The Romany Rest

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Permaculture at the Romany Rest

 

**We run 'Permaculture Basics' Seminars and 'Introduction to Permaculture' Workshops!!**

 

Back in Wales we got really involved in "Forest Gardening" and developed a small forest

garden on a hillside 700' above sea level.  On arrival in Canada, we immediately set about

creating a new forest garden and started to learn a lot about Permaculture.  We'd heard the

word before, but we realised that it pretty much summed up what we were doing (albeit in a

rather haphazard way).  We needed to integrate all our activities into a system, and learning more about permaculture helped us to do just that.










 

With almost 3 years of development on the site and Sandra having also successfully completed a Permaculture Design Certificate, we've decided to become a Permaculture Demonstration Site and to offer introductory courses.   This doesn't mean that everything in our overall permaculture design is complete, but we are a work in progress willing to share what we've experienced so far. 

 

 

Fabulous Permaculture

Diary & Calendar 2010

Details! 
  
 

 

What is Permaculture? 

 

There are so many definitions of the word permaculture.  The main thing is that it came from the words "permanent" and "agriculture" although nowadays it is often thought of as "permanent culture".   The culture part is what tells us that permaculture isn't just about gardening, it also covers self-reliance, finance and community amongst other things.

 

In fact, it is an integrated system based on careful observation of natural systems which ensures that the following ethics are met:

 

  • Care of the Earth
  • Care of People
  • Create a Surplus and put that back into the first two (also known as Fair Share)

 

 

A surplus might well be a surplus of vegetables from the garden, but it can also be a surplus of time, money or expertise.  Here at the Romany Rest we sometimes have a surplus of vegetables, but mainly we have our experiences and we try to share them freely in the hopes that we can help others get started into permaculture and sustainable living. 

 

On our 5+ acre plot on beautiful Prince Edward Island Canada and we are on a mission to shrink the lawn!  Our main growing areas are a vegetable plot, a mandala garden and a forest garden area.  Each year, the growing areas get bigger and the lawn gets smaller! 

 

All the elements of our system are interconnected and support many functions.  The areas of the site are arranged in zones.  We have mapped out the site, and from this can see how progress is being made to fulfil our overall design.

 

 

HOW THE DESIGN DEVELOPED

 
This is how the site looked in 2006 when we arrived.  This plan was created by Douglas Barnes who plotted out the contour lines.

This shows progress in early Autumn 2008.  Much has been added, including the Mandala Garden, Forest Garden, Solar hot water, Solar Pool Heating, Wild meadow, Outdoor furnace and animals.

This was a design I created in the Fall of 2008, showing what the overall objectives are.  There's no specific timescale, but we have already completed most of the swales, the pond and some of the wind power! 

 

The tree planting scheme is scheduled for June 2009 as part of the Province of PEI Forest regeneration scheme.

 

Some of the things we do:

Mandala Garden, Forest Garden, tree & hedgerow planting schemes, lawn reduction.  Growing areas are organic, small-scale, intensive and highly productive leaving some land free to grow wild.  

Xeric landscaping and mulching virtually removes the need for watering, so we we only water the polytunnel and the vegetables areas in very dry spells.

At the moment we have solar hot water, solar pool heating and a small amount of wind power generated from 26 micro turbines.  The house has also been retrofitted for passive solar and energy efficiency.

To save time, sheep are used for grazing to reduce mowing, hens and ducks help with pest control and fertilising, mulching reduces hours of weeding & watering and a soaker hose on a timer reduces time for watering and saves on water.  

To conserve energy, we use as few mechanical tools as possible.  We both have push mowers, but sometimes have to use a motorised one if things start to get on top of us.  

We encourage diversity of species by using companion planting and guilds, adding animals and leaving wild areas to attract wild animals, birds & pollinators.

To save on materials, everything is recycled or re-used wherever possible. We try to reduce our waste because if it leaves our property in the waste collection cart then we have lost part of our resources.

Permanent Plantings, Perennializing annuals and seed saving. Composting, mulching, using fungi and dynamic accumulators keeps the soil healthy and productive.