This is Clear Creek, the valley we now call home
Last month, Scott Mann of The Permaculture Podcast came to our neighborhood to re-visit the community here on Clear Creek, the place we now call home just outside Berea, Kentucky. Last summer, he came for a visit to record a podcast and he had such a positive experience that he decided to make another trip. During his initial visit I was in Vermont attending a Permaculture Design Course, ironically enough.
This land represents so much powerful potential for health
A few weeks ago, I took photos all over our newly acquired land to have good documentation for the future. In the coming years, we will no doubt re-envision this place, build new infrastructure, shape the land, and introduce new plants and animals. It’s exciting to think about tapping into the potential of this land, and restoring more vigor and vitality.
Circling the upper pond at the beautiful Moretown homestead site
Three words come to mind when I think about the experience of participating in the Whole Systems Design Permaculture Design Course: full, filling, and fulfilling. It was an intensely packed 10 days of learning, and the long hours were thoroughly nourishing. Exhausting at times, but totally rewarding all the same. There was so much to think about and discuss that it was hard to pull away and find some decent sleep at night. At the closure of the course, I came away deeply satisfied, more confident than ever before in the journey towards establishing a home for myself that’s in alignment with my vision.
An amazing view out to the field & ponds from the barn
Earlier last week, I got back from Vermont after attending a 10 day Permaculture Design Course (PDC) with Whole Systems Design. Let me tell you, it’s taken me a few days to fall back into the groove of things here after a very rich, fulfilling, and thoroughly intense experience. It was a joy to participate. The days were long and full of great conversation and new ideas. It was actually quite moving at times and gave me lots of opportunity to think about what I want not just from the land we’ve recently come into, but from life overall.
I’ve barey begun going through my photos in hopes of writing a summary of my experience. While I do that, I want to at least share a few enticing photos from the journey. Here ya go… stay tuned for more of an in-depth rundown soon.
Tomorrow, April and I head east. I’ll be attending a PDC at Whole Systems Research Farm in Vermont for 10 days. I’ve been eagerly anticipating this trip since the spring, and the timing couldn’t be better. This fall, we’ll be moving onto our new land and the next year will be full of visioning and designing and making plans for the land and the future. I suspect a lot of the new knowledge I come home with after the PDC will be very helpful for our design process.
The Whole Systems Research Farm, where I’m headed in August
I’m awfully excited about the upcoming month. In August, I’m headed to the Whole Systems Research Farm in Vermont to take a Permaculture Design Certificate Course (PDC). In this case, it’s an intensive workshop and immersion in designing and maintaining resilient farms and homesteads, based on the principles and techniques of permaculture design. Basically… it’s 10 days learning about forest gardens, water management, perennial plants, scything, self-sufficiency, and maintaining high yield / low input food landscapes.
Okay, that’s still a lot of words, but you get the idea. This is rich stuff, and I’m thrilled to be able to see Ben Falk and co.’s living examples of permaculture in action. The timing couldn’t be better, as we’ll be moving onto our land this summer/fall, and making grand plans over the winter and in 2016 for turning our own 28 acres in a slice of perma-paradise.
As I enter a new phase in life with the goal of obtaining raw land to create my own slice of homesteading delight, my appetite for books and stories about permaculture, especially of a more personal account is ever greater. This is a fortunate time, as the number of books over the past decade have only been increasing as people have had more time to take permaculture principles to the field, garden, and home with new results to share. Landowners and prospective owners should consider themselves lucky to not have to go in quite as blind as before with books like Paradise Lot, by Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates.
Actually, in this case a landowner could mean anyone with even a tiny backyard to their name, as this dynamic duo have created an unbelievable patch of perennial goodness on a mere 1/10th of an acre. Their experiment and book are a testament to the idea that even supremely ravaged land in suburban deserts can be transformed into thriving ecosystems, providing an abundance of soil, food, habitat, and ultimately reward.
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
