Gardening Charts for Spring and Fall

 

Start Your Gardens! in Zone 8

Here are my quick helper charts to start planting vegetables, in High Desert Regions.

Spring Indoors

Spring Outdoors

Fall Indoors

Fall Outdoors

The xlsx version, available to download:
Zone 8: Yearly Planting Chart, For the High Desert

If you're in another zone, the xlsx sheets can be used a basic starter template.

 

Thanks to garden.org, The National Garden Association for the information.

Vegetable Garden Art: The Potato Monster Dog "Susie" Returns

The Potato Monster Dog Lives On!

Truth or Fiction!

In the beginning, I didn't hesitate and named the new potato specie;
as a potato-caterpillar.
Then, as time winced in the heated sunlight, a new Potato "Dog" has shown itself, growing into much more than I previously thought possible.
The potato dog is just snoozing in the garden, like Old English Sheepdogs do.

 

The Potato-Dog is just like my old English; named Susie.

Leaves fromping around in her devil-may-care attitude,
as leafy curls and shoots.
Never say they are gone forever,
they return to you in the most mysterious ways.
This time, she is an Organic Potato Dog, and why not?

 
With each passing day, another potato puppy seems to arrive.
as the Little Golden Yukon's push their way to the surface.
Latterly, I am obliged to put them into a recipe right away,
or lose their respect as a chosen delectable.

100 Ecovillages: The Business Plan

A Town Version

Permaculture:
Shared Produce to Income

Where Vegetable, Fruit and Nut Tree items; from each village are shared, between the 100 villages, & the overflow produce is sold for an income.
While each village; has 1 or more other products they either raise, make or create for profit, and those independent products are sold, through the larger 100 village collective organization.

Design of The Cobb Building Cycle; of housing to income.

For benefits of necessity; this is a Vegetarian* business design, which is more sustainable for the planet and persons therein. *not including meat or fish, while including eggs and cheese in the diet.

Number of Villages: 100
Number of Persons per Village: 50
Number of Persons in all Villages: 5000
Approx. Land per Village: 25 acres
Approx. Land per 100 Villages: 2500 acres
Min for Gardening: 625 acres (6.25 each)
Min for Parks: 250 acres (2.5 each)
Basic Cost* Per Person: $5,000
Basic Cost includes the house and shared services, and food cost for 1 year. After that time all future income is derived from the village itself. Therefore, no other money should ever be required.
Being Basic, the design is limited to many shared resources from the main community house (kitchen center).

Village Design:
It's wiser for designers to plan for only a single lane road leading to the main community center and garden, while the houses flank the center, a simple clock formation, where 11 - 1 contains the road out toward the cities, and 7-5 could be used for park or additional farmland. In the center, showers & kitchen, etc, are then easily walked-to, or bicycled-to by the members.

xlsx: costs sheets
100 EcoVillage Version: 22 MB, xlsx;
20 EcoVillage Version: 8.8 MBs

Each small house includes land, around 1/3 an acre, if in the country, (used in the example). However, as shown in the image on the right, the plan can be used for any smaller land-based communities.
-Cost
Additional points to this plan is the non-necessity of home purchase, aside from the low initiation fee* (ie. $5,000 per house; or the $5000.00 is loaned by the Eco-Cooperative itself (garnered through a bank).).
Reason being such a low house price cost, is that the construction materials, and manual labor are provided by the residents as they are the builders and farmers.

Each Ecovillage

A) Includes invited persons who stomp and build the cobb houses. After a few house stomps (min. 3), 1 of the builders gets a house*.*1 small house.

Meaning, out of the group of cobb stompers, 1 of them can claim a finished house, as their newly built house. From that point on, that person then helps "farm**", an item or two for the main coop.

Selling rules:

later on, the house can be, either traded within the community, for another, or it could be sold to outsiders who prefer to only be farmers. Proceeds from the property value sale, are divided, based upon the persons who built the house, by their final time commitments and its elaboration values.

Meaning; 10 stompers and roof builders, and 1 elaborator (who became the owner). The value is split, based upon the properties price and amount of labor involved.

Income from the Sold Property Price: 50,000 house,
Labor 1) 10,000 to the elaborator-owner, (who tiled, etc)
Labor 2) 3,500 to each of the stompers and roof builders.
A Community fee) 5,000, A small 10%, goes to the eco-community, towards its loans, etc.

B) The Eco Village Coop Truck,
picks up the items then redistributes (with or without a warehouse), to supermarkets. ie., lettuce, beets, honey, herbs, flowers, eggs, grapes,etc.

C) The original problem of the person without income to pay for food or housing is solved, as the income from the coop pays for food and property taxes, etc.

D) Optional* A nominal business loan; for The Eco Village Cooperative, could assist the business start-up, while insuring the land is paid and the persons of each eco-village are fed

The loan would last a couple of years, until the small garden farms are productive.

When new eco-villages are added into the cooperative, another tiny loan would be included, to accommodate the new cobb "stompers".

This simple concept, similar to a croft system, houses many people, while supporting a larger ecological business.

**Farm or Farming; for the process of this discussion is the business model, however other items could be the main business income of a single ecovillage. ie, one village focuses on hand-spun yarns and wool items. (where the original wool un-spun & un-dyed, was sent from another village in the community, another eco-village that raises sheep and makes sheep cheese.)

Determining Number of Sold Items from the Farm:

1 main Individual Item per small ecovillage; Small Cooperative The idea of one main production item per small town (village), has worked in areas of Europe for many years, so the above idea has a history of of being successful. (a rare goat cheese from a small region in the Pyrennees).
Conversely; 1 item 100 eco-villages; Large Cooperative Larger cooperatives though, such as grapes to wine, where one item is mass produced on separate farms is effective economically, by keeping up with the competition of larger companies on a world-scale. Although the larger firms, (sometimes government syndicates; safer.fr ie), do have a tendency to ask for and receive subsidies from the government from time to time, whereas the main product from small goat cheese town, is not be on the subsidy list.

The balance of comfort is a bit of both, where the larger 100 ecovillage cooperative has a substantial group of workers, that bring in a variety of basic items, with a few unique items thrown in.
In this way, regarding income enhancements to the business, banks and governments will be more tolerant of your efforts.

However, an independent ecovillage business, away from the banking system and government help, is obviously possible. Yet, In the situation of persons starting from a meagar income beginnings, the grouped ecovillages will more than likely, "be treated", as a successful upstart by being a larger coop.

If using a Loan: Determining any Loan Values, Homes and persons per village::

The final value of the loan is based upon, the finished property value of the tiny homes.
# of persons per village: 50
# of houses per village: 50 small cobb or earth-bag houses
finished home value of 50,000 each
finished property value per village $2,500,000
finished property value per 100 villages: $250,000,000

Land purchase:
# of Villages: 100 Each village: 25 acres or more per eco village.
Cost per acre: $5,000 per acre
Land Cost per Village:$125,000
Land Cost per 100 Villages:$12,500,000

Determining Business and Land size per person
Number of Acres per village: 25 acres
Farming Business Acres: 25%, 6.25 business acres per village
Residential Land per village: 18.25 acres
Per Person: .375 acres each.

100 Villages
# of Persons: 5000
Land Cost: $12,500,000
Building supplies and Infrastructure Costs, plus several years of property taxes and food supplies: $12,500,000
Acres: 2500
Loan: $25,000,000
Cost per person without a loan: $5,000

However, as the final completed property value is to be $250,000,000
plus the value of the business, it could be a higher loan. My advice is to negotiate loan payments to begin after 1 yr. Where certain basics such as vegetables to market, begin paying it off.
If the Cost per person is initially afforded by members of the group, then no loan would be required.
The final result is: Homes & a Business for 5000 people.

1 Village Only

If deciding to only create 1 eco-village, with 1 business. The numbers are simply reduced by 100%.

# of Persons: 50
Land Cost: $125,000
Building supplies and Infrastructure Costs, plus several years of property taxes and food supplies: $125,000
Acres: 25

Loan: $250,000
Cost per person: $5,000
If the Cost per person is initially afforded by members of the group, then no loan would be required.

Factors:

Grouping compatible persons.

Village Cost Chart

Permaculture: Cobb Subdivisions

A Little Cob(b) Garden House

Eco Villages; Cobb House and Land Collectives:

These planned communities can be strictly zoned, by each group. Zoned with only 1 type of eco-building style; Cob, Strawbale, Earth bags, Tree-houses, or Hobbit homes; or zoned to be of a mixed eco-variety, as long as they are of sustainable building methods.

Starting with College and University Students

"Commitment-to-Purchase" Lists: from participating students; of at least, 10-20 cob-construction, student-purchasers.

Questionnaire Rules

In the beginning, a small assignment of simple rules has to go with each community.
So then, the participating students sign up for the right type of eco-village.
Let them fill out a voting questionnaire.
An example is: circle the : "welcome or not welcome" / "yes or no" fields.

---------------------
More rural? 10 or more miles from a city; yes or no
Land with trees? yes or no
Drinkers? Light to no drinkers are welcome or not welcome.
Couples? welcome or not welcome.
Children? welcome or not welcome.
Walk-ins only: No vehicles Parked at the properties? yes or no.
Temporary housing trailers allowed during the build? yes or no.
Houses maximum? in size to 800 sq ft.; yes or no
Animals? welcome or not welcome.
Only 3 large barn animals, per land plot? yes or no
---
Daily Commuters? are welcome or not welcome.
Mandatory monthly community meetings? are welcome or not welcome.
Composting toilets, leaf or industrial? are welcome or not welcome.
Electric golf carts allowed? yes or no
Quad machines allowed? yes or no
Do you want a cooperative business to go with the ecovillage? in ex. growing basil and flowers; yes or no
Do you want to participate in a cooperative business? yes or no
Vegetarian Only Residents? yes or no
Are hunters welcome? Never.

Include brief Selling Rules; buyers have to be verified and voted on as compatible with the neighbors? yes or no

---------------------

Then, after collecting the votes, it helps to find the appropriate land for the group.

Selectivity

In the Future; a quicker online, group-matching database can eventually make it easier to vote and find your preferred group, anywhere in the world.
Where selectivity, narrows down your eco-village choices considerably.
ie; Include mostly Retired women who were professional ballet dancers or opera singers only.

Debt-Free Purchases

Start with smaller investments, per person. Then the initial land is debt free, aside from property taxes. prices anywhere from 1,000-25,000 each person (per land plot).

Building loans are a problem though, as one of the major points of eco-villages is to avoid defaults and foreclosures. If a building loan is later acquired, independently by a group member, he or she could default.
I suggest that each community disallows building loans. Unless the loan is backed by another form of collateral, aside from their present eco-house. This avoids any chance of liens or bank seizures occurrence.
If a seizure ever did occur, the group would always have the first option, to buy the property.

These Eco-Communities are not supposed to cost a fortune, just be simply constructed.
Roofs:
Including the use of naturally fallen wood from a forest; over lumber purchases or tree harvesting. Meaning thatch collection & application, with or without a green roof on-top.
Plastering:
While also avoiding lime and concrete products as much as possible on the walls, by implementing gley/manure mixes. Oxblood for flooring is not necessary, but keep it in mind, as a use, if an animal dies of natural causes.
Pond Sealing:
Again the gley mixture, however, coated with a 20% clay to mud coating, that is further burnished with a tool to seal the pores.
Where later on, the inclusion of swimming ducks & leaf matter, continue to seal the bottom and sides with their droppings.

Finding the Land

Selecting about 5 land properties to vote on, (Most groups will want land closer to their college; 0 - 100 miles... However, some may even want adventurous international builds.).
typical land sizes from, .... .3 to 5 acres each plot.
Including park and community areas, to at least 10% of the land area.

Example of the min. 10% park rule:
Where 20 acres = 2 acres for parks, community and recreational.
Leaving 18 acres, divided between 28 purchasers = .64 acres each

Voting on which Land to Purchase

Having an easy voting process for the small group,
and allocating subdivision designers* from either members of each group, or design students from other groups.
(designers include park & community areas in their drafting plans.)
*hopefully designers can get school credits for their work. while also obtaining enough professional experience to be formally hired by more pricey eco-community groups.

Land Purchasing with Safe Methods

Buying the land through a Title & Escrow Company. Whether for sale by a real estate company or by owner.

Starting the Structures

Into the dirt; Beginning building, trench digging and soil tests.

Starting with simple interiors

Bulk Buying of building & garden supplies

an option for each member, within each cob community.
1) Sand & bales for walls, and foundation; gravel & stones.
2) Garden plants and seed swaps.
3) Other various construction items;
wheel barrows, shovels, trowels, tarps, etc.
4) Farm animal supplies; oats, corn, wheat, etc.
5) Solar & other energy equipment.
6) Water supplies & delivery systems. 7) Food; 5 lb min; nuts, seeds, olives, flours, grains, olive & avocado oil, dried fruits.
Bulk buying food, can reduce costs considerably;
from 3000$ per year, normal in-store purchases... to 1000$ per year, approx. 1-2 deliveries.
Storage conditions being the main factor, for bulk dried foods, avoiding moisture, etc.
Where 20,000$ per 20 persons per year, reduces the 1000$ for each person even further, as a 5 lb min, becomes a 25 lb min.

Figuring out;

how to mimic the above ecological sub-division mechanism, for older people. Persons that have left University.
Perhaps, the University Alumni, is a good place to start,
by creating mailing lists of those interested persons.
Persons with Botanical degrees, Geological, Arts, Architecture, etc.

Careers for the Student Builders

New jobs can be created for the students;
Careers where they assist the older groups, in many ways;

Land Finders,
People Grouping, (collective formation experts... (dancer groups, artist groups, etc)
Purchase and Buying experts,
Accomplished Designers,
Building Permit Helpers.

Adding Mailing Lists to Youtube

A feature for the Youtube.com Vlog-Publishers,
helpful in creating lists of interested persons, who want to join eco-building communities.

Cobb-Construction Magazine

Creating a Magazine, just for cob building, smaller than Mother Earth News. Including ecological-building businesses & advertisers.

Humanure

Lets talk about this relegative easy give back into the planets soils.

In this day and age, when we have so many disturbants injuring the soils, as to leave them barren and devoid of casual activity from its normal grubs, nematodes, frogs, worms, etc. The soils must be reactivated into a fresh new beginning again, or the foods raised there and then in the fields or gardens are weak and do not hold the full properties of nutrients as they are supposed to.

Grassy lawns are thieves, of any soils past known nutrients,
as they hardily claim the want for only certain goodies
to draw up from the base substructure,
and do not re-stir the old nutrients back into being. 

Opening up a garden where a grassy surface was planted is not a mistake, yet it will require a huge influx of new organics. It is an extreme disappointment to assume the fertile looking grass, will also continue on in that spot as fertile vegetables. It is not so.



To return a garden soil back to its fertile nutrients,
several things need to entertain the decomposition process to amend
and revigor the new life that is going to be there underneath your vegetables. 

quantities of :
leaves, straw or other dried grasses, a little bit of green grass only,
a manure, urine, and old unwanted vegetables and foods, avoiding too many sulphurs such as onions,

All of which combined can make that black gold of a gardeners wants,
yet the composting process needs bins, or large heaps which need upkeep to rotate and breakdown the substances, so the interior of the bin area is shared with all the compostable ingredients.

Without the bins,
large heaps need to be stirred and rotated with a rake of some sort.

The unfortunate dealing with humanure is with the rake, oddly.
As you need the rake, yet it does have a spearic attitude, spearing the occassional upset on view. And omg, at first...it is shocking and extra embarassing to deal with, even after it has been covered and composted a bit, it tends to still look like "little dungs".

Not really a visiter entertainer item, one wants on display at ones abode.

The possibility of infectants go away once it becomes composted,
it is always better to try and keep it stirred as much as possible
so it breaks down quicker and as much as possible.

Here are some ridiculous effects from the humanure soil:
At this point it loves tomatoes, excessively,

 

and yes, other vegetables such as squash,
pumpkins and zucchini's, along with potatoes and beets also.

It works, wonderfully as a fertilizer, yet, I am not happy about using only the heap and rake method,
as it is too exhausting for me to fully accomplish,
especially through the wintertime.

Yet it is absolutely a preference to any farmed cow or sheep manures, as cow manures may contain barbituates and other chemicals such as inoculations of antibiotics from flu shots, steroids, etc.

Humanure from humans who have abstained from prescriptive drugs
and innoculations, has become the only "for sure" bio-organic fertilizer method to amend soils, as it's known exactly what is going into to it.

It does upgrade the inference into personal gardens, as a necessity more so, as sharing with strangers this type of unique soil, is a bit too demanding... as a possible. 

Its been so many years, of being a humanurarian,
I guess I am an expert, so I will go on.

One of the drawbacks, is that you always have to go outside, even during the night, unless you required an indoor version. I personally defer from that option,
as I prefer to immediately compost it, away from myself and outdoors. Outdoors you do have the option of a regular seat with a bucket, yet I find that to be an uncomfortable portrayal of the have-to "lazy" version
invented in recent times.
With the seat version your legs are lazy and not actually proficient enough to squat, and have been actually trained that way after so many years of doing so.

It actually took a little practice even for me, and I'm in pretty good shape.
That was the first shock and idly the worst thing discovered
was that porcelin toilets, are a slobs life.
 

Back to the night!
It is always better to have a particular spot ... to return to.

Make a large pile of straw or leaves,
which subsequently are used as immediate compost matter.
Composters which deter any odors,
and use a small gardening trowel or similar as the collector device.

Then use that compost to also cover it up inside a plant container.
Later on, take the container to the larger compost heap,
where the other items such as old rotten vegetables and fruits, straw, leaves, etc. are composted. Try to fence the main compost area, as the chickens find it.
They help stir it up, but its too gross for them, and they later appear to have dirtier legs.


Back to the toileting location,
it is better to cover the bathroom with a tent or similar roofing item, because it could be raining typhoons, snowing or hailstorming, and it affords one privacy to have a few walls. A small tent works, placed in a corner somewhere,
remove the bottom of the tent, and lift it off the ground a few feet.


At or near the bathroom,
the preference is to be cleaner with a plant container or two holding fresh rain or pond water, with which you can use to rinse towelettes, and thusly avoid toilet paper. The plant containers for the towelettes, when they are filled with pond plants such as parrots feathers and duck weed, help keep the water cleaner for a longer time frame, before emptying it and refilling.

If the containers are almost frozen, its not a good idea to touch the frigid water, as it hurts your hands, wait until another time, and rinse and wash your towelettes indoors.

It is always better to have special "going" shoes, at the house door,
but if you become more successful with the physicality of squatting,
you will find...even that as an unnecessary..

Urine in the same location can be an overdo of wet,
so its better to trapse that elsewhere to a pile of leaves for the garden if the weather permits. 

The fecal exam process does go on, and well it can be upsetting to discover many foods undigesting, ...sesame and flax seeds unground, never seem to digest. Then there are other stool awarenesses, such as color, etc. that become a health guide.

sunflower and bee

On the brighter side of events,
going outside,is a kind of discipline which helps avoid over-eating.

The night actually isn't so terrible,
even heavy rainy weather or a single night star is better than any human friend in make.

Mushroom poisoned

Caution to mushroom gatherers;

As there fewer foods available to forage as thought, on approach one finds,

1. blackberries
2. *rose hips
3. poisonous tree variety mushrooms (clumped and a light orange in look, they taste alright cooked, but are beyond wretched later.) 

Please avoid those mushrooms as beyond being a purgative,
they have the propensity to cause death to certain
weaken or fragile persons.

If they were upgraded to this death potential because of pesticide use,
as a coakaroach plant... that desires to remain no matter,
therefore deviate into a worse character due to the poisons attack,
then humans have brought this nefarious mushroom into play,
and it is out there and not going away.

Chances are an update into its removal will create a stronger
quicker-to-death varietal, that will kill humans on intake, sooner.
===============

3 items on site, 'a la ferme', and only 2 are readily edible.
===============

other oddities... such as , the large blueish chokeberries can be eaten,
but they are not user friendly either, very tart.
perhaps as a wild pectin, if wild can ever be stated anymore.

occasional chestnuts (any variety) can be found, and acorns...
but they often require patience and cooking skills beyond
to decifer the nuts from the casings and remove acidic tannins.

There are other plants, greens, etc.  if knowledged in those finds,
however on first witness to agri-france,
edible vegetation within hedgerows and treerows are limited.

===============

Back to the success approach of planting edible nuts and other foods,
where the death sort of mushrooms find competition to the growing sites.

===============

*rose hips success is to use a juicer (don't kill your juicer on my advice)
and then add the juice into foods as a vitamin rich c.
 because they have so many seeds. or dry roast them and use as a tea.
They are similar in taste to a tree tomato,
and are found sweet to eat if they are bright red when picked,
only the excess seeds sadden the find and chore the discovery.

===============

When I retrieve my energy again,
I will write a how-to
create waste food recycling drop-off areas for large neighborhoods,
so that persons unable to receive government funding,
as poor or indigenous,
are able to survive as best as possible
without detering to... the begging-for-food factor.
................
still advising over dis-advising even after facing the adversities
from the overt rich in greed disgives.

.............
Wouldn't live this life again ever. No re-entry birth-self is asked for,
to live again on this planet in these conditions is a no-reason,
other than a provant onto suffrage again.
...................

the satire of the day..
"Stop the bitch from yelling, I can't count my money."
......................

Message to casual foragers;

There is a problem with those who dabble in the take of free roadside fruits;
 blackberries, apples, figs, pears, apricots, plums, etc.

Those persons who run-in for the sport of forage, are very often negating a winters food supply, from the true foragers.

In this moment of casual takings,
it is as a crime committed...
against the true foragers,
therefore, aggressions may arise,
as foraging is their only incoming food source.

Please do not plunge into this habit, as a greedy spectator chance of making a quick preserve. If you are often store-supplied with the wealth luxuries of modernizations,then do not overstep the supplies of others, who are not availed with those luxuries.

*Personally, 
I have woven black-berry bushes specifically for winter, so please do not take those berries.  I will survive either way, however I didn't weave those blackberry bushes for tens of folds of persons to take from. 

If I board off the territory with a ribbon, how horrible to look at, 
just eat your store bought marmalades and jams as usual, 
as the stores provide 365 days a yr., 
...and avert your eyes from the bounty of those woven bushes, 
and I will attempt to collect the berries before they look too over-delicious. 

If it is a fat camp, for overlarge little children to enjoy their summer,
to lose weight... wandering the countryside,
then, I expect payment for the duration of their visit.

Provisions Chart, days-to-kilos w/bulk-purchase "bio" food links in france.

.

"bio" ... gros bulk vrac ... food shops, by the grams to 5-25kg weights: basebio biosudis grossiste-bio.eu ingredientsdumonde.kingeshop noyaux-de-cerise bioattitudes biocomtout ctoutbio.re goutabio jecommandebio moulindesmoines nosmeilleurescourses   "bio" food for chickens, ducks and rabbits: (some of the above bulk shops are also workable, via combos of mais, orge, sarrasin, ble, avion, ris, and seeds such as sunflower seeds etc.) atoushop truffaut animo-shop moulin-herzog   "bio" germinating seed shops: toutallantvert   "bio" food shops, smaller quantities: www.150bio.com almeo-boutique alterafrica bienmanger biocenter biodeshautsdefrance eco-sapiens goodepices greenweez lafermedubequi lapachamama.be naturalia satoriz   "bio" spice shops: regal-et-sens saveursparfumees epicesaveur-bio herboristerieduvalmont satnam.eu   "bio" panier legumes et fruit shops: paniersbiochezvous

Pumpkin photo..

The infamous pumpkin living life via it's edited evolution by another.