I have been talking about Permaculture in these pages for some time now. It started with a two day class in Kentucky given by Wisconsin farmer Mark Shepard. Mark took permaculture and incorporated many of the principles into farm scale agriculture. Learning from Mark was one of those moments when I felt such a fool in that what I thought was more of a home garden/urban idea could easily be fitted to board acres. I had read the Permaculture manual several times in the early nineties but could not see a way to farm with it. Over the last five months I have been doing an online class in permaculture. At the completion there was a exercise to design you own place with what was learned. I took a section, the most northerly on the farm, and came up with what I believe to be a resilient model that deals with many issues we have such as water use and diversity of crops.

On Saturday, the 27th of September, we will have a day on the farm to start the implementation of this design. This will not be a permaculture class but a practical session of taking the design and planting it into the field. There will be a mix of 50% hands on and the rest learning about why I designed it the way I did. The sign up for this event is live now so please consider joining us. There are only 20 places available. You will learn how to plant a tree, herbs, flowers, set up irrigation and mulching to protect the growing plants. There will be lots to learn even if you have a small garden. Go to http://www.eatwell.com/events for event details and to purchase tickets. Eatwell Farm CSA members receive a $20 discount on the ticket price. Please email organic@eawell.com for the code or check your newsletters in your CSA boxes.