• May. 9, 2008 - Backyard aquaculture
• Apr. 27, 2007 - bee keeping and chicken links
• Apr. 25, 2007 - Great link for urban homesteading
http://pathtofreedom.com/about/urbanhomestead.shtml
And other links I just found:
http://www.permacultureproject.com/index.html
http://www.midwestpermaculture.com/MidwestPermacultureCourses.php
My husband is building a chicken coop this week that we will keep in my mother-in-law's backyard across the street. Our neighbor next to our acreage north of here, offered us a Great Pyrenees/Anatolian sheepdog puppy. We plan to raise it with the chickens and have it guard them as well as my mother-in-law's backyard. And a Matushka I know has offered to give us two of her chickens (we will need to buy three more to reach our limit for my mil's yard). When we are done with that coop, I hope we can build a second one for our own backyard.
And we have started to plant pomegranate trees on our acreage. My husband wants to plant one or two here too. Though our progress is slower than I hoped, we are on our way developing both an urban and rural homestead.
I visited St. Paisius Monastery in Safford, AZ at the beginning of Great Lent and it was wonderful. Besides the beautiful services and peaceful environment, they have many pomegranate trees which they use to make jelly, as well as goats and chickens. I will be taking my 12 year old there next week. She is interested in attending their homeschooling program. It would be quite an opportunity for her if it does work out that she can go there for school. It would be wonderful for her spiritually, academically, and practically too.
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• Apr. 12, 2007 - Bright Thursday Homily
"God so loved the 'world', He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the wolrd to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:16-17
Today, we went to St. Sava's in Plano for liturgy. Fr. Seraphim there gave such a good homily, which is especially helpful as I confront some of the New Age issues and influences in permaculture. They are biased against Christianity because they do attribute our modern cultural failures to western civilization which historically has been predominantly Christian.
In Fr. Seraphim's sermon, he mentioned that the Greek word used, that is translated in the King James as "world" in the above quote, is actually cosmos. The King James translation is a bit misleading, because cosmos doesn't just refer to this world/planet, but all of Creation. According to the Oxford Dictionary: "Cosmos-— the world, or universe, as an ordered harmonious system." God so loved the Cosmos (His Creation), that He chose to bow down and enter it..."not to condemn it, but to save it."
An accusation against Christianity (particularly in the permaculture text I have been reading lately), is that modern religion (it seems to be referring to Christianity), is man centered and has no regard to the environment at all. That western religion teaches man to 'subdue', ie. conquer it, and that is why things are the way they are today. But Fr. Seraphim's words directly addressed this misunderstanding. He said the Scriptural word 'subdue' didn't mean conquer, but rather to put things into order. And for me, that is exactly what putting together a permaculture system, rather than leaving the ground completely wild, is all about! :-). Honestly, permaculture, in itself, is man-centered too, in that the permaculture system is designed to serve man. Otherwise, why mess with nature in the first place? From a Christian point-of-view, man is the crown of God's Creation. Yet, we are commanded to be good stewards and 'subdue' it, (put it back into harmonious order). This does fit perfectly with the permaculture concept.
Fr. Seraphim said, that rather than putting the world around us into order as God had originally intended, man instead has chosen to destroy it, using it strictly for his own personal gain without any regard for anyone or anything else. This is all the direct result of the fall.
And he emphasized the love of God, entering into His Creation in hopes of establishing communion with His Creation. God loved us, before we loved Him and it was for that reason, that He sacrificed Himself for our sake.
Just getting a feeling for how much God loves His entire Creation (the Cosmos), really helps put everything into perspective. We can also show our love for God by also loving His Creation (what being a 'good steward' is all about). One of my concerns of the permaculture movement is its tendency to worship the earth and nature. But what I learned today really helps me to keep all of this within a Christian perspective. And just maybe, if someone is not hostile to Christianity, but has questions regarding these things, I will have the tools of understanding to help them get passed any misconceptions. Anyway, it was a really good sermon.
Also, I have gathered many photographs (and some photo books), that show the common use of barrel vaulted adobe buildings in Greek architecture, both for homes and churches. I feel very secure now, that we have documented well enough, the previous use of these types of structures within an Orthodox context. Our parish is largely Russian and used to timber construction since that is what is most plentiful in that part of the world. But what we will be doing, though more Mediterranean, also is well within Orthodox tradition, and hopefully, won't look New Age or strange. I really like the simplicity too, of Greek interior design. It also will be a model for our interior decorating.
We haven't made a whole lot of progress in our first building because of heavy rain and the many services of Holy Week and now Bright Week. But I hope we can get started again next week. We did visit the land yesterday, and it was beautiful. The trees are finally coming into full leaf. The country is definitely a zone or so behind here in the city. The wildflowers, particularly Indian Paintbrush, were plentiful.
Christ is Risen!
Indeed, He is Risen! |
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• Jan. 17, 2007 - Urban homesteading and permaculture from a Christian point-of-view
• Jan. 15, 2007 - Some helpful links:
• Jan. 13, 2007 - The permaculture lecture today
Unfortunately, I got there 15 minutes late because of the weather and missed the video and first introduction. But what I did get was great and gave us some good ideas for our planning. There is a permaculture project in north Texas: North Texas Society of Sustainability and a Permaculture Design Certification course I and II that will be available in late April and mid May. I hope to attend both of those and get certified if it isn't too expensive (I haven't found the price yet).
Though there are definite New Age elements in the permaculture movement, its basic principles do seem very harmonious with Orthodox Christianity. I will need to use some discernment, yet I feel I will learn an awful lot and it will help in the development of this project.
Permaculture now encompasses more than gardening and includes architecture. The type of architectural ideal they were describing fits perfectly with the CalEarth super-adobe structures we will be building. Our architecture will be in perfect harmony with the land and ecosystems in place there. We should need to bring in only a minimum of resources, and will be able to use and manage the resources already available on the property. And the land should be able to produce an abundant amount of food for those willing to eat something different from what you normally find in a grocery store.
Here are some notes I took today:
- Work with Nature. Nature operates in cycles as seen in a spiral.
- Each cyclic event increases the opportunity for yield.
- Work to feed one another verses feeding only one's self.
- Fundamental Principles of Nature: circle and repetition - yet movement and growth.
- The Problem is the solution:
"These are our times and our responsibilities. Every human being has a sacred duty to protect the welfare of our mother earth, from whom all life comes. In order to do this, we must recognize the enemy - the one within us. We must begin within ourselves." Leon Shenandoah (a native American)
As an Orthodox Christian, I do not want to deify the earth which you sometimes see among those more ecologically minded. Yet, I totally agree with this quote in that we have a responsibility to be a steward of what God has given us. We are dependent on the wellbeing of the planet we live on. And our worst enemy is most definitely our own sinful passionate self-serving selves. Only through Christ, can we become free, and only through Christ, can we find the harmony and connectedness that we each desperately yearn for (whether knowingly or unknowingly), with God, with one another, and with the natural environment around us. Put in the proper context, I think this quote is excellent and well worth remembering.
- Make the least change for the greatest possible effect. Balance through elegance.
- The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited.
- Nature operates with a principle of abundance.
- The sunlight that intersects the earth in 24 hours is more energy than all the conventional oil that has been...or ever will be extracted.
- Everything Gardens
- The Permaculture Designer talks and thinks about solutions rather than problems.
- What we think or feel patterns our environment. (referred to a scientific experiment studying the effect of human emotion on the freezing of ice crystals.
They Recommended Bill Mullison's books: "Designer Manual for the Certification Course" and "Introduction to Permaculture." BTW, the person here that will be teaching the certification course is the only one in the US that has been qualified by Bill Mullison. I guess he must be the original person who came up with the permaculture term and developed the philosophy.
They also recommended "Gaia's Garden" which I do have. It is an excellent book. I also do have the "Introduction to Permaculture" book by Bill Mullison.
Permaculture Principles:
- Observation - Design for specific sites, climates, client.
- Connect - create useful plant relationships, time-saving connections and healthy, diverse ecosystem.
- Catchment systems: water, sun, shade - creating micro-climates - saving and reinvesting resources. We maintain the system and capture more resources.
- Each element performs multiple functions. Choose and place each element to compliment and cover one another.
Zone and Sector Method of Land Use:
Zone 0 - home (in our case guest cottages, main retreat and church buildings).
Zone 1 - most visited (prayer shrines, children play areas, social and park-like areas).
Zone 2 - semi intensive care (small food production areas, small aquaculture areas, any small livestock on property).
Zone 3 - Farm (we do plan to have some orchards, vinyards and berries as well as a main garden).
Zone 4 - Minimal Care (our forest trails and forest garden)
Zone 5 - Unmanaged Wilderness (where ever the poison oak grows!) Site Analysis Plan
Sectors: wind, sun, water, earth (sounds like Nader Khalili and Calearth!)
Make least change for greatest effect.
Each function supported by multiple elements - create synergies and redundant back-up.
Keep intensive systems small scale.
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A note I made to myself regarding the overall eco-dome placement plan:
Use keyhole design for eco-dome placement with tree and circular walkway in center and pathway to each of the entrances.
Satisfy social, physical and spiritual needs through proper placement.
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Other planting notes:
Use swells as planting foundation. Planting on swells: trees and vegetation on high part, water accumulation (and possible aquaculture), on low part.
Create kehole guilds around fruit trees.
Catch water from every structure and plant guild nearby.
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• Jan. 12, 2007 - We went to the Arlington Home and Garden Show...
And boy did we learn a lot! We learned about native Texas plants, about dealing with poison oak (I prefer organic methods, but in this case, selective use of herbicide may be our only real choice), about water catchment systems, solar water heating and permaculture. We also learned about a real neat window that does exceptionally well to block radiant heat. And we learned just how affective a barrier foil is at blocking solar radiant heat gain too. We hadn't thought of it before, but now we plan, after applying a 1/2 inch layer of insulative polyurethane foam on the outside of the earth bag walls and roof, to then wrap the structure with this radiant barrier foil. Then we will wrap everything again with chicken wire to support the external lime earth plaster. The foam and radiant foil barrier will do much to minimize the heat gain of the earth bags. If there is no heat gain from the outside, the 2 feet earthen walls will want to stay naturally around 70 degrees inside. Then our natural, low-energy (using only a solar-powered ventilation fan on the roof to move the hot air out and ground cooled air in, when the wind is not blowing) geothermal cooling system should be more than enough to keep the interior air cool and well ventilated. We plan to build arbors on the south side of the buildings, not shaded by trees, and to plant vines to grow on sides and top of the buildings. With all of this, I feel pretty confident that we can prevent the adobe walls from accumulating the summer heat and affecting the interior temperature.
Regarding vine choices for the adobe buildings in order to keep the surface cool and shaded, the permaculture person recommended grape vines, which is fast growing, casts heavy shade with its broad leaves, and produces beautiful fruit. We hope to plant a raised edible perennial garden around each of the eco-domes. The raised earth next to the buildings (we plan on building an encircling retaining wall of adobe coils 4 ft above ground level all away around except for a path leading to the entrance), will further prevent heat intake and help to keep the building a constant 70 degree temperature year round. And then planting an edible bed of plants that require minimal maintenance and can provide herbs, teas, fruit and greens will be a really nice feature. We will need to develop a permaculture cookbook so that people will know how to recognize and prepare everything. But it would be fun for those who are more adventurous. There will be a permaculture lecture tomorrow at the Home and Garden Show. If the weather isn't too bad (it is suppose to be icy tomorrow and pretty yucky), I really want to go and listen to it. |
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