INTRO TO PERMACULTURE

JUSTIN RHODES
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 3

WHAT PERMACULTURE CAN DO FOR YOU

CHAPTER 2 5

HOW TO CONNECT THE THINGS OF YOUR FARM FOR 100% SUSTAINABILITY

CHAPTER 3 9

3 MUST HAVE DESIGN TECHNIQUES TO MAXIMIZE YOUR HOMESTEAD

CHAPTER 4 12

HAVING PLANTS AND ANIMALS DO THE WORK OF THE FARM

CHAPTER 5 14

KNOWING OUR GOAL MEANS KNOWING WHERE TO START

CHAPTER 6 18

BOMB PROOFING YOUR FOOD GROWING SYSTEMS WITH DIVERSITY

CHAPTER 7 21

GARDENING TECHNIQUES TO GROW MORE WITH LESS SPACE

CHAPTER 8 23

THE INSTANT (BULLET PROOF) GARDEN

CHAPTER 9 25

THE CHICKEN CROP GARDEN SYSTEM

CHAPTER 10 26

CHICKEN FORAGE SYSTEMS

Chapter 1: What Permaculture Can Do For You
____________________________________________________________
Intro to Permaculture Lesson 1

What is Permaculture

A design style that works with nature to produce more abundance with less effort.

What Permaculture Did For me

● Getting Lyme slowed me down and caused me to quit market farming and
discover permaculture.

● I found Geoff Lawton and his amazing farm Tour ​“Geoff Lawton’s PRI Zaytuna Farm
Tour”.

● Ultimately permaculture taught me to make connections between things (elements).

What this Introduction to Permaculture Series will do for you.

● Learn how to layout a homestead to max output and minimize input.

● Discover all that chickens can do for you and how to apply it.
● Learn how to set up a no weed bullet proof garden in a day (even if you don’t have
chickens).
● Find out how to get started with your first fruit trees
● Explore various small animal production systems (like rabbits and ducks) to improve
your quality of life

Back to this lesson.

The ultimate goal of permaculture is to have ecological and economical viable systems that
meet their own needs (no exterior inputs)

Classic Examples - Fruit trees

- Forage system for chicken and other livestock
- Grazing livestock pasture systems

1st thing to do in reaching this goal is lower energy consumption.

Ideas for lowering energy consumption.
- wood stove
- rocket mass heater (Paul Wheaton’s)
- Eating whole foods
- Soaking feed
- Tiller Chickens
- Mobile coops
- Staying at home

Permaculture wants to turn problems into solutions.

Selah, ​“the core of the problem is the seed of the solution”​.

Classic Problems -

Weeds, manure, too little pasture, too much shade, too hot/dry, bad health, spouse isn’t on
board etc…

Quick win -

Think of your problem. Now, force yourself to think of something positive that has come out of it
or that could come out of it. I did this with Lyme disease.

Turning farm problems into solutions…

● Weeds. Eat them. Feed them. Slash them and cover them for worm food.
● Manure. Chicken dodo everywhere. Drive that to where you want it. Collect it for
compost.
● Not enough pasture, too much forest. Get pigs or goats.
● Bad personal health, shift your focus and “nitchify”.
● Too wet, build a pond (abc acres)
● Spouse isn’t on board, forced to go small (and be good at it).

Permaculture Ethics

People Care, Earth Care, distribution of surplus.

People Care - the Golden Rule . Spouse on board exercise.

Earth Care - When caring for the earth you care for people.
Contributing Surplus ultimate goal to export (education, selling goods, giving goods etc… )

Long term consequence thinking -​ How will my decision affect everything down the road.
Chapter 2: How to Make Connections of the things of your homestead
for 100% Sustainability
____________________________________________________________
Intro to Permaculture Lesson 2

Reminder

Remember from the 1st video that the goal of permaculture is to have an ecological and
economical sound system that takes care of it’s own needs.

In this video we’re going to talk about how to look at the things (aka elements) of your
homestead (or planned homestead) so that they can meet the needs of each other, without
having an outside input.

From the book, Intro to Permaculture by Bill Mollison...

“The core of permaculture is design. Design is the connection between things. It’s the very
opposite of what we’re taught in school. Education takes everything and pulls it apart and
makes no connections at all. Permaculture makes the connection, because as soon as you’ve
got the connection you can feed the chicken from the tree.”

To make a great homestead design that may include a house, a pond, chickens, some gardens,
privacy bearers to be efficient then, ​“they must be put in the right place.”

That’s what this lesson is about. I’ll teach you how to make the connections between the
elements of your place.

Examples of good placement

● Houses and livestock are set below water sources so water can be gravity fed.
(Remember my overflow waterer for the chickens).
● Privacy barriers are placed to give privacy without blocking the winter sun
● The garden is placed between the house and the chickens so garden waste can be
collected on the way to chickens, including weeds, bugs, old or extra produce. In the
same way the chicken manure could be distributed from the chickens to the garden.
● I’ve developed the chicken garden miracle where I place chickens in the garden to
prepare it, move them out, plant and bring them back to clean it up and start again.

The idea here is to meet the needs of one element by the yields of another.
Typical elements include the house, the garden(s) and chicken(s) or smoother small animal like
rabbits.

Move these about on paper until you see the best possible situation.

Remember, it’s much easier to make a mistake on paper than in real life.

HERE are my element print outs, if you like​. Thank you Ben C. ;)

Every element should be placed according to its function.

Think about all the different possible functions of a plant…

● windbreak - north side of my house or north side of the chickens

● privacy - between me and my neighbors
● trellis - near the house for food or out in a sacred place
● fire control - where we’d see fire coming from
● mulch - in our gardens or orchards where we need mulch
● food - near the house
● animal forage - where the animals are
● fuel - out away, but still accessible.
● erosion control - where erosion is likely to occur.
● wildlife habitat - way out
● climate buffer - shade trees
● soil conditioner - improves the soil

INVALUABLE Permaculture Plant and Tree Resource

You’ll need to do a Functional Analysis of each of your elements.

Let’s do one on chickens as an example to show you how.

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF A CHICKEN

1st - Ask yourself what’s the basic need of the chicken? Observe, research, be mentored.

For Chickens, my article, ​“7 Essentials for Keeping Your Flock Alive and Happy.”

2nd - Write out those needs.

- shelter
- grit
 - dust
- water
- air
- food
- other chickens

3rd - Write out what the chicken gives

- eggs
- meat
- feathers
- manure
- methane
- scratching
- foraging
- flying
- fighting

4th - Make the connections. If we’ve done this same thing for other elements like the house or
garden we realize that the house needs food and the garden needs fertilizing.

BAM! There’s just one connection, so trying to place those so they compliment each other.

Let’s do one more element. The Garden.

Needs:
Fertilizer
Mulch
Water

Gives:
leaves
seeds
vegetables

Notice that chickens can give most of what the garden needs.

● Manure for fertilizer

● Help spreading mulch
● If chickens water is nearby, water can be given to the garden when cleaning out their
water
See that the chicken can use most of what the garden gives

● Leaves for bedding

● Seeds and vegetables for eating

Conclusion

Quick Win​ - Print out my elements, draw them or cut out some from a magazine and begin to
play around with your homestead to see how things might work together.

Now that you’ve learned to make the connection you have a very powerful tool to improve your
homestead.

It may not feel like your getting anything done when you sit down to design, but I assure you it’s
much easier to make a mistake on paper than in real life.

Best of luck.

In the next video we’ll talk more about proper placement and I’ll teach you how to identify and
use the natural resources of you land (winds, sun, fire danger areas, and slopes) to your
advantage.
Chapter 3: Three MUST have Design Techniques for an Energy
Efficient Homestead
____________________________________________________________
Intro to Permaculture Lesson 3

In this lesson I’m gonna teach you THREE critical design stunts that will make your homestead
as energy efficient as possible.

Between this lesson and the last one you should have the basis for laying out an extremely
effective farm.

In the last video we talked about placing the elements of your homestead according to what
they can do.

For example,​ we concluded that chickens and gardens could benefit each other so we’d want
to place those items near each other (if not on top of each other).

Today, we’re gonna look how we can further plan by thinking in ZONES and considering
Sectors and Slope.

1) ZONE PLANNING

From the book, ​“Intro to Permaculture” ​(of course that’s an affiliate link. Why not? :)

“Zone planning means placing elements according to how much we use them or how often we
need to service them. Areas that must be visited every day… are located nearby, while places
visited less frequently… are located further away.”​ - ​Bill Mollison

For example, the kitchen garden, wood pile and chickens are going to be visited frequently so
they should be placed nearby. Orchards, ponds and woodlots will be placed further away.

THERE ARE SIX ZONES all together, if you count your house as zone zero.

The lower zones are closer to the house, while the higher zones are further away.

Here’s how to DECIDE a zone for your elements:

Calculate the number of times you need to visit an element.

a) For example, the chicken run…
i) - 2 times a day for daily chores (730)
ii) - Weekly projects (50)
iii) - Harvests (2)
 iv) TOTAL - 782

Verses an Oak Tree - twice a year (once for acorns, another for leaves)
Obviously the more visits something needs the closer it should be.

Don’t plant an Oak tree in the yard, and put your chickens as close as socially possibly.

Many people are wondering where to start with their homestead. Or, you’re wondering how to
prioritize your farm.

Here’s how…

Bill Mollison’s golden rule,​ “develop the nearest area first, get it under control, then
expand.”

So start right outside your door with a kitchen garden, then chickens, then grazing livestock.

All too often we jump to the expanse of our farm.

In 2016 I grew 75% of my own food in 100 days on less than ½ an acre.

ZONE BREAKDOWN

Zone 0 -​ the house

Zone 1 -​ most controlled and intensely used area. Kitchen gardens, workshops, small animals,
greenhouse, compost, chickens, clothesline etc…

Zone 2 -​ still intensely maintained but not quite as much. Shrubs, small fruit, maintained
orchards, chickens, small pastures for livestock

Zone 3 -​ unprooned or unmulched orchards, larger pastures for livestock, crop gardens,

Zone 4 -​ Semi managed, semi wild zone. Gathering, timber and firewood, hunting

Zone 5 -​ unmanaged wild systems

In reality zones aren’t in a perfect circular zone extending from the house.

2 ) SECTOR PLANNING

Dealing with wild energies: sun, wind, rain, wildfire and water flow.
Mapping out Sectors could be a basis for the rest of the design or it may alter the design you
already have.

Observe and research to see which energies you’re working with

Possible Sectors:

- Fire Danger Sector

- Cold or Damaging Winds
- Hot, salty or dusty winds
- Screening of unwanted views
- Winter and summer sun angles
- Reflection from ponds
- Flood prone areas

Place elements to block unwanted sectors and to take advantage of the helpful ones.

Shrubs to block unwanted views and placing elements in need of much light in the sun.

SLOPE PLANNING

Think about how you can use slope to your advantage…

- Ponds for irrigation above where needed

- Water tanks above where needed
- Resources (mulch, compost, wood etc…) are more easily carried down than up.

REVIEW

Checklist for energy efficient homestead design:

1) Prioritize the areas closest to home

2) Place each element (plant, animal, structure) so that it serves two or more purposes
(refer to last lesson).
3) Place elements according to their intensity (more frequent visits, closer to home)
4) Factor in natural energies and adjust your plan as necessary
5) Consider slope and double check to see if it might work to your advantage
Chapter 4: Having Plants and Animals do the Work of the Farm
____________________________________________________________
Intro To Permaculture Lesson 4

In permaculture we use plants and animals whenever possible to do the work of the farm.

Think what problem do I have and how could I use a plant and/or animal to solve my problem.

What kind of work can Plants and Animals do?

● Fuel (Ex. Firewood, Manure gas)

● Fertilizer (Ex. Animals on Growing areas)
● Tillage (Example of Chickens and Pigs)
● Insects (Ex. Birdhouses)
● Weed Control (Ex of Ducks in the garden)
● Nutrient recycle (Ex of food scraps to chickens)
● Habitat enhancement (Ex of the Oak tree with swing)
● Soil Aeration (Ex worms)
● Mowing (Ex my own need for the houses and our solutions)
● Privacy (Fences vs Trees and Bushes)
● etc..

Remember establishing these systems is a long term investment. For Example my mowing
sheep are purchased along with equipment, then they fertilize and build soil, and stock my
freezer year after year.

What could we use instead of fertilizer? Cover crops, animals or other plants/trees

● Duck, Pig or chicken Manures are nutrients for plants that feed fish
● Comfrey for a compost, or a fermented tea
● Deep rooted trees bring up nutrients and the leaves can be used as mulch and made
available.
● Cover crops to add nutrients and suppress weeds.
● Siberian pea shrub not just for untruents but windbreak, berries and forage for livestock

Instead of mowing we could use Cows, Sheep, Geese or Ducks (Ex DeNelle’s yard)

Instead of machine tillers we could use pigs, chickens and/or goats {Andy’s example}

Instead of brush hogs we could use goats {Cliff’s example}

ENERGY CYCLING:

With permaculture systems we want to STOP the flow of nutrients and energy of site and turn
them into cycles.

Think trash into treasure.

Look into what’s leaving your property and think about how to retain it or turn it into energy.

Examples:

● Kitchen wastes into eggs

● Apples into milk
● Cardboard into weed suppressant
● Plastic containers into egg containers or storage.

Our job is to using incoming energies as much as possible:

● Sun into power or drying

● Water into irrigation and/or power.
● Wind into power, clothes drying
● Manure into gas and/or fertilizer

REMBER:​ Ask what are the jobs I need to do on the farm, and how could I get an animal or
plant to do that work. Have fun.

THE Key to using Biological resources is TIMING:

● Giving Chickens enough time to till

● Running Sheep through when mowing is needed and having a place for them otherwise
● Cows hitting the pasture at the right grass heights

RESOURCES:

The List of Useful Permaculture Plants in the book, ​“Intro to Permaculture”​ Appendix A

Permaculture Plants online

Edible Food Forest Series

Chapter 5: Knowing Our Goal Means Knowing Where to Start
____________________________________________________________
Intro to Permaculture Lesson 5

In order to know where to start, we need to know where we want to be.

Ultimately, in permaculture we want systems that (nearly) take care of themselves.

Setting up permaculture systems may take more resources (time, energy, and money) than it’s
conventional counterpart, but in the long run require less and less resources.

Classic Example: ​Permaculture would have us mulch a garden. If we did that with a weed
barrier and mulch, it takes more time than just tilling the earth. However, it’s much less weeding
throughout the season and the organic matter added to the soil increased the need for inputs in
the soil.

So, we’re aiming for systems that take less and less and give more over time. These tend to be
perennial systems.

Two concepts to keep in mind as we grow:

Concept #1 - Start small.

Start right outside your doorstep.

Bill Mollison says, ​“If you want to know how to control your site, start at your doorstep.”

If you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start OR you can’t keep up with all your doing
on the farm, remember your doorstep.

Spreading out too quickly can be a waste of energy.

If our goal is to grow most of our own food, we don’t really need that much land to do it.

I grew 75% of my own food in 100 days, working less than ten hours a week on less than 1/2 an
acre.

Think about what could be done on my 1/2 acre yard.

Conventionally:

Mowed lawn
Decorative tree/bushes

My Current yard/house production:

● 4 garden areas (800-1700 sq/ft)

● Cow Barn w/ milking area
● Seasonal Meat chickens
● 1 coop in the basement (Guineas)
● Fruit Trees
● Raspberry Patch
● Woodlot
● Grazing
● Soldier fly production
● Red wriggler worm production

Future:

● 100’s of fruit trees/bushes

● Bees
● 4-6 more garden areas
● Greenhouse
● Water catchment
● Solar Power
● Rabbits
● Grasshopper/Cricket production (chicken feed)

Going small means using hand tools as opposed to machines:

Scythe
Reel Mower
Weed Cutters
Pitch Forks
Wheelbarrows
Pruning Shears
Mini-vans
Larger permaculture sites may use:

● Multi-purpose tractors
● mowers
● string trimmer
● Chainsaws

Remember:​ We want to “fully develop the nucleus” before moving on. Think 10 trees, instead of
100. Think about how much more successful you’ll be with those 10 (because you can care for
them) as opposed to those 100).

Some specific Ideas for places to start:

● Indoor or Deck Planting Pot

● Herb garden right outside your door
● 3-4 chickens in a chicken tractor in the yard
● Rabbit Hutch
● Small garden in the front yard
● Three tree orchard
● 3-4 Ducks to help mow and weed the garden

Concept #2 to keep in mind as we grow. STACKING

If you look to the natural forest (one of our best teachers) you’ll notice several layers. Some of
the basics are the bigger trees forming the canopy, then there are trees under than and on the
ground, shrubs.

Here are Four BASIC layers to cover most of what we’ll be interested in this level:

1. Canopy or Tallest tree layer (Apple, Pear, Cherry, Locust, Hazelnuts, Oaks, etc..
2. Sub Canopy or large shrub layer (Smaller fruit trees, Elderberry, Mulberry etc..)
3. Shrub Layer ( Blueberries, Goji berries, Pea Shrubs, etc..)
4. Herbaceous Layer (Asparagus, Comfrey, Ginseng, herbs and annual veggies)

For an exhaustive list of Layers and species inside each layer, check out ​the Permaculture Plant
Index.

So, as we expand from a small garden and a few chickens into shrubs and trees, let’s think like
the forest and do this in layers.

For example, we wouldn’t just plant an apple tree. We’d plant an apple tree, a mulberry, some
blueberries surrounded by Asparagus and comfort or our annual garden beds.
Paul Gautchi of the Back to Eden Garden Method is a perfect example of intermingling fruit
trees with vegetable growing.

Concept #3 to keep in mind as we grow. SUCCESSION

Think of you a typical yard (maybe your yard)

Lawn, and some decorative trees.

We’ll see it through three stages:

1) Establishment - Kevin Pitts. This is the stage of mostly annuals and small livestock. You
have begun to grow your trees in a nursery or protected in the field. You may have
gentle animals like ducks or geese graze throughout or you contain your chickens.

2) Semi-hardy stage - Darci has small trees that are semi hard and could introduce more
intrusive livestock like chickens

3) Evolved System - Established and well sized trees that create their own mulch, need no
support and could handle bigger livestock grazing like cows and chickens.

To summarize.

We’re gonna start small right outside our door with a a small garden or chicken tractor.

Once we get that establish we’ll expand into trees, but we’ll plant with layers like the forest.

We’ll protect this system early on until a more mature state where it can handle bigger livestock.

NOTE: Basis of this teaching from Bill Mollison’s ​Intro to Permaculture (second edition).
Chapter 6: Bomb Proofing Your Food Growing Systems with Diversity
____________________________________________________________
Intro To Permaculture Lesson #6

Permaculture is taking us away from the traditional, “tidy” garden.

Bill Mollison says in his book Intro To Permaculture, ​“To the Observer, this may seem like a very
unordered and untidy system; hower, we should not confuse order and tidiness. Tidiness
separates species and creates work (and may also invite pests), whereas order integrates,
reducing work and discouraging insect attack.”

Let’s take Alex for example. We visited Alex in Florida while on the Great American Farm Tour.

Now, let’s look at all the diversity Alex has:

- Edible plants that also attract beneficial insects (bees).

- In the very front of his yard, root crops.

- A little further back a varied mix of greens and other goodies.

- What’s really cool, is right there in the middle of it, a MIX of bananas!

- And, not just bananas, but a banana tree, where the bananas are arranged to encase a
compost pile!

- The backyard is full of edible shrubs and trees.

- On top of that, chickens

A conventional system might produce a larger amount at certain times, a diverse permaculture
system will produce more throughout the entire year.

Diversity makes a family more self reliant. There’s more variety and if one crop is destroyed,
there’s many to fall back on.

When striving to diverse our species, we also want to be diverse in our harvest times.

Here are some ideas for dispense yields:

 - Plan early, mid and late season varieties. Brassica’s now, summer crops, fall/winter
harvest crops.
- Get long yielding species. For example, our everbearing strawberries.
- Selecting multi-use species where leaf, fruit, seed and root are all productive yield. For
example, the dandelion is all edible.
- Self storing tubers that can be dug on demand after their done growing (roots and
tubers)
- Using preservation techniques

A couple of other people we visited on the tour stood with some examples of diversity:

Shay Elliott with her garden and flowers. Not only was it beautiful the flowers were attracting
beneficial insects.

Paul Gautchi planting veggies among apple trees. The veggies serving as weed suppressant
and the trees providing protection from elements.

GUILDS - A no brainer way to diversify when planting trees.

Just like companion planting in a garden where certain vegetable compliment each other, it’s
the same with planting trees and shrubs.

Benefits of Guilds:

- Reduce root competition. For example, planting herbal ground covers around trees (that
aren’t as competitive as grasses).
- Provideo Physical shelter from sun, frost, wind. A great example is Pete Kanaris Oak
canopy over his bananas.
- Provide nutrients. Nitrogen fixing, mulch and organic matter.
- Assisting in pest control by attracting insect predators

Think in at least Four layers:

Canopy - Primary, tallest tree/shrub

Sub canopy - Secondary, shorter tree/shrub
Shrub Layer - Shrubs smaller than the canopy layers
Herbaceous Layer - Herbal/Vegetation layer

A couple of examples of Guilds:

- Toby Hemingway in Gaia’s garden: Walnuts (Canopy), hackberries (Sub Canopy),

currants (shrub), and peppers and tomatoes (herbaceous)
 - I just planted Junipers as the primary plant as a privacy barrier, making Juniper my
“canopy” layer. I’ll do Siberian Pea Shrubs or Blueberries as the shrub layer and for the
herbaceous layer comfrey and/or Rhubarb.

Creating a Tree Guild for Yourself:

1. Figure out what you want to plant. Let’s say you want to plant an Apple Tree. This will be
our Canopy Layer.

2. Now, research to identify the other layers that will benefit you and the Apple Tree. I
highly suggest:
a. The online Permaculture Plant Index
b. The Beneficial Plant Appendix in Gaia’s Garden
c. The beneficial plant index in Intro to Permaculture
d. The Permaculture Research Institute’s online guide to planting Guilds

3. If you’re using the online Permaculture Plant Index you’ll see our Apple is in the Sub
Canopy Layer, so let’s identify some potential shrubs (Blueberry, Gooseberry, Pea
Shrub etc..)

4. Now, let’s grab some from the herbaceous layer (Asparagus, annual veggies, Comfrey,
rhubarb, etc..)

5. Plant your primary species (Apple), then plant your shrubs in the future drip line of that
tree. Say the tree will eventually be 15’ wide, then you want to plant your blueberries 7.5
feet away. You may plant your herbaceous layer throughout removing them as the trees
and shrubs grow and/or plant your permanent herbs at the drip lines of the higher layers.

Just remember. Try to have fun with it. Don’t sweat about making it perfect. Just try. Next time
you want to plant a Fruit tree, just pick out a shrub and an herb to go with it, then go from there.
Failure is your best teacher. It’s important that you just get up and do something (even if it’s
wrong).
Chapter 7: Gardening Techniques to Grow More With Less Space
____________________________________________________________
Intro to Permaculture Lesson 7

In this lesson we’re going to lay out your garden on paper and talk about many different garden
options.

We’ll be in ZONE 1 for this lesson (closest to the house) with annual gardens, some perennial
strategies and shrubs.

REMEMBER from the last lesson…

1) EVERYTHING should be considered in relation to each other.

2) If you don’t know where to start, start right outside your door!

Make a layout​ on paper of your house and yard as is in (roads, sidewalks, garden, hedges
etc…) Don’t be a Picasso here, just get something on paper.

Now, consider some of your growing options…

1) Herb Spiral - Circular elevated design to grow herbs. Because of the circular design you
can put sun loving herbs on the sunny side, and shade loving herbs on the back side. A
single sprinkler could be mounted on top. The classic permaculture herb spiral should be
about one yard high and one and a half yard wide.

2) Keyhole Beds - A garden shaped in a circle kind of like a horseshoe minimizes path and
is more beautiful than liner rows.

3) According to Gaia’s Garden… Assume you have a 4X15’ raised bed garden and assume
you have a 18” path on one side. That’s 22 square feet of path. If you took that same
bed and bent it into a U-shape and just had one path to the center of the circle you’ll only
have 6 square feet of path!
i) To build a keyhole bed, sheet mulch a 8-10’ area. Plan on a planting area
3-5’ wide. The path into the keyhole can be 12-18” wide and the center
circular path can be 18-24” circumference (enough to turn around in).
ii) Mark your area with decorative rocks (optional)
iii) Plant frequently harvested veggies in the inner circle (herbs, greens etc..)
behind those plant things that get picked every other day or so (peppers,
peas, beans etc... ) and on the outer edge, one time harvests like
cabbage and potatoes.
4) Vertical Pallet gardens are planted in the slots of a pallet vertically mounted. I grew one in
2016 with great success. ​Here’s a link to an instructional online​.
5) Container gardens - edible plants inside of a container in window sills or on decks. ​Island
Homesteader​ was growing potatoes in containers!

6) Growing without Soil - ECHO farm showcased a variety of ways to grow without ground.
7) Narrow Bed Plants (30” or so) if planting in rows for things harvested more frequently
(tomatoes, zucchini etc…) Broad Bed Planting ( 42” or so) for things harvested once: Onions,
Potatoes etc…

8) Barrier Hedges - Hedges strategically placed around your yard or garden. ABC acres was a
perfect example. My kitchen garden will also receive weed barrier hedges like comfrey, Canna
Lily (Bill also suggests Lemon Grass and Geraniums). Further out, wind, cold, and intruder
hedges like blueberries and pea shrubs.

9) Trellises - Growing vines on trellises

b) Hearts’ vine arbor
c) Tipi’s are fun
d) Fruit trees as hedges (petting zoo)

10 Nursery - Greenhouse, shadehouse and/or otherwise “babied plants in a high traffic area.
e) What’s needed for a greenhouse
i) Very close to the house
ii) Simple Structure (my A frame is classic example of that)
iii) Easy water source
iv) Mouse proof elevation “tables”
v) Ventilation
vi) Shadehouse option

Now, add any of these gardening techniques into your original drawing. Label each one with
priority. THEN, get up and get outside your door ;)

Referenced BOOKS:

Intro To Permaculture
Permaculture Plant Index
Gaia’s Garden
Chapter 8: The Instant (Bullet Proof) Garden
____________________________________________________________
Intro to Permaculture Lesson 8

In this lesson, I’m gonna show you how to build a classic permaculture garden (INSTANTLY).

So, if you’re like most of us, you neglected to sheet mulch a garden in the fall, or maybe you
don’t have chickens to prep your garden. That’s where the Instant, bullet proof, permaculture
garden comes in.

Basically, I’m gonna teach you how to sheet mulch a garden, Bill Mollison style. From the book,
Intro to Permaculture​.

1st, know where to start. Can you guess? Yep, right outside your door. And, if this is your first
time it’s best to do this next to an area that is already weed free (like a walkway). Also, try to
keep the area less than 12 square feet.

As an example, we’re gonna sheet mulch my herb garden situated between my house and
sidewalk.

8 Steps to an instant, bullet proof, garden

Step 1) ​Optional. Get a soil test with amendment recommendations. You can usually get these
for free through your state’s extension office. If not, there are private companies. ​Here’s an
article​ on how to do soil tests and where to send them. I’ve done this in the past and have a
general idea of what I need. At the very basic level, you’ll find out what your soil PH is. ​Most
plants prefer 6.2-6.8. If you’re like me, you’ll fall short and need to add Lime to raise what you
call the alkalinity. If you’re above, you’ll add sulfur to lower the PH. ​More, great info on treating
the soil, here.

Step 2)​ Broadfork. I’ve got ​this one​ from Johnny Seeds. You get the benefit of aeration (attracts
worms, water can penetrate better and oxygen is allowed further in).

Step 3)​ Now is the time to plant any shrubs or trees you want in your garden.

Step 4) ​Sprinkle the area with soil amendments. In my case, I’ll add Lime and gypsum. Then,
sprinkle food scraps to feed the worms and finish it off with chicken manure (and if you don’t
have that, blood meal). The food feeds the worms and the manure and/or blood offers a
nitrogen source that will balance the carbon to come in the next steps.

Step 5) ​Put down 2.5-3” of compost. If you don’t have that, buy some. The production level
compost will add will more than pay for itself.
Step 6)​ Put down a biodegradable weed barrier (I like cardboard, some folks use newspaper),
then soak the cardboard or weed barrier to begin the breaking down process.

Step 7) ​Now add a dry carbonaceous mulch 4-6” deep. Dry leaves or wood chips are my
recommendations here. I’ll use wood chips.

Step 8)​ JUST PLANT. Know your plant spacing and mark out where you need to plant. We
usually, string a line across an area and measure between plants as we go. Now, dig through
where you need to set your plant, pierce the cardboard and plant into the soil below. You’ll put
the mulch back as the plant grows. Water one more time. Come back at harvest time ;)

NOTE:

- Root crops generally don’t do well the first year as the soil is likely compacted. If you
want to speed up the softening process plant Daikon radish to help.
- As the mulch ages, you’re area will improve.
- Each year, add more mulch (once or twice a year).
- If weeds pop up, cover with cardboard and mulch.
- If your plants aren’t growing well and/or are turning yellow, pull a bit of mulch away from
the plant and sprinkle with blood meal (you need more nitrogen).
- Water once or twice a week the 1st year to speed up the breaking down process.
Chapter 9: The Chicken Crop Garden System
____________________________________________________________
Intro to Permaculture Lesson 9

About:

Here’s a special system in which chickens can do the large amount of your crop gardening.

Bigger, 1,200 to 1,700 sq. feet plot sizes for crops that don’t need close maintenance.

The chickens prep a large area by fertilizing, tilling and spreading amendments or mulch, move
them out and easily plant your crop (best if you can transplant).

What’s you’ll need:

Electric Poultry Net (164’)

Mobile Energizer
At least 24 chickens
Mobile Coop: ​My DIY ChickShaw​ or ​ChickShaw 2.0​ or ​ChickShaw MiniMe

How to do this:

1. Set up your chickens in the area of your future garden

2. Leave them until it’s well fertilized and tilled (or until you need the space)
3. Add any amendments and have the chickens till it in
4. Add mulch material and have the chickens help spread the mulch (don’t do this if you
need to sheet mulch a lot of weeds)
5. Move the chickens out and plant your garden (preferably transplant)
6. Bring them back after harvest to clean it up for the next planting

What’s it look like:

- Show the stage with Chickens on the garden
- Show the stage just after the chickens left (speak to the mulch and cover crop)
- Show the finished crop stage
Chapter 10: Chicken Forage Systems
____________________________________________________________
Intro to Permaculture Lesson 11

It’s totally possible to use permaculture design with chickens so that chickens can take care of
themselves.

System #1) Mulched Garden Run

This is a system in which the chickens are fenced into a mulched run that opens into various
garden areas.

My System includes:

- Electric Poultry Net and Energizer

- Fence corner supports
- Chicken Coop. (​Here’s my Chicken Tractor Plans​)
- Wood Chips. ​Here’s how to source them​.

Steps to Creating the Mulched Garden Run

1) Deep Mulch a 1200’ to 1500’ square foot area. At least 8” of mulch. Preferably in the fall.
2) Set up your electric poultry net around the entire area
3) Place your mobile chicken tractor inside the garden area and add your chickens
4) As the growing season approaches you can start seeds in a greenhouse
5) Once you’re ready to transplant your seed starts, or you’ve bought starts move the
electric net out to encompass your first row. Now, your chickens aren’t allowed in this
area. We like a generous 2’ pathway, so we open up 72” leaving us a 48” growing bed
and a two foot walkway.
6) NOTE: You’re leaving a chicken run at the sunny side of this operation.
7) As the season progresses, continue to set up more garden beds.
8) Once your first garden bed is spent, arrange your fence to allow your chickens back in
the area to clean it up to continue growing.
9) NOTE: It’s best if you can move the fence in the morning BEFORE you let out your
chickens. After you arrange your fence, let out your chickens.
10) After the growing system is complete, arrange your fence to open up the entire area to
chickens. This is when you renew the mulch (at least 8” to 12” thick).

System #2) Bill Mollison’s Food Forest Mulched Run.

This is the same concept at my system above, however it calls upon more perennials.
See Bill’s book, “Intro To Permaculture” for full details​.

Features of the Food Forest Chicken Run:

There are five areas the chickens will rotate through.

The chickens nesting area and run is deep mulched and never moves. Chickens are allowed in
certain areas at certain times.

Beside the annual garden growth you might plant things like:

- Spiny shrubs to protect the chickens from predators.

- Fruit trees and shrubs
- Seed foods
- Greens
- Other things like food scraps and logs (collecting worms)

Bill Mollison recommends a static run at the end of a ½ acre area featuring 5 areas.

System #3) Mickey’s Food Forest Run

The is sort of like Bill’s model except he doesn’t have multiple pens. He has so little chickens,
he doesn’t have to. Revisiting Mickey’s Chicken Food Forest system.

Here’s Mickey’s Full Video

The Cool thing about Mickey’s system is the chickens are in a static run completely caged off to
predators. I believe there’s an automatic door. They have automatic feed and water. They are
allowed to run freely through the food forest during the day, finding all they could ever imagine
eating.

System #4) Cow Paddie System

I first heard about this system from Joel Salatin. The idea is that you range the chicken behind
the cows, three days behind. That gives the fly larva enough time to develop in the manure
without turning into flies. The chickens scratch the paddies (spreading them) and eat the larva.
The chickens spread the fertilizer, eat the pests and they’ve found free food. YEH!

ABC acres does this system on a farmstead level and ensures the chickens scratch that manure
by putting some feed on top of the cow pies. And, yes you can do this with other animals like
sheep and pigs.

Here’s ABC acres showcasing their cow paddie system.

You can totally free range the chickens behind the cows in this system (no fences necessary)
And, you can do this with a small herd and flock. Just use a mobile coop like ​my ChickShaw​.