Your Permie Challenge?

Discussion in 'The big picture' started by songbird, Jan 17, 2016.

  1. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    this coming season i'm pondering how i can be more permie.

    i have a lot of constraints to work around and i've already been thinking about a few things i can do which will move me further along the road towards being more sustainable, more connected to my local community, etc.

    what are you thinking about for the new year? what might you be able to accomplish?
     
  2. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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    Good topic Songbird!
    My personal challenge involves observation and identification of strategies to increase the succession of our place from a recovering "scabland" (the result of great periodic floods at the end of the last ice age) to a diverse, treed green spot. I intend to continue this work by using natural processes I can find locally and accelerating them on our site.
    For instance, we've identified a phenomenon called Talus Garland communities and are building earthworks to emulate the functions contained in them by stacking stones, providing organic materials as mulch, and planting pioneer species to nurture more food producing plants/shrubs/trees.
    [​IMG]
     
  3. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    Bill, that looks a lot like what the line of rocks in the arid climates and other areas with run-off that strips away the organic materials and doesn't allow moisture much chance to soak in. add some old clothes to that line of rocks and you get what they are doing in Haiti to use old recycled clothes that they'd otherwise burn. good ideas!

    is the rock pile large enough to be a wind break? is it acting as a heat store? i'm sure it is acting as a moisture trap and increasing the moisture for any plants. the Sepp Holzer methods of planting trees usually included at least one rock over some of the area around a tree so it could collect moisture and protect some of the soil, but i also suspect it was because he just didn't have much topsoil on the slopes of a mountain and a rock would help hold the tree in place if it got stormy. and of course, the residual heat effect.
     
  4. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    Very nice Bill, we are using a very similar system on the south slope of buzzard's roost. we hope that our rock wall lines will fill in to become terraces as well as slow rain runoff, create places for more orchard trees and grow pumpkins and other squashes. We have allocated a half acre for the initial tests and since we have no shortage of rocks the hard part is just finding enough time to devote to the wall building for now. Our walls will end up around 4-5 feet tall with a base somewhere around 3 feet wide, depending on the size of the rocks. So far we have been able to keep these on contour, and hopefully they will do all the things we want them to do.
     
  5. Robyn S.

    Robyn S. New Member

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    I think your rock banks are a great idea. I'm wondering though just how high these banks are - looking at the illustration they give the impression that they are quite high for the gradient of the slope. I'd be a bit concerned about how stable they are, and the sheer amount of rock/stone they would use. How far apart would they be? I like the old clothes idea - like a net to catch whatever is rolling down the hill.
    Last year was more about infrastructure, so my permie challenge for this year is to focus more on vegie production and increase propagation rates in the greenhouse..
    Then I can fill gaps and add diversity with more herbaceous, annual things.
     
  6. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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