Emerald City Permaculture

Check out the great things happening at the Learning Farm in Enfield (and check out that sweet new garden we built!)

Headed over to Christa Nunez’s Learning Farm this morning to finish work on her new Solidarity Garden.

It’s been a week of garden building and steps of wood and stone

I spent the last week revamping my first permaculture project at the old home place in Pulteney, NY overlooking Keuka Lake. My mom Jane Russell has been running a catering business, currently Around the Corner, out of her home kitchen for the last 40 years. During that time she has lead the way in her area in the use of fresh, local ingredients and current menus. Her home gardens are a central component of that strategy. Beginning in 2002, I began working on the site, plantin...g several species of fruits and nuts, soil building nettles and more. Over the years, my mom and her staff have built the gardens into a highly productive and lucrative part of her business. Last week the main focus of my work on the site was the construction of 5 raised beds in her kitchen garden. The site was at a 20 percent grade so sod removal and leveling were needed before beds could be installed. It took a bit of legwork to track down local hemlock but within 24 hours a young man who I’m assuming grew up in the local Mennonite community delivered a load he had custom cut that morning. The beds panels were leveled and installed during a wet and snowy day and filled during a warm-ish Sunny day later. Sod was used to build two burms between the beds and an existing stump acts as a natural retaining wall to keep the central pathway in tact. Along with several other project these beds took 30 hours and $750 in supplies but they should last over thirty years after a treatment with soy based sealant, could produce $1000 of produce a year for a $29250 return on investment.

Garden Week at Mom’s house

Here are some examples of hemlock raised beds I have built. The ones pictured in the park are 8’x4’x16 and contain 1.5 yards of soil. With labor these beds run $200-$300 each. Pictured is one brand new bed and weathered beds that are 8 years old. The smaller beds are 6’x4’x8 just deep enough for veggies. They are covered with wire hoops and floating row cover to protect them from the cold. Also pictured is an herb spiral, a type of bed that takes advantage of vertical space and local stone to create several different micro climates for plants.