Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting System Installation Workshop

Part of our Fair Share is our volunteer time organizing the Chico Permaculture Guild. We facilitate monthly gatherings and seasonal workshops as well as participate in local events and other outreach efforts to help our community learn more about permaculture.

A timely workshop that Brian and I are teaching is coming up this month and it's focus is all about rooftop rainwater harvesting. We'll be teaching this workshop at our own property as part of our forest garden development. This workshop is FREE for the community to attend.

All the details are here:

An Elderberry Volunteers -Applying Permaculture Principle Number One in Our Backyard

Work With Nature Rather Than Against It: We can assist rather than impede natural elements, forces, pressures, processes, agencies, and evolutions.

Observe and Interact: By taking the time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.

Elderberry volunteer 4-25-08

This beautiful California native shrub (photo above) is a volunteer plant.  He sprouted up a few years ago, probably from the seed of a passing bird, and staked his claim on what our family had planned to be a sunny Zone 2 herb garden… and we let him take over.  Once we did our due diligence of his habits and functions, that is.  What we found are shrubs like the native Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) are insectary plants and provide pollen, nectar, shelter, as well as undisturbed habitat, for beneficial insect predators and parasites. 

From grass to habitat garden... our front yard 2005-2011

Our rural 1/3 acre of land in Northern California has been our home and office as well as a continual experiment in ecological land care and permaculture for over 6 years.  Our decision to relocate to the 'city' this month has us pondering just how much we've improved this particular piece of land in the short amount of time we've been here...  so I decided to take a journey back in time. 

Rope swing 2011

Unbeknown to us in 2005 we moved into a chemical dependent neighborhood; neighbors who rely on pest control companies, Round Up and weed/feed for regular property maintenance.  Within our own property we found enamel paint had been washed out on the back lawn and evidence of recent herbicide and pesticide spraying around our new house (pest company sticker in the garage with the date of application).  Gardening ecologically for a long time we have learned a lot about how to make the transition from a chemical dependent landscape to an organic and biologically based one and how to do it with little time and effort.

Spring Mulch on Site aka Chop and Drop Mulching

It’s important to consider our unique Mediterranean climate this particular time of year. Getting a basic understanding of how our seasons, the hydrologic cycle and your gardens all interact is not only fascinating but essential for healthy plants and soil life.

chop and drop wheat and other grasses for green mulch

 

Precipitation exceeds evaporation in the Spring*.  Air and soil temperatures gradually rise with increasing daylight hours, critters become more active, plants begin to grow again and everyone thrives with the moisture and additional warmth of early Spring.  How we can utilize this seasonal activity to our benefit and ultimately the health of the whole landscape? 

Mulch-on-Site 
aka Chop and Drop mulching

Random photos of Springtime in Northern California

for your enjoyment...

Akebia quniata

Ladybug eggs next to aphids

Chard and mint

Turkey tail mushrooms

Planting for Seed Saving

ADAPT YOUR PLANTS, INCREASE DIVERSITY

Calendula seed

Here are a few tips for planting success:

•       If your intentions are to save seed from certain plants -grow more plants than you think you need.  This allows room for error and the unexpected and also ensures there will be enough plants from which to harvest all your seed.

•       Saving seed requires you grow plants to maturity.  This means they get a lot bigger when not harvested or deadheaded, so leave more room around them.  The plants you let go to seed will most likely be growing in random places so be fairly flexible in your overall garden design and subsequent plantings.

•       Think about isolation.  This means in space (location) or in time (month of seed harvest) or both.  By doing so you maximize the chance of maintaining the specific variety you're after. Look up recommended isolation distances or choose early and late varieties that flower at different times. Remember to try and check with your neighbors -they might be growing something that will cross!  If they are, you will need to isolate yours with physical barriers to prevent pollen transfer.  If it’s a GMO, ask them to buy open pollinated seed instead!

Chive seedhead

Late Autumn Bloomers

A beneficial insects' dream...

Salvia greggii

Insects are busy now ensuring their eggs have been laid and their burrows and hide away's are secure and fully stocked.  They are out in the last rays of warm sunshine gathering the nectar and pollen from flowers that bloom into November's darkening days.

We too are feeling the slow down of summer's many harvests and one look to the pantry shows our storage efforts have paid off.  Yet there is more to think about in the garden...

We can aid the health of our gardens and next year's bounty by encouraging beneficial insects to stay around.  Providing them food during the winter by planting late blooming flowers will help the insects that don't hibernate or have yet to.  

In our region it gets cold but it doesn't truly feel like Winter until late January.  Plants like Salvia greggii (pictured above) will bloom well past Christmas with no major frost. 

Dragonflies and Damselflies

Both dragonflies and damselflies are considered a gardener's friend as they eat mosquitoes and other flying pests.  They require a source of water if you want them to stick around year after year; and it can take them a long time to mature!  Some spend as long as five years in the aquatic larval stage (eating mosquito larvae then too!).

While the images here are less than wonderful quality one gets the understanding of the diverse patterns and shapes dragonflies and damselflies take on.   

Quite a magical sight on a summers evening watching them dip and dive...

Mentha

MINT -Mentha species

Mint has been used for thousands of years as a remedy for digestive ailments and as a flavor for food. The leaves and stems can be used fresh or dried; they are harvested for drying in August as the flowers start to open.  Mint is a rhizomatous perennial plant grown for its culinary and medicinal properties or just for ground cover.  

Pollinator insects, specifically honey bees, favor mint flowers.  All Mentha species are very prone to hybridization (seed does not always breed true) thus the content of medicinal oils vary with each new generation. If you want to keep a particular aroma of mint in your gardens it’s best to propagate them by cuttings or division.

Spearmint Mentha spicata - L.

The original European mint, the name 'spear' mint comes from the pointed leaf tips.  Many hybrids today are some form of spearmint cross.  Besides the normal digestive therapy mint provides, the stems are also used as a poultice on bruises.

Peppermint Mentha x piperita
A natural hybrid of M. aquatica x M. spicata peppermint cannot bear viable seed so must be propagated by cuttings or division.  The essential oil, menthol, is obtained from the whole plant, is considered an antiseptic, strongly antibacterial and toxic in large doses.

Applemint Mentha x rotundifolia
A very vigorous mint, applemint effectively out-competes Bermuda grass.  We use applemint as a tool when forest gardening and find it aggressive enough to dominate over weeds like Bermuda grass but easily removed too. 


‘Wintermint’ Mentha spicata x rotundifolia
A natural hybrid of M. rotundifolia x M. spicata –we speculate; this particular variety germinated mid-winter a few years ago amongst the last potatoes.  The leaves appear similar to spearmint but the flavor is sweeter and mild, more like the applemint.

Spearmint Mentha spicata - L.

Applemint Mentha x rotundifolia

Peppermint Mentha x piperita

Wintermint Mentha spicata x rotundifolia

Golden Treasures of Spring

The golden, oval dots pictured above are ladybug eggs. This ladybug knew what she was doing! Laying her eggs right next to a food source (red aphids) is a choice place for the eggs to hatch. In 4-10 days these babies will find a real sweet meal!

The larval phase of the ladybug lifecycle is the most voracious feeding stage of all. Known to eat as many as 400 aphids before they pupate ladybug larvae (pictured below) do a fine job keeping aphids and other garden pests at bay.

2 Fun Facts about Ladybugs:

• In the lifetime of a single adult ladybug, over 5000 aphids will have been consumed.
• One ladybug can lay up to 1000 eggs in her lifetime.

 Thank you Gaia!

Featured Fungus... wait! Not a fungus!

SLIME MOLD

Slime molds are amoeba-like protists, similar to fungi.  They exist in nature as a plasmodium, a 'blob' of protoplasm without cell walls and only a cell membrane to keep everything in. -fungi have cell walls!

They are not parasitic, so they will not cause direct harm to your plants or your family. Occasionally they can cause problems on lawns or low-growing ground covers by blocking the necessary sunlight that plants need to grow, but in most cases they are completely harmless. They feed on microorganisms in dead plant material -decomposers!

Enjoy the diversity of Nature!  Slime molds indicate an abundance of organic matter and they are very short lived!

FEATURED FUNGUS FRIEND

Coprinoid Mushrooms

aka. The Inky Caps

Inky caps assist in the decomposition of wood, manure, grassy debris, forest litter, and more.  Most species have black spore prints and gills that liquefy at maturation.  The "ink" that results is why the common name of “inky caps” has come about and amazingly enough it can be used as writing ink.

Inky cap identification ranges from easy to extremely difficult.  Many are “ephemeral”, meaning they live for one day; they grow, liquefy, and turn into black mush within a matter of hours.  Microscopic examination of various features is the only way to truly identify the species.  To add to the confusion coprinoid mushrooms are now distributed among four genera: Coprinus, Parasola, Coprinopsis, and Coprinellus.

Key to Coprinoid Mushrooms:

Kuo, M. (2008, February). Coprinoid mushrooms: The inky caps. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site

GROW OPEN POLLINATED (OP) PLANTS/SEED!

Humans have domesticated plants since the Neolithic era, over 10,000 years ago.  Today, the domestication of plants has rendered a global crisis and the genetic diversity we aided in creating for thousands of years is in peril... 

Yet we can ALL help!

Open Pollinated (OP) plants/seed have the ability to breed true to the parents' characteristics and may retain high genetic diversity.  An understanding of the basic mechanics of pollination is needed to save seed from open pollinated plants but is not something to be intimidated by.  Anymore than learning to ride a bicycle and the benefits last for generations.

Hybrid plants/seed are often bred for uniformity and yield, limiting their genetic diversity.  The seed they produce (F1 hybrid) often produce seed that does not contain the specific traits selected for originally -creating a market need for new seed purchases each year.

Genetically modified (or transgenic) plants have gene(s) for specific traits (such as insect resistance) of a completely different species (or organism) inserted into its own (i.e. human genes in rice or Bt in soy); this unfounded franken-science threatens global food security by degrading social and environmental ecologies.  Corporate monopolies of food should not be possible yet Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta and more want the patent rights to all GE seed in the world, harming nations like Haiti.  We truly have no idea what the long term implications may bring; yet the FDA approves it use.  Over 75% of the food on shelves of US grocery stores have GE ingredients.  Avoid corn, canola, soy, sugar beets, potato flours, some dairy contains GE micro-organisms and the cotton in your clothes.  Want to know more? 

Your best option is to BUY ORGANIC everything when possible!  Organic foods do not allow GE contamination.  Purchase open pollinated seed from reliable sources.  FYI: The OP seed need not be organic unless it is corn or some of the others above (but do grow it organically:).  GE has not invaded everything, thank goddess.

FEATURED FUNGUS FRIEND

Cyathus stercoreus

(Bird’s Nest Fungi)

Bird's nest fungi are saprophytes and thus decomposers of organic material.   They are found most often on decaying wood and animal dung.  They don't harm living plants/trees.

The "nest" of this fungi is cup shaped and fuzzy outside/smooth inside.  The black “eggs” are small capsules known as peridioles which contain the fungal spores.  Rainwater or water drips into the splash cup and when the water hits the bottom of the cup it splashes out with enough force to eject the peridioles up to a yard away!

If the nest is on herbivore dung after dispersal they may germinate, form new mycelium and grow new fruiting bodies.  Or they might be eaten by another herbivore where after 'deposit' they may germinate and grow!  Spores of bird's nest fungi can travel through the digestive tract of herbivores unharmed. 

Nature's resilience...   Pretty amazing!

FEATURED FUNGUS FRIEND

Trametes versicolor

(aka Turkey Tail, Kawaratake or Yun-Zhi)

This bracket fungi shows off their beautiful bands of tan, brown, cream and rust colors radiating out from a central 'foot' -holding onto wood.

A very common saprobe, meaning it decomposes (feeds on) wood and other organic matter, this bracket fungi has medicinal value.   According to Fungi Perfecti's Paul Stamets and other mycologists this particular bracket fungi has immune boosting properties as well as antitumor benefits.

Resources for Fungi information:

We must pay homage to the various mushroom websites for their spectacular imagery and vast knowledge base!  As a start we recommend Mushroom Experts, Tom Volk's Fungi, MykoWeb (Fungi of California), and of course Fungi Perfecti.

Our Fungi Friends…

Mushrooms are the fruiting part of a fungus; much like the apple is the fruit of a tree (fungus is singular, fungi plural). Most of their lives are spent underground as mycelium (strands of cells that can go for miles!); but when they do show their faces they are beautiful, if not a bit odd, to behold.

The vital role fungi play in our natural world is still underrated today. We, at Gaia Creations, believe fungi hold answers to many questions humans have regarding restoration ecology, agroforestry, biomimicry, even medicine. Check out Paul Stamets as he explains the 6 ways mushrooms can save the world on YouTube.

For the rest of this year we are going to feature one Fungus of the Month each month to show the diversity of mushrooms in our neck of the woods. We also want to point out their value to living organisms around the globe (and we mean ALL of them!) and hopefully learn a bunch more ourselves in the process! Visit our website for more Gaia Creations.

Enjoy!

Equisetum hyemale L.

Common name: scouring rush horsetail   -from Latin equus (horse) and saeta (bristle)

Families of vascular plants, horsetails reproduce by spores rather than seeds.  For over one hundred million years the equisetum family dominated the sub canopy of late Paleozoic forests.  They are known as living fossils.

Horsetails are a valuable dynamic accumulator plant very rich in silica but also in magnesium, calcium and iron. As it decomposes these nutrients become available to soil organisms and ultimately our plants.

They are wonderful for bog gardens and for covering a wet low spot where nothing else will grow; always taking care not to let it become invasive to native populations.

Uses:

The leaves are used as a dye and give a soft green color; its extract is often used to provide silica for supplementation.  It’s also used as a fungicide, liquid feed; musical instrument; paper; parasiticide; polish; sandpaper; scourer.

 

 

Moon and Narcissus

Does the Moon affect plant growth and health?

It has been said for hundreds of years that the moon's monthly cycle (lunar cycle) of waxing and waning has a very definite influence on plant growth and health; particularly moisture.

Though little research has been conducted on this idea, the gravitational pull of the moon does affect the flow of tides in the ocean...   we believe there must be something to be said for the plants on terra firma.

Narcissus

Narcissus is the genus of bulbous herbs in the amaryllis family.  The genus is native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia and is widely cultivated in gardens.

Other common names for Narcissus include daffodil, daffydown-dilly, fleur de coucou, Lent lily, and porillon.