Though from a very fertile area, Westlake Louisiana I find myself sad as I watch "progress" destroy what little paradise I have left. Between a thriving industry, population growth, children growing up with no respect for the nature nor others around them and all the trees now gone after the Hurricanes Rita and Katrina I see this state will be soon added to the number of deforested areas of the world ( god safe the rain forest ). Why? Because the powers that be know Abundant Resources = Freedom / Scarcity of Resources = Slavery. Anyway, before all the ^%$# hits the fan I'm looking to repair and improve the little Lot of land I do have as much as possible and to hopefully bring others in this community into the same mindset.
Welcome you sound a bit pessimistic. How much land do you have? How much land can you plant on?(different questions) Are there any like minded permie-type-groups nesr you? Many Ozzies here would have a similar climate to you.
G'day purecajn As MA said, (in a slightly different way), you sound a bit bummed out. Well, if we can't make you laugh , we'll at least cry with you.=(=(=( Give us a rough idea of what sort of climate, soil, etc you are dealing with, and we have people from all around the planet who are only too willing to help. If you just want to talk about things in general, that's fine too. Some of us get a bit hung up on esoteric (philosophical, metaphysical or "woo woo") sort of stuff, but don't let that stop you! . We're all (well mostly, anyway) pretty thick skinned, so feel free to join in anywhere you like. Welcome aboard Don
Welcome, purecajn! Your username automatically makes me crave cajun cooking for some reason... It is certainly discouraging to live in urbanized areas where we feel like we are the only ones who really care about what's going on and are the only ones willing to do something about it. I am certain, however, that once you start applying permaculture techniques to your immediate surroundings... others will be encouraged to follow. Humans seem to be like cattle... blindly following their next meal without to much of a desire to stray from the herd... it's up to us to remind them of their humanity. I look forward to watching your journey! Also, you may have noticed that it is true what Don mentioned about some of the people on the forum "get[ting] hung up on esoteric sort of stuff" ... but not everyone wants to waste valuable time regurgitating the problems. You have an immense world community behind you.. cheering you on! Blessings!
Hey all, thank you for the warm welcome. The lot I have is actually a lot and a half. Hate to say it but don't have exact measurements but but having walked it enough it is 100 paces by 37 paces for a 5'8" person. I'd insert a few pics for you, but when I try to it asks for some URL address (I may work on computers and kno OS's, but this Internet lingo has me lost. (if you know of a way to post here or my profile page pls pass the info along. I have both clay soil on one part of the yard, sandy on another, and a large area that holds water for a couple of days after a good rain. The backyard has a area I dug out to allow overflow to flow into the pond rather than the house (learned from hurricane Ike), but I have it damed so I can maintain what water lvl I want. Was thinking of even trying a floating garden ( Inspired by the utube video on Spiral Island ) and have started collecting soda bottles and old shrimp nets for same. Figure I'll use 5 gal buckets suspended in the water to wick up the water onto the platform above. Your thoughts on it? OOps, away from the topic, the land has about 15 fully grown pine trees, 7 fully mature oak trees, a maple and a few others of unknown variety. In the very back I've installed swells running horizontal due to high pitch. I'm hoping that what leaves do fall I can leave in the concave area for the winter and allow the water replacement provided by nature to flush out the limenim (whatever the chem is) to leak out of the oak leaves before hoeing them onto the top of the swale as new mulch. Being new to this I don't know if it'll work but hoping the leaves being lower than the mounds will allow the dirt to filter the chems and allow only cleaner water for the crops. This was done before winter and rather than throwing the rotting veggies out I now plant them in the beds. I have onion, potato and garlic in it so far and have 7 garlic plants already coming up. Once again if someone can explain how to upload photos on here it'd make explaining alot easier.
I believe the best way to post pictures is to start and account on another photo sharing website such as photobucket. Then, when this forum asks for the url, you can copy and paste it directly from the site. I like photobucket as it makes this process very easy by labeling different links for different uses. You might have more questions... I will direct you to a walkthrough somewhere on this site... https://forums.permaculture.org.au/showthread.php?6152-New-Forum-Members-Start-Here
Ok all these are pics from 2-3 yrs ago. I've made changes. https://s1103.photobucket.com/home/purecajn/index These are the back yard. when facing the water you are facing south.
Ok, climate zone is 2a. also I have all the land available for planting as well as whatever water access I need from the pond (within reason). I don't know of any permi groups in my immediate area and am a noob to permaculture so please bear with me as I stumble along and embarrass myself along the way. did I miss any questions?
We Aussies would call that a lake not a pond! Nice mostly flat easy to access land, water. Looks like you'll get a fair amount of shade which might be an issue. You may want to spend some time tracking the shadows across the land and working out where the sun is and isn't at each season.
Thank you. I love it. Was surprised, being the youngest to be the one put care of the family home. It is a chore tho, trying to apply my limited understanding of permaculture which was learned from multiple videos on the net.
Great idea, lol, ever since the internet I tend to forget the library is still around. Will see tomorrow what they have. I must admit tho, I don't put much stock in the local library to have anything on it tho due to its small inventory and was heavily bummed when the guy heading the local colleges agricultural dept didn't even know of permaculture.
Our libraries are systematised and connected throughout our state so they can order books in from near and far. We can also ask our library to buy books if they don't have it. Not that they necessarily will take up the suggestion but they do it often enough so its worth a try if what you want isn't available. Search this site for book titles on permaculture if it comes down to ordering things in and you can also try reading reviews on amazon. Also look up forest gardens. I've seen book titles of these written in america which i would love to read. Here's some of the books i've got and used but also my situation is tropical so beat that in mind. https://www.photoblog.com/ShangriLa/2010/09/09/ Actually i need to update this post as i've bought a couple more books. ACtually most of my books aren't that suitable for you as they going to more expensive there cause they are Australian. But i am sure there are some good yankee books too if you look about. Check out bookshops perhaps. I like a variety of books. Books for different things but i do recommend the bill mollison book to you as the source textbook on the subject. Though don't expect to read it in a week.
As figured: Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton, Murray Hallam, Tim Marshall, Leonie Norrington nor Toby Hemenway have any books in this states library system. So now I'm waiting for them to try and locate them in the national library system. While waiting for said info, any site recommendations besides youtube for permaculture/food forest info?
Also look for the book by patrick whitefield. I read the worst review. The reader hadn't understood the concept of forest gardening so he blamed the writer. You should be able to get that book easily as its written by an american. Also look for robert hart i think his name is. An english guy. Not much practical use i understand but should explain the important concepts of a forest garden and he is the "inventor" of it in the northern hemisphere. Why his version is useful is because its for a temperate climate. Keep an eye out for blogs. FOr me they keep popping up as i go along though not much showed up when i first started searching. Some of the regulars on thsi site keep blogs. Have a look at their links.
Brett Dungan here from Bayou La Batre Alabama south of Interstate Highway 10 ...seems our climate(s) -&- topography are similar I am new to PRI forum
