From a Student in Madison, Wisconsin
I have learned and done a lot in the last year.
I learned that there are “weeds” growing in my yard that I can eat, like wood sorrel. That was a scary concept at first–something that doesn’t come from the farm or the grocery store can still be edible & have nutrients that are good for me. I had my first introduction to foraging. My neighbors had morels growing in their yard the day we did the walk-about with Vince, the foraging dude. Vince showed us how to tell the difference between real and false morels (it’s not hard).
I attended a Transition Town training and learned about community resilience. I want one of those. I am dedicating my life to bringing this about. A very important part of the TT process is to have a community visioning workshop with a group of people diverse in age, occupation, race, gender, etc. to dream about how we want to live in the future, given that resources are finite and running out. It’s about being proactive and creating something that we want and that could be awesome to live in, even with more “work”.
I spent the entire summer watching the grape vine along my fence and testing to see when the grapes would be edible. I’ve never done that before. It’s tuning me into the seasons more. (I learned first-hand the expression sour grapes.) I picked a bunch of grapes for E’s birthday at the end of September. They were good, and they were even better about 2 weeks later. These grapes are small and have seeds that are almost as big as the grape, so maybe next year I will figure out a way to cook them (jam? juice?).
I learned that the plant for one of the tinctures that I use daily for my psoariasis is an abundant weed in these parts. I will have someone help me positively identify it, and then get some seeds and grow it in my own yard. It’s the root of the plant, dug in the fall, that’s made into the tincture. I may still dig some this year, but I want to be absolutely sure of the plant before I dig it up.
I learned from the Permaculture Guild that there are people who are willing to share plants (I knew that, but these are plants that I want in my permaculture garden, that I can get free or cheap instead of buying at the garden center). Some day I will have enough to share with others. I already shared the wild ginger that really likes my back yard.
I took a Permaculture Design Certification course, and learned why permaculturists are so obssessed with holding all the water that falls on their roof and property (in the soil–so I don’t have to water as often, it can percolate through the soil and be cleaned, and it can recharge the aquifer). Permaculturists are also big on building the soil, and covet their neighbors leaves and fall garden trimmings for making compost. And Permaculturists are big on multi-function plantings. I don’t just plant pretty flowers or native plants, I also plant food bearing bushes, trees, and perennial veggies like asparagus (I can hardly wait!). I plant things that have shallow roots to gather surface water, and things that have deep roots (daikon radish, trees) to bring nutrients and water up from deep in the soil, for the use of all the plants. I plant things together that support each other and grow near each other in the wild–plant guilds (nitrogen fixers, nutrient accumulators, insectiary, medicinal) and I plant vertically as well as horizontally (bushes & shrubs under trees, climbing vines to shade the house, etc).
In the Madison Area Permaculture Guild, I learned how to sheet mulch (where I would use all my neighbors’ garden trimmings and leaves, and a boat load of cardboard, plus manure to create beautiful soil, especially over a grassy area that I wanted to turn into a garden). I learned the benefits of no-till gardening, which is why we sheet mulch. (Tilling aerates the soil, causing the micro-organisms to go into hyperdrive. That may be “OK” 1 or 2 years, but depletes the soil of nutrients much faster in the long run.)
In our Garden Wheel Projects over this year, I also learned how to dig a swale, and why they’re important (to hold the water)–and the importance of putting plants on the berm (the “hill” of soil left over from the swale–usually on the downhill side). Nature abhors bare soil & something will grow there, so I might as well plant something that I want.
I became fascinated with mycellium and mushrooms (their fruits). Mycellium has immense potential for filtration and remediation of toxic soil. I helped the Permaculture Guild build a mycofiltration area between Edgewood campus and Lake Wingra. One of the science professors will monitor water quality below the mushroom beds. I’m excited to see the results. I also learned that mycellium can jump-start a garden. That’s a fascinating concept.
I went out in my yard in a hard rain to see where the water was flowing (and figure out how I could capture it). During the same storm I also went to the mycofiltration bed at Edgewood to see how it was working.
I am planning a permaculture garden for our front yard (that’s where the sun is). It’s still bumping around inside my head, but it will probably involve a deck on the front of the house, to enjoy the garden. Ken has wanted for a long time to cut down the 2 arbor vitae and all the yew bushes in front of the house. I’m OK with that if I replace the arbor vitae on the SE corner of the house (where it gives us significant shade/cooling from the heat blasting off the driveway) with an apple tree guild. Eventually the tree will be big enough to shade the house, and it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t have leaves in the winter. Next summer I will host a Garden Wheel project to construct a swale and berm in our front yard to capture the water from our downspout and maybe my uphill neighbors’ as well.
In April I put in a 9′ X 6′ permaculture garden next to the kitchen door, that my friend Kate designed for me. It was wonderful all summer, attracting birds and insects. I learned to chop back the comfry and lay it on the ground as “fertilizer”. And I learned that many of the plants that have other functions (grass suppression, nutrient accumulation, etc.) also have medicinal functions. A friend came over & showed me how to make a tincture from the yarrow. Yarrow is good for fever, intestinal ickies, and wound healing (external). Apparently I have to shake this jar of yarrow & alcohol daily for about 6 weeks & then decant off the liquid. I’m starting my herbal first aide kit, acquiring the books and knowledge to support that (although I already had a few books about the medicinal qualities of herbs).
It’s been a year of buying and devouring books also.