Agenda, March 29 - 30, 2013 We Are All Farmers Permaculture Workshop (weareallfarmers.org),

in conjunction with Sustainable Williamson

The We Are All Farmers Permaculture Institute is committed to serving the Appalachian-Piedmont region and to helping people produce more of their own food & energy there. As part of that service, we provide three free workshops a year to non-profit or community groups. Contact weareallfarmers@gmail.com or call (704) 592 2557 to get involved!

A series of hands-on learning activities, centered on principles and resource management through permaculture.

Day 1: March, 29, 1/2 day permaculture workshop at a reclaimed mine site and orchard (the Mingo County Orchard) 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (and do some hands-on work to):1. Improve access to land by using “waste” brush to create Hugelkultur.2. Increase fertility: Use “waste” plant and weeds to make compost and Hugelkultur.3. Manage Water: Create onsite water solutions in places without wells or public water.4. Some strategies to manage productive trees.5. Some strategies for natural beautification.6. Identify some useful plants. Just because it looks like a non-useful weed doesn’t mean it is. Get to know what is useful and not for fertility. Thinking outside the neat, tilled

row.7. Partner with a trained permaculture designer to create an onsite orchard and low management garden design. Work with and discuss with a trained permaculture designer some of the approaches for garden and orchard design through brainstorming.

Day 2: March 30, 2013, Full day permaculture workshop, 9:00 – 3:30 p.m.9:00 – 10:00 Introduction to Permaculture/Overview of Systems for the Community Garden & Introduction to Each Other10:15 – 11:00 Garden Walk–discussion & brainstorm led by Edward Marshall on what could be done with the garden based on permaculture principles and systems design.

Focus: SYSTEMS INTEGRATION11:00 – Prepping for the hands-on workshop. All hands on deck to prep/set up for the afternoon workshop! Set up, familiarity with materials, breaking into teams. People will

divide into 2 – 5 teams to address some needs of this space. Each team will be led by one – two permaculture designers trained by the We Are All Farmers Permaculture Institute.

12:00 – 1:00 Permaculture Potluck.. PLEASE BRING FOOD TO SHARE.1:00 – 3:30 Hands-on Permaculture Workshops! At this workshop, teams will learn:1. BUILDING SOILSolution: No Till Sheet Mulch/Lasagne mulching to build fertility and improve soil2. WATER CATCHMENT (sourcing water on site rather than having to bring it in) through an addition to the hoop houses3. COMPOSTING by making secure compost bins>> also for fertility.4. VERMICULTURE through working with earth worms and learning how they are your best tool.5. BEAUTIFICATION—planting and or suggestions of plants to increase beauty while increasing fertility and producing a yield.

Wrap Up at 3:30 with a touching base about the day’s accomplishments and the next steps.

Thanks for being here and happy permaculturing!!

The We Are All Farmers Permaculture Institute

Why We Are All Farmers?

Everyone can take more responsibility for their food and energy production/use–thus, We Are All Farmers.

Why are you We Are All Farmers ?

Start where we are, start with our community, start with hands-on approaches, bridge unusual suspects, create community

Response to the stats–act local coupled with policy (both are needed)

Academic is important; research is important—not the focus of this presentation; not the current focus of what our institute does

What is permaculture?Permanent culture

Permanent agriculture

Regenerative, managed practices (economic, interpersonal, ethical, often with a focus on food and energy production/management)

“care of people, care of earth, share of surplus to both”

Many permaculture rock stars: Bill Mollison, David Holgrem, Geoff Lawton, Masanobu Fukuoka, Sepp Holzer—More important than these people themselves are the communities created, the ethics adhered to, and the approaches stewarded

Permaculture is systems design

Copyright Karl Schmidt 2008

Why permaculture? Why did we choose this?

Been there and done that with other modes of farming (Edward) and other modes of social change (Crystal).

Worldwide network, lots of info sharing, lots of methods tried and true; jive with our ethics

Why the Appalachian-Piedmont region?

Opportunity to be back in the region we are from

Important to commit to a community and a region

Important to recommit to being land-based people

Important work to do in our own “back yards”

Stewarding land and community take investment over the long haul

A permaculture institute needed to serve this region

Focus on community & practices with lower $ entry-points into energy and food production/responsibility

All well and good–

but what does that look like? 730 East 4th Avenue, Williamson, WV USA

Turning a community garden into permaculture: “care of people, care of earth, share of surplus to both.”

How can we envision those ethics with this site? How do we make a system that produces a yield and has high labor at the beginning, but less labor over time?

USDA Hardiness Zone 6a: -10F to 0FLast Frost Date (2013): April 21

First Frost Date (2013): October 22Average Growing Season: 180 to 210 days

Average annual precipitation 40 to 45 inches

“Conventional” gardens

More

www.irrigationdirect.com

Www.plant-care.com

Ufseeds.com

In Permaculture, design unifies plants, animals, soil & people

Permacultureusa.org

Community Unifies

Terrainforma.ca

Examples of Integration

From the Left clockwise: treehugger.com; ordinary-2-extraordinary.com; upbeetlandscapes.com

The food forest gardening approach is the creation of systems that are productive and abundant yet which require

very little maintenance.

http://foodgrowsontrees.blogspot.com/

A Forest Garden

http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/1422/food-forestry/

Turning a community garden into permaculture: “care of people, care of earth, share of surplus to both.”

How can we envision those ethics with this site? How do we make a system that produces a yield and has high labor at the

beginning, but less labor over time?

All well and good–but what does that look like?

30 East 4th Avenue, Williamson, WV USA

www.123rf.com

Filter the ideas through hands-on training in permaculture design and these principles

permaculturepower.wordpress.com

www.earthactionmentor.org

Mingo County We Are All Farmers Permaculture & Sustainable Williamson Recipes and Workshop Beautification: Eric Potential PlantsBeneficial flowers Crimson clover + Inoculant would take it to another level. Borage--a dynamic accumulator and self-seeds readily after it's established. Edible Flowers Scarlet Runner Beans Cinnamon vine: an interesting perennial vegetable that can be used ornamentally. It has edible tubers and some arial tubers. Runner Beans and Cinnamon vine would probably need to be started in a hoop house. Comfrey might be good for the orchard as well if they don't already have it there. Vermiculture: BrianMaterials: 10 gallon plastic container or untreated wooden container + lidObtain and shred non-color printed paper or cardboardShovels for soilFood scrapsSoilSand paper and glue (optional)Drill with tiny drill bit or needle punchWorms! RecipeIf conditions are right, worms can consume half of their body weightin organic matter each day. Worms required a moist, dark environmentwith protective bedding, air, and a food source in order to thrive. Inorder to get started, obtain a container such as a large plastic bin(around ten gallons in volume). Wooden containers will work as well,as long as the container has not been treated, and is constructed in away that will prevent the worms from crawling out. The container willneed a lid with holes for ventilation.

Obtain and shred non-color printed paper or cardboard. Fill thecontained about 2/3 full will this bedding material, and wet it untilit is spongy, but not soaked. Add a four cups of soil. Add one poundof live worms and cover with the bedding. Add a large piece ofcardboard to cover all or most of the bedding. Each week feed theworms approximately three times their weight in food, which caninclude kitchen scraps and other organic wastes. Avoid meat, bones anddairy, as these can lead to rodent problems. Keep the moisture levelin the bin spongy, but not soggy, and certainly too dry. Check tomake sure that the food is being eaten. If it is not all beingconsumed, feed less.

.  

Sheet mulch and/or Hugelkultur: Kirk & Racquel

As much cardboard, food grade buckets, and vegetable scraps possible.You can't have enough of this.

Materials needed: Corrugated cardboard, newspaper (black and white print only)

hardwood mulch or wood chips or sawdust (can even use limbs and brush from felled trees as in Hugelkultur)

compost or animal manure (cow, horse, pig, etc.), and straw or hay. Optimal also: coffee grounds, bone meal, egg shells.

1. Layer the ground with cardboard or newspaper. Do not use colored slicks.

2. Cover the area with a thick layer of hardwood mulch, saw dust or wood chips.

3. Add on the top of that layer another layer of compost or manure.

4. Alternate the layers of mulch and compost until the desired height is obtained.

5. Straw can be added between the above layers.

6. Water the area well and allow settling

Water Catchment: Seneca & EdwardSeneca Haynes put together this video of what is needed for Mingo and what this might look like. Go to the link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKFnB-3Kklk&feature=youtu.be

Here is another idea of how to do this.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKmLgTrYwM

An aquaponics view of IBC's:http://www.slideshare.net/golax1974/ibc-of-aquaponics

A plumbing view of IBC's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB6R-RftJnw

Compost bins-- Nate

Community Garden Site:( 16 ) palettes, ideally the same size 60' long 4' tall hardware wire 1" x 1" or smaller mesh1 box 1/2" square staples for staple gun1# galvanized wire/fencing staples, at least 1/2" long2# 2 1/2" exterior grade screws, star drive preferred over phillips( 8 ) 4" thick cinder blocks or ( 12 ) bricks( 3 ) 8' long 1"x4" boards( 12 ) 4" galvanized door hinges( 6 ) eye hook and latches 4" to 6" long

Tools needed for both sites:flat bladed shovelseveral hammerstape measurecross cut wood sawphillips head screwdrivertin snips for cutting sheet metalwire cutterspencils2' or 4' level( 2 ) or more cordless drills w/ extra batteries( 3 ) or more star drive bits for drill ( to drive in screws )( 2 ) 3/16" drill bits Rough recipe:1. determine preferred location, lay out 3 palettes side by side, mark locations and place cinder blocks / bricks at corners ensuring they are level2. place bottom palettes across cinder blocks and attach hardware wire with staples3. working from one end, place palettes on three sides of first base palette, screwing them into the base palette and each other4. place palettes on two sides of the other two palettes and screw them in place leaving opening on same side of each bin5. attach wire vertically to inside of palettes forming each bin using staples6. attach remaining palette to front of each bin with 2 hinges and attach 2 eye hook and latches to the other side, ensuring palette swings freely7. if attaching tops, do so with remaining hinges ( two per palette )

Useful toolsHand spades

Drill with tiny drill bit or needle punchCordless drills

flat bladed shovelHammers

tape measurecross cut wood saw

phillips head screwdrivertin snips for cutting sheet metal

wire cutterspencils

2' or 4' levelA frame level

machetespruning tools

loppers

Take flyers for our courses/workshops

Free Crop Mob & Pig Roast April 27 + other classes in the summer

Seeking WWOOFers/farm interns

Full weekends only PDC this fall-- one full work exchange still available +four ½ exchanges

Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter: weareallfarmers

Keep in touch!Get involved!

Happy permaculturing!

“The field lies open to the intellect.”--Bill Mollison