High on Permaculture in the Rocky Mountains
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Kris Holstrom's off-grid permaculture farm at 9000 feet high is living proof that food can be grown nearly anywhere. Managing with a very short growing season and water constraints, she and her interns have created magic. Tour the sun-warmed, insulated greenhouse where greens are grown year-round. It's home to a waterfall and pond with fish, trellises for grapes and seedlings, artwork for the soul, and mushrooms growing from straw. The outside garden offers herbs, berries, greens and prayer flags. Kris sees herself as a steward of the land, and delights in sharing it with kids and interns in a spirit of love and reciprocity. Episode 158.
Great content, even 11 years later! Thank you for keeping this available.
Thanks for this video Janaia. I have enjoyed at least several of your videos and thanks again. Every thing I can see here reinforces my realization of the importance of your message.
This is wonderful. I just love the concept of this being a Peak Moment both in a positive and a negative sense. Yes, we face Peak oil, etc. but we also have peak talent, peak communication, peak innovation! Thanks to the farmer, the interviewer, and all.
Thanks for upload watching it in year 2022
I remember watching this video when it was first posted and happy to have found it again. I would love to see an update!
This is awesome! I'd love to see an update as well!
ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING! So motivating to know that my dream lifestyle is possible in my dream place to call home. I'd love to come check out your spot this spring and return to Summit County with your knowledge and spirit! Lookng forward to meeting you and your farm! -Jon David.
In permaculture we know that the edge is the most productive place to be and we can see in this video that living on the edge for these people has resulted in the most productive human spirit. Can't wait until the rest of us are placed in a position of great challenges.
I love this, very informative. It is a great inspiration and gave me ideas for my off grid permaculture paradise. As my college career comes to an end I am getting very interested in this kind of life style.
love this episode, am about to mimic a lot of this on my homestead village
Kris is awesome!
I'm very inspired and will try to grow my own mushrooms soon.
Thanks and greetings from germany
Also just FYI the solar system shown is not very big. The panels are old (50-80 watts) so the entire system is still less than 1000 watts or 1 kilowatt. It was also built slowly over time. We started with just 4 50 watt panels. Had to add some more when kids became teenagers and more people on the farm.
We've had various models over the years from interns just getting room and board, to interns sharing any profit made. Since farming is so tricky here (severe drought so far this spring) we tend to shy away from committing to a certain amount though the minimum is usually a couple hundred per month. We do encourage all interns to think creatively about how to bring in more money from the farm - which is shared.
Very cool and great inspiration for growing in Lakewood, CO. :)
I agree theyre is plenty of us who are always willing to share our sucesses and failures to newcomers anf first hand practical experiences so they can later on use what they have learned to start their own.
We just bought a couple hundred acres in southern Colorado to farm, I might have to look her up for some tips lol!
But what about the heat bank that was promised? Great video. Thanks.
And for MAISONdeGAI at this point land ownership is still held by one family. I would love to see our concepts of landownership change, but at this point we're still part of the 'system'. I'm also involved in a farm partnership nearby, and have learned about some of the questions and challenges through studying alternative communities.
Hey !!!
from 18:15 to 18:49
there is a perfectly formed " OM " cloud in the sky
how cool =)
@DesecrateConformity, good for you! We need a whole generation of folks like you dreaming and doing powerdown. Find others who've got the property and want/need young backs and hands and minds. There are a lot of us out there who'll want you. Locally we have a group of young farmers who work on land offered free by landowners. Go for it!
@Illchangeitlater, you're right. It could get interesting one of these times that I bite into their plants. Since we're taping organic gardeners, I figure the dirt is about as clean as it can get. I've learned from the farmers that they let urine/poop mellow for awhile before applying it to plants, not wanting to burn them. (Permissions are given before we tape). But keep watching -- one of these days I could get surprised! ~Janaia (host)
us is lucky in a way that even in cold regions there is still medium to high hours of sunshine in the winter months. Europe is less fortunate, in the same climate zones in terms of temperature the average sunshine hours in winter are only 20-50 hours which is not enough to grow anything. So you need lights which makes it much more difficult to run the whole operation sustainably.
Soon to be growing of the Sprague River in OR. A little lower in elevation. I would love to use this design!!!
Is that true? I'd heard that Colorado had changed its laws a few years ago to permit rainwater harvesting.
Definitely a step in the right direction, except that the greenhouse is dependent on cheap oil because it is built with plastic.
If you have less than 35 acres (34.99 or less) you are issued a “House Hold Use Only” permit which is for use inside your home only. If you need to wash your vehicles, water your livestock/horses, or water your garden you will have to haul water for that purpose. Outside faucets are also restricted. You are not allowed to use it for any purpose other than in the household.
Good book on the subject: "Four Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman. He has many TH-cam videos as well. He grows greens year round in zone 5 in Maine. The book is excellent.
Fantastic! What part of the world/country?
Since there is so much snow, if they could harvest it in cistern they should have more than enough water
@peakmoment Yeah, I'm sure I will. Maybe after I tour the US in my van. I will most certainly try my hand at working on other permaculture farms before I start my own.
Everything she said was great, except her but about property, never give up your land.
My ancestors were removed from their land because of tyrants.
Work hard to heal your land and cultivate it, permaculture is the future, share with others. Never give up your land though.
I hope they had that greenhouse looked at by a structural engineer for snow load. It looks home made. I would hate to see someone hurt if it collapsed under the weight of the snow. Freeze-thaw cycles can damage a building as well, over time.
Damn. Check that gargantuan solar system at around 18:10. I'm in high school, and self-sufficiency, homesteading, and permaculture are my dreams. The only thing I'm worried about is initial costs and the pragmatic application of permaculture. And, I'm a perfectionist,.
@AbattoirDream, it's about amounts - on an atmospheric level, not just on individual plants level. Too much carbon dioxide, plankton (sea animals) die and oceans become acid. Too much carbon and other gases trap warm sunlight high in the atmosphere: It melts glaciers and polar ice (thus rising sea levels in many areas), warms streams and lakes (uninhabitable for many fish).
It is illegal to harvest rainwater or snow melt in Colorado for gardening or most farming.
do you keep bees for raw, local honey? is it possible to keep bees at 9000+ feet?
washing up liquid works well mix with water on green , white fly
A ile śniegu jest w waszych górach i do jakiej daty leży ?
Do your soil freeze inside the greenhouse
News letter copy:: "Harvesting takes place on residential property
The owner of the property has a legal entitlement to a well
No water is provided in the area by a water district or a municipality
The roof is the only location collecting rainwater
The collected rainwater is put to uses explicitly permitted in the well permit
Given these restrictions, most urban dwellers will not be permitted to install a rainwater collection system on their rooftop in Colorado any time soon."
Actually odin422, it's a little more complicated then the surface tempeture of the sun. The tempture of the sun varies, with some regions at varying in differences of 50,000 degress.
What is more important if you understand how the planet maintains tempeture is that the ice reflects back exess heat. More ice, more heat reflect, less ice more heat absorbed.
Don't think of it as just one factor the temp of the sun, think more like an orchestra, many factors to contribute to Global climate.
I wish I could have gone to a loving environment when I left home but I was too busy learning how to kill people. Ugh! I hated the army!
That farm would be an awesome vacation spot. I can't stand normal vacations but spending a week there working on the place would be a lot of fun. When I'm working with my hands, I'm almost always happy.
Grow mushrooms underground. That is independent from seasons.
why live in such a cold place?
I am coming across this rather late...have you looked into www.earthships.org with self sustaining homes that produce their own food , catch all the water on the roof and so on . ??
I like what they're doing at Earthships. I thought of touring their place if we traveled to the southwest.
@@peakmoment Absolutely ! It is on my list of places to spend at least a week and really get the jist of it ! There is just so much there everyone can use ! I am also loving Geoff Lawton who teaches Permaculture ! It pains me that so much information was covered up by companies who sold pesticides and chemical fertilizers ! I just see my Grandfather and I working so hard in the soil to raise food ...the years of struggle were unnecessary ! Chicken Tractors ! Food Forests ! Earthships ! No power bills ever ! We missed out ! At least we get to see someone else benefit from it ! Thank God for that ! Just a quick PS ...there are several already on the ground being lived in here in Canada. Taos New Mexico area is not that far from where you are though... Also ..there is a company that is making pre-cast Hemp-Crete blocks here in BC. They have a very high R rating, will not burn , have the ability to absorb carbon from the air , and require very minimal maintenance ,if any . Lots of good things to choose from ,Eh ?
Don't worry about it. :)
hahaha well i think the SUN might have something to do with temperature......ha.
Thanks so much, sho gro. We invite you to stay in touch -- we're planning to travel slowly and tape programs around the US & Canada, and are looking for people and projects to tape, places to safely park our mobile studio/RV, locals who can direct us to local foods... You can subscribe to our news at peakmoment-dot-tv on the right side. ~Janaia
Check out Seff Holzer, a permaculture farmer high in the Austrian Alps if you want to be inspired by someone who has pushed the limits of agriculture during his lifetime in a challenging environment. Link Farming With Nature - Permaculture with Sepp Holzer Sustainable, beautiful, and inspiring.
Sepp
Well at the very least the authors of the emails need to publicy defend themselves. Did they intentioanl decieve?
Lets' get clarity in this matter.
the earths flat...builders levels prove it by the law that makes them work.
Your head is flat...your lack of a brain proves it.
you should plant cherry tree
A state were the rain that falls on your land you can not use it by law.
PLEASE TELL THIS TO OBAMA. WE MUST TEACH PEOPLE IN AFGANISTAN ABOUT THIS
your beard looks more like 35 yrs old..I'm confused LOL That said...always start small and work your way out. No one starts with it all in place
Snow and global warming in the same conversation... have you herd of the grand solar minimum?
Ew, That woman always picks people's plants and fruits'n stuff and sticks it in her mouth, without asking permission or if it's even ok to eat. What if the next thing the farmer was going to say was: "...and we just fertilized the plants with fresh urine/chickenpoop/ some other gross stuff, this morning..." or "...don't eat it though, it's poisonous if it's not cooked..."
i hate it when people who claim to like and know about plants complain about carbon emmisions.. its the most backward logic possible.. carbon dioxide is what plants breathe.... wha..?
global warming my ass. come on, do we realy need this in 2009. wakey wakey?
ok boomers
Much love and respect but for someone thats deeply into cultivating their own food.... why is she so large?
unwatchable
rising temperature??? quit spreading lies