Reflections: Permaculture, Food Forests, and "Back to Eden!"
The content of this post all began with a simple question to my Steemian friend, @rawutah, after reading one of his posts:
What is a "food forest?"
The response to this question and all the surprising inspiration it has provided to me and my beloved, dear reader, is the subject of this post. I would encourage you to read it, particularly if you might have the same question!
- Note: In what follows, I will only be providing highlights. Each of which could be a post or many posts in their own right. While very much a "newbie" on this topic, I already know you can spend a lifetime learning about it. At the end of which, you would still not truly know it all ...
Journey of Discovery
In my lead image, you have been provided a link to what @rawutah provided for me in June 2019. Watching this video was the very beginning of our journey of discovery. The man pictured, Geoff Lawson, is one of if not the foremost experts on this topic on the planet.
In this video, he clearly addresses the question posed to @rawutah on that fateful day and provides a very succinct answer. With a great detail of enthusiasm, he covers the rich diversity and harmony amongst the plant world in a fully developed food forest. And breaks out the various classes or "layers" into which these fall:
- Canopy - Trees, at the top of the forest. "Woody" plants.
- Understory - Trees, still, which grow under the canopy of the taller trees. "Woody" plants.
- Bushes & Shrubs - Self-explanatory. Still "woody" plants.
- Herbaceous - "Non woody" plants growing and producing on the surface of the ground, e.g. lettuce and spinach.
- Roots - "Non woody" plants growing and producing under the surface of the ground, e.g. carrots and potatoes.
- Ground cover - "Non woody" plants providing a complete covering over the surface of the ground.
- Climbers - Plants which climb up the trees in the canopy and understory layers, upon which they are dependent, e.g. vines.
You owe to yourself, dear reader, to watch this 13:11 long video. If it does not capture your imagination for what "can be" and give you a desire to learn more, then ... Well, I don't know how that would be possible ... 😉
Once having watched this remarkable introductory video, as you likely know, you are presented with many topically linked videos on YouTube. While there are any number of well-produced videos, taking you off in different directions, all under the "canopy" of the permaculture topic, there was one which stood out to us.
The title? How to Grow a Vegetable Garden - Back To Eden Organic Gardening Film
This video captures the history of how Paul came up with the ideas many now refer to by his original title - "Back to Eden" gardening. While considerably longer, it is very well done. And makes essential points which were the catalyst spurring us from some interest and watching, to getting "out there" and living it. Making it happen! On our teeny, tiny patch of "the good earth!" 😊 👍
For years, Paul has graciously allowed free tours of his gardens every Sunday, where he gives away a lot of samples of the remarkable results of his years of gardening according to his divinely inspired "Back to Eden" gardening principles. If you live anywhere near his home on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State or planning a visit to that area, you may want to experience all of this in person!
Someone who is very passionate about combining the ideas of both of these first two gentlemen is James Prigioni, out somewhere on the East coast in New Jersey. His enthusiasm, as he takes you through many excellent tours of his considerable food forest, along with his trusty sidekick (his cute little dog) Tuck, is contagious.
He is a prodigious content creator! And he has worked very hard to acquire a great deal of information on this topic, which he is very happy to pass on to you. Truly a permaculture gardening evangelist!
And a great bonus? Sometime ago, he discovered our Steem blockchain!! You can find his wonderful posts on his @gardeningchannel account. If you find this topic beginning to "grab hold" of you, I'd highly recommend following him and supporting his efforts!
I certainly cannot finish this section without coming back to thank my good friend @rawutah. Who is clearly a master gardener, as well, when you see what he has done out on his part of the good earth in southern Utah.
Beyond the "fruits" of his amazing labor of love, one stand-out aspect of what he has accomplished is that he has managed to do it in the relatively small confines of a yard much like what many of us (like yours truly! 😉) might have. That is, literally "square foot" gardening taken to a very impressive level!
We have shared many memorable exchanges here on our Steem blockchain. I really admire what he has done and loved one particular reference he shared with me on what he learned, as a boy, working alongside his grandfather, to whom he attributes much of his current drive and passion.
I owe you a debt of gratitude, my friend, for introducing me and my beloved lifemate to this life-changing topic. I wish you well, in all of your future endeavors and hope perhaps someday to see you back here contributing on our Steem blockchain.
While there are many other experts on this topic, you have been presented above with the 4 which have had the greatest impact on us, as we begin our "journey" into this wonderful new world of permaculture and "Back to Eden" gardening.
Taking a "deeper dive" now, dear reader, after this introduction to the topic, what are some of the benefits of even thinking of traveling down this road?
Life in the Soil
Of all the "binary" couplings of words in our journey through this world, few conjure up more powerful images in our minds than "life" and "death."
As fascinating as learning about all the rich diversity and harmony amongst the plants in this permaculture concept was, the "light went on" as we delved deeper into one of the essential and foundational aspects of this revolutionary approach to gardening.
And what is that? The vitality imparted to the undisturbed soil, underneath the naturally falling leaves, branches, dead plants, etc., from all the amazing creatures in the ecosystem under there, e.g. microbes, worms, etc.
And how is that? Based on the simple fact these creatures are designed to live off the dead carbonaceous material that falls to the earth, from all of the plants in the 7 layers described above. And, in the process of "doing what they do best," returning to the soil all of the nutritious value in the former plant life. And even, again by design, enhancing it! To support future plant life ...
In the "Back to Eden" film, an important segment for us was learning about the progressive damage being done to our soil on the "mega farms" all around us at this time in our history. And the details provided, by agricultural experts, of how this is "working for us." In short, it is not going very well!
Why? For "violating" the fundamental principles you learn about in permaculture. Which is, as succinctly as I can manage to say it, based upon simply observing what is going "out there" in much of the world, e.g. the forests, where all appears to be just fine and man has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Then, after careful observation of what our Creator has made clearly and plainly available to us, "go forth and do likewise!"
Or ... Continue on with all of man's artificial substitutes, stubbornly applying ever stronger doses of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers, in the face of the continuing erosion and deterioration of our soil ...
In doing the latter, we find that we are literally, unwittingly and unconsciously, instruments of a slow death to some of the previously richest agricultural regions on the face of the earth. How? By progressively destroying the life-giving aspects of it, as ever so briefly touched on above ...
And what, dear reader, in applying these principles, is the life-changing result of this dramatic reversal of deterioration and, instead, slow but steady restoration of the vitality and ultimately life of our soil?
Nutrition and Abundance
A highlight in one of Paul's videos, was him enthusiastically sharing with us the visit to his gardens of an agricultural "expert." Why was he coming? After years of Paul's efforts and the resulting growing reputation he had acquired, he was coming to apply what man thinks he knows on this topic. How? By measuring the amount of vital nutrients in Paul's garden soil. The result?
The measurements were an awe-inspiring
"many" times the "recommended" values!
The "expert" had never experienced
anything remotely close to this!!
"many" times the "recommended" values!
The "expert" had never experienced
anything remotely close to this!!
Note well, dear reader, that this "expert" did not come up with a measurement of nutritional values a "few ticks" above what his recommended optimums were. No, they were many multiples of them! He was in awe, as he had never recorded measurements like these!
Source 2: Creator Ella Olsson on Pexels
What do these values represent, dear reader? Very simply, the nutritional value of the food he was producing was "off the charts!"
There was no greater no greater illustration of this, than a comment Paul makes in one of his videos:
"My wife and I have found we are full
from simply eating our salad, all made with
what we have harvested from our garden!
The nutritional value of it is so high
the nutritional needs of our bodies are
already fully satisfied!"
from simply eating our salad, all made with
what we have harvested from our garden!
The nutritional value of it is so high
the nutritional needs of our bodies are
already fully satisfied!"
Wow! Did you catch that? I did not miss the health implications of this remarkable statement. Whole posts can (and likely have somewhere ...) been written about the generally declining value of the nutritional content of our food. And that is the "good" food! Ever spend much time looking at food labels and see what has been artificially added in an attempt to improve these nutritional values?
Not only is the nutritional value of what is produced in "Back to Eden" gardens remarkably high, but growing food this way results in considerably higher harvest yields, as well! The abundance derived from many of the practitioners (that we have watched discuss it on YouTube ...) of these gardening principles is extraordinary.
Where do we sign up? 👍
Even beginning to get a glimpse of a vision for what we could do to improve the vitality and life of our soil was very appealing to us. Adding the understanding of the nutritional benefit we would derive from our efforts took our enthusiasm up into the inspirational levels to which I have referred, in writing this post.
For whatever "number of days" we have left to us, we know this will be part of our legacy left with family and friends. They have all heard about it quite a bit already.
And we are only just getting started! 😊
Philosophy: "Intelligent Design" vs. Evolution
As a BONUS feature, dear reader, at "no extra charge" ... 😉 ... I want to touch briefly on a completely different aspect of how deeply the inspiration, of learning about permaculture and "Back to Eden" gardening principles, has touched me.
And that is the many hours of reflection, in my own garden, about the origins of all that we are learning about. Which, in turn, brought to my mind a related aspect of my journey through life in this world.
Warning/Caveat: If Christian content is in any way troubling,
offensive, and / or ?...? to you, dear reader, then you
will likely want to skip this section!
Warning/Caveat: If Christian content is in any way troubling,offensive, and / or ?...? to you, dear reader, then you
will likely want to skip this section!
As I would imagine is the case with many of my dear readers, particularly those of us raised and educated in the western world, I believed what "everybody knows" about our origins. It is based on evolution.
I do not believe in evolution any longer. Instead, while referred to in many different ways, for the sake of this portion of my post, I'll state I now believe instead in "intelligent design."
Why? While I could easily write a whole separate post or even a number of them, on the answer, here is the outline of my arguments against evolution:
- Scientifically-based: The Theory of Evolution violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Anyone claiming to still hold firm to all we were taught related to Scientific Method knows this is the end of the discussion. Full stop. Period.
Not enough? Anyone intellectually honest and inquisitive enough to really know about all the details of where science is in their vain attempts to "prove" this theory are aware of all the "weak links" and "gaps" in the logical chain of thought processes ... - Philosophically-based: The soul of man has always harbored the greatest passions, as well as respect and regard for what is beyond the world of science - faith, hope, and love. Man's endless yearning for and deep desire to be loved and cherished is universal.
How does a system of belief like evolution, so dependent on impersonal, random "cosmic chance" operating against itd dark and void background address this? In short, it doesn't! Underlying this theory, it is inhumanly dissatisfying psychologically / philosophically. It is totally devoid of any passion. Totally devoid of any life. - Spiritually-based: It has long amazed me, among those professing to be Christian, the number who also think evolution is still valid. The incredible effort to which they go seeking to "make peace" between two incompatible systems of belief is a sad spectacle.
Incompatible? Yes! An important feature of evolution is its "survival of the fittest" narrative. Which requires death, over millions (billions? trillions? what's the latest ...) of years. In the Bible, death is a result of the Fall of Adam and Eve, when sin entered the world. It is not possible to reconcile these two essential facets of each system of belief.
By themselves, the rich diversity and remarkably intricate and dependent interrelationships among all of the plants is a marvel and wonder to me. Adding knowledge of all the creatures in the soil whose sole purpose for existence is to facilitate the breakdown of these plants, once dead, to perfect the cycle of life? For the support of new plants emerging from the soil full of life-sustaining vitality? Truly awe-inspiring ...
The vital and indispensable role these plants, in turn, play in our lives is beyond dispute. All of which cries out for the existence of an intelligence in the design of what we see all around us.
A position which, as a Christian, I find to be amply supported in the Bible:
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Genesis 1:1
"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."
Romans 1:20
"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him."
Colossians 1:16-17
[Emphasis added mine]
I feel very blessed to have experienced, in my own garden, a great reinforcement of one of my favorite phrases - "... fearfully and wonderfully made ..."
Please note well, dear reader, I have repeatedly referred to evolution as a system of belief. It is not scientific fact, as is so often directly stated or indirectly insinuated. Having discussed this topic many times over my long life, with those whom I deemed to be intellectually honest and logically consistent I have always reached a consensus agreement with them that this is so.
I often close these discussions with ... "I think it takes far more faith to believe what you hold to be true, than what I hold to be true." 😉
Let's Do It!
Okay, that's about enough out of me for "this round." Are we "energized" by all that you have just read through, dear reader?
Are my beloved and I "fired up?"
What would be your first guess? 😉
Closing
In life, dear reader, we might agree there are few experiences which you quickly know are transformational. That will almost certainly be with you the rest of your lives.
What I have written about in this post is one such experience in my life. This topic has touched us in ways we could not have imagined. We will be "working on it" the rest of our natural lives, at least as long as we can continue to "shuffle forward!" 😉 Bringing to mind a very fond memory, from long ago, with which to close.
The one and only time I met my 2nd great uncle, Uncle Polk, in south central Oklahoma, he was in his 90s and I was in my 20s. While we could not tell it, he said he was feeling "a bit poorly" that morning. His humble, but resolutely stated, remedy?
"I think I'll go out in the garden
and work it off."
and work it off."
My heritage! Actually, the ancient heritage of most of us. No matter where on our good earth we call home. We just need to spend more time out in our gardens "working it off." I believe we all experience a considerable improvement in our health and sense of well-being, when we do!
What are your reactions to this topic? In your part of the world, how do you see the potential applications of it? I’d love to hear any feedback you may be inspired to provide.
Until "next time," all the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build up our Steem Communities and increase the value of the Steem blockchain! 👍 😊
Respectfully,
Steemian @roleerob
Posted using SteemPeak and “immutably enshrined in the blockchain” on Sunday, 26 January 2020!
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How cool that you can sow your own food, I think it is the healthiest, we would like to be able to do it, when we have a suitable ground for it.
Food is important in life, our health and the conditions in which our body is conserved depend on food. It would be interesting to show us your garden in an upcoming installment, if you like it.
As for evolution... well, I respect those who believe in that theory, but for me it is illogical to believe in evolution, it is something that makes no sense to me and that, in addition, I see impossible since so much perfection has been created alone!
Only when I think about how a baby is formed in his mother's womb, how everything is formed so perfectly in place to fulfill a specific function, can I not believe that it was created by itself... That the heavens, the stars and the sea, have taken their place on their own, that I see impossible, that an explosion has built our universe... I really have a hard time believing it! however for some people, it is much harder to believe in creation, made by God, but they find it easier to believe in the theory of evolution.
For me, God is the creator of everything and it is that only God could have made us so perfect and only He could set limits to the seas, and only He could place each star in the sky.
Up before 🌄 (here) @blessed-girl and thankful for the value you have added to this post with your comments. As you say ...
... there is much to said on this, from these people who garden the way I have described. The explanation behind it is very compelling and, for us at least, very convincing. We are really looking forward to the health benefits and one of the most important (but not the only one!) reason we are doing this.
We are in agreement ...
... as I do not think it can be supported either, as I explained in my post. But ... It is very popular. And it forms the underpinnings of many other philosophies that heavily influence man in our world today, so very likely it will be around for some time to come.
We share a common view on creation and the marvel and wonder of it. It is not only the individual aspects of what has been created, but for me the rich and intricate ways that they are all woven together in interdependency that tells the story of the Creator's hand in all of it.
Thank you for stopping by! 😊
I believe in microevolution but macro is a NO GO.
Sent some SFR love to this post. I imagine this will be hard to top but keep it up!
Up with the 🌄 (here) @anthonyadavisii and feeling blessed to see this comment. It is very encouraging to me to learn you found this post to have sufficient value to support it! 😊 👍
Inspired to begin writing a little bit again, there is the possibility / likelihood of future posts. They will cover the unfolding story of how we began to "bring to life" these inspirational concepts on our own little piece of the good earth.
Whether those will top this one, well ... I learned a long time ago that is not up to me, which I wrote about in my True Story: Encouragement on our Steem Blockchain post, in the "perceived value" portion of it ...
As for this ...
... if you wish to invest the time, I'd welcome your providing a little more detail on what that means to you and why you believe it.
Nothing fancy. Merely genetic adaptation over the course of time that doesn't cross the bound of species. Macro suggests one kind becoming another kind. i.e. Ape to man
We know God created things after their own kinds and that is immutable as His Word. Blessings, my brother 🙏
Okay, thanks for the additional input, my brother ...
... as I was wondering if you might provide some detail like this one. On that we can agree. Fascinating, at least to this man looking back over a long life, to attempt to discern what our Lord allows vs. what He inspires.
My case in point - man's intentional crossbreeding. Particularly those focused on man's thoughts that he is going to uhhh ... "improve" the original ... And the so-called "hybrids" which result. Some of which are sterile and cannot reproduce (a clue?). Others which can ...
A deep topic @anthonyadavisii, I believe, as is the case with most of the Truth ...
Thanks for investing a bit of your time to respond.
This is such a beautiful post laden with meaning. Think, after fully digesting this content, I am gonna have to take a nap because it's SO MEATY!🍖
!CHOPS
Thank you for this encouragement @anthonyadavisii ...
... as I put a lot of effort into what I feel led to write. Always nice to know someone finds it of value. Particularly on learning that at least one person ...
... apparently chose to actually read all of it! 😉
As for "meaty," indeed ... I could say a lot about this, but probably neither the time or place for it ...
Finished this morning. But come to think of it hearty gourd or vegetable soup would probably br more apt.. but I wanted a reason to call @slobberchops bot. Looks like we are going to need to recreate it as Holger, who created it, seems to have gone MIA.
Well, that is sobering news @anthonyadavisii ...
... as I assume we're talking about @holder80 and he is one of the witnesses I support. Is this a recent development?
Since you reference bots, as a sort of related topic, is he also associated with your SFR bot, which distributes those tokens? I ask, as I have never received any ...
Please don't take this last sentence as anything other than a statement of fact. It is not a big deal to me. Just letting you know, in the event that is an indicator something may be amiss ...
You're absolutely correct. We are roughly a 1K SBD of flags to pay out. Some extending to August of last year. I was talking to Marky about this and trying to figure out how we can address but it ultimately boils down to this.
Bot was designed to only distribute a daily pool equal to its vote value in SBD. The premise was that, if we did not, we would be DEEP into what I call upvote debt. I liken this to my hypothetically asking a friend for a load that I know my income will never be able to pay off (something like a billion dollars). It's more or less the same principle if we didn't cap the daily's.
I would imagine a scenario where we are "printing" tokens like crazy to the extent where the supply far exceeds what our bot will be able to handle. The end result would be people sitting on buttloads of tokens that they have to wait potentially years to use (may be a little hyperbolic).
Ultimately, the way I see of getting out of this quagmire is to develop a reasonable business model whereby folks are encouraged to delegate to help pay off the flag debt. That or limit the # of flags for those that do not delegate.
This notion was met with a bit of resistance in SFR but don't think it was from anybody that was delegating anything significant. I don't know. We may decide to put non-delegator flags into a separate queue that may be ages till payout so people will get the message that we need help with the incentives.
That may be drastic as we want to encourage the regular flaggers that are just dipping their toes in but if we get so many massive flags from non-delegators it really makes me question why they wouldn't support those that make it possible.
It's a bit frustrating to be honest but as a supporter it is not AT ALL your fault. Maybe it's time we reassess this issue. Take a delegator poll or something. Thanks for prompting me to go on this little rant. Hopefully others see it and understand the problem.
"Back in" for a bit @anthonyadavisii, I am grateful for the investment of your time into this response. Clears it up for me, so probably needn't mention it again.
As suggestions, to prevent the need to go through this again, with someone else:
As an "old war horse," there is something I learned a long time ago. There are always problems in life. But the ones coming from "over promising and under delivering" are considerably more challenging than the reverse. I'll stress again, I say this without it being a real problem for me, but more as being a friend to you. Take it or leave it, as you think best.
I'll close with letting you know your response provides a glimpse "under the hood," of the challenges of properly setting up and then executing on this concept of "tribes" everyone seems to talk about inside the "echo chambers" of our Steem blockchain.
Until "next time," all the best to you and yours, my brother!
Planning on exposing the database via an API. It's only 10.6 MB so anybody can view it with a SQL database browser.
In the process of cleaning the database model getting it ready for the data import.
It's been quite a learning process but I'm getting there slowly but surely! Thanks for being a part of what we do.
You've been visited by @minismallholding from Homesteaders Co-op.
I’ve featured your post in the Homesteaders – Living Naturally newsletter.
A community marketplace of ethical, handmade and sustainable products available for STEEM, SBD (and USD): https://homesteaderscoop.com
follow: @homesteaderscoop
Up with the 🌄 (here) @homesteaderscoop / @minismallholding and feeling blessed to see this comment. It is very encouraging to me to learn you found this post to have sufficient value to support it! 😊 👍
With the possibility / likelihood of continuing to write about this inspirational "new chapter" in our lives, I would welcome any input you might have on the best tags to use for them.
These future posts will cover the unfolding story of how we began to "bring to life" these inspirational concepts on our own little piece of the good earth.
I'm looking forward to reading more and following your journey.
In addition to the gardening tag, you could use #homesteading. Also the #naturalmedicine and #creativecoin communities encourage gardening posts to tag to their tribes.
Okay, very good @minismallholding. I really appreciate both the input on tags as well as the encouragement to continue writing.
My beloved and I are leaving tomorrow for some time away, with the opportunity to share in a family member's graduation ceremony. So ... There will be an unavoidable time lag.
Once home, I'll see about taking the next step and beginning to write about our first season of preparations last summer.
I hope you have a lovely time away.
Just out of curiosity, I see you have a hive tag on your post, which tribe is that from?
Thank you!
That is the PHC tag, which I just recently started using a tag like that. They invited me to join their "tribe" and that is what I saw recommended.
Do you have a suggestion on which hive tag to use (whoever came up with the bright idea of just having these meaningless numbers?! 🤔)?
P.S. PHC => PowerHouseCreatives
P.P.S. Is #creativecoin for more than just artistic posts? I have zero artistic talent ... 😞
I think when you post via their tribe it automatically comes up with the hive number. To hard to remember otherwise.
I rarely post art, so most of my tags are on gardening posts for #creativecoin.
Well, they had instructions about copying and pasting, just like what you see listed on this post now. They said it had to be entered as the first tag, when creating tags for your post. Or it would not work. And that it must have the "-" in it, or it would not work ...
Do you use a hive tag # for gardening that just somehow autopopulates itself? If so, that is a pretty impressive feature in whatever tribe you would suggest.
As for #creativecoin, thanks for letting me know they accept gardening posts. I will use it, as you have recommended!
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With the possibility / likelihood of continuing to write about this inspirational "new chapter" in our lives, I would welcome any input you might have on the best tags to use for them.
These future posts will cover the unfolding story of how we began to "bring to life" these inspirational concepts on our own little piece of the good earth.
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Thank you for the "vote of confidence" and support @elgranpoeta. I really appreciate it! 😊 👍
Hello @roleerob 👐 nice to catch your post from the feed😀 so.. are you busy working on the garden now?
Thanks for sharing all those videos with us. I read some articles and tutorial book about permaculture long long time ago..but I never had a chance to practice it.
Hope that you and your other half have a nice day at the garden too😉 share us too..how's your own eden, would you?
Up before 🌄 (here) @cicisaja and finding your comment was a pleasant and welcome surprise. How are you doing "over there?" 😊
Here we would absolutely love to be in the garden, but there is snow on the ground. 😉 I don't know this for sure, but in your part of the world perhaps you have never seen snow. At least not where you live anyway. In the high country here, most people find it is not safe to plant much before the end of May. Our Memorial Day national holiday is a commonly used time for gardeners here to consider planting. Before that and the likelihood of frost damage (or death) is considerable.
Yes, at some point, I may write more about our particular experience. I captured many pictures and notes on our preparations from last summer. As always, the time commitment is a challenge for me. We'll see what happens!
Thanks again, my friend, for stopping by! 😊
Aahh.. that's why many homesteaders build a greenhouse to keep their plants growing. I think there is reason why some fruits or flowers only haevested or blooms in particular time or seasonal.
Anyway.. if you really going to create post about your garden.. don't forget to join steemit monthly journal garden challenge by @simplymike.. it'll be amazing if you take part of it too.
I'll be happy to read more about your garden journey too
Yes, my dear friend, having a greenhouse would certainly be a big plus! At the moment, we have neither the funds nor really adequate space for one. We are also challenged for optimum south-facing angles in our home, as that is best here in the high country. To get the most possible sunlight, for the longest possible time.
Thank you for mentioning @simplymike's challenge. I will have to look into it. At the moment, one of the thoughts I have had is I am not even sure which are the best tags to use for posts like this. For this post, with the time I had available, I just made my best guess ...
I think you already chosem the right tags and here is the link to mieke's challenge
https://steempeak.com/hive-177682/@simplymike/steemit-community-garden-journal-challenge-january-with-steem-bounty
You can see what tags the community use there too😉
I like growing my food and rent garden space every spring ~ fall. Eventually, I will buy enough land to grow 50%+ of my own food (Now I'm closer to 10%, I'd say). A few years ago I was looking into permaculture and even came across Geoff Lawson. He seems very knowledgable, but I find all his free videos don't get past the intro stage and inevitably lead to his paid content which means I'll look for other people who don't put me up against a paywall.
Yes, I too didn't spend a lot of time looking through the Geoff Lawson videos. Very knowledgeable and some great stuff, but not my type. Most especially his Australian mentor ... I am grateful though for the introduction, as his was the very first video I watched. Opened the door to a world I had never heard of before.
I like the passion of the last two gentlemen I wrote about, both of whom are fellow Steemians. Sadly, only one of which is still posting ...
And some day, I'd love to personally visit the gardens of Paul Gautschi. I really like all of the different experts he has on the video link I provided, about all the details of returning vitality and life to our soil. It was the final spur and inspiration that got us up and moving.
I hope you reach your goal of buying some land. There is so much simple, peaceful pleasure to be gained from working with the soil, as you already know. We are considering something similar, for the "next chapter" of our lives. As you'll see, if I ever get to writing about what we are doing in our yard, we don't have a lot of space to work with, but doing what we can with what we have ...
Thanks for stopping by @abitcoinskeptic and adding value to this post!
P.S. Separate topic (but my post ... 😉), how are people there reacting to the coronavirus scare, given how much closer in proximity you are to China?
I'll have to check out some of the other authors you recommend. In my case, I'm only interested in people writing about the Korean or Ontario climate. Although the desert, subtropics or rainforest is interesting, I'll probably never have a farm there and cannot relate to even gardening in that climate.
First I need land though and a good financial security base. I'm on the right track though few more critical decisions to make, then I can establish a real plan when it's done.
Regarding Conronavirus, Koreans are very worried about it. The biggest group of foreigners here by far is the Chinese. China is the biggest trading partner, too. Also, they were just getting over a virtual Chinese boycott (they installed a THAAD anti-missile defense system here) and Chinese tourists just started coming back. There is an election in 3 months here and people want Chinese tourists banned which will hit the economy and upset China. However, populism is more important for politicians.
We already have a lot of masks because of the pollution and people are well educated on this sort of stuff, but some people still want to avoid going out in public. I think it will explode here next week and we will see hundreds of sick people by Valentine's Day. I have a trip to Japan then and I'm worried I won't be able to go. Let's see.
Yes, excellent point @abitcoinskeptic, although I have learned that there are "universal" concepts associated with this new way of looking at gardening, which I can learn from wherever they are being practiced. As an example, I think the videos of @gardeningchannel are hard to beat ..
That said, I have made an effort to find similar content linked to my growing zone. The closest I have come, so far, is an Institute way up in the Rocky Mountains, which takes me from one extreme to the other. Very impressive to see what this group did to overcome the limitations of trying to grow everything in abundance at those altitudes (like build a 6-figure USD greenhouse, which all the latest energy sources ...), but ... Not realistic for every day needs.
Back to @gardeningchannel, he stresses just getting "out there," observing carefully, try things, then adjust as your "journey" progresses. Great advice, from my perspective ...
From all I understand, the Koreans have valid reasons for concern. If not familiar with this account, I would encourage you to read this post from a Steemian who produces excellent content. This one is on this subject.
Here, closer to home, I am not so concerned in our little town out West. At least for the moment. However ... We leave Thursday for Chicago, one of the busiest airports on the planet, to attend a graduation ceremony for a family member ...
And ... Our stock market has tanked dramatically in just the last two days. Taking a significant chunk of my retirement funds with it. Having long read that the so-called "smart money" supposedly knows in advance about things the "little" people [like me ...] don't, it is another indicator this is serious.
Given how highly contagious this virus is reported to be, I wouldn't imagine we have long to find out.
That looks like a great channel and his stuff doesn't look way over priced either (some Korean company won an award at CES for the most expensive indoor hydroponics systems I've ever seen).
The situation is getting worse here. It's still far, far below the problems in China. However, Korea is bringing back 700 people from Wuhan area (they'll even take people who have the flu) and anyone living near the quarantine centers for those people are understandably upset.
We also had the stock market tank, although I would expect this to be mostly short term movement by the regular speculators. I think your money will be fine within a couple of months when the virus runs its course. People are being extra vigilant now.
Let's hope for the best which would be ending with a whimper.
Nice to meet you. I am a Korean Protestant. As you read, I realized that a person must be free to have food. Thank you for the good writing.
Thank you for stopping by to introduce yourself @silvergrifin007. Always nice to "meet" a fellow follower of Jesus! One of the remarkable aspects of my "journey" on our Steem blockchain is the opportunity to engage with others all over the world.
Glad to "hear" you enjoyed reading this post. As written, I believe our Lord created all things. As an older man having gardened, in one way or another since childhood, this last few months have been truly inspirational in providing fresh revelations to me about how "fearfully and wonderfully made" is all we see around us.
God bless your day!
Psalm 118:24
Hebrews 10:23-25