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For me when designing a new site there’s always a relationship between water and access, often it’s negative but with intention and a design mind it can be very positive for land, people and all life.

I’m set to inherit a fairly large farm from my parents. However, they believe it’s important for me to obtain a related degree before taking over. Lately, I’ve started to question whether getting such a degree is truly meaningful. Is a college degree really necessary for running a farm?

I’ve been working on a design for the dream house and farm that my fiancée and I want to build. A lot of our focus is on eco-friendly and efficient solutions for living.

An important part of our plan is having livestock. The research I’ve already done has shown that even chickens can be very thirsty animals, much less the pigs and other animals we plan to have. So I want to harvest and salvage as much water as I can. First, I thought of water collection. We live in Western WA, so lots of rain and snow to collect. But that isn’t very much given the thousands of gallons of water that we will need. My previous experience as a pipefitter exposed me to the idea of greywater recycling, which brings me here.

My idea is to build a tandem set of tanks, set into the ground, to filter greywater and use that as an additional resource for watering our animals and plants.

Both tanks would be sized to handle a heavy flow: 5 feet deep, 13 feet wide, and 22½ feet long. The first tank would be filled with various sizes of gravel, the second with sand. Both would be planted with wetland plants for additional filtration (especially since we get snow, so I’ll be researching native all-season plants for that aspect).

Is this a feasible method for cleaning greywater or is it overkill? If it is overkill, then I’d call that acceptable. Given that the rainwater from the house and barn will join the cleaned greywater (and normal rain) to feed a constructed pond on the property that acts as a reservoir for the barn, orchards, gardens, and other tasks across the property.

If it is not feasible, then I’d love to understand why it isn’t feasible and how to address the deficiencies identified.

This water will not be for human consumption. At all. This is working water that is for animals and plants, and very much not for human consumption. At the same time, I want to give the animals in the plan good water without requiring twenty thousand gallons a year from city mains. Better to recycle what I have than to just keep buying more and more.

I look forward to your feedback. Thanks in advance.

My backyard is something of an edible forest. I have grapes, quince, apricots, figs, currants, strawberries all over the place, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, rhubarb, pomegranates, hazelnuts, rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, tarragon, saffron, and sweet bay. Additionally there are a couple of medicinal herbs: St John’s Wort (bush form) and echinacea growing everywhere.

My plants are really starting to put on fruit, and I’m becoming aware of the fact that my yard is probably a rodent’s paradise. I keep it VERY tidy. Everything is pruned and maintained. The beds are mulched, lawn mowed weekly, etc. it looks like a garden you’d see at a chateau or something. Despite this, there is food everywhere and I’m sure it smells insanely good to rats and mice.

My question is, if I add a few more herbs to the landscape planted in between my fruiting stuff, particularly more rosemary & sage, will that repel rodents? I guess I’d be willing to plant a lot of sage because I love it, but I want to be sure it’s functional. I currently have 3 sage plants in different areas and that is already more than I realistically need for consumption, but if it’s serving a purpose by repelling rodents, I will definitely add more.

We have three cherry trees that were on site and fully grown when we bought the house. We get good fruit but insects destroy and bore into the fruit bodies when ripe.

This year I noticed some black cherry aphids and now a discoloration of the leaves. I’ve been applying some neem oil to the best of my ability. I also wonder if maybe I should be watering them more.

Any advice Is appreciated. We are located in Fort Collins Colorado.

I’m going to be purchasing my commercial building shortly and between my building and the next building, are these broadleaf vines climbing up those buildings.

Can I ask what I’m looking at and the best way to go about this? It’s likely that I’m going to be tackling the problem with my neighbor, even though the vines aren’t on my property

Thanks 🙂

Hi! Looking for some advice in getting started on Permaculture. A cabin shared by my extended family has two adjoined lots with lots of space for some projects.

There are already some productive plants on the property. Currently, there are two decades-old cherry trees at the end of their lives, and I have planted 4 cherry saplings before coming across the collective body of knowledge referred to as permaculture. The hardiness zone for the area is 5b. We are not far from the shores of Lake Superior. I have also planted about four raspberry bushes and four blackberry bushes that are a year or so old. I planted a few very young strawberry and rhubarb plants around trees in an attempt to start a guild. When I was last up, however, the grass was coming through the mulching I had done.

What should I look into going forward? What would be your first curiosities in getting started on this site? It is mostly lawn with a very large maple tree in the center of it. I have a current short list of things to do on the site:

1. Sheet mulch around the fruit trees and bushes. Add some compost.

2. Soil sample various parts of the lawn.

3. Create a compost pile.

4. Plant some understory around the fruit trees. Comfrey first? Looking for ideas in this regard.

5. (longer term) create more “islands of fertility” with nut/fruit/native trees elsewhere on the property

6. (longest term) connect the islands

7. (optional) buy mushroom plugs for the larger pruned limbs of the cherry trees that were felled last July.

Any thoughts on this list? What would be your first thoughts on getting started on this site? I have been taking notes on all the disparate parts of bootstrapping a permacultures system, but I am curious to hear if anyone has any advice regarding starting up the whole system.

I’m looking into ways to “observe and interact” with the area as it currently stands. There is a northward facing slope, and the east and south ends of the property are the most open for planting. Although the cabin is nearly constantly occupied from May to October by my extended family, it is not winterized. Relatives are eager to garden and help out, but I am only able to come up in one week spurts to do the heavy lifting of adding new plants. There is at least in theory constant watering of fruit-bearing plants.

I would greatly appreciate any advice in this regard. Does anyone else have experience in the upper Midwest near the great lakes? What works in the yoop?

Any recommendations for perennial nurseries in the UP or in eastern wisconsin?

Thanks!!!!

I’m super interested in creating a “fedge”(living willow fence) , but we have our septic tank & drain field within 10-15 feet of where the fence line would be.

Willow roots + septic = bad news, so I’m wondering if anyone knows of some sort of bendy tree or shrub that could be used in the same way. Maybe something that’s suited to the espalier method would work?