https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PTXqK58nPs Like most permaculture people, we have a love of and respect for comfrey here at ABC acres. Comfrey is a plant with many uses, from herbal health to serious soil-building, and as such we view it as a key player in several of the systems we have been designing and developing over the past 3 1/2 years here. We [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcV9JT8y8G4 As we have planted thousands of trees and shrubs over the past few seasons at ABC acres, we are always balancing the costs with the projected returns of what we are planting throughout the property. Planting the proper species of productive woody perennials have some of the best return on investment of any assets you apply your time and [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4gAFAqHwLo As we have previously shown in past blogs and videos, we are trying a lot of various techniques and methods to regenerate the place we call ABC acres. We must try different techniques to move in a new direction from agricultural and resource use practices that degrade and lose topsoil, put chemicals into the soil, air, water, and food [...]
1st Monday Genre: Fiction *** Spring, when it finally came, was a surprise. Spring was the season of renewal, of rebirth, and of release from the consistency of Winter. Spring in Corbin wore many faces. It was the time of warm rains and icy sunlight. It was the time of slow mornings and long afternoons. It was the moment of [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdE6Wx9R8Ho Yesterday, we had a group of 4th graders visit ABC acres on a field trip. They were quickly charmed by Cargo, our outgoing and friendly barn cat, and were captivated by the crater garden, farm animals, and learning how to plant their own pumpkin seed in a repurposed yogurt cup they took home with them. Among the constant stream of [...]
4th Monday Genre: Open Letter ——— Dear Sekuru, Recently, I overheard an old farmer talk about how he learned to grow things. He described, in simple but vivid detail, a scene from his youth. His mother would come through the kitchen where the tomato starts were growing and gently brush her hand through the flatted forests of tomato trees, each [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cyhvGg_7BY In permaculture, we tend to favor perennial food sources more. The efficiency of planting something once, and then enjoying the harvesting of the edible, medicinal, or other usable products makes so much sense to us in terms of work in and harvest out. Especially when that plant is vigorous and productive without much care. The Jerusalem artichoke is a [...]
3rd Monday Genre: Poetry ——— I Speak, Grandfather. Grow me roots that bind. Show me the dirt beneath your fingernails, I’ll trade for dust within my mind. Grow me lasting limbs—tall, sturdy, oaked. To you the land became gossamer thin, To the land’s weight you were yoked. I knew of henpecked fellows. I knew of bucket, sled and fork. Yes, I [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osBTa2wKe80 Our pigs live the good life at ABC acres. Regular rotations to fresh pasture offers a good portion of their diet, and we eagerly look forward to when our fruit, nut, and legume trees and shrubs begin to produce bountiful forage for them and our other livestock on the ranch. For the time being, however, the fact remains that [...]
2nd Monday Genre: Reflection ——— “Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood past…They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring.” —Dogen Another spring is here. Last week was my first day on [...]
