tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6513142607005636242024-02-28T14:26:22.771+01:00Path to Self SufficiencyHeikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.comBlogger322125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-74884012669957982642014-08-25T18:48:00.000+02:002014-08-25T18:48:20.463+02:00European Permaculture Convergence in Bulgaria<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As promised here comes my report from the European Permaculture Convergence, which took place from the 25th to the 30th of July on the shores of Lake Batak in the Rhodopi Mountains of Bulgaria. Apologies for the delay in reporting back, we traveled for another 3 weeks after the event.<br />
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The setting was an eco-camping site in an area of great natural beauty. 280 participants from over 25 countries showed up. It became some sort of hybrid between a conference and a festival. Days started with a morning circle, usually led by maverick Mr. Bulgarian Permaculture, Misho.<br />
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The first task was to organise the workshops in an open space format. <br />
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That meant anyone was invited to stand up and propose a workshop, announce it, find a time and a space for it. So you wrote your proposal on a piece of paper...<br />
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and announced it. There could be joint proposals.<br />
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The person proposing the workshop did not have to be an expert in the field, but perhaps simply wanting to know more about the subject, but they were responsible for the running of the workshop they proposed. Some 200 workshops were thus soon on the board.<br />
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Then the serious business began of running and/or attending those workshops. Of course I ran a foraging walk together with 'Extreme Salad Man' and perennial vegetable expert Stephen Barstow. We complemented each other well. The biodiversity in the Rhodopi Mountains is so great that during a 2 hour foraging walk we only managed to move about 200m away from the camp.<br />
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Other workshops explored subjects like 'Money - do we need it? How do we get it?'<br />
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The next big step for permaculture into the mainstream:<br />
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How to make rich earth seedling pots with practical demonstrations:<br />
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How to use music in permaculture teaching run by Peter Cow and attended by the inimitable Charlie McGee and his ukulele of the Formidable Vegetable Sound System. More of both of them in the video at the end.<br />
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<br />Other workshops got quite heated as we discussed sociocracy and the state of politics in Bulgaria as the government had just resigned days before the convergence (a sign?)<br />
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Other workshops explored permaculture games, talked about biodynamic growing, education, etc., new networks were formed, especially across the Balkans and so it went on. <br />
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In the end each workshop presented their results on some paper and hung it up in the gallery for all to see.<br />
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For our bodily needs an excellent team of cooks provided us with 3 excellent and varied vegan meals each day. I thought I'd get bored with vegan after 5 days, but these guys did well.<br />
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Finally, after an intense 5 days, it was time for the closing circle. What had we learned? What were we going to do next? Everyone felt inspired and newly motivated, especially many of the Balkan participants who had, for lack of a network, felt rather isolated before this event.<br />
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As for my next plans? Yes I did get up and announce them. On the last night I had a drunken conversation with a fellow wine lover and we bemoaned the fact that wine generally came from monocultures. And that there is precious little information out there on applying permaculture principles to viticulture. Milcho, that was his name, then revealed to me that he wants to restore an old vineyard belonging to his grandparents. And so a new project was born. I'm intending to fill the knowledge gap and research the <b>permaculture vineyard </b>and<b> </b>plan to write a book on it. As soon as I announced it I had a couple of people approach me immediately with some useful contacts. So watch this space.<br />
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Now finally I hear you say, didn't he mention something about festival as well? Abso-bloody-lutely. I present to you 'EUPC -The Full Movie'. Ok it's 35 minutes long, but it's got a lot of good music and celebration on it:<br />
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<br />Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-86105805576892042112014-07-18T16:53:00.000+02:002014-07-18T16:53:48.332+02:00Terracing above the Pond<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Some of my loyal followers may remember me talking at length about <a href="http://pathtoselfsufficiency.blogspot.it/2012/07/designing-pond-permaculture-way.html" target="_blank">how to design a pond the permaculture way</a> some 2 years ago. The most ardent followers may even remember us digging with a bunch of helpers. You may be forgiven if you think that this pond surely by now is well up and running, flourishing and teeming with wildlife. However... In permaculture design we use the SADIMET model: Survey, Analysis, Design, Implementation, Evaluation, Tweaking. Yes, and now we are at the tweaking stage. First of all the trick to grow clover in the base of the pond to seal it didn't work. Secondly, the area above the pond site was still too steep and subsequent landslides filled in much of what we had previously dug out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So first of all we had to secure the area above by terracing it. Luckily we've been having plenty of helpers around. First and foremost may I present you with our long-term helper for the summer, non other than Jaap, the son of <a href="http://pathtoselfsufficiency.blogspot.it/2013/05/in-fond-memory.html" target="_blank">Conspiracy Cousin, Buddha Barti, who had been living with us until his untimely demise</a> last year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Regular readers might see the resemblance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Anyway we also had some short term helpers and despite the heat we built some terraces above the pond using old palettes as support. Zosia and Igor from Poland helped during the first stage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And Marianna from... well actually she's a bit confused... French, American, Italian, English? Anyway, I knew her from one of the permaculture courses I helped to teach.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Next step is to excavate the pond a bit more again and this time we'll try lining it with cat litter made from pure bentonite to keep the water in. If that works, we'll start planting. We're off to the European Permaculture Convergence in Bulgaria next week, from which I'll be reporting back. Jaap in the meantime will hold the fort back at the ranch with a couple of friends of his.</span>Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-53650620231459539042014-07-12T15:55:00.002+02:002014-07-12T15:55:59.796+02:00Playing with mud<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Weeelllll.... I'm shamefacedly looking at my feet for not having posted anything for almost a year... you know... we've been traveling here and there... from Bulgaria to Italy to Ireland to Germany to Italy... To those of you following my blog regularly, and amazingly despite my lack of recent posts the numbers seem to go up, yes we are still looking for new pastures. Although maybe not in Bulgaria as we had recently planned, but kind of the opposite end of the continent in Ireland. But nothing is certain yet, so at the moment we're still in Italy (at least for the last 3 weeks and the coming 10 days, after which we'll head to Bulgaria).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, were to begin? An explanation for my muddy feet would be a good way to start. What I'm really dreaming of, as and when we finally find that ideal plot of land at the best location, is to build my own house there. It's quite a daunting task if you have never constructed as much as a dog shed and just glean your knowledge from a couple of books and some pretty pictures on the web. So when my good friend Giorgio, one of the fellow participants of my permaculture course a couple of years ago, sent me an e-mail saying he was organising a 5-day introductory course in cob building, I didn't need much convincing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The course was held at an Ashram in Eastern Italy (I won't reveal their exact location, as their building is being built illegally) by Koenraad Roggenman and James Thomson from <a href="http://housealive.org/" target="_blank">House Alive</a> all the way from Oregon. Koen, who is a fellow Dutchman, has had 15 years experience in building and teaching building with cob. It was a hugely inspiring workshop and I was amazed at how easy building with this material actually is. I mean, even <b>I</b> could do it!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is at the beginning of the workshop. There were 9 participants and 2 helpers as well as the two teachers. The helpers had laid the foundations before our arrival. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First we learned different cob-mixing techniques. The ingredients are clay, of which there were abundant quantities around at a very pure form, sand, straw and water. The traditional method simply involves squidging the ingredients around a tarpaulin with your bare feet. Very satisfying!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The faster but more upper-body strength intensive method involves lifting the tarpaulin and treading and kicking it from the outside as demonstrated by our teachers here:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Then we got building. It's just so easy! Here's me working on a shelf or bench, built into the wall. You simple sculpt around it:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And in this short period we learned much more. We learned how to make earthen plaster:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We were even encouraged to make some quite artistic plasterwork:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And we learned how to make earthen floors:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In those 5 days, with all the other lectures and practice sessions in between, 10 of us working maybe 3-4 hours on site per day managed to build the wall of a 20m2 house to the height of about a metre. Given that the wall is 50cm thick, I reckon that's pretty good progress. There is a second workshop on that site starting today with 25 students lasting for 10 days. If they don't manage to finish the walls, they are a bunch of woossies in my opinion! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Whilst I might not be quite ready to build an entire house from scratch on my own at this particular point in time, this workshop has been really inspiring and confidence boosting. I will start with a couple of little projects around our house in Italy and Coen said he'd be open for further invitations from Europe to organise a workshop if and when we find our spot in Ireland (or wherever...)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the meantime I really enjoyed my time playing in the mud... :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And I promise I will write another post real soon about what's been happening at our land back in Italy as well as report on The European Permaculture Convergence in Bulgaria, where we will be heading soon.</span></div>
Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-65294433652993852712013-09-19T16:43:00.002+02:002013-09-19T16:43:54.096+02:00Planting Trees and Asparagus BedFirst of all apologies to all my blogging friends for not frequenting or commenting on their blogs, my internet connection is a little difficult what with us having no electricity where we are still camping in Rozovets, Bulgaria, being dependent on the good will of the local bar to re-charge the laptop, but the connection there being extremely slow. Whilst when in the nearby provincial town the connection is faster, but I'm limited in time until my battery runs out again. So here come the latest news from the Rozovets project:<br />
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At the end of September we visited the plant sale at the <a href="http://www.balkep.org/" target="_blank">Balkan Ecology Project in Shipka</a>, about hour's drive north of us and purchased some plants for Vasko's land. This is a great permaculture project run by an English family and their Bulgarian neighbours. I might get around showing you some pics from there too some time soon. Anyway, what we bought and subsequently planted is this:<br />
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A pea tree <i>caragna brevispina</i>. This is a nitrogen fixing tree growing up to 20 metres high producing edible pea-like pods. Although it grows quite tall, it is slender with light foliage and doesn't throw too much shade.<br />
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A Cornelian cherry <i>cornus mas</i>. A shade tolerant shrub, small tree producing delicious cherry-like fruit.<br />
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A Japanese quince <i>chaenomeles speciosa. </i>Another shade-tolerant shrub producing quince-like fruit.<br />
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Autumn olive <i>elaeagnus umbellate.</i> A nitrogen fixing small tree producing delicious and nutritious berries in late autumn.<br />
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A sea buckthorn <i>hippophae ramnoides. </i>Another nitrogen fixing shrub which makes an excellent wind break and produces berries rich in vitamins and minerals.<br />
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2 chocolate vines <i>akebia quinata.</i> A climber producing edible leaves and fruit. The leaves make a good addition to the salad bowl, while the fruit has a delicate sweet flavour. Can also be grown as a ground cover.<br />
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A dewberry <i>rubus caesius.</i> A small shrub which functions as a ground cover in shady areas, producing small edible berries.<br />
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We also bought some asparagus plants, the variety being 'Washington'. We've seen them in Shipka and they grow to an enormous size. It was recommended to keep them indoors over the winter before planting them, but as we have nowhere to put them we chanced it and made a nice 'lasagne bed' for them on a sunny spot. We put cardboard mulch down, topped by cow shit and finally a thick layer collected from the pine forest above of a mixture of pine needles and horse shit. We lined the bed with bottles of wine mostly consumed by ourselves during our stay, but as you can see, we still have some way to go... </div>
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Finally in the medicinal herb bed the liquorice is doing well (also purchased at the plant sale).<br />
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And the bits where we haven't planted anything in particular yet we have sown some green manure, such as in this case, buckwheat, which is growing rapidly and already in flower:</div>
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<span id="goog_1497972271"></span><span id="goog_1497972272"></span><br />Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-61901993105425243692013-08-23T13:25:00.001+02:002013-08-23T13:28:20.008+02:00Hobo Rocket Stove<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2BzdqsRRIjMVV4WOcJFggnDhsHknHRt5qdXYfjn5giQFm620rMHck3HCUrQxi-XYTvAMWNKtpobSKCSG8Sphtyxir76HWpAEUTY3EwHWZ9hDlzAVijczxWD6hQgVOhffKWGlnWqPaEw/s1600/DSC00450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2BzdqsRRIjMVV4WOcJFggnDhsHknHRt5qdXYfjn5giQFm620rMHck3HCUrQxi-XYTvAMWNKtpobSKCSG8Sphtyxir76HWpAEUTY3EwHWZ9hDlzAVijczxWD6hQgVOhffKWGlnWqPaEw/s400/DSC00450.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
Like London buses, so with my blog posts: None turn up for ages than you get two in a row. But I just wanted to share this little project with you, that we did yesterday: a hobo rocket stove. It is simplicity in itself. This is how we did it:<br />
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<ol>
<li>We took a dog food tin kindly donated by Eddie, the Beagle and cut open the bottom end as well as the top end (removing the dog food of course, which was appreciatively gulped down by said beagle). </li>
<li>We took a 5litre olive oil can which we got from our recent trip to Greece and emptied it's contents into other containers.</li>
<li>Wearing heavy duty gloves (!) and using a simple tin opener off my multi-tool implement, we cut a hole the size of the dog food tin in the narrow side, near the bottom and stuck said tin about halfway inside.</li>
<li>Still wearing said gloves and using the same tool, we then proceeded to cut another hole in the top, a bit larger than the other hole.</li>
<li>Next we stuffed a little straw into Eddies tin, top by a few small dry twigs.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3Tcfbf6UF1BP2ZP3OayiQdkaJqacJGf5DGUGAiLzUQXH7109r4kTylQZXuhBCfLvS1dl-_QWyX471CxKR2Mz9jPfTtq2IZnY5zX6iiFwdko6g8qhdOJUR5MCtD5BCY1J_b0gqWx7a5k/s1600/DSC00451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3Tcfbf6UF1BP2ZP3OayiQdkaJqacJGf5DGUGAiLzUQXH7109r4kTylQZXuhBCfLvS1dl-_QWyX471CxKR2Mz9jPfTtq2IZnY5zX6iiFwdko6g8qhdOJUR5MCtD5BCY1J_b0gqWx7a5k/s400/DSC00451.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
Finally the test: we lit the straw with a standard cigarette lighter, although matches may also have performed the same job and put a small saucepan with approximately 1/2 litre of water on top.<br />
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I set a stopwatch from the moment we lit the fire and kept feeding it with small twigs. All in all just a small handful was used and within a mere 11 minutes the water was boiling!<br />
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And this picture perfectly demonstrates why it works so well and why they call it a rocket stove:<br />
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The fire literally rockets out of the back of the small tin and then upwards, creating a lot of heat very quickly. This will makes us our daily coffee at least now and save us on camping gas from non-renewable containers.<br />
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So now we're cooking hobo style:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/M1Faw2fQU3Q" width="420"></iframe><br />Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-12587988779329232612013-08-22T14:38:00.002+02:002013-08-23T12:07:46.616+02:00Keyhole Bed for Medicinal Plants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSm6tFMSfAEQnCME4fGdgiGLFH9TONNLz66TILxgNApBVkBXz_EWmPdxL4kRsp6rm0wz_u8JfhxUHHO5DDI73u2wwzRvi1Hus7wJQSSe2UglXgrPBAuBQUNo-g4EUdFuuHO3ScFUn30I/s1600/DSC00448.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSm6tFMSfAEQnCME4fGdgiGLFH9TONNLz66TILxgNApBVkBXz_EWmPdxL4kRsp6rm0wz_u8JfhxUHHO5DDI73u2wwzRvi1Hus7wJQSSe2UglXgrPBAuBQUNo-g4EUdFuuHO3ScFUn30I/s400/DSC00448.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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We have now camped on Vasko's land in Rozovets, Bulgaria for over a month and are well finished with the survey and analysis of the land and finished the design starting to implement the first permanent design elements. Vasko's wife Elka has a keen interest in medicinal plants and so one of the elements which we have already put in place is a keyhole bed for medicinal herbs. The keyhole bed is a classical permaculture design, which is both space saving and pleasing to the eye. The idea is that you plan a large round bed with a space free in the centre, so that the wide bed is accessible from either side without the need to step on the bed itself.<br />
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From the soil analysis we gathered that we he have two distinctly different soils: 1) the lower, southern part, which has a reasonable depth of sandy silt over a layer of chalk and possibly some clay a bit deeper down. The ph is pretty much neutral and it is low in nitrogen and magnesium. 2) the higher northern part with almost no topsoil to speak of, just a rock hard chalky surface.<br />
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We decided to place the keyhole bed on the northern side, at the border between zones 1 and 2 in relation to where we intend to construct the strawbale house next spring, with the entrance pointing north for easiest acces from the house and also therefore having the path at the postion where there will potentially be the most shade from the plants. So one of the first considerations was to create some topsoil, but first we wanted to outline the area and level it.<br />
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The dimensions of the bed are an outside diameter of 4 metres and an inside diameter of 1.2 metres. That way the bed has a width of 1.4 metres all around and can easily be accessed from both sides with a reach of 70cm. We had already dug a swale (more about that on another post), so we wanted it to fit below that. With a stake in the centre and a piece of string of the appropriate length we measured the outer circle. Then with an A-frame we measured a level diameter and placed stones around the lower perimeter with the stones from the mysterious stone-walled hole we found on the property. <br />
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Next we dug the soil from the higher end to the lower end to level the bed, a difficult and bone-breaking job, given the aforementioned hardness of the ground. We then completed the stone circle, leaving a gap of 60cm at the northern end for the path. Next we measured the inner circle, lined it with stones and connected the two circles to give a small path into the centre.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOI_72_JyPMsUdJNVOOglSjMFhyFnHZNEn-r5CpobxlAcOvoa7PnX0oy6iky9lDvOtGVhWivpnCnm9xMClHy1nY-bdwZ9HxPCBvlmWIuwSR-yHD_mETfIr7OgkcIOCWyN_jevBbGp6y8o/s1600/DSC00370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOI_72_JyPMsUdJNVOOglSjMFhyFnHZNEn-r5CpobxlAcOvoa7PnX0oy6iky9lDvOtGVhWivpnCnm9xMClHy1nY-bdwZ9HxPCBvlmWIuwSR-yHD_mETfIr7OgkcIOCWyN_jevBbGp6y8o/s400/DSC00370.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now we were ready to make some soil, having also loosened the subsoil somewhat. First we covered the area with some weed cuttings from the land to form a thick mulch. The countryside above the land is mostly grazing land for cows, sheep and at least two herds of wild horses, so we went on numerous trips up the hill with a bucket and spade to collect their offerings and pile it on top of the mulch. Meet some of our generous donours...<br />
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And this was the result of our efforts so far. We also added an old hollow tree trunk we found, which adds a little height.<br />
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Finally we topped it all with some shop bought compost, as we haven't produced any of our own yet, and started planting and sowing some things, such as the hyssop in the foreground:<br />
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and the cowslip in the tree trunk:<br />
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For a full list of the herbs planned, see below. We have also started enjoying the fruits of our labours, such as these delicious sweet and seedless grapes, more than we could eat, so we are attempting to dry them in the garage, protected by mosquito netting so the wasps don't get to them<br />
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And these small purple figs:</div>
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Now for the list of medicinal plants for those of you that interested. I separated them into shade-tolerant and sun-loving plants and listed them more or less in descending order of height, the idea being to put the tallest shade tolerant plants on the northern side and the lower sun-loving plants on the south, if that makes sense. I'm also giving the Latin names, their chief medical properties and other uses, as in permaculture every element should fulfill multiple functions.</div>
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<b>Shade-tolerant plants:</b></div>
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<li>Lovage <i>levisticum officinale</i> - skin and digestion aid - edible, makes a good addition to soups with a celery like flavour<b> </b></li>
<li>Purple Loosestrife <i>lythrum salicaria</i> - wound herb, soothes sore throats - bee plant</li>
<li>Burdock <i>artcium lappa -</i> skin problems, anti-bacterial, rheumatism - edible root, dynamic accumulator</li>
<li>Comfrey <i>symphtum officiale </i>- bruises, sprains, broken bones, chest complaints - edible leaves, dynamic accumulator, bee plant</li>
<li>Sweet Cicely <i>myrrhis odorata</i> - diuretic, aids digestion, antiseptic - edible leaves</li>
<li>Clary Sage <i>salvia sclarea </i>- eyes, tonic, menopause - bee plant</li>
<li>St. John's Wort <i>hypericum perforatum </i>- skin, burns, anti-depressant - leaves and seeds as tea substitute</li>
<li>Peppermint <i>mentha x piperita </i>- digestion, headaches, colds - edible leaves, tea, ground cover</li>
<li>Yarrow <i>achillea millefolium </i>- blood stemming, menstrual problems, influenza - edible leaves, dynamic accumulator</li>
<li>Borage <i>borago officinalis </i>- blood circulation, rheumatism, anti-depressant - edible leaves and flowers, bee plant</li>
<li>Chamomile <i>anthemis nobilis </i>- calming, digestion, colds - ground cover, tea, dispels pests</li>
<li>Bergamot <i>monarda didyma </i>- antiseptic - edible leaves, tea, bee plant</li>
<li>Lady's Mantle <i>alchemilla xantochlora </i>- menstrual problems - ground cover</li>
<li>Red Clover <i>trifolium pratense </i>- PMT, menopause - ground cover, nitrogen fixing, edible leaves and flowers</li>
</ul>
<b>Sun-loving plants:</b><br />
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<li>Liquorice <i>glycyrrhiza glabra </i>- stomach ulcers, hepatitis, insect repellent - edible roots, dynamic accumulator</li>
<li>Centaury <i>centaurium erythrea </i>- stomach, liver, gallbladder - bee plant</li>
<li>Mullein <i>verbascum densiflorum - </i>ear infections, coughs, pulmonary problems - bee plant, dynamic accumulator</li>
<li>Tansy <i>tanacetum vulgare </i>- digestion, expels worms, rheumatism - edible leaves</li>
<li>Hyssop <i>hyssoppus officinale - </i>antiseptic, tonic - edible leaves, bee plant</li>
<li>Fennel <i>foeniculum vulgare </i>- digestion, anti-bacterial - edible leaves and seeds</li>
<li>Fenugreek <i>trigonella foenum- graecum </i>- digestion, lowering cholesterol - edible seeds, dynamic accumulator</li>
<li>Lavender <i>lavendula angustifolia - </i>calming, headaches - bee plant, used in perfumery</li>
<li>Sage <i>salvia officinalis </i>-colds, coughs, tooth whitener - edible leaves, bee plant</li>
<li>Feverfew <i>tanacetum parthenium </i>- migraines, fevers - attracts pollinators</li>
<li>Lemon balm <i>melissa officinalis </i>- depression, cold sores, insect repellent - edible leaves, tea, bee plant</li>
<li>Nasturtium<i> tropaoelum majus </i>- respiratory complaints - edible leaves and flowers, ground cover</li>
<li> Marigold <i>calendula officinalis </i>- skin complaints - edible leaves and flowers, dispels certain harmful nematodes</li>
<li>Cowslip <i>primula veris </i>- anti-axiety, cramps, blood thinner - edible leaves and flowers, bee plant</li>
<li>Thyme <i>thymus officinalis </i>- anti-septic, coughs - edible leaves, bee plant, ground cover</li>
<li>Purslane <i>portulaca oleracea </i>- high in omega 3 acids, skin complaints - edible leaves, ground cover</li>
</ul>
Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-698984716948141572013-08-11T11:31:00.001+02:002013-08-11T11:31:07.508+02:00Visiting Other Projects<div style="text-align: left;">
While traveling around Europe recently we took the opportunity to visit a couple of other projects for new inspiration and connect with friends. On our way to Bulgaria we took the scenic route via Hungary and visited my friend Kristina in the village of NagyszƩkely (don't ask me how to pronounce it, the Hungarian language remains a closed book for me) some 70km south of Lake Balaton.</div>
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I know Kristina from my Permaculture Design Course in Italy and she shares her time between Budapest and this village, where she participates in the activities of a small community. It is a very rural area in a gently hilly country and 10 families within the village have got together to form a small community bound by their common interest in permaculture. It's not so much an eco-village, but a naturally grown community. It now attracts visitors from all over Europe and other parts of Europe willing to experience their way of life.</div>
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Kristina works a great garden with a great bio-diversity, using techniques such as companion planting and mulching. She also has a few beautifully creative elements such as this 'willow tent'. From the outside it looks like an ordinary shrub...</div>
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...but if you creep in through the gap, you are in a wonderfully secluded shelter:</div>
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We also visited a few other members of the community. My favourite one was a tour of a food forest by one of Kristina's neighbours (her name escapes me just now).<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Around every corner, something new and productive turned up, a mixture of annuals and perennials, vegetables, fruit, herbs, grains. Her enthusiasm was infectious and the forest truly inspiring. I leave you with another few images:</div>
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This week we visited another project in Greece in the seaside town of Pefkohori in the Chalkidiki of Northern Greece by my blogger friend Mary. She has followed my blog for some years, but unfortunately her English garden blog has been inactive for some time. Nevertheless, we have stayed in contact and exchanged seeds.</div>
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The garden she works together with her parents has some big challenges. For a start they don't have much money to spare. The soil is very poor and near the sea (500m). The summers are very dry. Although they've had the property for 35 years, running water has only been installed 2 years ago and they still don't have electricity and for shelter they have a small self-built house. So she has been experimenting a lot with drought resistant heirloom vegetables and they collect the little rainwater off their roof in a large storage tank. Keeping ground-covering plants plants to improve the soil is difficult for them for two reasons: giving shelter to venomous snakes and fire hazard. A wild fire last year only stopped 500 metres from the property, narrowly averting disaster.</div>
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Mary's elderly parents still very much enjoy working the land, the father usually busy with some project or other around the house, the mother watering the plants:</div>
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I love the way Mary experiments with different types of seeds. Here she has sown sesame for seed production, which I never realised what a beautiful plant this is:</div>
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This is a really interesting long Chinese bean variety:</div>
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Also this year they started keeping rabbits for food production and chickens are planned for next year. Mary made the cage herself from recycled materials:</div>
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After enjoying a few days of Greek hospitality and a few dips in the sea we returned to Bulgaria, more of which soon. Thank you Kristina and Mary for your hospitality... :)</div>
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Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-86690428659628235952013-07-23T16:09:00.000+02:002013-07-23T16:09:05.343+02:00Organising the Essentials<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Rain seemed to have been a feature of our recent travels. We've traveled the length and breadth of Europe, mostly on family commitments, and every time we crossed a border it started raining soon after. First eastbound from Italy into Slovenia, then Croatia. The brief crossing through Serbia remained dry and most of our first stay in Bulgaria. As we headed west again the rain followed us through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and back into Italy. In Switzerland it rained, and in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and in England. When we returned to rainy Holland we were told there was a heatwave there, while we were in rainy England. Now we are finally back in Bulgaria and... apparently it never happens here in July... but, rain. Proper rain! It absolutely bucketed it down on Sunday. But luckily we had shelter in the shape of a garage.<br />
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On the latest leg of our travels we have been joined by Alex, who had helped look after our land back in Italy for the last couple of months. Now we just left Maiemi in charge of our home affairs.<br />
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Before getting into proper permaculture design of the land, initial plans include a strawbale house amongst other things, we needed to make our stay a bit more comfortable for the more immediate future. So first projects we tackled addressed our more basic needs: food storage, disposal of human excrements and hot showers to clean ourselves after a long days work in the sunshine. Yes, after the big storm the sun came out again, baking us.<br />
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For food storage we made a very simple mini-fridge made from 2 terracotta pots half-buried in the ground with a layer of sand between them, which is kept moist. The evaporation will cool the contents of the inner pot which is covered with a terracotta lid. It's small but it keeps our fantastic Bulgarian yoghurt (the BEST in the world!) and feta cheese cool even on the hottest days.<br />
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Then came the more urgent task of constructing a toilet. We had plenty of material and our need was great. So we decided to build a temporary mobile compost toilet, before making any final design decisions on a more permanent solution. So first of all we dug a hole and stuffed some straw inside:<br />
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Then, to make it all a bit more comfortable, also in view of Vasko and his family joining us soon, we built quite an elaborate portable seat. That way, once we have filled this particular hole, we can can dig another hole and carry the whole structure to the new location and plant a tree in the old crap hole. Here is the process:<br />
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Material of a previous house was used to make a simple 4-legged structure.</div>
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We closed the top and attached a regular toilet seat for comfort. ...and finally the test...</div>
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...after we covered the front side for aesthetic reasons and put crosses on the other side for added stability, and moved it to its position above the above mentioned hole. All we need now is a privacy screen, which we will install before the family arrives.</div>
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To clean ourselves after a hard days work we rather wanted to have a hot shower. Running cold and colder water was the only luxury we had so far. So we were given a blue water barrel from Vasko's cousin, in fact two barrels. First task was to paint one of them black to absorb the sun's heat and therefore heat any water inside rapidly. After a few attempts to elevate the barrel and secure it at a height we finally decided to lower ourselves. We have an old leaking concrete water storage container, so we simply decided to clean that out, put the barrel on some old concrete posts and descend into the pit to have a shower, like so:</div>
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The eventual plan with that daft concrete container is to construct a greywater cleansing area, but more of that once we get to that point at the moment we are just trying to make the camp comfortable. Here is a view of the bathroom / toilet area, including full action pics of Susan trying out the shower!</div>
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Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-73136939064037044232013-05-31T16:23:00.001+02:002013-05-31T16:27:22.160+02:00In the meantime, back in Italy...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'll come back to the survey on the land in Bulgaria, but for the moment we are back in Italy and I thought I'll keep you all up-to-date on what's been happening in Italy in the meantime. The boys we left in charge have been working... well not that hard, but don't be too hard on them. The weather has been crap during the month we were away, unlike in Bulgaria where we had a month of sunshine and temperatures in the upper 20's, low 30's. So they couldn't really get out that much and that combined with the amounts of rain promoting the growth of weeds, it's tricky. Even the week we've been back, there were only really two half decent days to fight back the jungle, today being one of them.<br />
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Everything is late this year, the cherries, the plums, the figs, the pears, but on the plus side, all the trees and shrubs we planted in the food forest and elsewhere, as well as the potatoes, had a good watering in and survived happily and were glad to be freed from the encroaching weeds.<br />
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First priority was freeing the potato terraces and earthing them up. This is the higher potato terrace, which they share with the kiwis. One of the female kiwis died this winter, whilst Stud the male is coming down with flowers. The surviving female still is a bit shy, I hope she'll be put to shame by Jenny the bi-sexual kiwi (she used to call herself John...), which you can see in the foreground together with Ronaldo the fig tree.<br />
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The lower potato terrace was a creation by the late Bart inside the future food forest. Note the interesting zigzag line neatly avoiding Jenny (no relation) the Rotella apple tree, Arthur the autumn olive, Heike the gingko tree and Gina the Tuscan broom.<br />
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In other news in the food forest, Sally the service tree is doing is well:<br />
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...ably supported by Ellie the elaeagnus ebingeii (by supplying nitrogen)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaj7f6H2jvBfKEU_XBLAycUwTSGQeOTwGHqAxjZZbmEW8Y05k8t_6QRHxzDwNhz8qDeOeR6ZTopD0Hsj3tvoRpZJ673TZHjCxSRPZNLmg954GP6jQkdksuE5FR5bfzXLXWf2fYr5i0SQE/s1600/2013-05-31+12.53.56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaj7f6H2jvBfKEU_XBLAycUwTSGQeOTwGHqAxjZZbmEW8Y05k8t_6QRHxzDwNhz8qDeOeR6ZTopD0Hsj3tvoRpZJ673TZHjCxSRPZNLmg954GP6jQkdksuE5FR5bfzXLXWf2fYr5i0SQE/s400/2013-05-31+12.53.56.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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...and everything else survived including Conny the Cornelian cherry and Yukako the Japanese quince:<br />
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The future pond hasn't really progressed much, but Charity the mahonia is bearing edible fruit. Bet you didn't know you could eat the fruit of this plant which is usually grown for decorative purposes.<br />
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...and the milk thistles (<i>silibum marianum</i>) is thriving, a great medical plant for liver problems.</div>
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In final news, Paul the mulberry tree (Mull of Kintyre...) is already forming fruit despite still being in a pot rather that in it's final location the arbo-loo (a hole in the ground, where you shit in and afterwards plant a tree in). The reason it hasn't been planted yet is that the alternative to the arbo-loo, the compost toilet, has yet be constructed too. So the boys have their work cut out.<br />
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Wish them luck and better weather as we head off on another odyssey northwards on various family business. Oh and for those of you with an interest in wine as well as gardening and Italy, I have started a new blog on that subject where I share my wine adventures on my travels. <a href="http://thewineanarchist.blogspot.it/" target="_blank">Pop in on the Wine Anarchist and visit me there too!</a>Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-61383122333305938462013-05-19T16:24:00.000+02:002013-05-19T16:24:01.921+02:00S for Survey, P for Plants...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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To help with the design process for a permaculture garden I was taught a number of acronyms to remember what to do when. The first one is SADIMET, which stands for Survey, Analysis, Design, Maintenance, Implementation, Evaluation, Tweaking. So having done a base map of the garden in Rozovets, we are still way not ready to start any designing, let alone starting to do any altering work on the property. <br />
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If you are intending to design a place, first take a step or two back, slow down, hold your horses! The survey is the most important and time intensive part of your work, so it was good for us to spend some time on the plot for a while. One of the first things you observe also follows an acronym: PASTE, which stands for Plants, Animals, Structures, Tools, Events. So let's start with the survey of Vasko's plot in Rozovets with the P for Plants. Another acronym is used to indicate how frequent the plants occur: DAFOR, which stands for Dominant, Abundant, Frequent, Occasional, Rare. So I will put one of these letters after each plant name. Here comes the list in no particular order, with some of their uses:<br />
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Broad-leafed dock (D in places) - edible and nutrient accumulator<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSdTj0kIAdXFKoumEETOYjioSKpFGbhLN6XiO_REzlTz7VveXo5SEL7a5JoeVNxq1QHPekppTHGHUZK06_RlHtDakEiCpeQWth-nzLTOl0vpznUZOe16zmFALd9yrLjxCAJvL5JZ494hU/s1600/048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSdTj0kIAdXFKoumEETOYjioSKpFGbhLN6XiO_REzlTz7VveXo5SEL7a5JoeVNxq1QHPekppTHGHUZK06_RlHtDakEiCpeQWth-nzLTOl0vpznUZOe16zmFALd9yrLjxCAJvL5JZ494hU/s200/048.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
Dandelion (F) - edible, nutrient accumulator,medicinal, ground cover<br />
Mugwort (O) - edible, medicinal, nutrient accumulator<br />
Stinging nettles (O) - edible, medicinal, attracts beneficial insects<br />
Various grasses (D in places) - ground cover<br />
Mallow (A) - edible<br />
Wild raspberries (F) - edible<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO4i9JDvivcn88kee7FY8a8IDgGglgXZfhcic-O0HNFqS-VpzgbAbHGxvsAxqYxwZU9rkSeVnbJxFiYsMaz4EVSayeoqP2jKkxZJ00Jj3h_DO7TrtuWwWb79fWexgCy4kIzpV4SvGIAyU/s1600/050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO4i9JDvivcn88kee7FY8a8IDgGglgXZfhcic-O0HNFqS-VpzgbAbHGxvsAxqYxwZU9rkSeVnbJxFiYsMaz4EVSayeoqP2jKkxZJ00Jj3h_DO7TrtuWwWb79fWexgCy4kIzpV4SvGIAyU/s200/050.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
Rue (O) - medicinal, insect repellent. This herb is actually native to the Balkans!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTmwimyM6qisAMEEfPQEL0Bp0XDxSWTNptfBI3Rs5n-AiXd3PmGw29OrZCO5arK_xvpg3wolfpC-bezjdo1CQc77AyzjoHCaS0mVxLq9WZzjWnHkoXYh81zXSBoIUfUOyW3QYA_o33GU/s1600/052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTmwimyM6qisAMEEfPQEL0Bp0XDxSWTNptfBI3Rs5n-AiXd3PmGw29OrZCO5arK_xvpg3wolfpC-bezjdo1CQc77AyzjoHCaS0mVxLq9WZzjWnHkoXYh81zXSBoIUfUOyW3QYA_o33GU/s200/052.JPG" width="200" /></a>Vetch (D in places) - limited edible use, nitrogen fixing<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgscztPK49K8NYPkZr19BfubLdtCdYUTujlmnj3r2MrACBxHmU2-rWgiiWthIEVfMEmT4_tulhyxJlJlKZMpzDk0MhJcLHYLuiQ0JHOguFS9lMfgpx1uk3KQxEv5OOrgpfJVW7fxDVJyyw/s1600/042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgscztPK49K8NYPkZr19BfubLdtCdYUTujlmnj3r2MrACBxHmU2-rWgiiWthIEVfMEmT4_tulhyxJlJlKZMpzDk0MhJcLHYLuiQ0JHOguFS9lMfgpx1uk3KQxEv5OOrgpfJVW7fxDVJyyw/s200/042.JPG" width="200" /></a>Wild roses (F) - edible, bee attractant<br />
Red clover (A) - edible, nitrogen fixing, bee attractant<br />
Hemlock (O) - useful for knocking off you mother-in-law...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj97fx_i45FjGjGhStLkuAbNkA7fNX7K9wSxh26MVBS49XuwEGHStyx8COlFuM9W4ecBR9lRk53hZ5QiT3i9cymRE73a7V6XPutbApwlvmfy5MUj5-ihDuR_pubk2P2CNpx7SsBm4m2ELQ/s1600/049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj97fx_i45FjGjGhStLkuAbNkA7fNX7K9wSxh26MVBS49XuwEGHStyx8COlFuM9W4ecBR9lRk53hZ5QiT3i9cymRE73a7V6XPutbApwlvmfy5MUj5-ihDuR_pubk2P2CNpx7SsBm4m2ELQ/s200/049.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
Something from the mint family that looks like lemon balm, but smells more pungent (O)<br />
Bindweed (R)<br />
Hollyhock (O) - edible<br />
Tulips (F)<br />
Periwinkle (O) - medicinal<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvg79doXOrmNbQGdFEbs5uYxo5jCoMSTpHwX8NW6h4LQbCkMoHxeTXDUi0IGuhnMh98zfmwYlXdAuUFbWRNMNisRCJD1Zbo0d6ZpvETJHGX0BDoSHfBrLhntu8O9TF74YqiZXX-gjQsxs/s1600/054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvg79doXOrmNbQGdFEbs5uYxo5jCoMSTpHwX8NW6h4LQbCkMoHxeTXDUi0IGuhnMh98zfmwYlXdAuUFbWRNMNisRCJD1Zbo0d6ZpvETJHGX0BDoSHfBrLhntu8O9TF74YqiZXX-gjQsxs/s200/054.JPG" width="200" /></a>Wood sorrel (F)- edible, nutrient accumulator<br />
Burdock (O) - edible, medicinal, nutrient accumulator<br />
Various walnut, cherry and wild plum seedlings (F)<br />
Goosegrass (O) - edible<br />
Sweet violets (O) - edible, medicinal<br />
Wild lettuce (R) - medicinal, halucinogenic<br />
Yarrow (O) - medicinal, edible, nutrient accumulator<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDeV773N4nh-Fm23Ft1PBKERoXzlYHOnt7KNynM1nkWpu82zpxGlqtpr-BXfkeEZTBx8QJ0Mvz-kAuXYIXh0pccD30OIR4qPi6sO92En-MvhlPXAUf7GPzeuihT2g24zVaYPVEeBXJn-4/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDeV773N4nh-Fm23Ft1PBKERoXzlYHOnt7KNynM1nkWpu82zpxGlqtpr-BXfkeEZTBx8QJ0Mvz-kAuXYIXh0pccD30OIR4qPi6sO92En-MvhlPXAUf7GPzeuihT2g24zVaYPVEeBXJn-4/s200/009.JPG" width="150" /></a>Bugloss (O) - edible, bee attractant <br />
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Bladder campion (O) - edible<br />
Some white flowering brassica (R) - edible<br />
Shepherd's purse (O) - Edible<br />
Cornflower (R) - edible, attracs beneficial insects.<br />
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So much for the plant survey. What we cold start doing without the need of designing or planning was chop down some of the plants for mulch and adding nutrient to the soil. Here is Susan in action with some great hoe-like implement we found at a local hardware shop.<br />
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We didn't get everything cleared during our time there, but about abthird is looking a lot more accessible for now.<br />
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Also many of the trees are diseased and we got going cutting out much of the dead wood:</div>
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<br />Finally, I discovered that the local grocery shop in the village sells seeds. We will now leave Bulgaria for a little while to come back in a month to finish the job, but we thought it would be nice to be able to harvest something when we do come back. So I prepared a little bed near the fron on the lowest part of the land and sowed some beans and raddishes. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8v2GS9FdzoGMT0mNKxxveR2O7iUNDXMty2OljJwt7uwyILDDRwz1iQg4wHXekGWRa3Wto2TL5Y7n7wPd-niAnUaZJOdaeHcbq2p13oM1H97I-JgQH1QhWv4RJShRBI_qDCFVgBlDZ7w/s1600/023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8v2GS9FdzoGMT0mNKxxveR2O7iUNDXMty2OljJwt7uwyILDDRwz1iQg4wHXekGWRa3Wto2TL5Y7n7wPd-niAnUaZJOdaeHcbq2p13oM1H97I-JgQH1QhWv4RJShRBI_qDCFVgBlDZ7w/s400/023.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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I wouldn't normally sow in such straight lines, but the hope is that the beans will climb up the fence. It's really more in hope that any serious expectations. If it stays as dry as it has been during the month we've been here, it's not likely to yield much at all. This is the variety bean I sowed:<br />
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We have managed to get our first harvest of cherries off the land before we left though and... The starlings nesting in an old street lamp above the land started flying just before our own departure. A good omen?<br />
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<br />Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-48322897365958726702013-05-13T18:51:00.001+02:002013-05-13T18:51:29.420+02:00Designing a garden in Bulgaria <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After the initial set back of loosing Bart at the very start of this project, Susan, Eddie the Beagle and myself returned to the village of Rozovets to set up camp and start designing a garden. The plan was that our friend Vasko let us use his land to camp on, work on, grow on, while him and his family were still in the UK. This way we could decide if we liked the country and , if we did, they would come back to their native soil and we'd start a small community living off the land. After what happened we were all over the place to start off with as you can imagine, but whatever else happens we decided to at least design a permaculture garden for Vasko and his family, who has been helping us a lot through the bureaucracy following Bart's death and also in memory of Bart, who died on this very spot.</div>
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So I will take you bit by bit through the design process. The garden is located in the small village of Rozovets on the egde where the Thracian Plain meets the Sredna Gora, right bang in the centre of Bulgaria, an area also known as the Valley of the Roses, because this area is responsible for 90% of the world's essential rose oil production. Just now it is the harvest time</div>
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The garden is located at an altitude of just over 500m a.s.l. at almost the highest point of the village. To the north, west and east the Sredna Gora hills rise, with no other villages until the northern flanks of these hills for some 20km or so. To the south the vista opens up to the Thracian Plain with the city of Plovdiv visible some 50km to the south and on a clear day the Rhodopi Mountains can be seen in the distance. The climate is therefore hot continental in the summer, with high humidity and some very cold winters, with severe frosts common.<br />
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Let me take you on a brief walk around the property if you've got 5 minutes to spare:<br />
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But first things first, I had to create a base map on which to base my design on. This is it here, giving a nice idea.<br />
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The whole property consists of about 750 m2. I have not yet drawn in the contour lines, but the north-eastern side is the highest point sloping down slightly towards the south-western. <br />
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So much for today. Next post I will put up the results of the PASTE survey as well the soil test and other factors which will help me make up my mind how to design this garden.<br />
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<br />Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-68769233753268985842013-05-05T15:09:00.000+02:002013-05-05T15:09:02.218+02:00In fond memory...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Most new beginnings start with an ending. This one was more dramatic then we expected. On day 2 of our stay in in Bulgaria my cousin Bart, the inimitable 'Conspiracy Cousin', suddenly died of a heart attack. He had lived with us for the last 2 1/2 years, worked with us, laughed with us, cooked for us, joked with us, admonished and adviced us, he became like a brother to me.<br />
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On the days that followed his death, as we struggled through the bureaucratic mess of having him cremated he kept sending us little messages. I'll leave you with a couple of them:<br />
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At least I'm sure he would have agreed with our choice of funeral director:<br />
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R.I.P. Bart</div>
Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-29811756187283520452013-04-20T15:31:00.000+02:002013-04-20T15:31:24.492+02:00A New Chapter... maybe...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Spring has finally sprung after a long and dreary winter. The oldest resident of our village, a 100 year old lady, says she has never seen such a wet winter in her lifetime! But last weekend the temperatures finally soared and flowers appear everywhere, the bees are buzzing and butterflies flutter by etc.<br />
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It's the time for a change for us too. Tomorrow we'll be off onto new shores. After struggling for years with the logistical problem of making the regular 10km journey to our land with virtually no money, battling landslides on our steep territory and earthquakes and various other disasters, we have decided to test the waters somewhere else. A good friend of mine has offered us the use of his land in Bulgaria. So the plan is to spend most of this summer there to design and start to implementing a permaculture design for this plot and at the same time test the country to see if we get on with another language / culture etc. Prices for land are very cheap there and we are thinking that with our 'advanced' years we can make our life easier by having the place where we grow our food on our doorstep. We also have various ideas of how we will try and make a living there, details of which I will reveal as they come.<br />
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As some of you may remember I visited Bulgaria last year, so I have already made some contacts, including within the permaculture community there. The soil is incredibly fertile and the nature is amongst the least spoiled in Europe.<br />
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"So what is happening to your project in Liguria?" I hear you ask. Well, for the time being we are keeping both our house and land and we have got a couple of guys keen to get their hands dirty looking after the place in the meantime. One of them is no lesser personage then 'Il Presidente' of the Dead Rooster Society The participants of my permaculture design course called themselves the Society of the Dead Roosters for reasons too complicated to explain, and Maiemi was unanimously voted for president. Unfortunately, he is also a little shy, so I haven't got a photo of him just now.<br />
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Maiemi will be assisted by another friend of ours Alex, who can be seen here doing his Tarzan impression<br />
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They are both keen to continue in the same vein as we have started the project, plus experimenting with their own ideas. Here is a final farewell shot of our land as it looks now<br />
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So next time you hear from me should be from Bulgaria, but I will of course keep an eye out for this project too. Now I've got to go and pack, so if you'll excuse me...Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-20928806191281506262013-03-19T19:31:00.000+01:002013-03-19T19:31:21.274+01:00Forgive me Blogger for I have sinned...It's been more than 2 months since my last confession... I know there have been complaints for my lack of blog posts, I hope you haven't all abandoned me. It's been a long, cold and wet winter. We've had snow <u><b>twice</b></u> this winter (much enjoyed by Eddie the Beagle and his brother Full):<br />
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...and there have been at least 3 catastrophic rainfall events this winter, the last just this week with many landslides in the area. Luckily there has been no major damage on our land, which shows we must have been doing something right. Finally spring is showing signs of winning (almond blossoms):<br />
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and today we have been busy adding to the food forest. On the soft fruit bed below the pond we planted 2 blackcurrants, 2 redcurrants and a white currant (all called John), 2 raspberries and a pink gooseberry:<br />
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The base of the bed is made up of my reverse Hugelkultur method, piling a load of old wood (mostly rotten oear and hazel prunings) on top of which we piled some soil from excavating the pond and some horse manure. In between the fruit bushes I sowed some clover to add nitrogen to the bed, as they are quite nitrogen hungry. The raspberries and the gooseberry are planted along the back of the bed as they prefer shady conditions in our climate.<br />
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Above the pond I planted Charity the mahonia "Charity". She is particularly shade tolerant, doesn't mind poor soil conditions and produces edible berries:<br />
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Meanwhie down in the food forest we added Sally the service tree (sorbus domestica), which is a tall growing native tree producing small pear shaped fruit, some excellent wood and a strong root system. She'll be the queen of the forest, once she grows up:<br />
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We also added two nitrogen-fixing plants: Mimi the mimosa, which attracts early pollinating insects with its profusion of yellow flowers in the spring (which according to some sources are also edible, although I find them bitter):<br />
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...and Gina the Tuscan broom, which also produces edible flower buds, has some medicinal properties, is useful for basketry and fixes soil, preventing landslides:<br />
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Not pictured is Jenny the self-fertile kiwi. I'm hoping that she will shame Stud the male kiwi into getting the female hayward kiwis to produce!<br />
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Finally we added to the tree guilds around Jennifer the Rotello apple tree and Declan the winter pear. Both had an artichoke added to their neighbourhood, which, apart from producing edible flower buds, makes a good ground cover and mulch. <br />
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That's it for the moment folks. I'll try not to leave such a large gap before the next post. New ventures beckon for us and I'll keep you posted. :)Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-16053105198757712592013-01-02T15:27:00.000+01:002013-01-02T15:27:10.523+01:00Creating a Forest Garden by Martin Crawford - a Book Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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First of all I hope that you all made it over the festive season and into the new year fine and wishing you all the best for 2013.<br />
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It is winter now, outside the wind is howling and the rain is lashing against the window, the perfect time to curl up with a book and plan the garden for the next season. This one is one of my latter acquisitions, very relevant to my creating a food forest on our land at the time and I've been after this book for a while.<br />
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After Robin Hart, the father of the food forest in a temperate climate, Martin Crawford is considered the authority on the subject. This book is a large, beautifully presented book that deals with a hugely complex subject. Like any book on gardening I have ever laid my hands on it has its shortcomings and you never quite find your exact situation described or find all the answers to your questions. It shows that much research still needs to be conducted on this particular subject as well.<br />
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But to its contents first. Part one deals with how a forest garden works. A long chapter goes on to argue about climate change, something which in my view does not need to be discussed in such detail in this place. Crawford first quotes evidence of climate change and then goes on to argue that, as a forest garden is a long term project, the effects of global warming need to be taken into consideration when choosing cultivars and species. I don't think that anyone in their right mind argues that climate change isn't happening, but in my opinion the consequences are far from predictable and simply assuming that it's going to get warmer soon is too simplistic a view. Individual micro-climates and local trends need to be taken into consideration and climate variation within a specific site. Looking at where we are for example, in just the 9 years that we have been here we have observed an ever increasing amount of extreme events, in particular catastrophic rain and more frequent frosts. If I'd be thinking I'll soon live in a semi-tropical climate my banana trees (had I planted any like one of my neighbours) would have died of frost bite one of these winters.<br />
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In this part Crawford also engages in the native versus exotics debate and he argues that exotics should be introduced for a healthy and divers system. I am very much in agreement with that. Without 'exotics' we wouldn't be eating potatoes, tomatoes, corn, rice etc. The list is endless. We should take whatever is useful to ourselves and our systems as long as they don't push natives from the scene completely. Plants have always followed migration routes of animals and humans.<br />
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Part 2 deals with how to design your forest garden. As any book on permaculture will tell you, this also tells you to start with making an accurate map of your plot, including existing trees and shrubs, structures etc. Now I have learned how to make a map at the Permaculture Design Course and have practised this skill in the meantime. What yet no one has been able to tell me, how can I make an accurate 3D map of my property, because this is the only way I can think of presenting the 18 odd terraces that make up my land. Officially I have just under 2000m2 of land, but that only talks about the horizontal parts. In addition I have some 700m2 of vertical land. And this vertical land is by no means useless. Some of my trees grow out of the verticals including a couple of apple trees, an olive and most of my cherry trees. In addition there are numerous useful herbs growing on those parts. But how do I represent that on a 2-dimensional piece of paper? Contour lines don't really show that. So what I'm basically doing in my case is virtually skipping the whole design step, just concentrating on local plant guilds and hoping for the best that it will eventually grow into a whole. However for those with less challenging conditions, there are many useful tips on optimising the various levels (canopy, shrub, ground cover, climbers) for ideal light conditions, wind protection, companion planting etc.<br />
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As first design steps he talks about finding land. In another part of the book he already mentions that the books is primarily written with the British climate in mind. He goes on to say in this part that, whilst land in southern Europe is cheaper to buy then in the overpopulated UK he says, quote: <br />
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"the further you get into regions with hot Mediterranean summers, the more difficult it is to grow a fully layered forest garden of the type this book is concerned with: the dry summer soil conditions cannot support the lush growth of perennials that you expect in the UK unless you irrigate."</blockquote>
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I disagree strongly with him on that point. My plot of land in Italy within sight of the Med has an all-year-round green ground cover. We have greater average rainfall than some parts of the UK, even if it is greater in winter and tends to come in big outbursts rather than in the continuous drizzle you tend get in western Europe. He also describes what the ideal plot of land to plant a food forest would be, but doesn't take into consideration that you might already have a plot of land with little option but to plant a forest to prevent soil erosion on a massive scale. Arable land is becoming more and more scarce, so we have to make do with whatever is available and design around that. I feel this book is not giving me the tools for that.<br />
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Saying all that this part also has an extensive list of useful plants with their uses and needs neatly described and separate sections on how to design the various layers in the forest garden. Many of the plants I hadn't heard of before and shall try to get my hands on. There are some tips on how to design slopes, although nothing as steep as mine, a lot on mulching propagating plants, part 3 has chapters on the role of fungi and mushroom cultivation, about harvesting and preserving your food.<br />
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In conclusion: I'm glad Crawford didn't call the book "The Complete Guide to..." as complete it isn't in my view, but it has much really useful info in it and I shall refer to it many more times. It is too UK-centric for my liking, but maybe once my experiments have come to full fruition I'll write a book on food forests in the Mediterranean climate... :)Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-55851819183505339922012-12-15T18:25:00.000+01:002012-12-15T18:25:29.869+01:00Another Book ReviewThis is just a quick update about another very kind review I have received from a fellow blogger, from the Wildcraft Diva over at the Wildcraft Vita. She blogs about foraging and life in the countryside in Italy on the other side of the Appenines from us. Do pop over and have a look <a href="http://wildcraftvita.blogspot.it/2012/12/review-of-foraging-guide-by-heiko.html?spref=fb" target="_blank">here</a>. I know it might be a bit late for your Christmas shopping, but I believe there are still people out there who haven't bought my book yet! :)Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-5735935112889861292012-12-09T17:58:00.001+01:002012-12-09T17:58:30.589+01:00The Forest Garden is Taking ShapeThis sunny if cold weekend we have spent planting trees and shrubs for the forest garden. Partially they were gifts for my birthday, some I brought back from Bulgaria from the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/permaship1/" target="_blank">Permaship project</a> and a couple I just bought here in the last days. Let me introduce you to the new members of the crew from top to bottom:<br />
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This is Raffaela the hibiscus (after the person who gave the plant to me for my birthday):</div>
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She was planted in the bed Ben made in the summer just beside the road. Did you know that you can eat the flowers and leaves of hibiscus?</div>
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Next to Raffaela we planted... now I can't for the life of me remember who gave me this shrub, will the donor please come forward... so for the time being this is Myrtle, the myrtle shrub:</div>
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This produces excellent aromatic edible berries and leaves. Great for making liqueurs.</div>
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Just below the caravan we planted a tiny Oregon Grape called Cat, after our first helpXer, who came from Oregon. She is getting married soon too, so best wishes to you!</div>
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We planted another small one of those below the pond. They are shade tolerant shrubs producing edible blue berries.</div>
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A few terraces down we planted Declan, the Decana Inverno pear tree:</div>
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This is a late ripening pear. After I lost one of my 3 pear trees to the landslides, which damaged a second tree, which has now succumbed to illness, I've been meaning to replace them. The other remaining pear tree is a very early variety.</div>
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Another two terraces down we planted Ronaldo the Portogallo fig tree, named after Portuguese footballer and probably most famous living Portuguese person Ronaldo:</div>
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Having also lost a fig tree in the same landslides two years ago, I wanted to replace it with a purple fruiting one, which is so much sweeter.</div>
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The main planting area was near the bottom of our land, where we already had two bay trees growing happily:</div>
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The centre piece here is Jenny, the Rotello apple tree (again after one of the donors of this tree)</div>
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Rotello is a local apple variety, relatively late ripening with a squat shape (the apple that is, not the tree) and sweet and sharp flavour.</div>
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This is Heike, the maidenhair or Gingko Biloba tree (also named after the donor, my friend Heike who came to see us all the way from Germany)</div>
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Maidenhair trees are not only decorative but they produce edible nuts and the leaves are also edible and have medicinal uses. The only problem is you need a male and female, and whilst this one has a female name now, I have no idea what actual sex it is. So must find it a partner once I do find out.</div>
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Not pictured are Yukako the Japanese quince tree (after my good friend Yukako in Kyoto), Conny the cornelian cherry, and a baby autumn olive, for which I haven't thought of name for yet.</div>
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On a slightly different matter, I have a habit of picking up seeds of various trees and then putting them in some pot to see what happens. Sometimes I don't know what the tree is in the first place and I always forget what I put into the pots even if I did know. Often of course those seeds don't show at all, but this one here did and I don't know what it is. Anyone got any ideas? It looks very pretty:</div>
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Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-15346919770886883022012-12-04T13:44:00.001+01:002012-12-04T13:44:58.499+01:00of Giving and Sharing and a Mad Road Trip<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From the photo above you can already guess that this isn't my usual kind of post about my garden or about wild food foraging or even Italy, and the last 3 weeks were anything but the usual. Above you see the Thermal Baths of Sofia, Bulgaria. But let me begin at the beginning...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just over 2 weeks ago I celebrated my 50th birthday. Yes it's official now: I'm an old man! To lessen the pain I invited all my friends near and far to come and have a party with me and get senselessly trashed. At this point I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to everybody who turned up and those who couldn't, but sent best wishes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you all for your presence, warmth and love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank your gifts of trees and plants (the forest garden is taking shape, more on the next post).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you for your music, especially to the Tullamores playing Irish music and <a href="http://litioband.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Litio</a> all the way from Scagnello in Piemonte</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you Bart for preparing a fantastic meal for the multitudes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you to the best neighbours in the world for a great birthday cake</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you to my mother for having me, supporting me throughout my life and coming to my special event all the way from Germany at the age of almost 80!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Thank</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">you to the people of Ponzano Superiore for excepting me / us as part of their community even if they probably think of us as slightly eccentric.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...and thank you to my friend Vasko for taking me on a mad road trip to his homeland of Bulgaria, more of which below...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...and not making me eat tripe soup...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...and also a thank you to Magi...</span></div>
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..<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and Elena...</span></div>
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...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">who showed me their respective home towns of Sofia and Plovdiv.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More thanks are due, and apologies for anyone I have left out. I feel privileged to be loved by so many and I'll forever be in your debt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sorry about that slightly soppy interlude, what about that Bulgarian adventure I hear you ask. Well, it's the stuff road movies are made out of. Me and Vasko spent 10 days traveling around Bulgaria</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">visiting wineries big...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and small...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...discussing Bulgarian history from the rebellion against the Turkish Yolk...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...to the Communists pointing guns at their own town hall...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAptB_ppCIYJnepq-cfk4e_z7HsLUA6U6gAnbMiMnE88ro-R8zhaxkt4dAwjfFMa1Gum3SZ7QdnfNtgrBXztpMulbsHQ_Nywb11wFEV8B3LA_s4lSKSncGsDeZ16kqzZV7rYbfFJeUyxE/s1600/DSC01566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAptB_ppCIYJnepq-cfk4e_z7HsLUA6U6gAnbMiMnE88ro-R8zhaxkt4dAwjfFMa1Gum3SZ7QdnfNtgrBXztpMulbsHQ_Nywb11wFEV8B3LA_s4lSKSncGsDeZ16kqzZV7rYbfFJeUyxE/s400/DSC01566.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...seeing ugly housing estates...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7G8eZS01dN6pe_ormEG0K_NAONTgaek9-kkHbsgsYniyQdIYsnlleIEZYxU2lKOjVvjkPUwQd6c-yoIXnJuJLveOdJJcjgU9fRY4Hy1heGHeCfFrxPYDZJfIh2E7p4yIX2g9Yd6GDY_U/s1600/DSC01564.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7G8eZS01dN6pe_ormEG0K_NAONTgaek9-kkHbsgsYniyQdIYsnlleIEZYxU2lKOjVvjkPUwQd6c-yoIXnJuJLveOdJJcjgU9fRY4Hy1heGHeCfFrxPYDZJfIh2E7p4yIX2g9Yd6GDY_U/s400/DSC01564.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">rich agricultural land...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Wsnc_tYP96uOeh9q3BA8cgP8DMCagxjHnPPtzK_Blpgc33phA0KAVziWD9IKx1LAHjKtTklXNIXH-h9NipQ9fgksx9JkA0ZTMKd9kvRzGah8N0s1ZC0ZjDDhVebEaIJ5ZlNywutMlA8/s1600/DSC01585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Wsnc_tYP96uOeh9q3BA8cgP8DMCagxjHnPPtzK_Blpgc33phA0KAVziWD9IKx1LAHjKtTklXNIXH-h9NipQ9fgksx9JkA0ZTMKd9kvRzGah8N0s1ZC0ZjDDhVebEaIJ5ZlNywutMlA8/s400/DSC01585.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...quaint hillside villages...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvW39C2JiNY2O3iPh_1ZSxsxMo4lwQuspUoR7ObXPP6nb90i3_axPDaNYIhgcBzCGj_RDqaqaPQK75upwqhfZGfqnSr6QB16M770vhYGHIOhtdxwszx_z1AdbJeFH5E4i_hWpRbSO6i9I/s1600/DSC01575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvW39C2JiNY2O3iPh_1ZSxsxMo4lwQuspUoR7ObXPP6nb90i3_axPDaNYIhgcBzCGj_RDqaqaPQK75upwqhfZGfqnSr6QB16M770vhYGHIOhtdxwszx_z1AdbJeFH5E4i_hWpRbSO6i9I/s400/DSC01575.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...and what might just become our next permaculture project...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4avhr1e7q6Ddd24Y4Cc9yNmKrBFiMECNpxws-3runYoSWl_Ndk6kuwwq0T0Zqn8lseicWH_hNvIQO0mWcaCzxrKn_omR5mZxG8dk3-zy4pAfhR-jv7N-3VMdGJ8waAxk1C8BJCitNAW8/s1600/DSC01567.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4avhr1e7q6Ddd24Y4Cc9yNmKrBFiMECNpxws-3runYoSWl_Ndk6kuwwq0T0Zqn8lseicWH_hNvIQO0mWcaCzxrKn_omR5mZxG8dk3-zy4pAfhR-jv7N-3VMdGJ8waAxk1C8BJCitNAW8/s400/DSC01567.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll keep you posted on that one... :)</span></div>
Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-49453190915929541272012-11-13T17:34:00.000+01:002012-11-13T17:34:14.102+01:00More floods and Landslides<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVs0I78pXt0B5ILe-hi9GiBaWiaWEU1AGajNjuhdAfh8lgZMFc7i149Zkq7XCBWVNNaTegbd8PEBYo8zOvtBfoGgndpJ4-rZbUFO9lLsRaxarG66STlV_k-6ELV_VDSRIG22NQiXGx2LQ/s1600/Rob+&+Cha+Cha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVs0I78pXt0B5ILe-hi9GiBaWiaWEU1AGajNjuhdAfh8lgZMFc7i149Zkq7XCBWVNNaTegbd8PEBYo8zOvtBfoGgndpJ4-rZbUFO9lLsRaxarG66STlV_k-6ELV_VDSRIG22NQiXGx2LQ/s400/Rob+&+Cha+Cha.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Last week we were leveling the area above the pond a bit and securing it against potential landslide with the aid of helpers Rob and Cha Cha from Baltimore and and Colorado. They survived the first storm in the caravan and sensibly left before the second storm (apparently cousins of Sandy...). The second storm, last weekend did cause widespread damage in the region again, including numerous landslides, a bridge washed away up the valley and our friend Jan having her cellars flooded and her paths covered in mud.<br />
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The storm was forcast, so we tried to secure the bit above our pond as well as possible, but... it wasn't good enough. When checking while the rains were still on the pond was filling up nicely and everything was hunky dory, but today we discovered that the boards above the pond had give way and has turned the pond into one big mud hole. <br />
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It wasn't too tragic though. We just spent a few hours strengthening the area above again with cuttings from the hazel, which was threatening to engulf a nearby olive and a fig tree anyway. It's looking a lot safer now and we'll plant some trees up there soon to make sure it'll stay in place.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9b2vBfloONuvgtaF8mcsGZ2KPTCCGI_2EodFCPmN0RmUt_VMalva4zHwmkDufWQyvWEZ4gg5SLUZ4Sd2Ahz9KvgQnPSOW9leq18e_pJ6DdhNzsBxpGOcMQbJquD502CLj18jlp2vF4vM/s1600/DSC01500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9b2vBfloONuvgtaF8mcsGZ2KPTCCGI_2EodFCPmN0RmUt_VMalva4zHwmkDufWQyvWEZ4gg5SLUZ4Sd2Ahz9KvgQnPSOW9leq18e_pJ6DdhNzsBxpGOcMQbJquD502CLj18jlp2vF4vM/s400/DSC01500.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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There's some mud which needs excavating out of the pond again, but beneath and on the rest of the land everything is fine.<br />
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Saturday I'll be having my big 50th birthday party and afterwards it looks like I may be going on a wee trip. More on those things when I get back.Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-36306979261721194942012-10-31T12:58:00.001+01:002012-10-31T12:58:37.441+01:00Winter Approaching Early<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Winter has arrived early with us this year with snow up on the nearby mountains already and heavy rains last weekend and more forecast for this afternoon and next weekend. I suppose I shouldn't complain and my thoughts are with those of you affected by Sandy, the edge of which is meddling with the weather on our side of the Pond too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And talking about the pond... I dug my pond (or should I say our helpers did) as an anti-landslide measure amongst other things (also to attract biodiversity, save water and attract mosquito eaters). Much of the water running down our steep slope is now channeled into the pond, but I was a little concerned about the area just below the pond, where all the earth excavated from the pond was now lying loosely, ready to roll during the next heavy rainfall. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So knowing those winter rains were on their way I took to measures to prevent the earth from moving: First I sowed some ground cover at the beginning of October on the flatter top area:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWcR6UT-yTDjfjeU1QLs5IJSUiLMpsI39zBfu5eOpa_iAVp8JKEQscTSban07-8K_6vw3OUT9Sz0usCL4KWtNVT1-dTJBM4HGjenAXBgy7DziRxd8Ci9SmFUo4Cu-PSUr0FVfo0UiDjWE/s1600/farro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWcR6UT-yTDjfjeU1QLs5IJSUiLMpsI39zBfu5eOpa_iAVp8JKEQscTSban07-8K_6vw3OUT9Sz0usCL4KWtNVT1-dTJBM4HGjenAXBgy7DziRxd8Ci9SmFUo4Cu-PSUr0FVfo0UiDjWE/s400/farro.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grass you think? Well kind of. It's actually farro which is an old spelt variety, which is still grown mostly in Northern Tuscany. So I'll have some grains to harvest too next year and the roots will hopefully hold the soil in place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then on the steeper lower part of the excavation I built two sub-terraces from old wardrobe doors:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSqgqIeB_N60eeylYfh7YXpa7l4ISQO9vrYU7-F-YkM_En_eIgWVSJoAOi7qknMJ5YCsfC7DgjxoCi8Ev2rKHn2otKn5mcPdXL1jWhFCWP7cbgkzPxcd5-5cgxEAUtqEQ82Rzv_sIy9I/s1600/DSC01476.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSqgqIeB_N60eeylYfh7YXpa7l4ISQO9vrYU7-F-YkM_En_eIgWVSJoAOi7qknMJ5YCsfC7DgjxoCi8Ev2rKHn2otKn5mcPdXL1jWhFCWP7cbgkzPxcd5-5cgxEAUtqEQ82Rzv_sIy9I/s400/DSC01476.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can see they still have mirrors on them, which also should improve the microclimate in this almost north-facing area. In the two contour beds that I have thus created I planted broad beans last week, which should help add a bit of nitrogen to the otherwise poor soil there.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidqYPngwlsAnKd59p6ISZAXrGQfof90023O1X21nNbg1IqZrc4fbmMP-lwHC9L41AIfGLjkSA0t0aH-j9m2ell5tQF8OTTMuE3osboZ5GNXLDEN2Zs4IR6fYsSiOJAlJUx4KUBuW7JeM4/s1600/DSC01477.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidqYPngwlsAnKd59p6ISZAXrGQfof90023O1X21nNbg1IqZrc4fbmMP-lwHC9L41AIfGLjkSA0t0aH-j9m2ell5tQF8OTTMuE3osboZ5GNXLDEN2Zs4IR6fYsSiOJAlJUx4KUBuW7JeM4/s400/DSC01477.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During the winter I will also plant some trees or shrubs along there to further stabilise the slope. This was all done before last weekend's heavy rains and I'm pleased to say it all held well. The pond meanwhile filled nicely with water and almost sealed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I needed some stakes to secure the doors for the bed, I took the opportunity to prune back my hazel shrub, the left-overs went into a bed I had built previously also below the pond, which I'm planning as a soft fruit bed (raspberries, currants and gooseberries).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxkmoQjideNRklcim-xPALPmdGUVEXxNsT80DldjVbHitDjGqrJGRv4P21FYymWaaOwKh9EKjsb10Qw7oVqCCjBZZWaOcfpsjgIkAKPzb-8WBApwO23thcIHrlZN1aF9EqrG5ysykD8g/s1600/DSC01478.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxkmoQjideNRklcim-xPALPmdGUVEXxNsT80DldjVbHitDjGqrJGRv4P21FYymWaaOwKh9EKjsb10Qw7oVqCCjBZZWaOcfpsjgIkAKPzb-8WBApwO23thcIHrlZN1aF9EqrG5ysykD8g/s400/DSC01478.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This will make the basis of a nice rich soil in a kind of reverse hugelkultur. Any excess water from the pond will be channeled into this bed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yesterday we had a break in the weather and the warm and dry summer has resulted in our olives being mature much earlier than usual. So while I was on one of the lower terraces chopping wood, Bart and Susan picked our first olives. We won't have enough to make oil this year, but a plentiful supply of eating olives. They are exceptionally healthy this year.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9MSf-Ks27tKHwxlUY_ILmog-6gYW_fqIU_xPxt43ak2F0GyyLuolV0O8Q5kTPpvMmWdVUJvOdzTHbck-VLUbHsx_ctLDufZwS3q7vf1FzznKn4nPUrYxQweEc5_bFPx4xqYSAt4sEu-8/s1600/DSC01483.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9MSf-Ks27tKHwxlUY_ILmog-6gYW_fqIU_xPxt43ak2F0GyyLuolV0O8Q5kTPpvMmWdVUJvOdzTHbck-VLUbHsx_ctLDufZwS3q7vf1FzznKn4nPUrYxQweEc5_bFPx4xqYSAt4sEu-8/s400/DSC01483.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-49724119280250025972012-10-28T11:20:00.000+01:002012-10-28T11:20:16.758+01:00Wild Food of the Month: The Stinging Nettle<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYbgK-kJzuBMGe3YRnnfighBLOePwyuujSDOZ8ZUVuPcC5A2lWNKiQ0ReDaB9Jr4KLy8W4AgOH87l_igGF7fFX5AFwCG9ZWTyg7NLHHD6sLv6hG27wzzT4FMNL07SpT0AU2e8wDu0IP4E/s1600/nettle%252C+stinging1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYbgK-kJzuBMGe3YRnnfighBLOePwyuujSDOZ8ZUVuPcC5A2lWNKiQ0ReDaB9Jr4KLy8W4AgOH87l_igGF7fFX5AFwCG9ZWTyg7NLHHD6sLv6hG27wzzT4FMNL07SpT0AU2e8wDu0IP4E/s400/nettle%252C+stinging1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Today I'm singing the praises of the humble stinging nettle, probably the best known and most easily recognised weed in the world. But first of all an apology for the relative silence on my blog. I've been kind of busy lately with this and that. After returning from the latest Permaculture course at the end of September, I launched back into some anti-landslide measures (more of that later, once I have discovered if they have held after this weekends torrential rains...), I worked on a garden design for a friend nearby (I'll give you some insights about that too soon), I ran a wild food walk in the mountains for a group of ladies from Colorado and I had a visit from Virginia, a follower of my blog from Iowa. On top of all that I am planning a surprise birthday party for myself, as I'll be turning 50 in 3 weeks time.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">But to come back to my subject, it's fairly common knowledge that the stinging nettle (<em>urtica dioica</em></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">) is edible, but most people are reluctant to try it, because they associate the plant with the stinging sensation on your skin, the last thing you want to feel in your mouth. Think again though, because the nettles is full of nutritious goodness with high concentrations of iron, vitamins and essential minerals. Medicinally it is used as a blood purifier and cleansing tonic. Dried powdered leaves can be sniffed to stop a nose bleed. They also stem internal or external bleeding, including menstrual bleeding. It stimulates the circulation, it is used in the treatment of athritic rheumatims, it's a diuretic and can reverse prostate enlargement. The list of it's health benefits goes on.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So how do you use it then? Well, when dried or cooked the stinging effect goes and they become safe to handle. So for medicinal use simply dry the leaves and make a tea from them. To eat, a nettle soup is tasty, but I would like to share a recipe with you that I learned from my friend Gabriele at the last Permaculture course:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Nettle Pesto:</strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Non-Italians often only think of the one kind of pesto, Pesto Genovese, with basil, pine kernels and Parmesan cheese, but pesto simply is anything mashed together to a paste, originally with a <strong>pestle</strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> and mortar. This is a really simple recipe, which you can vary to your own taste.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A couple of handfuls of young nettle leaves (some machos out there pick them with their bare hands... I wear gloves!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">about 30 shelled hazelnuts</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1 small onion, finely diced</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">salt</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">olive oil</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Optional extras: a few sprigs of lemon balm and mint. 1 finely chopped tomato</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Blend all the ingredients except the tomato in a blender (or a pestle and mortar if you prefer). Stir in the tomato, if used. Serve on crostini or on pasta. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've tested this recipe on a few people recently with great success. And yes, the sting goes treated like this too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">One word of caution: <span style="color: red;">Do not use old nettle leaves as they may be an irritant to the kidneys.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And to those living near me... Next Sunday, 4 November I will be going on my traditional winter berry walk followed by a jam making session. Anybody wanting to join me, send us a message.<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span>Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-58893325784906984952012-10-15T13:11:00.001+02:002012-10-15T13:11:56.478+02:00The Power of We - Blog Action Day 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuQTQir-m7D8Z4PcEMynU-_zRPKDkVCQeGhj8ici0bwBjHjLD9b1wRpSfMu3n54K3ufXVJSm7uu8zfDu9O_2HErJ4wDg4mgFwZlw3B0LpZAHbgP2SRtYg__388x2dNNOV-ZNRjXe_JX8U/s400/BAD12emailheader.jpg" width="400" /></div>
This is the third time I am participating in <a href="http://blogactionday.org/" target="_blank">Blog Action Day</a>, an international event where a load of bloggers write a piece around a certain theme. The last couple of years we talked about <a href="http://pathtoselfsufficiency.blogspot.it/2010/10/water-water-everywhere.html" target="_blank">water</a> and food (<a href="http://pathtoselfsufficiency.blogspot.it/2011/10/of-roots.html" target="_blank">roots</a> in my particular case). This year, chosen by popular vote, the theme is "The Power of We". <br />
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I must admit it wasn't my choice of theme and I'm struggling to get an angle on this, but I kind of committed to write something along with the 15,000+ other bloggers all over the world. If the theme was "The Power of Wee", I'd give you a nice piece on how to use your urine on your land as a free fertilizer... hey maybe next time. Like this I find the theme a little too general and obvious. Of course we are stronger as a community than as individuals, does one need to add anything to it?<br />
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This year, 2012, has been a particularly poignant year for me as far as feeling the strength in numbers is concerned. I have joined a new community of like-minded people and have gained a whole bunch of new friends with a common interest. I'm talking about the permaculture community.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs5YobhBjDVz94k1daYGekBcoBxrqe2Uu3oen7QZr7BqvTr1t0wDDkBL_1XTBW9psphZLN1FJqum0tFw1GWlQtw0NfrVf5jkBs-vCXWCb8SZWiLuLiR9An4f7ml315su2RwFBiXs7vyGs/s1600/hand+spiral.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs5YobhBjDVz94k1daYGekBcoBxrqe2Uu3oen7QZr7BqvTr1t0wDDkBL_1XTBW9psphZLN1FJqum0tFw1GWlQtw0NfrVf5jkBs-vCXWCb8SZWiLuLiR9An4f7ml315su2RwFBiXs7vyGs/s400/hand+spiral.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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As already much talked about I went on a Permaculture Design Course back in May in Scagnello, Piemonte. There I met some of the most inspiring people in my life. The interesting thing was that most turned up as individuals, disillusioned at the current state of the world and feeling very much on their own, and we left, having found we were not alone and there are positive changes each of us can make as individuals and collectively as a group.<br />
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This group has since May been in constant contact, friendships which will last a lifetime have been formed and action is being taken. The latest project is to form a non-profit publishing company, translating permaculture books into Italian to further spread the word. I and a few others from our course have in the meantime been to more courses where we now help with the teaching and organising of them, meeting more like-minded people. And so the community grows and flourishes.<br />
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As a group of course we are geographically quite widely spread throughout Italy as well as around the globe, but advice is always available with a quick e-mail, word about any action is quickly spread and some of us have been around helping others within the community with their projects. Down near Rome some people gathered to help one of our friends build a combined chicken shed / greenhouse, which was one of the designs from our course, digging a pond and doing a baking course. Some participants from the PDC course in July gathered around my place to help dig a pond and design an erosion slowing bed. I know there will be many more occasions like this where we all will get together and learn from each other. And we've come to rely on each other as this little trust game at the end of the most recent PDC course at the end of September demonstrates (no this is not kind of group lap dance...) (photo courtesy of Andrea Raparo)<br />
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The other aspect of The Power of We that comes to mind is our continued desire to join an intentional community, an eco-village, whatever you want to call it. Many within the permaculture community have similar ideas, so maybe some of us will even end up sharing this particular dream. It's not that where we live isn't a reasonably good community. Our village consists of some 250 inhabitants and most are very friendly. Help is available when help is needed, whether it be with a problem with the computer or needing some fresh eggs. Everyone is happy to talk to you and we are accepted as the slightly eccentric foreigners in the village.<br />
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However what we are looking for is a community of like-minded people sharing labour, skill, knowledge and above all love freely. We are not the youngest any more (I'll be 50 next month (!)) and the regular grind of cycling or walking to our land (which is 10km from our house) is becoming too much. It looks like 2013 is going to see us making some real progress in that direction. It may still mean the end of our time in Italy, but who knows what is around the corner. I will keep you posted on this.<br />
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On a slightly different note, I'm proud to have had my first book review by a fellow blogger who writes a really nice blog about wild flowers and Jazz music (yes a strange combination, but I like it!). Check it out over at an <a href="http://anentangledbank.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/the-deli-in-the-ditch-foraging-for-silene-vulgaris-bladder-campion/" target="_blank">Entangled Bank</a>. Thank you Lo Jardinier!!!Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-31338001953223650112012-09-16T16:54:00.000+02:002012-09-16T16:54:14.631+02:00Wild Food of the month: Savoury<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Friday we decided to hit the mountain road. A little rain and a crisp easterly wind have cleared the air affording us some spectacular views over the sea. So we drove down the coast a little and drove up this road into the Apuan Alps above the city of Massa. The Apuan Alps are famous for their Carrarra marble.</div>
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Our destination was a botanic garden where I was hoping to find some interesting native plants: the <a href="http://www.parcapuane.toscana.it/orto/index.asp" target="_blank">Orto Botanico "Pietro Pellegrini"</a>. If you are travelling in this area I can't recommend this place highly enough. It is a natural rather than a formal botanic garden displaying the local flora only on a spectacular mountain setting. It lies at over 900m altitude and the sea lies just below you.</div>
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As for practicalities, the place is open from May to September, entrance is free and you get a guide thrown in as well. Ours was a charming natural science student from Pisa:</div>
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Spring no doubt would be the better time to visit when they have dozens of orchid species in flower. However one of my discoveries of the day was wild <strong>winter savoury</strong>, <em>satureia montana</em>. </div>
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I have long known this herb and routinely grow it amongst beans, but I have never seen it in its wild habitat, which is the mountainous regions of the Mediterranean. </div>
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For those not familiar with this herb, it is to beans what basil is to tomatoes. It makes a great companion plant to beans, but it also combines well with beans on the plate. Not only does the warm, peppery taste go well with beans, it also aids digestion and prevents excessive bloating, which can of course be a problem with beans. It associates so well with beans that in German they in fact call it <em>Bohnenkraut"</em>, which means bean herb.</div>
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A tea made from the herb is also good as a blood cleanser. Leaves rubbed onto a bee sting is a traditional cure. And bees get attracted to the flowers if you have this herb growing in your garden. Now I know where to find it in the wild.</div>
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And finally... Eddie the Beagle also had a great day out. Here he is doing his mountain goat impression:</div>
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<br />Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-39211246972896725772012-09-03T13:07:00.000+02:002012-09-03T13:13:46.124+02:00CentipedesSome of you might remember me <a href="http://pathtoselfsufficiency.blogspot.it/2012/08/teaming-with-microbes-book-review.html" target="_blank">suffering some sort of foot injury</a> about a month ago. After some work on the land my left foot all of sudden swoll up to almost 3 times its normal size, became bright red and hugely painful. After a few days of not being able to walk I finally let myself be dragged kicking and screaming to the hospital (I don't trust the medical profession much...). They seemed generally puzzled as to what this might be, but without doing any further tests put me antibiotics. They didn't do the trick either and 2 weeks on I was still not walking. So I hobbled to my GP, who put me on different antibiotics. After another week I finally started walking a bit and the pain lessened, so I thought the second lot of antibiotics had some effect, but I was still none the wiser as to the cause. Even now, almost a month later I still can't get that foot into a shoe.<br />
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Yesterday my neighbour suggested maybe I've got bitten by a centipede. We looked at a couple of pictures on the internet and I said, yep I've seen one like this one around:<br />
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I've seen a couple scuttling about where we have dug the hole for the pond. Looked a bit like that one and about 15cm long. I had no idea they bite! Well I looked up centipede bite and lo and behold, the symptoms were pretty much like described above. In people less healthy than myself they can also cause heart palpitations and a racing pulse. People allergic to bee stings can also have nasty episodes from a bite from one of those fellows. Also children and the elderly are at risk of having much worse consequences than I have experienced.<br />
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This will certainly teach me to put my be-sandalled feet in places where I can't see them. But before you go and irradicate any you see, centipedes do play an important role in the soil food web(<a href="http://pathtoselfsufficiency.blogspot.it/2012/08/teaming-with-microbes-book-review.html" target="_blank">as explained in the same post I showed you my dodgy foot...</a>), both as predators as well as prey. They are pretty much carnivors and eat a lot of other insects including pests. And they provide a welcome meal for birds, lizards, mice and snakes. It's never a good idea to take out a link in the food chain, but rather attract predators to control your potential problem. So once the pond is in action it will also attract wildlife to control these creatures.<br />
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Oh and apparently antibiotics don't do anything against the bites. Pain killers and / or cortisone tend to be prescribed to treat the symptoms. Else your body just has to cope with it. Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-651314260700563624.post-23212873118533182592012-08-27T10:33:00.002+02:002012-08-30T09:17:35.115+02:00Amusing pet movie of the week...<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is Eddie the crazy Beagle. I suppose it's one way to scratch your back...</span></div>
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Heikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17999245793961798308noreply@blogger.com1