Planting Day Photos

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it's taken so long for me to upload pictures! Here they are at last!!!

I don't have time to detail everything out right now but if anyone has questions about what we did, please feel free to ask. I will fill in information when my schedule eases up a bit.

Here is a link to another project that I'm involved in at the Inter-American Magnet School. We planted a 30 fruit trees for an orchard donated by the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. I worked with the 5th grade class to design a stack-effect orchard. Hopefully we will be able to continue these lessons as the trees grow to create a permaculture orchard just east of Wrigley Field!

I'd love to hear from all of you!!

Planting Time!!!

Hi! I just wanted to post about our upcoming planting event this Saturday 5/31 at 10:30am until we finish!

I'm really excited and will be posting again with pictures of our planting day!!

It's been a while since my last post, but as we are upon growing season I'm sure that I will be posting more frequently!

A while back, Phaedra picked up several dormant rose bushes for the center. They have been planted to create a keyhole garden. It should be a nice spot once the bushes fill in.
Here's a picture shortly after they were planted.


Last Saturday, Vishnu and I went to a farm in McHenry County to pick up 9 straw bales so we could begin the soil preparation. Swami Narayanananda had previous placed the black tarps to try to stifle the crop of perennial weeds that inundate the area. We are using cardboard/newspaper under straw mulching technique. Swami had previously stated that the weeds are very tenacious, so we are doing our best to keep them at bay this growing season.

Here is a picture before we started the mulching.


As of Saturday, the porch was about 95% complete; it seems as if they only needed to complete the railings on the stairs.
Here's a picture before we mulched.


Here is a picture of the vegetable garden area after Vishnu and I finished mulching.


Here is Vishnu mulching the flower garden.


Here is the flower garden mulched.

Earth Hour

Saturday is Earth Hour!

Earth Hour is a global initiative that demonstrates the need that action against global warming. It's simple, on Saturday 3/29/08 at 8pm (in your local time) turn your lights out for an hour.

I hope everyone will participate!! Follow the link above in the title to read more about it!

February meeting

Hello everyone!

I'm finally getting around to writing again and I have a ton to write about.

Just a brief summary of what's happened since I last wrote:

• January 13 - Andrea, Scott and myself met to come up with some design ideas

• January 23 - Bill gave his Introductory seminar at the yoga center

• February 16 - We had a progress meeting at the yoga center

Wow! I have a lot to write!! Here goes...

January 13

The three of us met at my place, we started off with a brief summary of the project. After redefining the elements as follows:

• Full Sun Garden - Primary space to grow vegetables and flowers
• Shade Garden - The area to have shade tolerant plants, including as many edibles as possible. It is understood the amount of edibles may be limited in this area.
• Labyrinth - This was Andrea's idea I believe. Over the past month, I've realized that I have been envisioning it a different way from Andrea, so I've asked Andrea to fill in information about this piece.
• Pond - Thaddeus (Mamut) has written extensively about this aspect.We also decided that we would allow for an area for this component and allow the team to develop the plans firther.
• Front Garden - We didn't do any planning for this area at this meeting.

After revisiting the program, we came up with three schemes: (A) Amoeboid, (B) Angular, and (C) Branchy. From our sketches, I've drawn up my interpretations. What I want you all to realize when you look at the drawings is that I am not used to doing such free form drawings, I do architectural drawings, everything is very regular and linear. If it isn't linear, maybe an arc or something, it's very regulated so that it can be built to my specifications. This I have to say was one of my biggest challenges up until now. I still haven't gotten it quite right, I think the problem is that I may not have the proper software for the task and that I don't have any training. So I'm making it up as I go along. I might end up taking some landscape drawing classes soon. So here goes...
Plan A

This plan is the amoeboid plan, the theme is interconnectivity. The connection of the main cultivating spaces is important to make the garden user-friendly and easy to collect veggies.

Plan B
This plan is the angular plan. Creating a clear concise linear pattern to cultivate the garden.
Plan C
This plan is the branchy plan. The difference between this plan and the amoeboid plan is that there isn't the interconnectivity.


January 23

Bill's talk about permaculture created a lot of enthusiasm for the backyard project. We had a lot more people join our group!

February 16

This meeting was to introduce the new members with the existing members and the project. We have some good news: The porch permit has been issued! So the back porch construction will begin as soon as the ground begins to thaw and will hopefully be done by the end of March!

Throughout the course of the meeting we've come up with some new groups. Here goes:

• Full Sun Garden - Scott and Phaedra
  
• Shade Garden - Lynda and Phaedra
  
• Labyrinth - Andrea
  
• "Butterfly" Garden - Scott and Chandranatha - This is the new name for the Front Garden, Scott has come up with the idea to attract Butterflies and insects to this front area using specific plants.
  
• Pond - Thaddeus, Lynda and Rachel
  
• Solarium - Milton, Erin and Mira - Milton suggested that we use the windows in the front rooms to start seeds. Milton, maybe you could embellish upon this as the ideas develop.
• Compost - Erin, Rahda, Mira, and Jody - This seems to be a big issue at the yoga center, with the new members who live at the yoga center this is becoming more of an issue. We will be meeting on Thursday after Rahda's morning class, around noon to discuss this further.
• Installation/Maintenance - This group was created for those who don't necessarily want to get involved in one specific area but in all areas. We are all considered members of this group.

Whew, I'm done! Please feel free to make any comments or additions if I've left anything out.

Design Meeting

We are having our first design meeting this Sunday! Unfortunately only three of us (Andrea, Scott and myself) are able to make it. :( Despite this, I am looking forward to it!!

The Yoga Pond

The Yoga Center Pond.

This Pond will be built to contain goldfish and some mosquito fish, floating plants, and bottom plants. The fish will be able to survive year around and will not require feeding of any kind. In fact, feeding the fish will make allow them to grow too big for the pond to support them.

Below are some details (Much help from Pondlady.com). I have more in a word doc that will be sent to Jody.

Materials Needed to build the Pond

1. A shovel (Free)
2. A rake (Free)
3. 14" 28 gauge roofing flashing (Need to obtain cost from local supplier or from construction scrap)
4. 1/2" PVC pipe cut into @ 2' pieces (Need to obtain cost from local supplier or from construction scrap )
5. 15# roofing felt for underlayment (Need to obtain cost from local supplier or from construction scrap – will insulate the pond liner from wear and tear)
6. Pond liner ($85-120, need a local supplier if one exists)
7. Goldfish (Comets) $1.50 each
8. Mosquito fish ($1 each)
   
9. Plants ($3 and up for 6 bunches)
   

Floating plants for your pond are as necessary as water. Half of your pond needs to be covered so your water doesn't get too hot and to provide shade for your fish. Your submerged vegetation needs shade or it will burn in the sun. Floating plants give your fish something to hide under when hungry egrets, herons or raccoons drop by. And during the hottest days of summer, your floating plants are in full bloom adding yet another dimension to your pond.
Water clover is producing a small yellow bloom that looks beautiful against your water lilies. Water poppies are putting forth little white blooms that look like someone threw popcorn over the top of the pond, floating heart, frog bit, hyacinth, water clover, water poppy, water lettuce. Cover at least one half of the surface of your pond with floating plants to avoid algae growth and give your fish some shade in the heat of summer. Sun hitting water produces algae. Keep the algae away by using floating plants. Water hyacinths seem to thrive on toxins and suck them out of the water, leaving it clear. They have long blackish purple roots that trail on forever, acting as a filter for the water and the fish love to snack on the roots of the plant. To keep these plants under control, just dip or rip the extra out and either compost it or give it to a new pond owner.

Underwater plants are necessary for the ecological balance of the pond. If the pond has an appropriate number of goldfish, floating plants and underwater plants, maintenance will be an easy and quick task. The underwater plants serve so many purposes it is next to impossible to have a pond without them. Submerged plants give off oxygen for your fish to breathe and are fertilized by fish waste. They act as a natural filter and your fish eat them. What a perfect plant/animal symbiosis. The underwater grass serves as a filter to keep your water crystal clear. Anacharis, cabomba, or parrot’s feather are oxygenators and fish food. They act as a filter and catch particulate matter. The goldfish waste fertilizes them so they grow fast. The goldfish also eat the plants, but not as fast as they can grow. You need one bunch per square foot of pond surface. You must buy them all at once even if you have to put the water lily off for a few weeks. If you do not have enough anacharis, your fish will eat it all before it has a chance to grow and your water will turn to green pea soup because there is not enough anacharis to give you sufficient filtration.

Fish

Buy goldfish – comets breed. These are the hardiest fish for a pond. Buy from a local small pet supply store, not a big box store. These are likely to be locally raised. One linear foot of fish per 25 square feet of pond surface.