gardening presentation for kfirst permaculture class

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This is a brief overview of the story of a family who went from limited gardening experience to founding a CSA over the course of 2 years. The presentation was given for a Permaculture class at Kalamazoo First Assembly of God Church in Portage, MI.

TRANSCRIPT

GARDENING K First Permaculture Class ~ March 14, 2012

Overview

Our Story Successful Beginners, Not Experts

Our Methods Top 5 Excuses for Not Gardening Resources

Our Story

2010: Concerns about health & hard times How can we thrive in a no/low-energy world?

Books and online resources Square Foot Gardening Learned about seed types Brainstorming

Fencing Garden Structures Soil components

Our Story

Homesteading Research Micro-farming and CSAs Birth of Arcadia Farms www.arcadia-farms.net

Types of Seeds

Open Pollinated A seed which produces offspring just

like the parent plants. Open-pollinated seed allows growers to harvest and save seed for the following year.

Types of Seeds

Hybrid or GMO A plant resulting from the cross mating of

distinctly different parental types. Many seed companies are highly motivated by profit and so they intentionally release unstable hybrids whose exact parentage are guarded trade secrets. If a gardener saves the seeds, their resulting crops will not be true-to-type.

Types of Seeds

Heirloom Heirloom varieties are open-pollinated

varieties with a long history of being cultivated and saved within a family or group. They have evolved by natural or human selection over time.

Our Methods: The Basics

Bought non-hybrid and heirloom seeds Jiffy greenhouses in laundry room Parent’s greenhouse Transplanted in June

Our Methods: Square Foot Gardening

Square Foot Gardening is the practice of planning small but intensively planted gardens in raised beds.

Our Methods: Raised Beds

Benefits: Easier on the back No tilling the ground Eliminates need for a lot of gardening

know-how because you don’t have to amend the soil

Intensive production

Our Methods: Soil Mix

Mel’s Mix 1/3 Peat Moss 1/3 Vermiculite 1/3 Compost

“The Secret”

Our Methods: Intensive Planting

No waste space Ideal for those with limited space More efficient production Shades out weeds (“living mulch”) Bio-diversity mimics God’s planting in

nature

Our Methods: Pest Control

6’ Deer Fence Chicken wire ($1/linear foot) Landscape posts ($2 on sale) Post holders ($3 after rebate)

Marigolds Fishing line Deer won’t jump a double fence

Our Methods: Fertilizer

Jobes Organics Fertilizer

Unneeded Compost

Top 5 ExcusesFor Not Gardening

Excuse 1: I don’t have time. Average of 30 minutes per day

You could do less! Factors

How close is the garden to the house? How often will you be watering? How much weeding will you need to do? How much fertilizing will you need to do? How badly do you want to save money and eat

healthier?

Top 5 ExcusesFor Not Gardening

Excuse 2: I hate weeding. Intensive planting shades out weeds

Watch out for compost! Address the aisles

Mulch Landscape fabric

We spent around 3 hours for the year

Top 5 ExcusesFor Not Gardening

Excuse 3: I don’t have space. Intensive planting

Do you have a 4’ x 4’ sunny space? Container gardens Look online for inspiration We grew over 500 tomatoes in 8 square

feet

Top 5 ExcusesFor Not Gardening

Excuse 4: I don’t know how. Neither do we! Abundant resources Establish a community of gardeners Everyone starts somewhere

Top 5 ExcusesFor Not Gardening

Excuse 5: It didn’t work last time. “The godly may trip seven times, but they will

get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked. Proverbs 24:16

I'm convinced that one of the "secrets" to success is facing the fact that failure is a part of the process. Lots of people sit around and dream about accomplishing big things but never move because they're afraid of failing (and the stigma that comes with it). Great people see failure as an inevitable opportunity to improve/re-imagine/try again, instead of a paralyzing setback.

Resources

All New Square Foot Gardeningby Mel Bartholomew

The Vegetable Gardener’s Bibleby Edward C. Smith

Carrots Love Tomatoesby Louise Riotte

Mother Earth Newswww.motherearthnews.com

iVilliage Garden Web Forumshttp://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/

Googlewww.google.com

Arcadia Farmswww.arcadia-farms.net

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