Permaculture in Action, I just spent two days up at my property, getting my well water going for the year (I am still nervous that it won’t pump water lol) and planting even more plants.
The weather was great for those two days, although it is still early spring at that altitude. Buds are just beginning to swell, and open.
Soon there will be wild flowers blooming everywhere, not to mention all the Daffodils, Tulips, Gladiolas, flower seed, Iris, Lilies, ect. that I have planted.
It looks as though just about 100% survival on most everything I have planted so far….which is encouraging!
This country gets about 17 inches of water per year, and gets very dry in the heat of summer.
Most everything I plant will be watered from my well. Either with overhead sprinklers, or drip irrigation.
You can see the very first water coming up and out of the ground from about 340 ft. down. I felt relieved when the water began to flow! Permaculture in Action!
I will be installing a 110 volt pump at some point, when I get a power center to run off of my excess 1250 watts of solar. The other 1250 watts of solar produced runs the well pump.
The well pump runs solar direct, which means when the sun shines on the solar panels producing enough electricity the pump pumps….all day, every day.
The pumps maximum output is only 6 gals a minute.
That being said, it will pump over 2500 gals on a sunny day.
Right now all the excess water is pumped out on the ground at the top of a small hill…true permaculture in action.
By that I mean, permaculture is all about the natural movement of water, and how we can manipulate that movement.
That manipulation usually involves storing water at a high elevation on a given property.
When you do this, the water will peculate downhill, benefiting everything growing in it’s path.
I have not actually dug a seep pond on top of the hill yet, so I just let the water soak into the ground, and make it’s way down the hill.
In time, as the vegetation matures, and their roots reach bedrock which is about 4 feet down generally in that area, the plants will be naturally watered, and many would thrive without extra irrigation.
The birds have been enjoying my bird feeder….as well as the squirrels! And together they have devoured an entire game block. But, at least the bear cannot get to it….as he will eat the whole thing in one setting!
There seems to be only 4 or 5 species of birds who like the seeds in these game blocks.
There are alot of different birds who nest there, including the endangered Western Bluebird. I have seen many clutches of them raised in my birdhouses.
I install 20-30 new birdhouses every year, and the birds love them, as they are all sized correctly to prevent predatory birds from eating the hatchlings.
Later in the spring, I can sit for hours by a water source and watch the bird families raised in my birdhouses come for a drink. I get alot of satisfaction simply from this!
I have planted many pounds of the birdseed one can buy from a store, some will grow, and these plants will feed seed eating birds basically naturally all winter long.
This year will be an exciting time for many of the creatures I share my property with….as new food sources begin to grow and develop. Permaculture in Action!
Here are some more images from up there…
I have camped and cooked on open fires my whole life. I know alot of people have trouble with that, and it can become a chore. Here is how I like to cook baked potatoes, and on this occasion corn as well, on a fire…
First I burn a fire for several hours, I like to burn body wood as it will create a nice bed of coals, and this bed of coals is what you need.
Once you have enough coals you place a few rocks off to the side.
Then you simply take a shovel scoop up some hot coals and put a layer within your rocks.
Wrap your potatoes, and corn in tin foil. place them on top of the hot coals.
You then cover them with more hot coals. Cover with enough coals you cannot see the tinfoil at all. Let bake for about one hour for potatoes, and about 20 minutes for corn.
On this occasion I was also going to broil steaks as well so the coals did double duty. Doing it this way, you do not have alot of heat to contend with, nor alot of smoke.
I will have a slide show of images below so you can see how I did it.
And when all done your have your dinner…
And dinner for your pups….yes, sometimes they get to eat what I do….
If you enjoy growing bulk plants check out out bulkweedseed.com!
