Permaculture.
Syntropic agroforesty.
Biodynamic farming.
Regenerative farming.
Biodiversity.
Paul and I completely geek out on these concepts and have been studying them for months. A couple of weeks ago, we had a very special visitor at Rivendell, a permaculture specialist. We discussed the many ways we can create sustainable systems for us and the future sanctuary residents. Ultimately, our goal is to grow much of the food that the animals will need.
One would think the ever-so-slight slope of Rivendell is a disadvantage, when in fact, it is the opposite. Rivendell has the perfect slope for the animals and rainwater harvesting, which has been a hot topic of discussion for these past weeks.
When designing the meditation garden, we built in a series of small swales, which will help direct rainwater to the garden's future trees. What little plants currently exist in the space, I have to water by hand. Already, I can see that the swales work toward efficient water flow. The garden, smaller in size, was a perfect area to conduct trials on the philosophy before the larger gardens are built.
Over the past days, we made the last of the brush piles. They are much smaller in size than our previous piles as the final clearing work was detailed and area-focused. Now that the entire area is cleared, we are left with overwhelming amounts of exposed dirt, which intuitively tells us it's time to start planting. The summer's heat prevents us from doing so. Instead, we spend the hot days building the structures that will be part of our farming operation. Our first project is eight raised garden beds. Each bed is about 4' x 8'. The composition of the beds includes:
Base of wire to redirect burrowing animals
Cardboard
Decaying wood
Straw
Soil
Mulch
There are plenty of decaying tree branches on the land and with a small chipper we are able to generate all of our own mulch.
Neither Paul nor myself are builders, so we've purchased a small greenhouse and that will be erected next. Of course, the animals' homes are finalized in design, so there is that large project, as well. Plenty to do while we wait for the season to shift slightly and we can safely begin to plant the orchards and fall crops.
Now that we have decided on our primary residence, you will see us heading into the Planning Department this week. It's been a learning-curve to learn about the permitting and land-use requirements but thankfully, the Planning Department has been wonderful with answering all of our questions. Paul and I hope the permitting process is relatively quick, as we'd like to have our home built by early 2023. I have a feeling we may be in for another fence-like-adventure. You know, the one where we planned for two weeks to completion and...eight weeks later. But alas, completion is completion and always something to celebrate.
We appreciate you keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. We have been blessed to have a support system that is cheering for us each step of the way. Also, we can't thank our sister sanctuaries enough for their mentorship. Never once, have we felt alone in this process.
Our hearts remain full with love, gratitude, and hope.
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