i will always have sprouts in the making, for the rest of my life. these are mung sprouts. my first ever. this is shana with my permaculture teacher doug. doug in from cincinatti. doug shana and her 2 children and i spent christmas together and ate amazing food. shana is a great cook

this is a picture of a swale and the very beginning of a food forest. so this land is sloped. what we did is dug a 1 meter deep hole , about 2 meters wide and however long, and threw all the dirt into a mound. trees and nitrogen fixing plants are planted on the mound. the water the flows down the land collects in the swale and penetrates into the ground. and also, the water reflects the sun onto the tress creating a micro climate.

this is me nervously explaing a compost toilet system for the permaculture design project i recently finished

i was in charge of designing the compost, compost toilet, food forest, and windbreak. here i was explaing how on this land the wind was coming from the west and that i would recomend a windbreak consisting of small shrubs, then slightly taller shrubs , then a tall tree then another medium sized shrub then a smaller tree so the windbreak would be triangular and better block the wind.

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the idea is for everything to have alteast 3 functions. a plant can fix nitrogen, be edible, and a be good mulching crop. this would be a permaculture plant.

permaculture design course is coming to a close

tomarrow is the last day of the 2 week course. the past few days we have been in groups of 4 and 5 working on our final design project. alot of time has been spent on the project. i was the designer of the forest garden, windbreak, compost, and compost toilet. a couple hours ago all the groups had to present theire designs. when it was my turn to talk i got pretty nervous and it was obvious. but public speaking is something that i need to get over. tomarrow is the graduation. im still not sure where i will be going after the course.
over these past 2 weeks i have been inspired to try to get more invlolved with my community. because i feel like the town i grew up in is not doing well in the way of enviormental issues. but i now have some confidence to take the small steps that need to be taken to improve upon it.

its been a while, huh

so, ive really been buisy. i was doing a work exchange a few weeks ago and the guy i was staying with told me about a 2 week permaculture class going on a couple hours south, do i decided to go. i am here now, today was day 8 of the course. we learned about worm composting, building swales, food forests, microclimates, natural building techniques, and lots of other things. we made a compost heap that wasnt heating up so i put a big jug in the bathroom that people have been filling up , and ive been dumping the urine on the pile to increase the nitrogen.

we have been eating very well, 3 organic meals a day. my teacher, doug, is from ohio. i am becoming more inspired everyday and everynight i dream of permaculture related things. i have been thinkg about spending time in south america when i get back. after i hang out with my family for a while of course.

i will now go eat dinner

kapoooooooka

the past week or so has been great. everyday toivo, hilco and i load up the truck with trees and spend the day walking throught the forest garden planting trees. the website for this place is. www.sustainableforestgardenfarmproject.weebly.com

in 30 minutes or so i am being picked up by joao and we are going to sintra portugal where we will be for 2 weeks taking a permaculture course.

more to come later !!!!

15 acre forest garden

i am staying with a english couple who has been living here in portugal for 10 years. the have a 15 acre forest garden. its amazing. ill write more about it later.

i got sick

yesturday a friend of chris s left some pasta and soup for us. we ate it for dinner, and i ate a piece of chicken by accident that was in it. i havent eaten meat for 2 years. this morning i woke up feeling grosss. a couple hours later i threw up. im all better now

moving on

for the past 2 weeks i have been staying with chris ripley and helping him with his straw bale house. to check out the project go to www.quintadosmelros.org its been wonderfull working with him. i learned alot. now i can install a tounge and groove wood floor, lay down tiles, plaster with lime puddy, and a few other things. tomarrow he will be dropping me off at a friend of his place where they have a 7 hectare forest garden. i will stay there for a little more than a week and help them out, then i will go to southern portugal and take a 2 week permaculture course.