Trace Oswald

John C Daley wrote:Thats not a good link [undergroundandlovinit ] its music or pot holing??

Google tries to put spaces in for you.  Don't let it.  undergroundandlovinit

Bryan k Knowlton wrote: Paul,?  Wheaton Labs Paul? I didn't know Paul owned permies.com.? I would like to know more about the SKIP program and the PEP program. How cool! I would love to get involved! I feel I have so much to offer the community. I would love to attend a workshop, learn and share my skills':  )

bryan

Yes, this is Paul Wheaton's site, and his forums.  You're at the right place

If you would like to share your knowledge and skills with the group, you can start a thread in the appropriate forum.

Bryan k Knowlton wrote:When it comes to Sustainability, Social Sustainability is of the highest importance,.!?

Would permies.com be considered a publishing site?/ Is permies.com considered to be a publishing site?

I would like to share my thoughts, if it is. How about you?

bryan

This isn't my site, but I wouldn't consider it a publishing site, except for Paul, and people he allows to contribute.  The forums specifically, I would consider a place for like-minded individuals to share experiences, ask questions, and make threads designed to help people along their permaculture journey.

Have people over?

I'd pay $46 to get rid of it.  I don't know how you kill the stuff.

Just to clarify, your area is 35 sq ft, or 35 ft squared?

I'm on a new property, so this food forest is only a couple years going.  It is much larger than this.  Mine is a large L shape covering an acre or so in this spot.  

The first picture shows a  young apple tree guild.  The very badly deer-eaten apple tree is in the center of the picture.  A ring of daffodils surrounds the tree, and a large ring of comfrey.  In among the rings are herbs, mint, onions, chives.  The back left of the picture is a cherry tree that just began producing last year.  Straight back directly behind the apple is another cherry tree that has young cherries starting this year.  The "sticks" you see everywhere are false indigo bush just starting to leaf out.

The next guild is an apricot.   Inside the wire is a goji.  There is a rock pile behind the tree for snakes.  The one "belongs" to my wife, so most of the surrounding plants are flowers and random things she likes, roses, hostas, day lily.  I snuck in a few walking onions and some herbs.

Next is a persimmon guild.  The tree itself is tiny and you can't really see it in the mix.  This one has lots of comfrey, cone flower, onions, strawberries and alpine strawberries, hosta, mint,a dozen other things I can't remember right now.

The last picture is part of the same area from further back.  You can see the real forest in back, and how much more open the food forest area is.  The left is that apple guild, and to the right is the persimmon guild.  Throughout the picture are several more cherry trees and bushes.  The food forest continues all the way to the back of the picture and then wraps around to the right for quite a way yet.

This food forest has apricot, peach, pear, apple, persimmon, paw paw, cherry, plum, autumn olive, black and honey locust trees, and I'm sure others I'm forgetting.  There are multiple varieties of all of those.  The only climbers I can remember right now are hardy kiwi.  Lots of nitrogen fixers, pollinator plants, berries, and all sorts of plants that are there just because I like them.  I couldn't possibly name them all.

Paul from Back to Eden movie says he pulled wood chips 18" deep in his entire orchard right up the tree trunks with no I'll effects. He is in a very dry climate, so that may be the difference.

Isaac Hunter wrote:
It is purely a financial decision. If we were pre 2019 inflation/prices I would not think twice and would just buy chicken from the local store. Rising prices in the last year have forced me to shop at Walmart (which I do not like) but I do it out of financial necessity. Chickens can be left for a time with food and water. Dogs really cannot. My neighbor a mile down the lake leaves his dogs and within half a day they are wandering around my property having escaped their kennel (if he even bothers to kennel them). When I'm at work I'm gone all day long. Dogs do not really like that. Chickens could care less.
IH

I would say you just have a bad neighbor.  For chickens to be safe, they need to be shut up in their coop every night and let out every morning.  Every morning, I put my dogs in their kennels with food and water, and that is where they stay until I get home in the evening.  The weekends are different of course, they are mostly out with me the entire day unless I have to go somewhere, and then one or two of them go with me as often as not.  If your neighbors dogs escape in half a day, it means he doesn't secure them as well as he should.  Most people that own dogs have to leave them while they go to work.  Do they like it?  Not as much as they would like being with me.  Do I like it?  Not as much as I would like being home with them.  Such is life :)

As far as cold weather that you mentioned, chickens aren't bothered by cold weather as long as you meet two requirements.  They need to stay dry, and they need good ventilation, but without drafts. Your weather is certainly not cold enough to bother chickens.  We get weather that is -20F every winter, -30F occasionally, and a couple winters ago, we had -40F for two nights.  That is without wind chill.  My chickens were fine.

Aaron Pate wrote:Gary, that's an awesome comfrey patch!

+1 to the Edible Acres recommendation.

Y'all, in ~4 years growing comfrey and letting it flower, I swear I've never seen bees sampling mine. Does anyone else have this observation? We have great bee activity everywhere else. Mostly carpenter bees. I just wonder if a variety can lack the nectar, or scent, to attract or feed pollinators. As far as I know, mine are Bocking 14.

I have Bocking 14 and the bumblebees can't stay away from it.  I have big patches that I never chop just for the bees.