Midwest Permaculture

4.

Parts of Mark's farm are in more mature stages.

This section contains some of the earliest tree planting from 1995.

Most plants are now about 12 years old here. Remember, they were started from seedlings.

6.

Here is a section of hazelnut rows. They are about 7 years old and are producing nuts consistently.

7.

Here are some hazelnuts in their young stage.

Important to remember is that Mark's permaculture farm will continue to increase in production for about 30 years at which time it will level off for one or two generations.

No plowing, fertilizing, watering, herbicides or pesticides. Bigger and bigger harvests each year.

That's a permaculture design.

9.
Siberian pea shrubs dot the landscape. They provide feed for the chickens and nitrogen for the soil.

10.

In addition to the hazelnuts and chestnuts, Mark mixes at least two dozen other crops into his rows. These include apples, grapes, cherries, mulberries (pictured)...

12.

Melissa and Garrett are a young couple interning on Mark's farm this year. Here they are planting kale which they will sell to Organic Valley's produce pool for their personal income.

13.

They live in this yurt on the farm. Garrett built most of it.

They both attended many of our classes during the week.

14.

We stopped by this rustic chicken coop that Mark built with scraps from other places and projects.

From this one spot each morning, he can check on and feed the chickens, rabbits and hogs while harvesting some shitake mushrooms for breakfast. They grow on the logs over the water tank that sits on the north side of the building, in the shade.

15.

On the sloping hillside behind the chicken coop is the open pen. All organic matter from the kitchen and the family garden gets thrown in at the top of the slope.

Over the next week, the chickens will scratch and pick at everything while it breaks down and slowly works its way to the bottom of the pen where it becomes compost.

All this is done by the chickens, not the people on the farm.

16.

These guys are mostly pasture raised and willingly come to see Mark daily for the treats he gives them. This way he trains the hogs to come to him so he can look them over.

Mark will also use the hogs to clear and fertilize specific areas he wants to replant.

Why do all that extra work when the hogs will do it for free?

And they love it...!

17.

Most of our students camped right in among the young chestnuts.

18.

Even though we did have some wet weather and a few cool nights, the sunny days were drop-dead perfect.

 

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“Suffering through the rain and cold, and wet tents, hardly detracted from the cause and personalities that rose up, making this a pleasurable and informative experience.”

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19.

Most of the classroom time was spent in the large room of the cidery.

Wayne (left-below) and Mark traded off the instruction time which broke up the days nicely.

 

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“Mark and Wayne were outstanding in what they shared and how it was offered.” 
Barbara S. – Medina, OH

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22.

Mark painted one wall of the cidery white so that we had a place to project films and presentations on.

23.

Not all the classroom time was spent indoors.

24.

Almost daily the students were out on the farm somewhere.

 

NOTE:
We intend to host several 1-day tours of Mark's farm each year.

If you would like to be notified by email about these tours and other events we might be hosting, Click Here.

25.

There was always plenty to see and to talk about while on the farm.

 

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“As a dairy farmer, this workshop gave me a wealth of information on how to create a more diversified, healthy and profitable farm.” 
Walter M. – Elkhorn, WI

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26.

But it wasn't all work and no play. There were plenty of breaks (greatly needed) with the opportunity to relax and get to know one another.

 

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“I think I understand the essence of permaculture (permanent-culture) now. When crisis comes, our relationship with our neighbors is what will pull us through.”  Jenni S. – Milwaukee, WI

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27.

Erin Varney is a local producer of organic food and a permaculturist, along with her husband Dave.

Erin prepared most of the meals for our course and mostly from the fruits, vegetables and meats they raise on their farm.

(More pictures from the tour we took of their farm are coming up.)

 

28.

Erin's food and cooking were excellent and kept us fueled for learning. It was a rare treat for many students to be eating locally grown and organic food every day.

 

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“Erin was wonderful. She is present, interesting and someone who is walking the talk.  The food was delicious.” 
Jim P. -  Minneapolis, MN

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29.

Mark's sons, Erik and Daniel Shepard were very involved in the course.

Erik was our main tech person who assisted with keeping the projectors and audio equipment running.

30.

Daniel was a key support person for Mark, Wayne and me.

31.

Even Mark, Wayne and I (Bill) had a chance to kick back and have some fun.

32.

Interestingly enough, we had at least 5 banjo players involved in the course.

I wonder what that means...?

33.

Because classes went into the evening, we were treated to several wonderful sunsets.

34.

 

35.

Our first site tour was to Organic Valley headquarters in LaFarge, WI.

They are the largest cooperative of organic growers in the United States.

36.

The Organic Valley logo sits high on the wall in the lobby.

The new building is very energy efficient and the company has been voted one of the "best places to work" in the state of Wisconsin.

37.

We enjoyed lunch in the Organic Valley cafeteria.

Most of the food we ate came from their growers.

38.

Even though it is a new facility, they have already begun some permaculture plantings on the grounds.

39.

Our second stop of the day was to a small but established intentional community called Dreamtime Village.

mIEKAL aND is one of the founders of this 30+ year experiment into intentional living.

Although there are only about 5 persons living here at present, at one time there were 25.

40.

In their earlier days, a permaculture approach to their land and living was adopted. Hundreds of plants of many varieties were placed around the property.

When the numbers of residents dwindled, so did the time and resources to care for everything that was put into the ground.

41.

Regardless, after years of little attention or care, many of the plants flourished due to the plant guilds they were placed in.

42.

As we made our way around the grounds we found an abundance of fruit, nuts and some perennial vegetables.

43.

Where we are walking here was little more than an overgrown meadow just 17 years ago.

The objective of a good permaculture design is to minimize work, reduce inputs, maximize production, all the while caring for the people and the land.

44.

The next site tour took us to Jim and Kathy Pierce's home and trout farm.

Having learned something about raising fish while living in Hawaii, Jim purchased this farm because it already had an operational fish raising business.

The fresh water to keep this operation going comes from a natural spring right on the property.

45.

During Jim's introductory talk we learned that he was raised in Hinsdale, Illinois. Well heck... so was I.

Turns out that Jim was one of my next door neighbors. He was the kid brother of one of my friends. I used to baby sit for him and his younger sister... 40 years ago...!!!

We were both shocked and amused to discover this right on the spot. What a small world we live in.

46.

Once we composed ourselves, Jim took our students into the heart of his operation. These bays are under roof so that the water doesn't freeze in the winter.

As the fish mature and get larger, they are moved from bay to bay until they are finally sold as stocking fish for ponds or turned into smoked trout for Jim and Kathy's retail business.

47.

In order to garner a little more space on the uphill side of the house, Jim built this retaining wall out of old tires and then extended a deck over it thus creating a car port to keep the snow of their vehicles.

In permaculture, this is a simple example of stacking functions.

48.

There are actually a few variety of herbs that can be grown right in the wall. No need to bend over to harvest!

The open door to the left is the root cellar.

49.

Jim picked up a double walled milk tank that was headed to the scrap steel pile.

After cutting a door into one end and building some shelves inside, it now operates as an ideal root cellar.

50.

Mark and Jim (red) are fellow band members. They play a delightful variety of down home country music with humorous, lyrical twists.

Their band is for hire. They call themselves Sinster Dane and the Kickapoo Disco Cosmonauts.

Send Mark an email if you are interested.

51.

We had a delightful evening enjoying the music and some of Mark's home brewed apple cider.

52.

It turned out that this particular evening was also Mark and Jen's wedding anniversary.

Their good friend Dick honored them with a toast.

53.

Our final site visit for the week was to Dave and Erin Varney's 5 acre permaculture project called
One Sun Farm.

Erin prepared most of the meals for our course on these premises with food right from their farm.

Besides selling a variety of products right from their farm stand, Erin makes and sells frozen pizzas (retail and wholesale) and runs their catering business.

This link will take you to all their information.

54.

Dave was an apprentice of Mark Shepard's until he launched out on his own. Dave and Erin have been working tirelessly for 5 years to get their farm up and running as quickly as possible.

Dave didn't throw our students any softballs but rather talked about the hard realities of starting from scratch.

No doubt, this one talk from Dave took the 'stars' out of some student's eyes, supporting them in taking a realistic look.

55.

To have both Mark and Wayne on the spot to verify Dave and Erin's hard won experience, while offering their own impressions, and sharing their insights, made this one of the most valuable few hours of the course.

56.

On the walk around the farm, Dave stopped by their small greenhouse to discuss the necessity of having some kinds of season extenders in their zone 4 climate.

57.

We had a few extra guests for this tour.

One small family took quite an interest in the pigs.

58.

Erin took everyone right into her certified catering kitchen where she can safely prepare pizzas, fruit pies and a plethora of other foods for their catering and retail business.

What is interesting is that Erin cooks with only a wood fired oven that one of their Amish neighbors built for her. It is a good sized oven, tall and narrow, and very energy efficient.

59.

The Shepard's and Varney's children have become good friends over the years.

60.

The Varney's main crop will be the hazelnut bushes.

The rows are spaced 13 feet apart so that when they mature there will be room between the rows for working and harvesting.

In the meantime, Dave uses that space to grow a variety of annual vegetables for wholesale, retail and their catering business.

61.

The main crop rows on this part of the farm are the raspberries.

Once again, until they mature and fill the rows, the Varney's grow some amazing garlic that they are becoming known for.

62.

I wanted to get a close-up of these raspberries.

I also had to sample a few of these organic morsels, just to be sure they were edible... :)

Boy... Were they ever!

63.

Fortunately for Dave and Erin, their farm is located on a fairly busy highway that should help support there retail business for years to come.

We intend to organize more tours here in the future.

Click Here if you would like to be notified, via email, about future tours of the Varney's farm and other Midwest Permaculture events.

64.

What follows here are a smattering of quotes from our students course evaluations.

They don't necessarily match the person who is in the picture.

65.

“I wondered for a while whether I should have taken the urban course instead, but came to realize that if I think of this like a fractal, my tiny plot of backyard, presents the same opportunity as a large scale farm.”  Jenni S. – Milwaukee, WI

66.

“Wayne, Mark and Bill created the space for us to experience community, while also giving us the basic tools and information to create our dreams.”  Sherry R. – Oshkosh, WI

67.

Question to students:
On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) how would you rate this location for future design courses.

Response: “1000…! 
What place better than the Garden of Eden.”
Matt B. – Kimbolton, OH

70.

“Thank you for providing a reality based perspective on permaculture.  The difficulties and challenges shared helped put the theory in perspective.” 
Dale H. – Columbus, OH

73.

“I am now confident in my ability to integrate permaculture ideas from the big picture, to detailed designs of specific sites.  Thanks.” 
Nadine G. – Genoa, WI

76.

“Things have crystallized for me.  Being with these ideas and seeing them in practice has really helped me see more places where I can begin at home.” 
Lisa A. – Columbus, OH

79.

“…a real chance to learn and to build community with other people who want to make a life that respects people and the earth.” 
Tom R. – Minneapolis, MN

80.

“Wayne and Mark were outstanding in what they shared and how it was offered.” 
Barbara S. – Medina, OH

81.

“The work Mark Shepard is doing is profound and pioneering. 

A fabulous place to learn about Permaculture.” 
Dick K. – Rockford, IL

82.

“This course was wonderful. It was all encompassing from philosophy to the on-the-ground operational permaculture farms (Shepard’s & Varney’s).

A realistic look at the challenges a new operation will be facing. Thanks.”  Brandon B. – Norwalk, IA

83.

“This week has certainly enhanced my awareness of the connections that exist throughout the natural world…”  Bret H. – Milwaukee, WI