More Photos

Kathleen wanted to provide water in summer to three mature evergreens that are showing signs of stress due excessive heat and lack of water. Since they provide her home with welcomed shade during the hot summer months, she wants to ensure their health.

After an initial overview of the valve assembly in the laundry room, the ladies went outside and dug trenches for the trees and laid out the poly pipe and outlets for the system. Ball valves were installed on the end of each outlet to control flow and the trenches were filled with mulch.

A delicious potluck lunch was had and new acquaintances were made in this hard working group. A good time was had by all.

Many apples and pears littered the ground in various states of edibility. Our first task was to clean up around the trees and sort the good fruit from the bad. Once the baskets of ripe fruit started piling up we set out to process them in many delicious and creative ways. Many apples and pears were peeled and cut, cooked and mashed for a delicious applesauce. Other fruit was cut thin under the shade of grape arbor and laid out carefully on sheets to dehydrate. In the house the air hummed with the sound of dehydrators warming and drying the fresh fruit into leathery snacks for later.

A powerful juicer helped us press apples into a foamy green fresh apple cider and the kitchen bustled with a massive apple pie operation! On the recommendation of a participant one member bottled a jar of apple pickles in apple cider vinegar (I will let you know how they taste)! Our potluck lunch was as usual a beautiful spread of homemade delicacies and nourishing dishes. After lunch the adults returned to the task of fruit preservation while the children ran around the yard, laughing and calling like a wild pack of animals.

After a full day with the fruit, we all met at the town community center to share a meal with the rest of the work parties around town. Pictures from the day were projected on the wall and each group got to share the triumph of their work party action! Music, food and dancing rounded out a very festive event! Thanks to everyone who made this day special!!!

We started off with a walkabout the property. There’s about 1.5 acres fenced in from the deer and within that space are an assortment of fruit trees, 2 gardens, chicken coop and their fenced area, and the 2 bee hives.

The first activity was the most anticipated, being the quinoa harvest. It was mostly a first run for us all so we clipped off the tall stalks and draddled them between our hands to extract the seeds. Max (a Tennesee Valley resident) has some growing at his place currently so he was happy to get some hands-on time before he harvests his own. And Lynn had a good idea to make haresting easier and quicker. She said to put the entire plant branch in a ladies stocking  then let it sit and dry then beat it out into the stocking. I’m going to try that.

Then we stopped for a snack and I gave everyone a run down as to how a beehive functions and the tools used in maintaining a colony. Afterwards, we took the leftover quinoa branches and gave it to the chickens for further extraction. Everyone had some good ideas regarding keeping chickens healthy while at the same time keeping the land they graze healthy. Its tough here since its all a steep hillside and they remove and erode the topsoil quickly. Myrta is well read on most Permaculture subjects and has great theory and knowledge. She recommended I have two parcels set aside for the chickens and I switch them back and forth as needed. but I still need to figure out how to keep a good ground cover for them in the dry seasons.

Later we moved to the beehives and we opened one of them up and got a gander at the inner workings. It was fun to have a group so confidently standing around an open hive without any protection, but my bees are pretty chill so they don’t sting unless it’s warranted. Everyone saw the worker lady bees and the drone male bees. And I passed around a few frames to feel and inspect. Fun stuff!

Lastly after a few folks left, the remainder of us used up the mulch pile to fill in the swales in preparation for winter. And now they are easier to traverse.

We started the day by planting a guild around our ancient little apple tree. We planted chives, comfrey, yarrow, currant and ceanothus all of which are happy and thriving. The majority of the day was spent contemplating the conversion of an old pool into a pond with functioning greywater and swimming potential. After many great ideas were shared we transplanted and made new homes for several different water plants.

The day summed up shortly there after with an abbreviated lunch. The lucky few who stayed late got to help us transplant the Black Elder that was propagated last winter. Thanks all of you who made this day possible!

Project Photos

• The cultivation on Constance’s deck has probably doubled, with a few more barrels now planted since y’all were here. So Zone 1 is well on its way to fully feeding the nearby kitchen.
• Our iris transplanting and oak clearing at the front-side of the house is primed for guilding around the pear and plum trees. I think I’ll have time on Wednesday to dig in there…
• The transplanted irises are doing well. The anemones that we placed beside the driveway are steadily recovering after heavy feeding from deer, who really seemed to target those little guys. They seem to be doing ok, and perhaps they’ll come back even stronger.
• Our polyculture sowing is really coming strong now, with cotyledons everywhere! Teeny sprouts of carrots, lettuces, beets, and radishes now surround the hardy greens that we transplanted. Slugs have also come strong, but my midnight slug hunting and a few beer traps have been effective so far.
• We’ve also had fun playing with compost tea. I’m amazed at how our aquarium pump turns awfully stinky funk water into sweet aerobic compost tea in 2-3 days. I think I’ve found a new hobby! :)

Marin Organic and Permaculture Marin provided an outline for the overall design concept of these mini gardens. ARBOL provided invaluable onsite preparation and community outreach. Music, homemade tamales and fresh fruit juices were provided by community members. Trades people from the community were invited to share their time, skills and expertise in the transformation of institutional landscaping to food gardens by building raised beds onsite.

Raised beds and column planters were built and planted out. Lemon, plum, cherry, peach and apple trees along with peas and beans were planted in individual pots, to be moved as necessary as people learn about the plants’ sun requirements.

This day was so successful that three more apartment complexes have had gardens installed!

We came together at Darla’s cozy houseboat (complete with an abundant planter garden on the deck) to share our backgrounds, current projects, inspirations and our visions for our work. It was a great opportunity to put faces to names and update our resource lists. Topics of discussion included development of a registry for available land for community gardening; gleaning map available from Sustainable Fairfax; also Marin Open Garden Project, Petaluma Bounty Garden, permaculture/grey water/rainwater catchment classes through Parks and Recreation Departments.

Invisible structures are those elements of our cultural landscape that support our attempts to design human settlements and culture that can exist in harmony and symbiosis with natural systems.

Some of the permaculture features on Samay’s property include a “laundry to landscape” greywater system and lots of friendly chickens.

Luckily for us, the Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness program (RDNA) had been there the week before and they left a slightly unfinished rain water catchment project in their wake. So, the ten of us got to put the finishing touches on this system, connecting pipes from the gutters of a straw bale building into a 3000 gallon tank, which will help top up a pond during the dry, summer months.

Making short work of this project, we moved on to one of the less tended zones of the yard where we removed blackberries, and shaped new beds surrounding a quince tree into a mandala garden. This will be the future site of a chicken-food-production zone, as well as hosting a bounty of insectary plants for the bees to enjoy. To help prepare the soil for next spring, we seeded this zone with a cover crop mix and topped it all off with a light straw mulch.

As luck would have it, the very next day it rained just enough to wet the soil, helping the seeds take off. I love it when a plan comes together!

Many thanks to all of those who attended and gave their love to this land. It gives it back in the form of apples and pears and chard and corn and strawberries and so much more!

With an orchard as productive as the one at PINC it felt really good to honor the bounty of this land by making delicious foods from the falling fruit. Apples and pears were collected, cut, cooked, peeled, blended and mashed to make sauce, fruit leather, fruit butter, fresh juice and soda. At the end of the day our sweet reward was some fresh apple crisp right out of the oven!

It was such a joy to be in and amongst the hustle and bustle of a community coming together to make, share and celebrate seasonal food. The kitchen was packed with people, canning supplies, and delicious smells throughout the day. The garden was humming with people and busy hands, lovingly processing a mountain of fruit. By the end of the day all were able to leave with a canned treat or two, maybe some raw apple sauce or apple pie filling and the PINC residents proudly stocked their pantry with rows of jars in a rainbow of autumn color.

Thank you to all who attended, especially the children, for making this east coast gal get a real taste of fall!

After Annie stated her goals for the project, we started the design process by looking through reference materials such as “Create an Oasis with Greywater” by Art Ludwig, and items gleaned from the internet, notably the website of Greywater Action.

Then we began digging the areas for the wetlands and pond, and placing rocks, wood and other decorative elements. The design evolved as the day progressed, true to Annie’s spontaneous artistic nature. The project continues to evolve and photos will be added to the set on Flickr over time.

Dave created a fun video of the day, which can be viewed on the video page of this website, or on our YouTube site.

Our host for the day was David Haskell, Director of the Garden of Eatin’, an award winning project of the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato http://www.nbcc.net/garden/index.cfm. This spectacular garden is the centerpiece of an innovative program designed to combat childhood obesity. While learning how to grow, harvest and (best of all) eat fresh fruits and vegetables, the children learn not only where their food comes from but also how eating fresh food contributes to their good health.

First we wet the soil, then, because the future garden site rests under a large pine tree (and b/c we wanted to use onsite resources) we sprinkled a layer of wood ash on the moistened soil surface to help bring balance to the soil. We then cut green material from the surrounding areas and mixed that with some fresh compost for our first nitrogen rich layer. We also added two pounds of red wriggler worms to help expedite the breakdown process; we hope to do our first round of planting in the fall. Saturated cardboard, collected from our local surf shop, was our next layer and on top of that we spread finished compost, then straw, then 6-10″ of mixed woodchip mulch. Each layer was moistened appropriately as we went along and the whole day was full of laughter, good conversation and fun. BIG thanks to all those who participated!

The day began with a tour of the one-acre property in San Anselmo. Some points of interest and discussion centered around soil content and slippage, condition of existing mature trees, heat island effect of the driveway and patio, and the wants and needs of the homeowner for food production and water management. Two groups were formed to focus on separate areas of the property and each group came up with ideas and solutions for the issues pertaining to their area. To end the day, everyone regrouped and shared their results.

It was an energizing and productive time, giving everyone an opportunity to evaluate a suburban plot and put their design skills to use. The homeowner was left with renewed inspiration and commitment to transform her property into a fruitful and sustaining home.