Growing Community in Southwest Michigan
In the interest of the public good, and because I’ve enjoyed listening to this interview several times, I’ve transcribed the dialogue from it below. Bill was slowing down and approaching the end of his days here (age 77 in this interview, he died in 2016 at 88). His speech was a bit slurred at...
Documentation of the growth habits / forms of some of the woody perennials at my (PJ’s) forest garden, with a snowy backdrop and a 6-foot “yardstick” to show scale, with notes about planting years. I have dry, sandy soil and a lot of these things didn’t get much care or watering—plus many have been...
Join us on March 5th at Lily Hill Farm in Lawton for a day-long primer in homesteading skills, permaculture, raising small livestock, self-sufficiency, and creating “food forests.” Lunch will be provided.
Visit two different forest gardens on two very different sites in Southwest MI—throughout an entire growing season! Forest Gardens or “Food Forests” are a way of growing food by imitating nature: plants on many layers, cooperating rather than competing. It doesn’t mean growing food in a dark forest—more like a semi-open woodland featuring many...
I (PJ) have purchased a “bulk” subscription to Permaculture Activist, a wonderful magazine that’s been serving the U.S. Permaculture community since the mid-1980s. It’s 4 issues a year, and I get 10 copies of each issue mailed to me for a deeply discounted price. $10 for a year’s worth of issues (a bargain at...
Since many of us have fruit trees growing, and most trees some require annual pruning for optimal health, I thought it would be a good idea to have a place to collect info on what people have, so that we can exchange ideas, comments and scion wood with each other. This is purely voluntary...
4 of us met on a Saturday morning in mid-April to plant oats and barley in some fields that Steve had worked up previously. Beautiful weather, nice soil, great conversation, good food and lots of fun, as always with this group. We’re experimenting with growing our own grains organically in permaculture-minded systems, on a...
Dale, Tomme and Sam teamed up to organize this wonderful event at the Riverview Launch in Kalamazoo, just in time for spring. Ann Fraser from Kalamazoo College gave a very good presentation on the importance, habits, and life cycles of native bees (and other pollinators), and afterward we all got to assemble cool little...
Our March Van-Kal Permaculture meetup was at Rachelle’s place. We spent a couple hours outdoors pruning a really overgrown old apple tree (Thanks to John and Josh for the pruning guidance and Tomme and Steve for their skill and daring in tree-climbing). We also had an excellent meal and conversation indoors. A great time...
Bill Mollison is a name that should be familiar to most people who’ve had any exposure to Permaculture, as he is the co-originator of the term and practice (with David Holmgren), and probably its most widely-published author and widely-traveled teacher and promoter. He was 50 years old when the seminal Permaculture One was published...
