Friday Hands-on

Fruit Tree Pruning, Compost-Building & Grafting Lessons

Today, for the second half of class after lunch, we met in the Southwest corner outside of the Sustainable Living Building by the pear trees. We divided the class into 3 groups and each group rotated between learning how to prune fruit trees with guest specialist Avi, building a hot compost pile with Doug or learning how to do fruit tree grafting with Brian.

Avi with the pruners, and JenTi in the back.

My group first gathered around a pear tree with Avi  and after hearing him give us a general sense of how we should go about pruning the tree in front of us, (and other fruit trees in general), we began making cuts to the tree. The main idea I went away from this lesson is to have a plan with your pruning. Know the general ideas: Are you going to have a central leader, or is your plan to have no central leader, but instead to employ the training style that Brian showed us on Wednesday at his house, to train your tree to have an open middle, with branches spreading out from a center point?

Stand back from the tree and get a sense of the entire being-ness of it and notice where there is codominance, crossing branches, or any other branches that should be removed for other reasons, like they won't get enough light or they will be draining energy from the tree in not useful ways, like with suckering. Suckering is when new shoots spring out from the base of the tree, and in the case of our tree today, Avi could tell that the sucker our pear tree had was one-year old wood. Since the pear tree bears fruit on second year old wood, the first cut we decided to make was to remove the sucker that would not be producing fruit and would only be a burden to the energy of the tree. We made a few other cuts, like to do a heading cut on one of the central leaders, because the tree grew with two central leaders of very similar size. Making a heading cut on one will distinguish the other as the central leader, which gives us a base for the rest of the trimming.

This was my second fruit-tree pruning lesson, and I absolutely love pruning fruit trees! It is very clear to me that it is a beautiful art and skill to cultivate. Learning the biology of trees and practicing seeing the tree in a holistic way has been one of the most satisfying aspects about my studies in the Sustainable Living department so far.


Hot Compost Piling

From Left: Kathy, Doug & Soangela

I was very excited to participate in creating a compost pile for the first time when my group moved on from fruit tree pruning to building hot compost with Doug. The carbon material we used was straw and browned leaves, the green material was freshly mown grass, and the nitrogen material was horse manure. The ratio of carbon to green to nitrogen is 50-40-10. We put layer upon layer and once the materials were laid out, we would hand mix them with the materials of the previous layer. I believe the layering order we went in was brown, green, then manure. As Doug mentioned at the beginning of our hands-on time, the 4 elements of compost are organic materials, nitrogen, water and air. We aimed to create our pile 4'x4'x4', so this meant constantly spreading the layers to create a wide enough base for the pile to go 4 feet tall. We focused on not packing in the materials, but to keep them fluffy, to remember the place of air in the equation, because if the compost doesn't get enough air, it will go anaerobic and will not be useful for compost. (You know its anaerobic if it smells.)

You can see in the picture above how we brought in water. I learned from the Eco-Fair workshop that you want the right amount of water distributed throughout the pile. We had a hose that we used to  dampen the hay. We got the mown grass from the lawn nearby, and I got to relive my life as a 12 year old when I used to love mowing my family's lawn. I think I even succeeded in making a tiny bit of money mowing my neighbors' lawns, come to think of it! Anyway, if you are using green grass for compost, it is important  to incorporate the grass into the pile right away because grass in particular will turn anaerobic very quickly. We stuck our hands in a pile of grass that had just been sitting for a day, and it had already gotten quite hot!

My group didn't get to finish the pile, but at the end of the day, all the materials were used and the pile was considerable! We'll see what it looks like tomorrow.

Grafting

From Left: Aaron, Brian, Kathy

Our last lesson this afternoon was with Brian. We gathered in a circle around him and listened to Brian's extensive knowledge about all the reasons why grafting is a cool thing that humans have learned to do. Basically, for most types of fruit trees, to grow a successful tree, you do not grow it from a seed. You take cuttings from a desired cultivar and then graft it onto an established rootstock. You can also graft cuttings of one variety of fruit onto the branch of another type of tree, but the two trees have to be related, I believe of the same family. You can also graft a little bud onto the side of an existing rootstock.

My first grafting job came home with me!

All of these things are quite interesting and I had been exposed to grafting in the Art & Science of Fruit Culture from last Block. I didn't know until this class that there are different cuts and unions that you can do to make a graft. Today, Brian showed us the cleft grafting technique, which we immediately practiced using cuttings from the pear tree pruning exercise with Avi.

I love my first grafting job! Perhaps my years working in produce helped, or my artistic inclinations, but I think I did a pretty good job for my first time. What really stood out for me from Brian's talk was how we can use grafting to preserve heirloom fruit tree varieties. I want to know more about what he was saying about how people used grafting to preserve the Mission Fig, because Mission Figs are some of my favorite fruits!

My thanks to Avi, Doug and Brian for a wonderful Hands-on Friday, and I look forward to more hands-on tomorrow after school as I will go help dig holes for a community service event that is being held at Sunny Brook Assisted Living here in Fairfield.

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Saturday Field Trip!

Natural-Built Home. Photo by Josh Vojtisek

Crow Creek Farm, EcoVillage, Seed Center

I am not going to be 29 years old forever. Envisioning the future is an art and it takes practice. For the past 4 years, I have been in the practice of sitting down every April and creating a vision of what I would like to see in my life in the year to come. Lately, I have been visioning (and re-envisioning) my future every six months or so, and now the vision has stretched longer than 1 year. Last September, for the first time in my life, I imagined my life 5 years into the future. It didn't flow easy, as I had been coming from a more existential viewpoint of living--a very literal interpretation of "going with the flow" and "being in the present moment"--wherein I prevented myself from thinking about the future, because I was wanting to trust that taking care of my present will create a better "later." Although this thinking is partially true, not ever thinking about the future and thus not developing long term goals lends to life a listless quality, which had left me feeling aimless and a lack of connection to anything at all. If all is transitory, what is the point of getting involved in anything?

This April, I sat down to do my yearly envisioning process and found that very naturally I wanted to look 5 years into the future, realizing that one year was simply not enough time to really get into the heart of the goals that I am now looking to accomplish in my life. This was earlier this month, and the 5-year plan felt a little chunky in my mind at that time, but now, a just few weeks later, the idea of 5 years from now how has settled more easily into my mindset. As I type this blog,  I am now thinking to myself that it would be a nice exercise to look into my life 10 years from now. Me, in the year 2021, age 39, if I could have anything in the world, where would I be? What would I be doing? What would my life be like?

As my exposure to the knowledge of Permaculture moves into week 3, I am seeing and appreciating how much intentionality plays a role in the process and practice of Permaculture. This Saturday, we took a field trip just north of MUM's campus and explored Crow Creek Farm, the EcoVillage, and the Seed Center. The first place we visited was the farm. After learning about Permaculture designs and looking at pictures and diagrams in paper and in class, coming to a place where I could see very easily the principles in action was a very satisfying and fulfilling experience. As far as my eye could see, all the space was being used for something. Chickens were grazing the asparagus field, a beehive was humming with bees nearby, fruit and nut orchards filled the spaces just beyond, closer to the house were smaller plots of things, while ducks roamed the grounds near the house. On the south side of the house was a greenhouse attached to the natural strawbale home and to the west of the house were solar panels along with I believe another detached greenhouse.

The layout and the layers of projects of the farm gave the property a very grounded feel. This feel is contrasted with spacey feeling of the homes I saw when I went for a car ride with a friend on Sunday. We explored a few roads in south Fairfield and all I saw was yard after yard after yard of green mowed grass surrounding the homes we passed. "What are they doing with all that grass?!" I asked my friend, and he, a fellow Permaculture student, shook his head and said he didn't know.

I believe the levels of thought along everything I saw on the field trip Saturday morning is was gave me the enriching feeling of what I was viewing. Everything I saw felt so natural, yet it was all brand new visions to my eyes. The farm, the more suburban green houses off the grid, and the houses built of natural materials on the last stop of our trip before we experienced a peek into a local economy exchange at the tree sale at the Seed Center--they were all things I've never seen before. There is a lot more to say about each visit, but I feel like what really struck me was the feeling and satisfaction of the structures on the land. I believe this came from all the intentions and planning of the developers and owners and this vision of a redefinition of life is what I would like to see more and more of in my future.

Eco-Fair

I'm the one in the blue hat, 2nd from left. (Photo Anala Miller)

 Fruit Tree Planting Workshop

Nice and early this Saturday morning (4-16-11), I attended the fruit tree planting workshop that was held in front of the Sustainable Living Building. The weather was freezing and windy, but we stuck it out and dug big holes 6'x6' that went about 2' deep in the middle for each tree (and its accompanying guild) . It took a little bit for my fingers to thaw out during digging after the freezing wind initially froze them till they were numb. Digging with shovels, removing the soil and gaining a few inches extra height by collecting a heavy layer of mud on the bottom of my boots, I finally had a first-hand experience of the "clayey" soil that makes up our surroundings at MUM.

It was hard work, but it was really awesome and fulfilling to connect with the earth and the community of folks who came to the work shop. I had to leave the workshop just as all the holes were done being emptied, but I have since been able to see the finished outcome of the people who stayed all afternoon to finish the planting project. Before I left the workshop, however, I did get some quality time with the other members of the fruit tree guild: comfrey, clover, Egyptian walking onion. Using my hands and a hand shovel, I helped separate clumps of these plants into workable sizes to replant along with each new fruit tree. I wore my finger-less gloves that aren't intended for gardening, and when I took them off, I found that all the first halves of my fingers (the parts not protected by the gloves) were brown from soil.

I had a great time at the fruit tree planting workshop and look forward to digging more in the garden! :)


Compost Workshop

The wonderful info-sharers at the Compost Workshop

Sunday afternoon at Eco-fair, I attended the compost workshop on hot compost. I learned some really wicked stuff about the components of healthy soil (fungus and bacteria and lots lots more) that do amazing things like help things grow and prevent soil erosion through keeping the structure of the soil.

The ratio of woody to greens to nitrogen-rich materials for a hot compost pile is 50-40-10. There were a lot of numbers happening for the ratio stuff, and I think I got it right. If there is something wrong with the following, I will correct it asap! When your pile reaches 130 degrees F, you should  turn it  every three days, if it 150, you should turn it every 2 days, 160 degrees F, you should turn it every day, and if it reaches 170 degrees, you should turn it immediately because that is the temperature that it becomes in danger of spontaneously combusting! (if a compost pile combusts, you need to treat it like a chemical fire, and NOT put water on it). The woody material should be at 50% moisture, and you determine this by taking a handful of it and squeezing it. If a few drops run down and drip off your knuckles, that means the moisture is at 50%.

The more I learn about permaculture, the more I learn about the importance of soil nutrition. The compost workshop was a great hands-on experience in the compost building, and I can't wait to for the how-to's of compost to solidify more in my mind. It will help the more I hear about it and the more I just experience it first-hand! Unfortunately, I wasn't dressed for compost pile constructing (I don't know what I was thinking), so I watched the workshop leaders and several volunteers construct the pile. It went like this: a layer of woody material, a layer of greens (in this case, it was food waste from AnaPurna Dining Commons), and a layer of nitrogen-rich material (here we used horse manure).

Before I moved here to Iowa to go to MUM, I lived in San Francisco, where I attempted a few projects in container gardening. I read on the internet about container composting for limited spacing, and tried it out to re-use and replace nutrients in old potting soil. I believe this project was mostly successful, because the soil that resulted was beautiful color and texture, but I do think something about the overall make up of the soil was off because some plants I repotted with this soil died immediately (though some did survive). At any rate, I learned at the Compost Workshop on Sunday that compost containing only kitchen scraps is a little tricky, so I wonder how I could go about a project like this in the future with more knowledge of soil nutrition.

I hand a great time at Eco-Fair, and felt very lucky to live on campus so that everything I wanted to experience was easily accessible! My thanks to all the organizers of Eco-Fair for putting together a wonderful weekend of inspiring events!!

Rescued fallen jade stalks from sidewalks in SF. March 2010

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is the redefinition of the art of living.

Its theory in practice is the process of humans connecting and reconnecting with the Earth. Perhaps it is a satisfying venture because through learning the flows and patterns of our planet (and universe), we are learning about the same patterns and rhythms that are present within ourselves. We see the patterns on the outside of ourselves, and we feel them from the inside, because we are made of those same patterns.

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Defining Permaculture mirrors the nature of Permaculture (and life) itself; it is a cyclic process of discovery, learning and refining.

The first definition of Permaculture I wrote during class: "Permaculture is the intentional co-creating of culture and community to bring all that is into alignment with the laws of nature for the greater benefit, wellbeing, and fulfillment of all."

SCI & Permaculture Principles

The fundamental qualities of the principles of the Science of Creative Intelligence can be identified throughout Bill Mollison’s principles of Permaculture. SCI outlines the laws of nature that describe the growth and progression of all of life, while Mollison describes a way of life that aims to (re)align humans with this natural flow and progression by combining the laws of nature with our own creativity and intelligence in order to maximize our fulfillment in our lives.

Intentionality is the driving force in all of Mollison’s Permaculture Principles. First, there is careful observation, contemplation and planning, and next, action comes only after all the elements are conceptually placed into context according to their relative location. This means every element is analyzed for its functions (what it needs and what it can provide) and it is placed so that the whole of the element is supported and benefited from. SCI Principle, “Thought leads to action; action leads to achievement; achievement leads to fulfillment,” best describes this trajectory, with the idea that intentional thought leads to beneficial action, which then leads to greater satisfaction.

Regarding small-scale intensive systems, Mollison writes that, “Permaculture… is not a return to peasant systems of annual crops, endless drudgery, and total dependence on human labor,” but that it “focuses on designing the farm (or garden, or town) to best advantage…” This focus on the highest priorities for the greatest reward is described by the SCI principle, “Seek the highest first.” Cultivating a keen awareness of what should be done first, second, and then third is an art that we can learn from nature. Mollison encourages us to start developing our projects at the nucleus and work outward, all the while optimizing the use of space, and time.

“Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more,” is an SCI principle that easily flows next. I saw this principle represented a lot in Mollison’s principle of energy (re)cycling on site.  It is more efficient to use energy that is available to you as much as possible while you have it in your hands. Instead of using an element once, and then letting it leave, see how much you can use and reuse it in your operations. Reusing energy actually allows you to accomplish more with “less.” The more you align yourself with nature, the more efficient your actions become.