r/Permaculture

Interesting article to raise awareness—our great rivers are dying and it has geopolitical consequences that the article discusses.

What can we, as individuals and permaculture proponents, do about this? I'm not quite sure.

Let me know if there's a subreddit that better fits this post.

Looking for a shade tree ideas for my very exposed west facing front yard! i aim to only plant things that provide food or that are native (im sure like most of you here). I was thinking a desert king fig and a honey locust or potentially a big leaf maple (native in my area) but would also love to hear your thoughts and inputs!

I have a 1400 sq ft yard that I want to completely cover with a combination of cardboard, compost and wood chip mulch. My original plan was to put the compost on the bottom, then cardboard on top, then wood chips on top of that, but then I thought that the cardboard may not break down as fast as I would like in order for me to plant native grass and wildflower seeds next spring. I’m planning on putting down a half inch of both the compost and the wood chips.

I know it may be a little overkill to do all of those layers to suppress the seeds already present in the dirt, but I want to be thorough. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I forgot to add, but it’s pretty loose dirt that I will be covering- not a lot of structure/health to it, and not dark at all. I am in zone 7a, New Mexico high desert

All thoughts welcome.

Hello,
Im a novice to agriculture/permaculture/silviculture. I live in southern california, and own a very small plot of land in the lake elsinore area. As a part of commemorating the recent passing of my 10 year old golden retriever, I decided I wanted to plant a 1-2 ft Sugar Maple since she was from Vermont. Ive seen native bigleaf maples in nearby riparian areas reaching 30-40 feet, so I know this could work.

I want to take this as a challenge. Since the annual precipitation here is only 8-10 inches, with all of it falling only 2-3 months during the winter, This tree must be irrigated, 3x a week as im planting in in late summer. An obstacle is theres no plumbing or permanent infastructure, and I dont plan on placing anyfor a while.

Coming to a conclusion that I want the tree to be remotely irrigated with no other permanent change to the land (besides the tree and permaculture to maximize retention of water), I realized water hauling is the only option. I can use my brothers rivian r1s for towing temporarily when hes off work (Charging the car is on me).

My brainstormed setup is:

Electric SUV with only 7,700 lb towing capacity

??? Trailer with axle that can withstand sloshing, highway speeds and offroad conditions

100 gallon water tank or IBC tote attached to this trailer

Hose reel and water pump, preferrably electric

Please feel free to critique the plan from macro to micro scale, ill take any guidance!

Thanks!

Tillage radish, will it actually improve soil or just cause a population boom in my gophers and moles and mice, etc?

Jerusalem artichokes and walking onions in my garden have turned out to be real “workhorses.” I planted them once, mulched them generously, and now they just pop up every year without any effort on my part. Jerusalem artichokes grow to enormous sizes, so they need to be pruned, but the harvest is simply amazing. Now I’m eager to add even more low-maintenance crops to my climate zones.

About 25 years ago, I was touring a number of Permaculture sites in the Pacific Northwest (USA). At least one site had a cob-built rocket stove for indoor heating, and I think there was another site with a cob/rocket pizza oven. In the years since, everything I've looked into concerning rocket stoves seems to indicate that they can't work as well as what I observed.

I enjoyed a good meal on a cold day in a room heated by a few sticks in a cob oven, but almost everything I read about rocket stoves says that they don't work as well as this. What have you here experienced with rocket stoves?

Bonjour, concrètement je recherche un terrain pour faire de la permaculture. Cependant je ne sais pas si il est préférable que je loue un terrain ou que je l'achète. Ça serait pour essayer et voir si cela me convient pour après potentiellement démissionner et essayer de vivre de manière simple, est-ce que vous avez eu ce cas ? Et si oui quel est le mieux merci pour vos retour. ( j'hésitais également à avoir un terrain avec une partie constructible et l'autre non )

TLDR: less stressful to transplant on a suboptimal moon phase vs keeping fruit trees out of the ground 2 weeks longer in a drought ?

In general I’ve seen positive results using lunar timing strategies as is common here in Costa Rica. My question is that I have 4 grafted fruit trees ready to transplant into the ground. Is it better to wait 2 weeks for optimal lunar timing or should I just get them in the ground asap. FWIW we have record drought right now and though I will care intensely for transplants, it’s going to be a big stress for them. Just trying to weigh what is the least stress.

I’m looking to build in a very moist climate where adobe and cob would take forever to dry. I read that wattle and daub would be a better construction choice for the environment. But it looks like there are only two books on Amazon on this technique, compared to the many dozens of books on other natural building methods. Why is this? Does wattle and daub have a dark side I don’t know about?