grow my son into a healthy environment while teaching him the best values in life, please let me know! From my point of view he has to be protected from all the false ideals, mercantile attitudes and the shallowness of thought that (unfortunately) characterizes today's youth! My wife didn't completely shared my point of view but gradually she understands more and more about it and, as a matter of fact, she also starts to reject "the values" of the modern world. I invited her to make comparisons between our son and other children and so I was able to find the right key needed to open up her eyes As about the possible "Little House In The Rumanian hills" book ... well, you're right :y:
Excelsior, this Sounds wonderful and I look forward to tracking your progress. A gentle suggestion, if I may. As you move to including more specifics on your land and project: now may be a good time to ask one of the mods to move this thread or some of the posts into the 'Members Systems' section of the forum rather than leaving it all in Introduce Self.
Step 2 - Organizing my time and actions STEP 2 ORGANIZING MY TIME AND ACTIONS (I shall name each post I make in order for anyone to understand „where and when” the discusion is at any point in time. This way everything runs easier for any reader who whises to keep track of things discussed in this thread!) Here we go … First of all I think it is very important to use time in the most rational and efficient manner possible. That’s why, looking at the calendar I asume that it would be a decent thing to prepare a list of books that have to be read and analyzed in the coming weeks and months (in Romania autumn is coming and during the cold period of the year any activity outside the house stops). Here is my Top 10 list of books that I find well suited for my purpose of getting started: 1. Masanobu Fukuoka - The One-Straw Revolution -> read 2. Masanobu Fukuoka - The natural Way of Farming -> read 3. Mollison Bill - Permaculture Design Course still waiting 4. Howard Louise - Earths green carpet -> read 5. Yeomans P. A. - The Keyline Plan -> read 6. Yeomans P. A. - The challenge of Landscape still waiting 7. Smith Russel - Tree crops - a permanent agriculture -> read 8. Hart Robert and Sholto Douglas - Forest farming -> read 9. Hensel Julius - Bread from stones -> read 10. Rodale J. I. - The organic front still waiting For each book I use to write down notes, analysis, personal opinions and ideeas (ranging from thoughts on social stratication up to ways of digging the ditches that retain watter). I also use to compare elements contained in previous notes or even re-read entire chapters from books already read for the simple reason that, in the light of the most fresh information I have, things look different and even more interesting! By using this method of work and continuously verifying myself I consider to gain a significant advantage simply by beeing organized. Other books were read and still plenty remain to be opened during the following months. Comments? PS: Here is an idea for the moderators, if they find it suitable: why not creating a special section where we (the members of this forum) can write down our own impresions about certain books, papers, articles, movies related to permaculture? Something like a literary criticism that we make by analyzing what we acces and interpret with our minds, given our knowledge, depth, understanding, skills and interpretation. We might not be the best writers in the world but, in time and with patience, a valuable baggage of opinions might be collected so that others can select what or when to read, no matter if they are at the begining of their adventure or they simply want to broaden their horizons! What about that? :angel:
I am guessing you are located around the 47 degree parallel ? I am curious because my land is slightly smaller and I am north of the 49th in Canada so I am curious about your climate and undertakings and will read with interest.
Excellent write ups Excelsior Concordia! I hope to hear more about your developments this year. Hello from Finland!
Excellent posts EC! Started a media review thread here. Please post any book/article/movie reviews ... I look forward to reading them (especially for those I've also seen).