-
A Hopi Elder Speaks
A Hopi Elder Speaks “You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered . . . Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in right relation? Where is your water? Know your garden. It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader.” Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, “This could be a good time!” “There is a river flowing now very…
You May Also Like
A day in our life
-
Apprentices March 2017
Thank you, this is what comes to mind when I think of the first three months of our growing season here this year. We have been accepting permaculture students here for eight years now and one comment or demand we have had constantly is why is there so few practical activities during the Permaculture Design Certificate Course? (PDC.) While the answer is simple, it’s a 72 hour theoretical course to equip students to design, this still leaves PDC students with huge holes in their practical skills and knowledge. Both students and volunteers have demanded more from us more knowledge, practical activities and skills building, but while we want to supply…
You May Also Like
A day in our life
-
Milking Cows
We have been milking cows here for most of the time during the last thirteen years, making use of the milk here on the farm. We use the milk directly with no embellishments just good old fashioned raw milk, then for cream, butter, yogurt, fromage frais, ice cream and of course cheese. Milk is an amazing food anyway you use it, but it gets bad press for many reasons and most of the reasons are simply ill informed nonsense. But due to being asked a question by a reader of this site I want to concentrate on one of those issues and that’s the issue of cruelty to animals, the…
-
PDC feedback from 2016
We recently found these in a jam jar in the cellar, we don’t ask for this kind of thing but it’s always nice to be appreciated. We would like to thank everyone for their feedback and wish them all the best in the tough times that are now undoubtedly ahead of us all.
You May Also Like
A day in our life
-
Gratitude
Gratitude is something we all like to feel and sometimes it comes from unexpected sources, one of our apprentices this year gave this to us just before she jumped on the bus to leave. Both Fiona and myself are deeply touched by the sentiment and wanted to both thank Alison for her openness in sharing her gratitude and for all the hard work she has put-in while she has been with us this summer. Much love, respect and gratitude to you Alison may your spread love wherever you go in life, Fiona and Steve.
You May Also Like
A day in our life
-
Permaculture Pigs
Firstly I should state there is no such thing as a permaculture pig, but rather pigs woven in to a permaculture design. Firstly we have to look carefully at every element we are planning on putting in to our design. Then comes the usual question what is an element? each thing be it animate or inanimate we intend to add to our overall system is an element these could be a tree, an animal or a shed. Each element has it’s needs (inputs) it’s benefits (outputs) and it’s intrinsic behaviors, if we look carefully at each element including some serious research, we will gain some idea of how to integrate…
-
The Changing Face of Eden
Below is the aerial picture from Google Earth in 2004 the year we purchased “Le Bois de Grammont” we set out to create our own Eden (Garden of Delight) using Permaculture ethics, principles and design science to inform us of the right direction. We have made mistakes and we have developed our site through hard work and intelligent design. Below you can see some of the changes we had already made by 2008 most of the changes are too small to see and include renovating the house and barn but you can make out some of the changes we made to the land. The next picture is from Flash Earth…
-
Saturday Morning Off
While taking time out at the weekends is incredibly important to Fiona and I we are here trying to hold ourselves to a higher moral standard both for our lives and the lives of the animals we eat, sometimes this means we don’t get that time out. Saturdays and Sundays we normally do the least work we have to do to care for the animals and process the milk from our expanding herd, and then take time out to do things we enjoy. Taking a coffee in the corner of a market square, going to a Brocante (flea market) or taking a walk somewhere beautiful which have no shortage of.…
You May Also Like
A day in our life
-
Eleven Years of Hand Milking
We have had dairy cows since 2005 one of which came to us pregnant so we were early to milking once the calf had taken the colostrum. Last year we increase our stock levels of cows buy one to three milking cows, this is in anticipation of milk conversion becoming a commercial operation not just one of self reliance. We have enjoyed an abundance of meat, milk, cream, yogurt and at times even cheese. Now that Fiona my wife no longer works off site in a cheese making factory she is going to restart on farm cheese making both for ourselves, our students and the public. Once the cows have…
You May Also Like
A day in our life
-
4000 Trees for 2016
This year is the third year of our five year tree planting plan here at Permaculture Eden, with this years planting done we have now added 11000 trees to our 5 hectare landscape. There are many reasons for the tree planting not least is the division of our land in to smaller parcels, when we arrived the land was split in to just three large parcels with two very overgrown hedges separating them. We are moving towards 32 much smaller parcels all separated with hedgerows with large trees at appropriate distances to allow enough light penetration for the hedge to grow well. The list below is this years purchase list…
You must be logged in to post a comment.