Due Diligence: Four O’clock Plants

Four O'clock flowers

Our family lives in a historic neighborhood of Chico, California called the Barber Neighborhood. Our neighborhood was named after O. C. Barber, the founder of the Diamond Match Company, who had a factory built nearby to process lumber for matches at the turn of the twentieth century. Our home was built in approximately 1909. Because of the age of this neighborhood we have found in around our property an abundance of old trees and shrubs of what many this day would consider cottage garden or great-grandma plants. One of which is the Four O’clock growing prolifically near our garage and Mandarin tree. Not many people go out of their way to buy and grow this plant in their gardens anymore. Why? I couldn’t say as I’ve found it is a really interesting and beautiful plant with a long history of cultivation.

Berries, Trellising and Harvest

Marionberries on trellis

Eating berries is one of my favorite summer activities. Saving them for later use is also a favorite past time. There are many ways of preserving berries -making jams and jellies, canning or freezing them whole or even dehydrating them for a hiking snack with nuts and seeds. Anyway you do it berries are an awesome treat.

Introduction to Permaculture Workshop June 23, 2012 in Chico, CA

Flier for Intro to Permaculture Workshop

Brian and I, via our business Gaia Creations, will be teaching an Introduction to Permaculture Workshop next month in Chico, CA. The focus of this workshop is to invite the community to learn more about permaculture in general and at the same time begin/continue networking with each other to gain experience in permaculture design strategies for effective local food production and resource efficiency.

BEYOND COMPANION PLANTING –‘Guild Building’ a Forest Garden

In one of our recent articles I wrote about companion planting and the specific plants my husband and I have grown successfully together -or not- when growing our seasonal food crops.  This time I’d like to write about the function and use of plants grown in polyculture and how each plant species has inherent characteristics that benefit an entire plant community or plant guild (polyculture is growing many different types of plants together -as compared to monoculture).

SYNERGY

Similar to companion planting when you design a plant guild or forest garden you are grouping together plants which relate synergistically –benefiting each other by warding off pests or by supporting each other in some specific way.  YET within a plant guild or forest garden we are trying to do more than compliment the plants individual relationships we are trying to compliment the arrangement as a whole ecosystem –soil biota to unique microclimate, insects to animals, plants to people.  Creating plant specific polycultures which provide food for humans as a priority and either preserve or create an ecosystem is a step beyond companion planting and toward a more diverse and secure future -for food and natural resources.

A forest garden can be many things… in our trials and experimentation it is comprised of several plant guilds grown in a spatial pattern that becomes self sustaining over time.  A plant guild is simply a polyculture of plants -generally with a central plant species- when grown together make efficient use of space and resources requiring little input from humans. 

3rd Annual Seed Swap

Seed Swap Flyer 2012

The 3rd Annual Seed Swap is happening this coming Sunday February 26th, 2012 at GRUB Cooperative. Sherri Scott of GRUB and myself, via the Chico Permaculture Guild, spearheaded this annual event back in 2010 for many reasons. First to promote local seed growing and acclimation but also to celebrate the genetic diversity of seeds, to inform the local community about the potential danger of genetically modified seed and to get more people in touch with the life cycle of seeds in general.

Lego Sheet Mulch Example

My Aunt asked me recently about a good weed free mulch for topping her new sheet mulch bed -she doesn’t have a lot of on-site materials so what could she use? As a parent always trying to engage my kids in permaculture I posed this question to my 2 boys (ages 11 and 8 in 2012). 

Rather than answer me directly they were immediately inspired to create a sheet mulch example out of Lego.  I thought it was a great visual demonstration of all the layers and I decided not to press for an answer.  My question was far less interesting than building this model and they got a load of information from doing it.  Though, when finished, my eldest did tell me to make sure any mulch used was never sprayed with chemicals!

Sheet mulch layers pictured above: