Thank you for tuning in! Have a great weekend everyone! Bonne fin de semaine! Καλο σαββατοκυριακο! Buen fin de semana! Habe ein schönes Wochenende! 良い週末を Yoi shūmatsu o
Hello and Welcome to Willows Green Permaculture! It's Stefan and I'm here now and I will be here throughout the Premiere airing of the video to answer any of your questions! I hope you enjoy the video and find it useful!
I want to go off-grid and grow my own food in the future but it will take a while to get there. please dont get discouraged by comparatively low views and comments. channels like yours will be very helpful for me so even just uploading for the sake of putting your knowledge out there is very much appreciated when I will come back and watch when I need it
Thank you! Your comment is appreciated as well! I make my videos to share my knowledge and show people that they can do this! You know, you can start growing some of your own food without going off grid or without even having a lot of space. You can do it in an apartment, you can do it on a balcony, you can do it in a very very small garden!
that is true. I should probably spend less time playing games and go out into our garden. my mother already has some raised beds there and apparently you dont even need much to get plenty of food. I tend to overthink and plan, sometimes just going in head first works well
How long is your growing season (days between last spring frost and first fall frost)? You can start there and learn the plants that have the time to grow and reach a harvest stage in your growing season.
Thank you Stefan & Magali what a beautiful diagram of your garden. So inspiring & educational. I learn something every single time I watch your videos. Best wishes.
Thank you so much. This means a lot to us. We want our videos to be not only educational, but also to help people to learn that growing their own food is accessible to them, even in small spaces.
Question Do you use any soil amendments such as minerals like rock dust calcium ,& potassium. I use composted chicken manure, donkey manure, grass clippings, leaves, egg shells, what food scrapes chickens don't eat. Thank you for your time
I definitely the compost we create from the garden and kitchen scraps. Over the past year and a half, I have used a lot of mushroom compost that I have gotten for free from a local mushroom grower. This has been a short term measure while I have waited for the development of my green mulch plants (yarrow, comfrey, dandelions, etc.). I have been unwilling to harvest these from elsewhere on our property to put into the garden, because the whole property needed soil building and habitat restoration, not just the garden. It was barren here when we arrived. You're doing very well using manure! Eventually we want a few animals 2 or 3 goats, a few chickens. I think this will be in 2025.@@sharlenec7289
Thank you I raised goats for 3 years it was an adventure I started With 10 and grew to 58. I decided to downsize and focus more on gardening and letting my land go back to nature. Thank you for your time
It's a pleasure! I look forward to having a few goats for milk and cheese and yoghurt. About the only thing I buy from the grocery store. Having that connection to the goats is something else I look forward to. We have cats and I love that connection, so I look forward to expanding that experience.@@sharlenec7289
I found you guys from Exploring Alternatives and I am so glad you made your own youtube channel!!. you and your family are amazing and i want to live in your garden lol ♥
Ok. I have a new way of understanding it as well that better combines the science with the ancient beliefs. A way of explaining it that came to me that I have never heard before. I look forward to sharing it.
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture Thanks! I tend have questions. I am newer to horticulture, permiculture, and sustainable agriculture. What you two have done here is beautiful.
Thank you so much! It is our goal to show how doing this is not as complicated as people imagine. It can be very simple and it can be done in very small spaces as well. People can start small and work up.@@BaloosCluesOriginal
Yes, we use yarrow tea all the time for colds. For the deer, purple coneflower is another they don't like, along with sage, beebalm, bleeding heart and daffodils.@@northerngirlhobbies
In Western Herbalism, herbalists also use Yarrow as a styptic. Dry the leaves & crush/powder them for cuts “to the 7th layer”, i.e. to the bone. It’s antiseptic. And if you’re injured in the garden, or attacked by a bear while hiking on trails, it’s great to know how to identify Yarrow, because you can just crush it up right there and apply it to your wound to stop the bleeding & initiate the healing. Also, making a warm tea of the flowers (fresh or dried) helps decrease/eliminate a fever. ❤
@@willowwhyte1104 Thank you! Yes, that's where yarrow gets its name in Latin, and in French, from Latin. Achillea milefolium, achillée millefeuille. From the Greek myth about Achilles, in which he would use yarrow to heal his soldiers wounds.
Thank you! The journal comes from Lee Valley Tools, here in Ontario. Here's a link to the journal on their website. www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/garden/books-and-dvds/43043-a-gardeners-journal-a-ten-year-chronicle-of-your-garden
Nous avons découvert votre chaîne TH-cam ce weekend , c'est complètement génial!! Votre "Gardening journal" semble génial, c'est quelque chose que vous avez trouvé sur le web? Continuer votre excellent travail. Gaetan & Natacha
Happy Wolf Moon. I was wondering when you were going to mention Louise Riotte!! I'd also recommend her books "Roses Love Garlic" as well as "Astrological Gardening" and "Planetary Planting". In much the same vein as Rudolf Steiner but a little less "Woo Woo" as Mollison said.
Thank you for those recommendations. I’ve had CLT for so many years, last I looked, she didn’t have anything else - as far as I knew! Definitely will check those out!
Hi, I live in an apartment. I’d be grateful if you share a video about growing crops on kitchen counter, or basically indoor with limited space. I’m working on green onions and beans sprouts right now. I hope there are more I can plant. Thanks in advance! Thanks for sharing too!
Thank you so much Sharah! And you know, tomorrow I will start working on my video for next Friday. I will be able to talk a little bit about indoor gardening because I will be indoor sowing my onions!@@sharahsaputra8547
Hi! So happy to have found your channel, I'm in Montreal, so same growing zone. It's super to have permaculture principles to apply to our climate! I have been growing a garden for many years. I would love to learn more about how to build your soil (I made the terrible mistake of taking the free city compost, which I found out after spreading it that it was dead earth with road gravel and broken glass, nothing grows in it and I've had to try to scrape it off). I would also love to know how much watering, any adding of compost during the growing seasons, etc. Thanks and I look forward to your new videos! :) Andréanne
Bonjour Andréanne! Here are a couple of videos you could check out that partially talk about soil building. But more are coming. Ils sont aussi tournés en français si vous préférez. th-cam.com/video/2VJtpHOJOY4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kXuuvpiAnUxr_4L_ And th-cam.com/video/oEUiU0Ut7Y8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Eq8rpPRTS3KLfCyk
Hi Andréanne, here is our latest video, which talks about soil building, among other things. Here's the link - th-cam.com/video/XEJee-3-rJY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=R2UPjljumriwD1pr
Bonjour! Thanks! I checked it out, and look forward to some more in this upcoming season :). Nice that you have videos in 3 languages, I can choose which of the 3 I want ;). @@WillowsGreenPermaculture
Hi thank you for sharing. I just found your channel about an hour ago. My first question is: where did you find the garden journal you are using? Or did you create it? I’d like to have one. It seems to be a wonderful way to stay organized year to year. I’ve created small backyard gardens. This will be my first large scale under taking.
Welcome to Willows Green Permaculture! The journal is from Lee Valley Tools. Any kind of journal is very helpful from year to year, to remember when you did things, what, how much, where, etc. It reduces the planning workload and increases success.
Hi, I don't know if you have a specific video on this, but why did you choose that specific mandala layout (with the side part)? How does it impact you?
Thank you for your question. It's a combination of a number of reasons. The concept began with the shape of the area we new we could use to garden. The round section is the area with the most sun and with the best water vs drainage elements. So we started from there and created something that would be pleasing, that would help us know where N, S, E and W are - it's a map to the 4 cardinal points. The center represents the sun, but it also represents the cycle of life, being a circle, and also, I'm not sure the word for it, but the famous circle done in shōdo, using a brush and black ink, you make a circle in one motion and it represents balance and equilibrium, and much more. So there is alot to it. I love science and I love art and I love to share knowledge and this all goes into the design. Something that is artistic, something that teaches a little about how to garden and how to be a steward of nature, and something that pleases, to attract curiosity and therefore lead to learning. The upper right represent sun rays, which we expanded on, to the left, later, with the other 'rays' in the orchard (you don't see this in the map, but you see it in photos and images in other videos). The orchard is significantly drier than the main garden. The section on the lower right (which you also don't see in the map) was integrated later, not specifically into the design, because its design was entirely dependant on the conditions. It is a rain garden, which we use to make sure there is a good sized water source close to the garden, without flooding the garden. This allows us to give habitat form frogs, toads and birds, which help us in the garden. We added features in the garden to attract the frogs and toads and birds into the garden. We talk about this in this video: th-cam.com/video/2VJtpHOJOY4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=7p_AyZkgmDv-eDnv It's a good idea - perhaps I might do a video in which I explain all of this with images. I could also show the sketches we made in the fall of 2019 and winter of the beginning of 2020, before we started. Thanks for the question!
Thanks for the answer! I think the garden design is something that is well thought out. There’s something aesthetically pleasing with information (the cardinal points). I had the preconception that either design had to be in straight lines, or else pure chaos. This is a nice solution to the problem. The rays are a good addition too! The best on your further adventures!
Thank you. You can imitate nature, but still have elements of design. 😊Nature is by no means chaotic. It follows a vast array of natural, (not sure what word to use), 'laws' or 'principles'. It is knowing these principles that allows us to design a food forest that respects and multiplies native biodiversity while at the same time, giving us food to eat and share.@@simonvv1002
Thank you for your comment. Because we do companion planting, and mix many plants in each area, it isn't so necessary to rotate crops. Rotation is more for monocultures. We do change the postions of what we plant sometimes though, always experimenting with conditions and what works best where. We have always had one of our Three Sisters sections in the middle of the concentric circles, except in our 2nd summer, when we planted Purple Peruvian fingerling potatoes there. We then went back to the Three Sisters there because we just like how it looks. They are also central to how we explain how we garden, using companion planting and biodiversity to keep the whole ecosystem healthy. The potatoes, however, have come back every year in the center since planting them there (without us replanting them). So I guess you could say we have Four Sisters in the center now.
That's great! Thank you so much for your response. I'd rather plan once, just bought our new place last fall, can't wait to dig in the dirt. I love the thought of adjusting here or there over planning a three/four year rotation.
hmmm... i am a little confused! so you are planning your plantings based on lunar cycles but your explanation sounds like you are going by tidal cycles which makes more sense. i am not understanding the logic behind lunar cycle planting. might you explain the reasoning behind it? you probably already have elsewhere but i am new to your channel which is eerily like my methods but this does not make sense to me. thanks 🙂
Thank you Alsan. I’m certainly no expert on this subject. The tides being influenced by the moon, aren’t they then the same thing - lunar and tidal cycles? The comment made me chuckle because I guess I’m a bit confused myself. Some people will adamantly say there is no science to this and others, the opposite. Maybe you could help me out in better understanding and communicating this.
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture tidal cycle is that of the moon going around the earth (as in the earth spinning) which is independent from the lunar cycles which are how moon looks to us here on earth which is dictated by the angle of the sun and moon. they are not the same thing. tides go in and out every day. cycles of the moon are roughly once a month, hence the name. the moon cycles have absolutely no effect on earth other than light (moonlight). it does effect many animals and plants that are triggered by the light change to procreate or flower which i guess is the same thing 🙂 the confusion came when you explain the lunar cycle with where the water was pushing, up or down. that is tidal cycle. water is not at all affected by the lunar cycle. the only explanation that would make sense for lunar cycle would be if the light level at night would help root plants vs. fruiting plants. or perhaps some other thing i have not thought of, i'm getting pretty old so i have lost any delusions of perfect knowledge 🙂
My understanding has been that the water and tides are very much affected by the cycles. Not obviously by the appearance or the light. The appearance is simply a sort of calendar used before the existence of paper calendars. But the cycle, the appearance, indicates the position of the moon with respect to the earth and the sun. True, as the earth spins, there is a drag on water by the moon, but the greater drag is the play of the movement of the moon around the earth in combination with the sun’s much greater gravity. I’ve tried to explain it using three friends playing. One friend is holding a big jug of water and the other two are playing tug of war, each pulling at one of his elbows., trying to g to get him to spill the water. One friend is stronger than the other as well. When the friends are on either side, the kid in the middle can more or less stand straight. The pull is balanced. That’s the full moon. Of course in reality, it’s more of a squeezing effect on the water. But then, when you go to third quarter, after the full moon, you’ve got the moon and the sun at 90 degree angles to the earth, that kid with the jug is going to be knocked off balance with the jug, as the moon pulls the earth off to the side (and the earth wobbles) with respect to the sun. Then at new moon, you’ve got both kids pulling in the same direction from the same side. That kid’s just going spill is jug all over his two friends, then as the moon moves into first quarter, you’ve got the right angles again, so relatively speaking, the kid in the middle is coming back into an equilibrium compared to when both kids were pulling from one side. Then we move into the full moon, where the pull becomes balanced again. My understanding is all of this movement and very powerful gravity is pulling at the water all month long, it’s just that the high tides are visually striking and dramatic, but there is stuff going on with the movement of the water and moon all month and all of this will affect the uptake of water into a plant by its roots and its cells in different ways. I have never considered it to be a play of light. The light simply tells us where the moon is situated in relation to the sun. This is why I consider the tides and the cycles the same thing. It is a connection that perhaps was never made by many, but it is something that I have imagined. I am not a physicist though, however, I have always been interested in physics. I guess the final word is if there weren’t a significant play of gravity, during the monthlong orbit of the Earth by the moon, then the moon would’ve long ago been pulled off towards the sun or towards some other planet, and then of course the tides would have all but disappeared and life on this planet would look very different if it existed at all.
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture oh, i see you are thinking how sun, earth and moon line up and the force of gravity. the problem with that is that the sun if much farther than the moon and with gravity the effect is quite huge. gravity is reduced as a square of the distance. you can see it work if you play with magnets as they behave the same way. moon's distance varies from about 357000km to 407000km in a year where as the average distance of sun to earth is 149,000,000km! the square of that is huge, meaning that the effect of sun's gravity on earth is tiny. you would have far more impact from the distance of moon to earth which is much closer and changes about 60,000km between perigee (closest) and apogee (farthest) distances. this change in distance makes a noticeable change in tidal forces and this would change the pull on water in plants as well. however, these events occur on opposite times in the year and are again not related to the phases of the moon, as in new moon, full moon, etc. sun's impact is non existent at its distances so it makes absolutely no difference how it is aligned. in my experience, nothing in nature is linear. this also has to do with your love of curves 🙂or the golden ratio. life and nature, indeed everything we know in the universe so far, behave logarithmically not linearly. gravity is a perfect example of this. the older i get, the more i see that linear systems are completely artificial and unreal. i cannot think of a natural linear function anywhere. this helps a lot when we think about things. anytime you are confronted with a thought of linearity, question it. especially if it pertains to the nature of things. there is much we can learn from nature but we have to make sure we are not coloring that learning with assumptions that, if scrutinized, do not make sense. thankfully, these days, it is easy to find information. however, just because it is written, it is does not make it so! we have to maintain vigilance against group think, confirmation bias, and the like. the challenge is to see the forest AND the trees 🙂
@@AlsanPine Wonderfully explained, thank you! I also really like the paragraph about nothing in nature being linear. And yes, very important to maintain vigialnce against group think, confirmation bias and so on.
Thank you for tuning in!
Have a great weekend everyone! Bonne fin de semaine! Καλο σαββατοκυριακο! Buen fin de semana! Habe ein schönes Wochenende! 良い週末を Yoi shūmatsu o
This is a useful information about plants and Nature, especially for children and young people! Thank you!
It’s a pleasure! Than you!
Thank you for sharing knowledge!
You’re welcome! It is a true pleasure!
Dude is straight up dropping some knowledge - love the in depth explanations!
Thank you!
Hello and Welcome to Willows Green Permaculture! It's Stefan and I'm here now and I will be here throughout the Premiere airing of the video to answer any of your questions! I hope you enjoy the video and find it useful!
I will be there at 7pm (EST) on Friday (the 26th) to answer any questions or to chat. Please use the comments to do so! Looking forward to it!
Hello to any new watchers that have just arrived!
This was so helpful! Thank you!
You’re welcome!
I want to go off-grid and grow my own food in the future but it will take a while to get there. please dont get discouraged by comparatively low views and comments. channels like yours will be very helpful for me so even just uploading for the sake of putting your knowledge out there is very much appreciated when I will come back and watch when I need it
Thank you! Your comment is appreciated as well! I make my videos to share my knowledge and show people that they can do this! You know, you can start growing some of your own food without going off grid or without even having a lot of space. You can do it in an apartment, you can do it on a balcony, you can do it in a very very small garden!
that is true. I should probably spend less time playing games and go out into our garden. my mother already has some raised beds there and apparently you dont even need much to get plenty of food. I tend to overthink and plan, sometimes just going in head first works well
You are absolutely right! Going in head first - meaning you have a vision and you make it real!@@nembutsu1045
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom! Please make videos of what you plant each time 😊. God bless you
Thank you! We will make videos of our plantings. Today it was onions! It will be ready Friday! God bless you too.
Thanks for the insights on your bed plan as well as companion planting.
It's a pleasure! Thanks for watching!
So, do you have any questions about what I said in this video?
Thank you for all the information and help with understanding companion planting and permaculture garden structure.
It's a real pleasure. More videos are coming on these subjects. There is so much to say! Thanks for watching!
I live in northern Michigan and want nothing more than to start a garden of this capacity
How long is your growing season (days between last spring frost and first fall frost)? You can start there and learn the plants that have the time to grow and reach a harvest stage in your growing season.
Another informative video - thank you!
It's a pleasure! Thanks for watching!
I love how informative and engaging this video is! Thank you for sharing your experience!
It’s a real pleasure! I’m glad you liked it. Thank you for your comment.
So much useful information packed into one video. Thank you!
It's a real pleasure! Thank you for commenting and watching!
Another amazing video! Thank you so much for your wisdom :) Me and my partner are writing notes and eagerly await the next video💕
Thank you! We are so glad our videos are helpful and enjoyable!
Thank you Stefan & Magali what a beautiful diagram of your garden. So inspiring & educational. I learn something every single time I watch your videos. Best wishes.
Thank you so much. This means a lot to us. We want our videos to be not only educational, but also to help people to learn that growing their own food is accessible to them, even in small spaces.
Question Do you use any soil amendments such as minerals like rock dust calcium ,& potassium. I use composted chicken manure, donkey manure, grass clippings, leaves, egg shells, what food scrapes chickens don't eat. Thank you for your time
I definitely the compost we create from the garden and kitchen scraps. Over the past year and a half, I have used a lot of mushroom compost that I have gotten for free from a local mushroom grower. This has been a short term measure while I have waited for the development of my green mulch plants (yarrow, comfrey, dandelions, etc.). I have been unwilling to harvest these from elsewhere on our property to put into the garden, because the whole property needed soil building and habitat restoration, not just the garden. It was barren here when we arrived. You're doing very well using manure! Eventually we want a few animals 2 or 3 goats, a few chickens. I think this will be in 2025.@@sharlenec7289
Thank you
I raised goats for 3 years it was an adventure I started With 10 and grew to 58. I decided to downsize and focus more on gardening and letting my land go back to nature. Thank you for your time
It's a pleasure! I look forward to having a few goats for milk and cheese and yoghurt. About the only thing I buy from the grocery store. Having that connection to the goats is something else I look forward to. We have cats and I love that connection, so I look forward to expanding that experience.@@sharlenec7289
Wonderfull! Thank you! Have a great day, too :)
Thank you!
I found you guys from Exploring Alternatives and I am so glad you made your own youtube channel!!. you and your family are amazing and i want to live in your garden lol ♥
Thank you! Welcome to Willows Green Permaculture! Thank you for watching!
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture thanks for having me! :]
You're welcome!
Thank you, this is a real gold mine of information. Able to create a rough planting schedule based on your experience.
I’m glad I can be of help!
Coucou
Ça va être top
Hâte de voir
A bientôt
Merci!
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture De rien
🙂
Found you through another larger channel this evening. New subscribers from Ontario.
Welcome to Willows Green Permaculture!
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture Thank you.
You're welcome!
Please do so more videos on planting with the moon cycles. This was very helpful 🙏
Ok. I have a new way of understanding it as well that better combines the science with the ancient beliefs. A way of explaining it that came to me that I have never heard before. I look forward to sharing it.
Thank you! 🌞
You're welcome!
I can't wait to see what you are planning.
Thank you! I'll be there at the Premiere if you have any questions!
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture Thanks! I tend have questions. I am newer to horticulture, permiculture, and sustainable agriculture. What you two have done here is beautiful.
Thank you so much! It is our goal to show how doing this is not as complicated as people imagine. It can be very simple and it can be done in very small spaces as well. People can start small and work up.@@BaloosCluesOriginal
Dang I didn’t know that Yarrow was a deer deterrent, thank you.
It’s a pleasure! Thanks for watching!
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture Yarrow is a super healer. We have a deer highway on the new property. I’m going to have to plan this accordingly.
Yes, we use yarrow tea all the time for colds. For the deer, purple coneflower is another they don't like, along with sage, beebalm, bleeding heart and daffodils.@@northerngirlhobbies
In Western Herbalism, herbalists also use Yarrow as a styptic. Dry the leaves & crush/powder them for cuts “to the 7th layer”, i.e. to the bone. It’s antiseptic.
And if you’re injured in the garden, or attacked by a bear while hiking on trails, it’s great to know how to identify Yarrow, because you can just crush it up right there and apply it to your wound to stop the bleeding & initiate the healing.
Also, making a warm tea of the flowers (fresh or dried) helps decrease/eliminate a fever. ❤
@@willowwhyte1104 Thank you! Yes, that's where yarrow gets its name in Latin, and in French, from Latin. Achillea milefolium, achillée millefeuille. From the Greek myth about Achilles, in which he would use yarrow to heal his soldiers wounds.
Good info. I planted onions around everything last year and my peas did not do good at all. Now i know why 😂
Thank you Rhonda! It’s good to get practical confirmation like that! 😊
Thank you so much for all your wisdom and guidance❣️ Would love to know where you got your planting journal ; )
☺️
Thank you! The journal comes from Lee Valley Tools, here in Ontario. Here's a link to the journal on their website. www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/garden/books-and-dvds/43043-a-gardeners-journal-a-ten-year-chronicle-of-your-garden
Nous avons découvert votre chaîne TH-cam ce weekend , c'est complètement génial!!
Votre "Gardening journal" semble génial, c'est quelque chose que vous avez trouvé sur le web?
Continuer votre excellent travail.
Gaetan & Natacha
Merci beaucoup! Nous sommes ravis que vous aimez notre chaîne! Le journal vient de Lee Valley Tools. Ils ont un site web.
Happy Wolf Moon.
I was wondering when you were going to mention Louise Riotte!! I'd also recommend her books "Roses Love Garlic" as well as "Astrological Gardening" and "Planetary Planting". In much the same vein as Rudolf Steiner but a little less "Woo Woo" as Mollison said.
Thank you for those recommendations. I’ve had CLT for so many years, last I looked, she didn’t have anything else - as far as I knew! Definitely will check those out!
And Happy Wolf Moon to you too!
Hi, I live in an apartment. I’d be grateful if you share a video about growing crops on kitchen counter, or basically indoor with limited space. I’m working on green onions and beans sprouts right now. I hope there are more I can plant. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for sharing too!
We are planning one sometime before the spring!
Definitely a countertop mini garden as well as inside a window - it's coming! Thank you for the request!
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture thanks so much looking forward to the video. Also progress of your garden this year!
Thank you so much Sharah! And you know, tomorrow I will start working on my video for next Friday. I will be able to talk a little bit about indoor gardening because I will be indoor sowing my onions!@@sharahsaputra8547
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture Cool, it’s just the right time! I use onions in most of my cooking. So, definitely want to know how to grow them!
Hi! So happy to have found your channel, I'm in Montreal, so same growing zone. It's super to have permaculture principles to apply to our climate! I have been growing a garden for many years. I would love to learn more about how to build your soil (I made the terrible mistake of taking the free city compost, which I found out after spreading it that it was dead earth with road gravel and broken glass, nothing grows in it and I've had to try to scrape it off). I would also love to know how much watering, any adding of compost during the growing seasons, etc. Thanks and I look forward to your new videos! :) Andréanne
Bonjour Andréanne! Here are a couple of videos you could check out that partially talk about soil building. But more are coming. Ils sont aussi tournés en français si vous préférez.
th-cam.com/video/2VJtpHOJOY4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kXuuvpiAnUxr_4L_
And
th-cam.com/video/oEUiU0Ut7Y8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Eq8rpPRTS3KLfCyk
Hi Andréanne, here is our latest video, which talks about soil building, among other things.
Here's the link - th-cam.com/video/XEJee-3-rJY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=R2UPjljumriwD1pr
Bonjour! Thanks! I checked it out, and look forward to some more in this upcoming season :). Nice that you have videos in 3 languages, I can choose which of the 3 I want ;). @@WillowsGreenPermaculture
Thank you!@@lsidjhgoshg
Hi thank you for sharing. I just found your channel about an hour ago. My first question is: where did you find the garden journal you are using? Or did you create it? I’d like to have one. It seems to be a wonderful way to stay organized year to year. I’ve created small backyard gardens. This will be my first large scale under taking.
Welcome to Willows Green Permaculture! The journal is from Lee Valley Tools. Any kind of journal is very helpful from year to year, to remember when you did things, what, how much, where, etc. It reduces the planning workload and increases success.
Hi, I don't know if you have a specific video on this, but why did you choose that specific mandala layout (with the side part)? How does it impact you?
Thank you for your question. It's a combination of a number of reasons. The concept began with the shape of the area we new we could use to garden. The round section is the area with the most sun and with the best water vs drainage elements. So we started from there and created something that would be pleasing, that would help us know where N, S, E and W are - it's a map to the 4 cardinal points. The center represents the sun, but it also represents the cycle of life, being a circle, and also, I'm not sure the word for it, but the famous circle done in shōdo, using a brush and black ink, you make a circle in one motion and it represents balance and equilibrium, and much more. So there is alot to it. I love science and I love art and I love to share knowledge and this all goes into the design. Something that is artistic, something that teaches a little about how to garden and how to be a steward of nature, and something that pleases, to attract curiosity and therefore lead to learning.
The upper right represent sun rays, which we expanded on, to the left, later, with the other 'rays' in the orchard (you don't see this in the map, but you see it in photos and images in other videos). The orchard is significantly drier than the main garden. The section on the lower right (which you also don't see in the map) was integrated later, not specifically into the design, because its design was entirely dependant on the conditions. It is a rain garden, which we use to make sure there is a good sized water source close to the garden, without flooding the garden. This allows us to give habitat form frogs, toads and birds, which help us in the garden. We added features in the garden to attract the frogs and toads and birds into the garden. We talk about this in this video:
th-cam.com/video/2VJtpHOJOY4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=7p_AyZkgmDv-eDnv
It's a good idea - perhaps I might do a video in which I explain all of this with images. I could also show the sketches we made in the fall of 2019 and winter of the beginning of 2020, before we started.
Thanks for the question!
Thanks for the answer!
I think the garden design is something that is well thought out. There’s something aesthetically pleasing with information (the cardinal points). I had the preconception that either design had to be in straight lines, or else pure chaos. This is a nice solution to the problem. The rays are a good addition too!
The best on your further adventures!
Thank you. You can imitate nature, but still have elements of design. 😊Nature is by no means chaotic. It follows a vast array of natural, (not sure what word to use), 'laws' or 'principles'. It is knowing these principles that allows us to design a food forest that respects and multiplies native biodiversity while at the same time, giving us food to eat and share.@@simonvv1002
What is the journal that you use? Is it available somewhere? We are southern hemisphere so might not be as relevant but I do love a good planner!
It’s from a store called Lee Valley Tools. You could see the description on their website.
www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/garden/books-and-dvds/43043-a-gardeners-journal-a-ten-year-chronicle-of-your-garden
Do you rotate your crops each year or are your three sisters always in the center?
Thank you for your comment. Because we do companion planting, and mix many plants in each area, it isn't so necessary to rotate crops. Rotation is more for monocultures. We do change the postions of what we plant sometimes though, always experimenting with conditions and what works best where. We have always had one of our Three Sisters sections in the middle of the concentric circles, except in our 2nd summer, when we planted Purple Peruvian fingerling potatoes there. We then went back to the Three Sisters there because we just like how it looks. They are also central to how we explain how we garden, using companion planting and biodiversity to keep the whole ecosystem healthy. The potatoes, however, have come back every year in the center since planting them there (without us replanting them). So I guess you could say we have Four Sisters in the center now.
That's great! Thank you so much for your response. I'd rather plan once, just bought our new place last fall, can't wait to dig in the dirt. I love the thought of adjusting here or there over planning a three/four year rotation.
That's fantastic! All the best with your new garden!@@ann-mariebeecherill6656
hmmm... i am a little confused! so you are planning your plantings based on lunar cycles but your explanation sounds like you are going by tidal cycles which makes more sense. i am not understanding the logic behind lunar cycle planting. might you explain the reasoning behind it? you probably already have elsewhere but i am new to your channel which is eerily like my methods but this does not make sense to me. thanks 🙂
Thank you Alsan. I’m certainly no expert on this subject. The tides being influenced by the moon, aren’t they then the same thing - lunar and tidal cycles? The comment made me chuckle because I guess I’m a bit confused myself. Some people will adamantly say there is no science to this and others, the opposite. Maybe you could help me out in better understanding and communicating this.
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture tidal cycle is that of the moon going around the earth (as in the earth spinning) which is independent from the lunar cycles which are how moon looks to us here on earth which is dictated by the angle of the sun and moon. they are not the same thing. tides go in and out every day. cycles of the moon are roughly once a month, hence the name. the moon cycles have absolutely no effect on earth other than light (moonlight). it does effect many animals and plants that are triggered by the light change to procreate or flower which i guess is the same thing 🙂 the confusion came when you explain the lunar cycle with where the water was pushing, up or down. that is tidal cycle. water is not at all affected by the lunar cycle. the only explanation that would make sense for lunar cycle would be if the light level at night would help root plants vs. fruiting plants. or perhaps some other thing i have not thought of, i'm getting pretty old so i have lost any delusions of perfect knowledge 🙂
My understanding has been that the water and tides are very much affected by the cycles. Not obviously by the appearance or the light. The appearance is simply a sort of calendar used before the existence of paper calendars. But the cycle, the appearance, indicates the position of the moon with respect to the earth and the sun. True, as the earth spins, there is a drag on water by the moon, but the greater drag is the play of the movement of the moon around the earth in combination with the sun’s much greater gravity. I’ve tried to explain it using three friends playing. One friend is holding a big jug of water and the other two are playing tug of war, each pulling at one of his elbows., trying to g to get him to spill the water. One friend is stronger than the other as well. When the friends are on either side, the kid in the middle can more or less stand straight. The pull is balanced. That’s the full moon. Of course in reality, it’s more of a squeezing effect on the water. But then, when you go to third quarter, after the full moon, you’ve got the moon and the sun at 90 degree angles to the earth, that kid with the jug is going to be knocked off balance with the jug, as the moon pulls the earth off to the side (and the earth wobbles) with respect to the sun. Then at new moon, you’ve got both kids pulling in the same direction from the same side. That kid’s just going spill is jug all over his two friends, then as the moon moves into first quarter, you’ve got the right angles again, so relatively speaking, the kid in the middle is coming back into an equilibrium compared to when both kids were pulling from one side. Then we move into the full moon, where the pull becomes balanced again. My understanding is all of this movement and very powerful gravity is pulling at the water all month long, it’s just that the high tides are visually striking and dramatic, but there is stuff going on with the movement of the water and moon all month and all of this will affect the uptake of water into a plant by its roots and its cells in different ways. I have never considered it to be a play of light. The light simply tells us where the moon is situated in relation to the sun. This is why I consider the tides and the cycles the same thing. It is a connection that perhaps was never made by many, but it is something that I have imagined. I am not a physicist though, however, I have always been interested in physics. I guess the final word is if there weren’t a significant play of gravity, during the monthlong orbit of the Earth by the moon, then the moon would’ve long ago been pulled off towards the sun or towards some other planet, and then of course the tides would have all but disappeared and life on this planet would look very different if it existed at all.
@@WillowsGreenPermaculture oh, i see you are thinking how sun, earth and moon line up and the force of gravity. the problem with that is that the sun if much farther than the moon and with gravity the effect is quite huge. gravity is reduced as a square of the distance. you can see it work if you play with magnets as they behave the same way. moon's distance varies from about 357000km to 407000km in a year where as the average distance of sun to earth is 149,000,000km! the square of that is huge, meaning that the effect of sun's gravity on earth is tiny. you would have far more impact from the distance of moon to earth which is much closer and changes about 60,000km between perigee (closest) and apogee (farthest) distances. this change in distance makes a noticeable change in tidal forces and this would change the pull on water in plants as well. however, these events occur on opposite times in the year and are again not related to the phases of the moon, as in new moon, full moon, etc. sun's impact is non existent at its distances so it makes absolutely no difference how it is aligned.
in my experience, nothing in nature is linear. this also has to do with your love of curves 🙂or the golden ratio. life and nature, indeed everything we know in the universe so far, behave logarithmically not linearly. gravity is a perfect example of this. the older i get, the more i see that linear systems are completely artificial and unreal. i cannot think of a natural linear function anywhere. this helps a lot when we think about things. anytime you are confronted with a thought of linearity, question it. especially if it pertains to the nature of things. there is much we can learn from nature but we have to make sure we are not coloring that learning with assumptions that, if scrutinized, do not make sense. thankfully, these days, it is easy to find information. however, just because it is written, it is does not make it so! we have to maintain vigilance against group think, confirmation bias, and the like. the challenge is to see the forest AND the trees 🙂
@@AlsanPine Wonderfully explained, thank you! I also really like the paragraph about nothing in nature being linear. And yes, very important to maintain vigialnce against group think, confirmation bias and so on.
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Thank you!