Midwest Permaculture

7.

We probably stood in this one spot for 15-20 minutes identifying plant after plant (weed after weed?). It is absolutely amazing just how many uses there are for so many common plants.

8.

Here is a great shot of the windmill that helps to power our community fresh-water treatment facility.

If this means anything to you, it is a 10KW Bergey wind generator on a 120 foot tower.

We are entering the community garden area.

9.

Carroll is leading the students through the willow brush down near the creek.

How many practical and economical uses do you think there are for willow?

10.

We're heading over toward the foot bridge that will take us over the creek and in to the orchard.

That's Stelle in the background.

Don is still taking notes.

12.

The students stopped to inspect one of the chicken tractors that our Stelle Chicken Co-op members move around the orchard. The chickens not only get a good amount of food by eating the grass and weeds, but they also help to keep the insect population down.

 

13.

Mark Wilkerson is one of our local solar specialists and toured our students through his home.

The hot water and photovoltaic solar panels (see roof) provide between 35-45% of his entire energy requirements.

14.

I wanted to share this photo from Mark's front porch with you.

In the distance you can get a feel for what this land must have looked like hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

It is very reminiscent of the oak-savanna systems (prairie broken up with patches of woods) that supported millions of animals as they roamed this part of the north American continent.

A permaculture design for this area would simply seeks to mimic this highly productive system with plant species that are useful to humans.

15.

A focus of this course was suburban permaculture. What can suburbanites do to lighten their imprint on the planet's resources?

One of the best examples of how this is being done is at
907 Summit St.
in Downers Grove, IL;
the Nowicki's home.

16.

Having built an incredibly energy efficient home back in the late 70's, the Nowicki's turned their attention to the lot surrounding their home.

Their design objectives?

• To protect their home from the elements.
• To grow as much of their own food as possible.
• To conserve fossil fuel in the home and the landscape
• To create biodiversity
• To absorb and hold rainwater in order to recharge our precious ground water systems
• To protect native plant species.
• To create a thing of beauty

17.

Even though most people had never heard of the term 'permaculture' (Mollison had just recently coined the term and written his first book in the early 80s), what they had intuitively created was a dynamic permaculture design for their home and property.

The Nowicki's could have written their own book on permaculture at the time.

They were true pioneers in ecological design and although curiously watched by their neighbors in the early days, today the neighborhood takes pride in the uniqueness and beauty of their home.

18.

What follows are about a dozen photos of the Nowicki's yard.

This photo was taken in a 20 foot wide swath that sits between the side of their home and their lot line.

Like an arboretum, it is cool and shading is the summer. Vicki identified about a half dozen edible plants in this one section.

 

19.

Side yard again.

20.

Back yard looking south.

Those are a temperate zone kiwi trellised in the back.

21.

The back yard is left mostly open to accommodate the plants that like full sun.

Mixed in with many varieties of perennial herbs, flowers and fruits, were their annual vegetables such as tomato, lettuce, chard, kale, squash, beans, cucumber, etc...

As you probably know, perennials are plants you put in the ground once and they come back year after year; like asparagus or blue berry bushes.

22.

Vicki with Wayne Weiseman.

Vicki talked about the connection she feels to nature, to life, and to herself, by just being in their garden.

Her feelings are, why not create a place of nurturance and beauty on the very property you live.

23.

Wayne visiting with Mary near the kiwi arbor. The tall cages at left and right held a couple of varieties of pole beans and morning glories.

24.

This comfy swing gets the morning sun - a wonderful place to sit in the morning to read or eat a fresh breakfast of herb tea and strawberries.

25.

There was beauty and food just about everywhere we turned.

26.

Ron and Vicki spent a good amount of time talking about the importance of the soil.

They almost never turn it anymore for it disrupts the natural cycles within it. They simply keep adding mulch and small amounts of compost to keep the micro-organisms in their soil healthy, hold in the moisture and suppress weeds.

That's a squash plant at Vicki's right elbow.

27.

Under the kiwi arbor.

28.

Vicki loves her patch of four-o 'clocks (Clavillia).

Did you know that there are at least a half dozen medicinal and health properties associated with this fragrant, flowering plant?

Here is a link I found with loads of information about it if you are interested.

This is just a small example of how we do not necessarily need to be tied to the high cost, and sometimes negative side effects, of pharmaceutical medicines and drugs.

29.

Looking back at their home.

The Nowicki's have been in the ecological landscaping business for 25 years and have assisted hundreds of homeowners in the Chicago land area in creating their own-ecological paradise.

Click Here
to access their business website, The Land Office.
630-852-5263

30.

Another stop during this week-long permaculture intensive was to the AquaRanch in Flanagan, IL.

They use a closed loop system where the nutrient rich water from 10 very large fish tanks is pumped into the the greenhouse beds that are little more than 4-foot wide, 1-foot deep, water beds.

31.

Tom Frye is the operations manager and walked us through the entire system.

32.

It take almost two years to bring the tilapia they raise to full maturity. The fish are sold live, frozen or filleted to a wide range of customers.

During that time the fish are helping to fertilize their lettuce and herb crops.

33.

The plants (basil here) are grown from seed and then transplanted into small little cups that are inserted into holes in the 1-inch Styrofoam boards floating on the surface of the growing beds (tanks).

34.

Once inserted, the plant roots reach down into the slowly moving water below as they soak up the nutrient rich water.

35.

Now that this basil has reached full maturity they will harvest the tops and leaves of the plants 4-times over a period of 2 months. At that point the plants are removed (composted) and the cycle is repeated.

36.

Here is a great shot of the basil and a full length view of the greenhouse.

37.

Here are the roots as they make their way through the holes in the foam and into the water.

38.

Some of the young mixed lettuce greens.

39.

Here they are closer to harvest time.

40.

This variety of lettuce will form small heads and the entire plant will be pulled out and placed in a single package for retailing when they are the perfect size.

From a permaculture perspective there is still too much wasted energy and packaging to call this 'permaculture' but learning to grow food all winter long in the temperate zone, and doing so organically, is moving in the right direction.

41.

This photo gives you a better sense of the size of the greenhouse operation.

There is much more information about aquaponics on the
AquaRanch Website.

42.

Suzie (Left) and Mary enjoying a relaxing moment before we head out to our next tour stop...
Spence Farm.

43.

When we enter Spence farm, located near Fairbury, IL, we are greeted with a variety of colors including these sun flowers in full bloom.

The farm house in the background was built by Marty Travis's grandfather M.M. Spence, in 1902 but it was M.M.'s grandfather who homesteaded this land in 1860. That makes this the oldest family farm in Livingston county.

44.

Like most farms in the 50's and 60's, this farm went the way of traditional agriculture and began using greater and greater amounts of herbicides, pesticides, and artificial fertilizers.

The farm became less and less productive and certainly less profitable.

Marty had the opportunity to take over the farm in the late 1990's and now he and his wife Kris are in the process of returning all the land to its original fertility using organic methods.

45.

Since they knew it was going to take several years to rebuild the soil, they started looking around for what was already growing wild on the property and see if they could find a market for it.

They did...!
This year alone they have sold over $25,000 in wild leaks (ramps), wild flower seed, stinging nettles, lambsquarter, pig-weed, paw-paws and other wild items.

While Kris and Marty were in the process of sharing much about their operation today, a farm yard turkey (Tom, in the foreground,) began to wonder through our group.

48.

From that point on, wherever we went on the farm, Tom and his lady friends (foreground, left) came with us.

Marty explained to us that what is making their farming venture successful is not the wild and/or organic foods they are harvesting and selling.

He said...
"The most important aspect of our business has been in the development of good relationships with our customers and neighbors."

49.

Marty confirms, as we state in our introduction to permaculture on this website, permaculture is really about relationship - our relationship with ourselves, our natural environment, and our family & neighbors.

Will/do we work with the natural abundance and flows of our world and universe, or will/do we ignore these?

Kris and Marty have a real interest in unusual and heirloom breeds of chickens and other animals. This little lady followed us around as well. She is a Golden Polish breed.

50.

Here is a section of the farm that is being returned to native prairie. It was fascinating to learn from Kris how the prairie plants are going through their own natural-successional process. Different species become dominant from year to year as the soil begins to come back to life.

The native prairies had a humus content of 13% when these soils first met the plow. The soil needs a 3% humus content just for normal biological activity to occur.

The farming soils of today have a humus content of under 1%. It is also the humus that captures and holds moister like a sponge.

51.

Marty took us in to the woods where their wild paw-paws grow. Some of the restaurants they sell to in Chicago will purchase all they can harvest for a special paw-paw ice cream they make in the fall.

The Travis's have wonderful website.
Spence Farm Foundation

52.

At the end of the week our students took what they had learned and together, applied it to the creation a permaculture design for the home that Becky and I live in.

53.

What I can tell you is that the design was very well thought out and included detail that I had never considered. We're sorry that the detail in this photo isn't any better but here is a link to a PDF of this picture so you can explore it more closely. I have listed the elements of the design following the last picture below.

Becky and I intend to begin to implement much of this design as time and funds allow. Whenever possible, we will invite interested parties to join us in Stelle to tackle pieces of it. Click Here if you would like email notices about work parties. No commitment from you is implied.

54.

All in all, we had a very good week together.

Here are our new graduates who are now a part of the Midwest Permaculture Graduate Network (see info at bottom).

 

Angie

"...a life changing experience."

55.

Don

"I am drunk (on the possibilities of permaculture) and my thirst is not yet quenched!"

56.

Carey

"After years of reading and pondering, I feel like I finally
'got it'. Thank you so much."

57.

John

"Hard to imagine learning so much in 7-days and having such a great time in the process."

58.

Fay

"Excellent. I would highly recommend this course. Great overall organization, teaching and hospitality."

59.

Mark

"The knowledge and passion of the instructors was incredible and impressive. They showed the theoretical and practical sides of it all."

60.

Mary

"Loved it. Completely eye opening."

61.

Dave

"Bill and Wayne brought insight and experience far beyond merely planting things. I am very hopeful there is a future."

62.

Suzie

"It truly has been life changing. It has allowed me to quit focusing on perfection (in permaculture design) but to instead, appreciate and expand upon what works for me."

Here is a link to the design sketch the students did on our house.

Click Here
for PDF file