Planning a trip to the west coast

Landing in Portland renting a car to get to Bend Oregon for a couple of days then traveling down the west coast to LA for a return flight to MS. I would love to see a few working permaculture farms. Will be traveling 6/6/13 - 6/16/13. any ideals?

I, too, will be on the West Coast during the 1st two weeks of June - will be driving Interstate 90 from Bozeman(ish), Montana to Tacoma, Washington and am wondering if anyone would be willing to recommend a couple of pretty well developed permaculture farmsteads and/or a very well planted forest garden that might be open to visitors - the forest garden doesn't necessarily have to be mature, but a mature one would be great to see too. Looking to see permaculture in action and be inspired. Last night, I listened to PW podcast #'s 43-45 and it would be great to see the ideas and principles that were discussed on the podcasts working on the land. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Paul Redmond wrote:Landing in Portland renting a car to get to Bend Oregon for a couple of days then traveling down the west coast to LA for a return flight to MS. I would love to see a few working permaculture farms. Will be traveling 6/6/13 - 6/16/13. any ideals?

You might have heard mention of this one, though it's probably 4 hours from the coast, plus not exactly permaculture, but if you can tour, I'd highly recommend it: http://www.chaffinfamilyorchards.com/. It's been organically farmed by one family for five generations.

There is also a permies thread with a video by Chaffin's farm manager, "How Grassfed Beef Will Save the World," which shows how they are using animals in their orchard systems instead of machines.

Mr Cook wrote:I, too, will be on the West Coast during the 1st two weeks of June - will be driving Interstate 90 from Bozeman(ish), Montana to Tacoma, Washington and am wondering if anyone would be willing to recommend a couple of pretty well developed permaculture farmsteads and/or a very well planted forest garden that might be open to visitors - the forest garden doesn't necessarily have to be mature, but a mature one would be great to see too. Looking to see permaculture in action and be inspired. Last night, I listened to PW podcast #'s 43-45 and it would be great to see the ideas and principles that were discussed on the podcasts working on the land. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Tacoma is about 40+ minutes from Seattle, and the Bullock Brothers Permaculture Homestead, http://permacultureportal.com/, is about 3.5 hours (part road, part ferry) from there. They've been at it on that site since 1982 - with luscious, mature food forest guilds along their pond/lake.

The Bullocks have specific tour times and tour fees, but have open potlucks (I think) on, was it, Sundays? Though you would not necessarily get to wander about or get a tour as a potluck attendee. It's a lot of travel even from Seattle, and the ferry schedules and availability are challenging, but worth it, IMHO.

It would likely be easier to travel from Tacoma to Bellingham (~2.5 hours) to see Inspiration Farm in Bellingham, http://www.inspirationfarm.com/newif/welcome.html. Owners Brian Kerkvliet and Alexandra King are in a number of Paul's videos and podcasts. Not exactly mature food forests yet, though some older fruit trees and wonderful black locust specimens and the animal, energy, food, community & other systems are always innovative and, yes, inspiring.

Of course, check first about visiting either place.

Btw, I copied this thread to the Cascadia forum as well. Lots of people from the Portland and Seattle-Tacoma areas post and respond there.

Jocelyn, thanks so much for the recommendations about Bullock's Permaculture Homestead and Inspiration Farm - I really appreciate it! I hope that I have sufficient time on the coast to visit both operations - it would be a great step-stone to this part of my permaculture journey. In other words, it's time to take a short break from the theoretical work and look at the real world application of permaculture to the land - then right back to the books and podcasts. Are you aware of any really good Zone 4 operations - I'm on the wind blown steppes at about 4,600' with approximately 12" of annual rainfall.

On another note, I purchased all two hundred podcasts and am slogging through - maybe no road music, just the dulcet tones of Paul and Jocelyn!

Thanks for replies Jocelyn,
It's going to be difficult to head south from Portland knowing the Bullock bros site is north. Hmmm

Actually it's going to be impossible to not head east to "the land" now! I wonder if "the 94" get to stop by to help out any time?

Paul Redmond wrote:Actually it's going to be impossible to not head east to "the land" now! I wonder if "the 94" get to stop by to help out any time?

Ah, it would be lovely for "the 94" to have those privileges, but I think we'll have to coordinate visitors and visits. It's just probably a good idea to avoid overloading our space and systems with everything else going on (workshops, earth works, etc.).

Though of course, we'd love to see you and have your help! Send me a p.m. with your contact info and I'll let you know when folks will be diving in - probably in July. Not setting exact dates until base camp closes on June 3 (or so).

For others who might be a bit lost, "the land" is Paul's newly acquired 200 acres in Montana. See the paul's farm forum for oodles and oodles of information.

". It's just probably a good idea to avoid overloading our space and systems with everything else going on (workshops, earth works, etc.). "
I totally understand this, I'll send the info.

Quail springs, inland from ventura,ca has always inspired me. They do a lot of courses, but if it works out it might be nice to stop by.

Kc Grant wrote:Quail springs, inland from ventura,ca has always inspired me. They do a lot of courses, but if it works out it might be nice to stop by.

That does look like a nice place to check into. Thanks KC

I just realized I posted the wrong dates, it should have been 7/6 -7/16, good thing I didn't order the plane tickets.

Aprovecho Sustainability Center in Cottage Grove, Oregon has more Permaculture elements in one spot than most:
http://www.aprovecho.net/

Definitely worth the trip, and it's more in the direction of where you're going.

Get in touch if you're going by Corvallis Oregon and want to see a more residential scale project:
http://www.beaverstatepermaculture.com/photo/albums/permaculture-front-yard

Have fun!

Andrew

Andrew Millison wrote:Aprovecho Sustainability Center in Cottage Grove, Oregon has more Permaculture elements in one spot than most:
http://www.aprovecho.net/

Definitely worth the trip, and it's more in the direction of where you're going.

Get in touch if you're going by Corvallis Oregon and want to see a more residential scale project:
http://www.beaverstatepermaculture.com/photo/albums/permaculture-front-yard

Have fun!

Andrew

I absolutely would love to see beaverstatepermaculture, looks like its just a small jog off our path.

I absolutely would love to see beaverstatepermaculture, looks like its just a small jog off our path.

Get in touch with me on my regular e-mail and let me know when you think you'll be in the neighborhood: amillison@gmail.com

Andrew