Biodynamics: Why Believe What Steiner said? September 21, 2009
Posted by Graham in : Gardens, Permaculture, Science and Rationaltiy , 24commentsIt is hard to know how best to respond to Judith Hoad’s article in the current edition of the IOFGA magazine Organic Matters in which she admonishes me for being “blinkered” in rejecting biodynamics, the esoteric practice of farming proposed by Rudolph Steiner, whose philosophy of anthroposophy has also lead to the creation of the independent Steiner-Waldorf schools and the Camphill communities.
“Unorthodoxies have their orthodoxies too:” she writes- “Graham Strouts, who heads the permaculture course in Kinsale, has learned and teaches techniques dependent on observations of phenomena in the natural world to replicate them in the human constructed world.- forest gardens are an example of this. (Permaculture is still regarded by some people as wild unorthodoxy). “However, he is blinkered when he slags off Biodynamic gardening as hocus pocus. Although some would regard Biodynamics as Astrology for plants and animals, what’s wrong with that? Years- lifetimes- of detailed observation of cosmic bodies and terrestrial plant and animal behaviour have formalized cultivation techniques.”
The first thing I would say is that to refer to something I may have said on hearsay without any reference, or context, or including any of the reasons I may have given to argue my case, is not just rude and bad practice, but misleading and pointless. (more…)
Forest Gardening at the ART August 29, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Food, Gardens, General, Permaculture , 4commentsI had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to attend a 2-day course on Forest gardening with Martin Crawford at the Agroforestry Research Trust.
The course was professionally delivered by Martin who has encyclopedic knowledge of his subject and was a fantastic experience, re-inspiring my own attempts and forest gardening and showing me some areas i need to focus on more if I want to achieve success. Lunches were provided by his wife Sandra using as much produce from the garden as possible including an amazing array of jams and chutneys, dried fruit and, my favorite, chestnut pate.
Situated in the Dartington Estate near Totnes in Devon, Martin designed and planted his experimental forest garden in the early 90s and now, 15 years after its design, it stands as perhaps one of the important examples of perennial agriculture, and a demonstration that this is a viable and productive method of food production in the cool temeprate climate of Britain.
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Martin Crawford discusses Apricot trees underplanted with comfrey;
The E.F. Schumacher Forest Garden in the Dartington Estate
The Forest garden has always been an iconic feature of permaculture design, and the image of a successful food forest of fruit and nut trees underplanted with successive layers of fruit bushes, climbers, herbs and perennial vegetables, ground cover, roots and tubers and even fungii, has been for many- myself included- a kind of Holy Grail of
the permaculture concept: the designer would become the recliner, lolling in a hammock in a Garden of Eden of her own making, the only concern being Fear of Falling Fruit.
A visit to the Eden Project August 15, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Food, Gardens, Peak Oil, Permaculture, climate change , 1 comment so farThe Eden Project in Cornwall was established 7 years ago and has become a world famous visitor attraction with its iconic huge bubble-wrap domes providing the closest you’ll get to an experience of the rain-forest this side of the Amazon.
I was visiting my sister this week, who lives nearby in Bodmin, and got the opportunity to visit, with my father. (more…)
Fruit and Nuts at Derryduff August 9, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Food, Gardens, Permaculture, Trees , 1 comment so farI am off to attend a Forest Gardening course with Martin Crawford at the Agroforestry Research Trust in Totnes, Devon, next weekend, so I thought it would be appropriate to tell you how some of my own fruit and nut trees are doing, seven years after moving to Derryduff.
Of greatest excitement, I have a walnut!
A single, solitary specimen, but a walnut nevertheless- on a grafted tree of the cultivar “Broadview”. It is only planted here two years and just 3ft high, but the fact that it has a nut at all so early in its life is hugely encouraging and shows that it is possible in this climate.
As a timber tree, walnuts and related varieties grow like the clappers in the moist warm Irish climate, and should be considered for that reason alone. (more…)
Permaculture at Derryduff August 6, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Gardens, Permaculture, water , 2commentsThe summer break from Kinsale College has givien me some time to spend on the site at Derryduff and I have been developing the gardens and landscaping here over the last couple of months.
In particular, a large extension to the small pond has now been created, with multiple potential uses:
-swimming hole- glorious to have!
-general large store of water in the landscape- not as high up as I would have liked as it is below the house but invaluable nevertheless;
-micro-climate creation- the edge around a large pond may serve as a protection against frost for early spring vegetable i could grow there, as a body of water can keep the immediate environment from freezing;
-added reflected sunlight to the northern terraces above the pond;
-potential for edible water plants
-potential even for small-scale fish-farming ( something I know little about, but many of my friends and neighbours around west Cork are also creating large ponds with this in mind).
-general wildlife habitat, especially good for frogs which may keep down the slugs
-adds tremendous beauty to any site (more…)
Road Trip June 18, 2008
Posted by Graham in : Gardens, General, Permaculture, Renewable Energy, Yurts , 1 comment so farA recent trip up country took me first to Westport where I called in on the Sustainability Institute, home of the Irish Sustainability Magazine.
Right: Sustainability editor Andy Wilson hard at work
Andy Wilson’s creation of the Sustainability Magazine has been a remarkable achievement, bringing a much-needed serious journal into the Irish environmental landscape. Starting up a new magazine from scratch is no mean feat and the scholarly and well-researched articles on a wide range of topics is to be greatly welcomed. The third issue is out this week. (more…)
Solstice at Derryduff December 23, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Food, Gardens, Permaculture , 2comments
Please try and limit your consumption and reduce your ecological footprint this holiday season, and otherwise have a great time; but if you are not sure what to do with yourselves these long dark evenings and want to both save money AND do your bit for the environment, have a look at this. (thanks to minktoast)
Apologies for irregular blogs the last couple of weeks- loss of my wind turbine in a storm has meant restricted power. Stay tuned for the next installment of the back to nature series in the New year, and in the meantime here are a few notes and photos from recent garden activity:
Garlic This year I have planted two varieties of garlic from The Isle of Wight Garlic Farm – Lautrec Wight and Elephant garlic; 
also a local variety from some neighbours. The Elephant Garlic has to be seen to be believed- one clove is the size of a whole corm of regular garlic. Alliums are easy to grow and ideal for planting through a newspaper and straw mulch -slugs don’t trouble them too much.
I also harvested occa, machua and Jerusalem Artichokes this week.
Machua- tropaeolum tuberosum is an edible tuber originating in Peru. Pretty much pest free and easy to grow, with a climbing habit and attractive orange trumpet-like flowers,I harvested about 6 egg-sized nobbly tubers from each plant, so it is potentially quite productive. This is the first time Ive grown it so I was looking forward to tasting it, but it was not exactly delicious. Plants for a Future says:
“The tubers are quite popular in South America but can probably be best desricbed as an acquired taste”. They recommend freezing them or leaving them in the ground until after a frost to improve flavour.
I thought they had potential as part of a forest garden guild with oca oxalis tuberosum planted around them as a ground cover. Ive been growing oca for a few years now and although not high-yielding it is again easy to grow and tasty. A new Irish site dedicated to oca can be found here. Next year i am going to add Jerusalem Artichokes into the guild for the Machua to climb up -a sort of perennial “three sisters”. The idea is, like the Three Sisters of Corn, beans and squash, you can get three yields in the same space because of their different habits and niches.
Powerdown Roundup November 24, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, Food, Gardens, Peak Oil, Permaculture, Powerdown , add a commentIt has been a busy few weeks and I only now have a chance to catch up by reporting on a few events I have attended over the last few weeks.
On November 8th and 9th I presented an introduction to permaculture workshop at the Tipperary institute, for final-year students on the Sustainable Rural Development degree course.
After an overview of permaculture design principles and some edible landscaping techniques, students were asked to do a design exercise on a proposed permaculture garden outside the canteen.
Making use of some of their proposals I will write up a design for the garden which the Institute will implement early next year. This is an exciting development for the TI and the garden will be partly managed by students on a new degree course starting next September, Environmental and Natural Resource Managment, which will include a Permaculture component. This is a ground-breaking new course designed to provide relevant third-level training to address the coming environmental and resource challenges we will be facing as we continue down the slippery slope of energy descent. (more…)
Seed Saving October 29, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Food, Gardens, General , 1 comment so far
A recent trip to Madeleine McKeever, founder of Brown Envelope Seeds, down near turk Head on the south coast, provided the permaculture class with a fascinating introduction to the world of seed-saving. (more…)
Pumpkin Seeds October 14, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Food, Gardens, Permaculture , 2commentsIf I were only to grow one vegetable, I think it would be pumpkins- easy to grow, nutritious and delicious, many of the smaller varieties- like Pompeon or the orange-fleshed Uchiki Kuri
are as sweet as sweet potatoes and store really well- until March or even April.
This year for the first time I grew a variety more know for its naked seeds- Lady Godiva. This variety is grown for its seeds which are “naked” ie they dont have husks so can be eaten straight out of the fruit, or dried and stored.
A neighbour gave me some seeds late in the season, so I didnt start them until late June but they still did quite well.
Here are the seeds from one of the pumpkins. Highly nutritious in themselves, being rich in magnesium, manganese and phosphorous, and a good source of iron, copper, protein, and zinc, pumpkin seeds store for even longer than the fruit and are well worth growing for this reason.
