By Laura Lukes, UC Master Gardener of Butte County, December 22, 2017.
On a piece of land near Oroville, the educators from Earthshed Solutions are walking their talk. Utilizing permaculture principles, they are designing “regenerative systems for food production, soil fertility, energy efficiency, and water conservation,” and for human and wildlife habitation.
At a recent Butte County Master Gardeners Workshop, Earthshed Solutions President Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper and Board members Brian Ladwig-Cooper, Robert Henry, and Anne Ainsworth demonstrated how they are transforming their vision into reality. This two-part Real Dirt series summarizes the information packed into their presentation.
Earthshed Solutions grew out of the original Chico Permaculture Guild that was founded in 2009. They aim to Educate – Motivate – Regenerate by teaching people to develop systems that mimic nature, that combine the needs of people and the environment, and that utilize agricultural practices that work with nature. More information is available on their website: www.earthshed.org
Permaculture was developed by David Holmgren, then a graduate student, and his professor, Bill Mollison, in 1978 as a “system of agricultural and social design principles centered around simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems.”
Originally, “permaculture” combined the words “permanent” and “agriculture.” More recently the term is understood to blend “permanent” and “culture” because the culture in which humans are immersed dictates how we see, and subsequently treat, the world around us. The ethical considerations that underpin this philosophy are earth care (all life), people care (all human life), and fair share (returning surplus resources from whence they came and limiting consumption).
According to S. Ladwig-Cooper, the tangible rewards of this system lie in putting theory into practice. The bulk of the workshop focused on the permaculture design process and how it is being applied at the Earthshed Solutions property in Oroville. The educators shared their experience of going through the steps of the design process and remaining true to the principles of permaculture while emphasizing that the principles and their implementation are applicable at any scale and in any climate.
The process, although not strictly linear, begins with Goals, which are developed into a Wish List, followed by close Observation and Research, which dictate the Design Methods used to create a Concept Level Design, which becomes the basis of the Working Master Plan, leading to the final step, Implementation. “Final” is a misleading term, however, as continuous refinements and adjustments are made, based on ongoing observation and results.
What follows is an annotated outline of the steps they followed. The second article in this series will illustrate precisely how these theories and principles were applied to the property, the living lab in which permaculture is being practiced.
Of prime importance is the luxury of time: Henry and Ainsworth gave themselves a year to observe existing conditions on their property, paying attention to slope, natural features, wind and rain and frost patterns, water sources and flow, range of soil types (including drainage or lack thereof), animal activity, existing plants, and adjacent land use activities. While computer applications can help determine sun angle, soil composition, prevailing wind directions and the like, nothing beats observing and experiencing what actually happens throughout the year.
A logical and deceptively simple first step is orienting the plot of land in terms of the cardinal directions: a basic map will do. The aspect of the plot and its landforms in relation to north-south-east-west dictates the effects of wind, rain, water, sun, and shade.
The design process begins with setting GENERAL GOALS. Ask, and make note of, the following: What does this land need? What can it produce / grow? What is wanted / needed from this land? What are the skills and limitations (physical, financial, etc.) of the occupants?
Create a WISH LIST of SPECIFIC GOALS. For instance: grow ornamental / edible plants; provide wildlife habitat; raise livestock; identify areas for living and for recreation.
Next, start the process of OBSERVATION AND RESEARCH: Create a base map depicting seasonal patterns of wind, rain, and sun; natural formations with high and low spots; drainage courses; areas of shade and hot spots; animal migration / feeding / sleeping patterns; and prevailing wind directions and times of day.
Determine and choose DESIGN METHODS based on these observations. Analyze the “scale of permanence” by putting these elements in order, beginning with the element that is the hardest to change: climate; landforms; water; invisible structures (social and economic factors); access and circulation; vegetation and wildlife; microclimates; buildings and infrastructure; zones of use; soil; aesthetics; experience.
Complete a CONCEPT LEVEL DESIGN by utilizing some of permaculture's design methods: energy efficient planning, microclimate analysis, random assembly, Water / Access / Structure (WAS) design, relative location, and functional analyses for specific elements. Examine each existing and planned element, and determine the connections between these elements. Spark new ways of looking at each element and the overall design plan by connecting seemingly disparate elements through spatial concepts such as “attached to,” “beside,” “with,” “around,” “over,” and “in.”
After filtering the goals and wish list items through the permaculture principles and design methods, a WORKING MASTER PLAN will result from all of the above. Employ a process of elimination to refine the plan: how do initial goals fit with on-the-ground conditions? Filter design decisions by developing Strategies (actions used to achieve design goals) and Techniques (IMPLEMENTATION of the strategies with specific tasks).
Until Part Two of this summary of the presentation by Earthshed Solutions, keep this in mind: The core of permaculture is design and there is never a final design, only a working Master Plan. In this system, “you're always observing, interacting, and adjusting based on what the land tells you.”
By Laura Lukes, UC Master Gardener of Butte County, and Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper and Anne Ainsworth, Earthshed Solutions, January 5, 2018.
We begin where we left off in Part One: listening to the land. Earthshed Solutions board members Robert Henry and Anne Ainsworth spent three seasons in thorough observation of their private property, recording on a base map what the land told them. A recent presentation about their experiences (summarized here and in Part One) provided insight into how a virtually bare quarter-acre piece of their land (the Target Area) just southwest of their home site is being transformed into a permaculture garden.
Analysis of existing conditions, combined with the basic principles of permaculture, helped Henry and Ainsworth develop a list of goals and wishes, and shaped the design they developed for their working master plan. By carefully considering all of the conditions on their land, and by following the ethics and principles of permaculture, they had a system by which to filter their design choices.
Chief goals for the first permaculture ethic, “earth care”, were the following: restore damaged areas; increase habitat for wildlife, including plant and animal diversity; prevent soil erosion; and create compost and water storage areas. Primary goals for “people care” were: grow plants for personal use (food, herbs, flowers) and for year-round production from citrus and other fruit trees; create space for play and for hosting friends and family; and humanely raise animals (for food and pleasure). The third ethic, “fair share”, is being implemented by their willingness to share their property as a teaching and demonstration garden for Earthshed Solutions workshop participants. They have hosted several workshops through their 501(c)3 educational nonprofit organization. Courses they offer cover a range of subjects, including Energy Efficient Design, Solutions for Water Resilience, andContour Technology for Water and Land Restoration and Water Retention Strategies. Lastly, as a part of their master plan, they took an honest inventory of their abilities and limitations, such as age, strength, carpentry and equipment skills, and finances.
Their Wish List consisted of many things, including: building a citrus guild; privacy screening from neighbors to the south; protection from strong winter winds from the northeast; additional sheds for tool storage; ensuring easy evacuation for an existing trailer; and consolidating livestock in the areas which were best suited for the animals.
In the presentation, Brian Ladwig-Cooper discussed strategies and techniques which take the design process even further to the specific details of how one could implement the design on the ground. These strategies are the actions used to achieve design goals utilizing the permaculture principles as a guide. Techniques are the methods and tasks needed to implement the strategies.
According to Ladwig-Cooper, one always looks for techniques with multiple functions, capable of furthering more than one strategy and/or meeting several goals. For example, the Citrus Guild includes the use of many strategies and techniques to get the most out of the food-bearing guild. A guild is a group of plants based around a central element (for example, a fruit tree) which together work to build fertility, create a barrier from weeds, attract beneficial insects for pollination, provide mulch, and much more. Guilds are designed to mimic native plant communities.
The strategies which Henry and Ainsworth are utilizing on their land are water, access, soil, wind, and food. Here are descriptions of the ways in which they have addressed three of these five strategies and applied the use of specific techniques:
Water: Capture rainwater on site and store it in the soil. Each tree will have a mulch basin designed to catch and store water during the rainy season. Any overland flow will also collect in the basins.
Wind: Provide wind and sun protection. Both of these elements were identified as potential problems in the concept design phase. Pigeon pea shrubs and lablab beans will be planted as nurse (protection) species. The pigeon pea and lablab will protect the citrus from afternoon sun. A new shed and windbreak trees will be planted to the northeast of the guild to protect from winter winds.
Soil: Build up soil health and increase fertility. Both pigeon pea shrubs and lablab are nitrogen fixing which will provide this vital element to the plants and citrus as they grow. They can also be “chopped and dropped” as desired to increase overall soil health and add to the overall soil food web.
The working master plan illustrates the design that Henry and Ainsworth developed to meet their goals and wish list ideals, while remaining true to the bedrock ideologies of permaculture and Earthshed Solutions: to make a positive difference in how we live, farm, and work on our earth. Over the coming years, these two permaculture practitioners will continue to refine and improve their footprint on this land, as they listen closely to what the land tells them.
NOTE: Earthshed Solutions offers ongoing educational programs, one of which is the PermaBlitz, an organized community gathering where permaculture principles are applied through a full design on volunteer host property. Upcoming Pre-PermaBlitz Gatherings are scheduled for February 18, and March 18. The PermaBlitz itself will be held in April. Please check their website, www.earthshed.org for more information.
Be on the lookout for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), says Emily Symmes, the newly-appointed Butte County Director for UC Cooperative Extension. Symmes, who earned her PhD in entomology at UC Davis, also covers five Northern California counties as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Advisor. In a recent talk given to the Butte County Master Gardeners on the topic of emerging arthropod pests, Symmes provided a great deal of useful information on the BMSB (halyomorpha halys) and stressed the importance of educating community members so they can recognize and prevent the spread of this voracious pest.
There are a large number of stink bugs, all “true bugs” in the order Hemiptera, whose common trait is the piercing-sucking mouth part (stylus) which can do great damage to commercial and ornamental plants. The BMSB is an equal-opportunity feeder, foraging on up to 300 species of produce, trees, and other vegetation, according to some estimates. Although serious commercial crop damage has been limited to the eastern US, the BMSB is on the move in California, and could pose a threat to Northern California farmers and ranchers. The BMSB may include almonds in its culinary repertoire although problems have not been observed yet.
This pest doesn't limit itself to the outdoors: because it likes warm conditions, in late summer and early fall it will seek shelter in the warm cavities between residential home walls, and even in cars. The first BMSB formally identified in Butte County was found crawling on the walls of the enclosed back porch of this writer's home in July of 2013. A few months later, I spotted one inside my car. Resist the urge to smash it: the stink bug earned its colloquial name for a very good reason.
Stowed away on a cargo ship from Asia, the BSMB entered the US in the late 90s. According to a 2012 article in the Wall Street Journal, the US Department of Agriculture noted that this immigrant pest had spread to 36 states; in 2010 trade groups reported $37 million worth of damage to apple crops alone. In California a reproducing population was first found in the LA County areas of Pasadena and San Marino in 2006. The BMSB has since been detected in many other parts of the state, making its way north to Sacramento and Yuba City by 2013. During her presentation, Symmes pointed out that home gardeners can be of key assistance in preventing the spread of this exotic, invasive species.
Identification: The BMSB exhibits the traditional shield-shaped body of all stink bugs and is five-eighths of an inch long. Distinct white and brown bands on its antennae and legs distinguish it from other stink bugs. “Marmorated” means streaked or marbled, and the body of this particular stink bug is mottled in shades of brown. The BMSB lays barrel-shaped eggs in tidy rows on the underside of leaves; these eggs range in color from white to pale green. While the number of its life cycles in our area is not known, the bugs are inactive during the colder months, and produce more generations in warmer climates. Please see http://ipm.ucanr.edu for identifying specifics about the BMSB's five nymphal instar stages before adulthood.
Damage to Plants: BMSB nymphs and adults feed on leaf and fruit tissue by injecting digestive enzymes to facilitate nutrient extraction. This feeding results in localized necrotic spots. Direct feeding on developing fruit can lead to severe distortion and in some cases fruit drop. Stink bugs can also contaminate fruit products: for example, if infested grapevine clusters are pressed for their juice, the bugs will also be crushed, and the juice destroyed.
Nuisance Control: A number of non-invasive methods are available to the homeowner seeking to rid walls and rooms of these bugs: direct a flashlight onto a pan of soapy water in a dark room which contains the bugs and watch them crawl or fly in and drown. Try sucking them into a hand vacuum cleaner (dedicated to this purpose) or shop vac; sweeping them into a bucket of soapy water; or place in Ziploc bag and freeze or squash them. Use silicone, caulk, or foam to seal the small narrow gaps by which they gain entry into homes, porches, and garages.
Management and Eradication Methods: The use of pesticides is not recommended, as they have not been proven to be effective for either small- or large-scale eradication. For the home gardener, be on the lookout: hand-pick the slow-moving, fairly large adult bugs and drop them into a bucket of soapy water. Hand vacuums can be effective in the garden, as can their natural enemies which include assassin bugs, earwigs, and green lacewing larvae. Birds may feed on adults and nymphs.
Keep an eye out in your home, your garage, and your garden for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug so that you can help control the spread of this damaging pest. Pick it, trap it, drown it or vacuum it up: just don't step on it!
NOTE: for more information: UC IPM webpage: www.ipm.ucanr.edu; UC Riverside Center for Invasive Species Research webpage: www.ucr.cisr.edu; and www.stopbmsb.org
By Emilee Fowkes Warne, UC Master Gardener of Butte County, February 2, 2018.
Understanding the four basic needs of all houseplants can not only give you the knowledge you need to care for these plants, but also help you to select an environment in your home where the right plant can survive and even thrive. The four basic needs of houseplants are:
- Sunlight
- Water
- Airflow/Humidity
- Supplemental Nutrients (fertilizer)
Water. Our home environments are typically up to 50% drier than what most plants prefer, so indoor plants can be surprisingly tricky to water. When the soil of a houseplant lacks adequate moisture, the soil particles will contract and pull away from the edges of the pot, allowing water to run down and out of the drainage holes without actually being absorbed. To avoid this, apply water around the base of the plant thoroughly until the pot feels significantly heavier and the water no longer runs directly from the soil surface straight out through the drainage holes. Salts will accumulate in potted plant soils from repeated watering and will cause leaf tip and marginal leaf scorch if the soil is not leached periodically. Prevent this by leaching salts from the pot by allowing water to flow through the soil and drain out. Empty the saucer after watering.
Airflow. Often overlooked, this is an important requirement for the over-all health of the plant and the prevention of indoor pests. It is important to place an indoor plant somewhere that will get regular air circulation, but no blasts of freezing winter air or stifling summer heat from a frequently-opened door. Plants require both carbon dioxide from the air for photosynthesis and oxygen for respiration, which is the basis for all growth processes. If they are placed in a dusty, forgotten, water-stressed location, they will struggle to thrive and become an appealing target for spidermites.
Air that blows out of central heating/air conditioning vents is especially dry and can interfere with leaf and flower growth if there is no added humidity, so avoid locating a plant directly in a vent's air flow. Humans prefer an indoor humidity of 20-30%, but plants, especially tropicals that are otherwise well-suited for the indoors, generally prefer 75-85% humidity. Placing the plant on a tray of pebbles with about an inch of water in the bottom should provide an appropriate amount of humidity around the plant even when overall household humidity remains low.
Supplemental Nutrients. An application of fertilizer—even just a few times a year or at a weaker dosage more often — can greatly improve the vitality of your houseplant. Fertilizer replaces the nutrients that a plant uses up in its lifecycle and cannot acquire naturally when confined to a pot. The type and composition of the fertilizer needed depends on the type and size of the plant. Always follow fertilizer directions closely and do not use more than the recommended amount. Do not apply fertilizer to a sick, weak, or wilted plant, as it can cause more stress and may kill the plant.
The following are tried-and-true houseplants:
Tough, easy-to-care-for houseplants for beginners: Snake Plant, also known as Mother-in-Law's Tongue (Sansevieria spp.); Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra elatior); ZZ Plant, also known as Aroid Palm (Zamioculcas zamiifolia); Heartleaf Philodendron (Philodendron cordatum); and Pothos, also known as Devil's Ivy (Epipremnum aureum).
Reliable plants for indoor flowering: Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis spp.); African Violet (Saintpaulia spp.); Flamingo Flower (Anthurium spp.); and Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera spp.).
Houseplants with unique foliage: Rhizomatous Begonias (Begonia spp.); Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla); Wandering Jew (Tradescantia zebrina); and Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera deliciosa).
Many of these plants will be discussed in greater detail in the next Real Dirt Column.
By Emilee Fowkes Warne, UC Master Gardener of Butte County, February 16, 2018.
The Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis spp.). One of the easiest orchids to grow indoors in our climate, the Moth Orchid can yield a rainbow of beautiful flower colors during their bloom time, which is typically between January and April. A flower spike will appear as early as November and, once the buds open, the flowers can last as long as three months. Once the flowers have finished blooming, save the old flower spike as long as it remains green. It will often branch from lateral buds the next year and the cycle begins again, yielding new flowers in late winter each year. Moth Orchids only require bright, indirect light, good drainage, and a short cold period in October when temperatures get down into the low 50s to remind them that it is time to bloom again.
ZZ Plant, also known as the Aroid Palm (Zamioculcas zamiifolia). Hailing from eastern and south Africa, the ZZ Plant makes an excellent houseplant that is well-suited for the beginning indoor gardener. It has naturally glossy leaves in a rich emerald green color that is very attractive in the home environment. More attractive still is the ZZ Plant's ability to tolerate low water and low light conditions. This plant's root system is comprised of an adapted rhizome which can store large amounts of water. In times of drought, the ZZ plant can draw upon this water source for many months to keep itself alive. In a pot, it should be watered sparingly (just two to three times each month) but very thoroughly watered at those times. The ZZ Plant prefers bright indirect light, but can tolerate a variety of conditions and exposures, including north, south, and east facing windows.
