The Art of Double Digging

Today I still had Will with me at the farm. Our time spent today was clearing out beds and turning the soil with a technique called Double Dig whereby we dug down a foot with a shovel to displace topsoils then used a pitchfork to aerate another foot down before refilling with the shoveled topsoil. We moved in columns so the soil was essentially fluffed and aerated. In the process we disrupted countless earthworms at work in the rich dark soil. These beds had previously held lettuce and peas and in their place we planted corn, okra, melon, eggplant and squash.

It's customary that after our work we sit down to an al fresco plant dominated meal. This afternoon we enjoyed collard wraps with a filling of lentils, swiss chard, Okinawa spinach, herbs, a broth made of greens, and served it with homemade hummus, and sweet chili sauce. 

Will wasn't too keen on collard wraps so I came prepared with a Peanut Butter sandwich and raisins.

The work continued once we got home. My yard, still in disarray from the Sunday storm, offered plenty of raking, pruning, and bagging. Then, as if my garden at once was attacked, I noticed my thriving tomato plants under siege by aphids AND caterpillars. The caterpillars are eating through the leaves on my basil, tomato, and spinach. The small group of ladybugs that have landed on my plants seem no match for the seemingly countless aphids. Like a mother defending her young, I went on the offensive and made a strong dish soap solution and sprayed down the plants. As the sun was setting I could see my poor tomato plants engulfed in little green bugs. Aaaahhh, my first experience with true pests. How do they find me?! If I don't see results in a couple days I'm going to have to take more drastic measures. I've watched these plants make it through surprise cold spells, terrible storms, and I'll be darned if I'm not going to enjoy their fruit! More to follow....

Natural Building Techniques

After a ferocious storm swept through Orlando on Sunday dumping 3 inches of rain, hail, and bringing 50+ mph winds; today at Econ Farm the weather was perfectly sunny and cool. Today we continued learning about natural building techniques and spent the day building a water tight roof made of palm fronds tied to a bamboo frame. Once complete, we hoisted the roof onto 4 bamboo posts. The lean-to structure will provide cover for firewood and is located next to the fire pit. The wood ash from the fire pit, incidentally, also feeds the compost. This is me tying palm fronds:

It was Spring Break for my 3 year old son, so he came along today and helped out.

Will took great pleasure in feeding the chickens lettuce leaves and collecting eggs.

Here is our completed structure.

Since beginning this externship, my own yard continues to transform. We put in one rain catcher just in time for the storm and filled the 50 gallon tank in less than an hour! It inspires me to invest in more. I continue to work on my compost pile, adding my kitchen scraps by making a hole in the center and covering with "green" layers. I've noticed since incorporating more "greens" my the compost process has improved. I've also turned a rotting wood pile on another side of my yard into a working pile by burying kitchen scraps and topping with lots of leaves. A quick peak under the layers reveals a lot of activity...it's alive! My two raised beds continue to deliver beautiful lettuce and arugula. My three tomato plants are thriving, though two clearly have a bug eating away at the leaves. I was relieved upon closer look to see several lady bugs on the leaves, so whatever is eating my leaves will soon be eaten by the ladybugs....am thinking aphids. I'm not going into pest control mode just yet, we'll see how the ladybugs do. My zinnia and morning glories are sprouting, as are my seminole squash seeds that produce a pumpkin shaped squash. I planted a watermelon plant and a cucumber plant in my beds that are doing well and Terry, my sponsor, gave me a well established Lacinto Kale and Collard plant, along with two small Red Russian Kale plants. In the front of my house my direct seed lavender and lime basil aren't doing well, but a planted grape vine and blueberry bush show signs of fruiting!

Keyhole Garden Design

Econ Farm is home to many different permaculture design elements. Today we spent time watering our transplanted trees and the areas that were inoculated with mushroom spores. Below, this set of logs had dowels inserted with mushroom spores. The spots were then covered with mud and have been watered regularly. In 6 weeks, the logs should be covered with oyster mushrooms. 

In this garden that was overgrown with ferns and weeds, we cleared it and double dug in mushroom compost for a Keyhole Garden: a raised bed, lasagna garden with composting and recycling built in. This garden needed some work. It was only slightly raised and rectangular. Most keyhole gardens are designed to be waist high for accessibility and round. They are so great because they are drought tolerant. Ours will be more of a U-shape. They are designed with a compost center that serves to fertilize the layers sloped below and away from it. This picture shows the garden is a tangled mess, and in fact it is. Okinawa Spinach was growing and spreading like crazy. There was a nice little mound of tarragon, and a sad looking rosemary that was translated. The papaya tree had to be dug out because it did not survive a Winter frost. Much of the Okinawa Spinach was transplanted to other areas because it is hardy and grows quickly with little attention, offering an edible, low maintenance landscape.

It's Raining It's Pouring....

This morning the rain fell in sheets. For the first hour we were under canopy planting warm weather veggies including several varieties of peppers, cucumbers, purple tomatillos, squash and okra. When the rain cleared we turned to harvesting lettuce and thinning the beds that had peas. It was nice to see our "Three Sisters" start to sprout, as well as the carrots that I had planted two weeks prior. The intention for the day had been building with natural materials, which were able to get to in the last hour. Below is a natural wall of palm fronds that grow abundantly on the property. The brown fronds were existing, the green ones we added to fill in gaps on the bamboo trellis. 

The wall provides privacy for the outdoor bathroom. The rain catcher harvests rain water and serves as the "sink". The walls of the bathroom are made from bamboo also grown on the property.

This morning we also tended to the worms! The vermicompost is 4 layers and the red wigglers feed on junk mail and kitchen scraps. The casings (bacteria based) provide fertilizer for the vegetable garden while the compost tea from the compost pile (fungus based) are a better fertilizer for the fruit trees.

Here is Terry selecting seeds for us to plant. We are under the house while the rain pours down.

Harvesting and Transplanting

On Wednesday we began by clearing out kale and sweet potatoes, fluffing the soil with rich dark compost, and planting the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash.

We also transplanted Russian Red Kale seedlings into bigger pots.

We harvested the sweet potatoes, but also took several sweet potato vines and started them in pots that will hang out in the green house until planting in the fall.

In addition to harvesting and planting, we moved three underperforming citrus trees. One was in a spot that didn't get enough sun and two were competing with a lot of roots that stunted their growth. We finished the morning with a light lunch that included a kale salad and a soup made with the garden's beautiful swiss chard.

A day of muck and grub

Today at Econ Farm I met 3 other interns. Pauline is probably in her 40s. She is from Canada and will be living/working on the Farm for a month. She usually winters in Dominican Republic, but after rowing (yes, in a crew boat) from Canada to Florida, she decided to explore Florida a little bit longer and discovered Terry's Green Education Center and Econ Farm. Alicia, it turns out is my neighbor who lives only a few blocks from me and has a 2 year old son, who I look forward to getting to know better and introducing to my 3-year old boy. Andrea is a licensed massage therapist who also does energy work, feng shui, and chakra therapy. She grew up on a farm in New Mexico and has always been close to the earth. Her familiar voice made me feel as if I knew her and it turns out we do have mutual friends in common. It's a small world.

Econ Farm is a model of Permaculture Design. The cabin was built by Tia and Terry and is almost entirely off the grid.  In the foreground is the au natural vegetable garden.

Bamboo grows on the property. Once harvested, it serves as building material.

Today we cleared and replanted a spiral garden- a great design for Urban Farming with small space. At the top grows Okinawan Spinach, tomato, and oregano. We planted Dill, mint, and rosemary. The spiral design offers different climates for the varied herbs. We watered with a compost tea and learned that compost tea must be aerated. Our compost tea was worm casings that soaked in aerated water for 30 hours.

A short walk down to the river access offered lots of rich black muck to layer in our compost pile.

Water hyacinths harvested from the river (an invasive species) serve as a living method of fertilizing rainwater. Below is Terry explaining the benefits of nutrient rich rain water. This barrel feeds a misting system that he has over his seedling area. The gutter leading into the barrel captures the rain water. Aside from seedlings he does not irrigate his crops. Permaculture, he explains, is designed to be low maintenance. 

Below is me sifting compost with a very thoughtful design. A wheel barrel underneath captures the fine rich black compost while the mesh sieve that I vigorously shake back and forth holds the large debris that goes back to the compost pile to breakdown further. This is a serious work out. I lasted about 3 minutes!

Below is our finished lasagna layered compost pile. We began with dried up palm fronds (brown) and layered harvested water hyacinths (green), then layers of muck (rich black soil), leaves, water hyacinths, ash from a fire pit for carbon, kitchen scraps, and then topped with a thick layer of leaves. A well layered compost pile is 3X3X3 and when tapped on one side moves on the other. This compost pile will be ready to use in 2-3 months.

After tending to the spiral garden, reworking the compost, and shoveling muck for the compost, we harvested produce for a light lunch. On the menu: A coleslaw of grated carrot, ginger, and green papaya finished with a curry yogurt sauce. A salad of chopped Lacinto kale, curly kale, bib lettuce, radish, chayote squash, walnuts and raisins topped with a spicy balsamic dressing. Collard wraps with raw collard greens rolled with peanut butter and chili sauce. Terry had harvested some fresh lemongrass to make a refreshing tea. It was a sweet ending to a second day.

Externship Begins

On Wednesday, March 6th I began my externship at Econ Farm. The name is a bit deceiving. Econ is less farm and more a model of sustainable living. Tia and Terry Meer live almost completely off the grid. If not for the requirement by the county to have utilities in order to declare occupancy, they would probably be entirely self reliant. Econ Farm is not easy to find. In fact, I discovered them while trying to find a way to volunteer at a nearby community Urban Garden. What I found is that there is a small community of people committed to sustainable practices and urban farm education, and everyone is somehow connected. While trying to find a contact for Tia, I stumbled upon Terry's Green Education Center, which he operates out of his large hand built sustainable cabin. Tucked back along the Econ River, Econ Farm is 5 acres of au natural. It appears at first to be a tangled mess, but in fact is a well thought out design based on permaculture closed loop systems. The house itself is heated primarily by solar energy as is the eco-jacuzzi. All of the water to the house is captured.  A fresh water and grey water system is in place for cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, watering the gardens, and filling the jacuzzi. Although there are 5 acres they grow primarily on 1/4 acre and produce a significant amount of food, proof that you don't need a lot of space to grow a lot of food. The design is intended to be low maintenance and with the exception of new seedlings, the fruits and vegetables are not watered.

On my first day, Terry gave me a tour through the orchard where he has blueberries, a variety of citrus trees, persimmons, peaches, plum, loquat, and bananas. His vegetable garden was full of greens, carrots, peas, and herbs. We worked the compost pile for a little while, trimming down larger branches so that they would compost more quickly and prepared the site for a class he is giving later this week about soils. Next we planted a variety of seeds for the spring to include several melons, peppers, herbs, and flowers. Finally we harvested the carrots, prepped the bed and planted one final crop of purple carrots for the spring.