by | March 14, 2025 · 5:53 pm

2024 Season Review – Accepting Feedback (Principle 4)

In my last post I reported on our 2024 yield numbers. In this one I will consider what we learned during the season while growing all that food.

Taking this opportunity to review is an example of Permaculture Principle 4: apply self-regulation and accept feedback. It sounds simple, but is challenging for many of us.

The world is complex and determining cause and effect is difficult, sometimes impossible. Often people don’t have patience with not knowing and would rather jump to a wrong conclusion than allow for uncertainty.

There is also a lot of judgment associated with struggling, being wrong, and making mistakes.

Personally, I was raised to be a good girl, bring home As, do everything right. That turns out to be really limiting. If you don’t feel like you can fail, then you don’t try new things or take risks and you miss out on the thrill of learning. Despite my early training, my inquisitive mind drove me to keep exploring and I have become increasingly comfortable with the exciting and frustrating stages of learning. Teaching others was particularly helpful for me to build my tolerance for being a beginner.

As a society, we aren’t displaying much of an ability to thoughtfully grow and change. This is a serious problem at a time when we need to adapt or face serious consequences. There are critical mistakes we are repeating in how we behave but don’t seem to learn from them.

So, on a personal and cultural level, learning to welcome feedback and criticism is an important goal. It helps to intentionally build those abilities. This yearly review of our homestead is one way I do that.

Brussels Sprout Seedlings

Let me start early in the year…

Seed Starting Success

I have tried many different ways of starting seeds. As much as possible, I wait and plant the seeds outside, but that doesn’t work well for long-season crops here in the North. I started years ago in a window with no additional energy for grow lights. Those plants were spindly and never grew straight. I took the feedback and we made shelving and added lights. That worked a lot better, but the plants still weren’t as tall and straight as I wanted. Last year we researched and found that high quality LED grow lights had come down in price. We were able to phase out the florescent lights (which always made me nervous because of their mercury content), and switch to this stronger, more energy efficient type. The results were great!

Seedlings Growing Straight and Tall

Rodent Proofing Success

Carrots in the Very Raised Bed

Over the past decade, the vole population has steadily increased. We’ve successfully protected our fruit trees with wire mesh (1/8th inch screening) around the lower trunks, but our root crops have suffered. It is so disappointing to pull up a carrot, beet or parsnip only to find 90% of it eaten away. I tried rotating the root crops, but that didn’t fool them. A couple of years ago friends gave us a standing garden bed. It was totally vole proof and produced perfect carrots! But, it was hard to keep watered well enough. We experimented by building wooden raised beds with hardware cloth stapled on the bottom then placing them on the ground. We can see the tunnels going underneath, but so far they have not made it through the wire. One bed wasn’t very tall and voles climbed in from the top and chewed on the exposed beet shoulders. We extended the walls of that one higher for this coming season.

Beets in Raised Bed, Later Added Taller Sides

 

Potatoes in Barrels

We also used plastic barrels cut in half with holes drilled in the bottom, mostly for potatoes. Watering was again tricky. The water tended to just run down the sides of the barrel while the middle dried out but the water drained slowly so the bottom was waterlogged. We were able to manage that with careful hose positioning and creating some holes in the center of the bed, though, and did get a respectable harvest. Nothing like the early potato years with yields of 20 to 1, but better than the vole decimated years when we had 2 to 1 returns.

Brassica Pest Control

I am not really an expert on garden insect pests and diseases because I have a wait-and-see, live-and-let-live attitude for the most part that has served me well. If a new insect or mold appears and starts negatively affecting the plants, I try to wait two years before considering it a problem I need to react to. What I have found is that lots of creatures have boom and bust cycles. For instance, we might have a terrible squash borer year that takes out most of our squash plants, but the following year is then great for squash. Or, we have an outbreak of tomato hornworms. If I do nothing, then within a month the parasitic wasps have found them, eaten them, and I usually won’t see hornworms again for years. I have learned from this to remain calm, observe, and see if the larger ecological system works it out without my help.

Kale

Sometimes, though, that fails. Which brings me to the brassicas. I love this family of plants, especially collards, kale, and Brussels sprouts. We have always had some issues with worms eating them: Imported Cabbageworms, Cabbage Loopers and Diamondback Moth Caterpillars. Some years I have protected them with row cover to give them a good start before the bugs found them. I tried planting them far apart from each other, a plant here and there among others the worms didn’t like. I tried different varieties. I did some handpicking of the worms, but that is so tedious. All of this helped some, then I consoled myself with the knowledge that chewed on veggies are actually more nutritious. However, about 3 years ago, a new brassica pest appeared on the scene: cross-striped cabbageworm. Once they settled in, they started decimating plants, leaving just stems of the kale and collards and swarming the broccoli and Brussels sprouts. It was awful that year. I waited – and it was just as bad the next year. So, it was time to not just observe, but to interact and come up with a plan.

Brussels Sprouts with Row Cover Raised for Harvest

I will not use chemical controls, but a barrier preventing the moths from reaching the plants is an option. I hesitate embracing this method because row covers are made of plastics, eventually ending up in landfills. I’ve been willing to compromise on this, though. The other problem is that most row cover is hard to water through and not tall enough to cover our huge plants. We discovered a new kind of mesh covering which let more light and water through and came in larger sizes. We also built supports to drape it over so we had better access and it didn’t inhibit plant growth. We made two beds, one for greens, the other for Brussels sprouts. We didn’t properly secure the one over the kale and collards so the moths infiltrated and chewed them up. However, we successfully protected the row with the sprouts (and a few kale plants)… and it made a huge difference! The plants were beautiful and healthy and it was a treat to not have to deal with the worms hiding in there.

Perfect Brussels Sprouts!

Those were a few takeaways from 2024 from our homestead. What did you learn that you will bring into this year’s endeavors?

Brussels Sprouts Developing With Low Pest Pressure

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by | December 31, 2024 · 10:52 pm

2024 On the Homestead – Obtaining a Yield (principle 3)

A Few of our Butternut Squash

Obtain a Yield is the third permaculture principle. It speaks to why we keep garden records and review them every year.

This principle seems obvious, like something that doesn’t need to be stated. After all, it’s an imperative that all living beings must take in energy in order to survive, and often gather materials for other purposes, like shelter. But many people currently do not get what they need from the land around them, but depend on vast global shipping networks and access to money instead. The distance tricks us into thinking we are dependent not on the land, but on stores, trucks and planes. This system is precarious and doesn’t work for many people already. It is also tremendously energy intensive, wasteful and harmful to people and planet.

When we design and invest in systems close to home to meet our needs, we are more resilient and use fewer scarce resources. We eat fresher, healthier food. Further, we are able to recognize how we are knit into the ecological fabric, not outside of it.

Permaculture also encourages us to expand our understanding of what a yield can be. Food, of course, also water, medicine, energy, materials, waste recycling, fertilizer, even shade from a tree. Fun, beauty and joy are also yields.  I tend to focus on the practical needs first and let the less tangible benefits evolve and emerge from there.

Food is one of the easiest yields for most of us to focus on, at least here in NH where there is plenty of open space. Even for people who don’t own land, there are community gardens and opportunities for land sharing.

As the year ends, I take time to add up our harvest records. Since we take yield seriously, keeping track and comparing to other years is important and a great learning opportunity (learning is another yield). Let me share this year’s numbers and a few comments on how they differ from other years.

2024 Harvest:

Alliums – garlic – 28# (166 heads); 160 garlic tops – ; leeks – 47.25#, perennial onions – 14.5#

Beans & Peas – snap beans – 27.75#; dry beans –

Beans Drying on the Vine

16.25#; sugar snap peas – 1#

Brassicas – broccoli – 3#; brussels sprouts – 14.5#;kale/collard – 17.5#

Corn, popcorn – 5.25#

Cucumber – 18.5#

Eggplant – 27.5#

Greens – lettuce – 19#

Herbs – basil – 4#; dill – .5#

Mushrooms, winecap – .5#

Potatoes – 36.75#

Roots – beets – 32#; carrots – 37.5#; parsnips – 44#; radishes – 73, turnips (gold ball) – 6#

Squash – summer – 17.25#; winter (butternut and Seminole) – 878#

Tomato – slicing – 44#; cherry – 13.5#

Perennial Veggies: asparagus – 5#; rhubarb – 14.5#

Fruit: blueberry – 2#; crabapples – 17.5#; currants, red & white – 1#; clove currants – 1#; elderberry – 6#; goumi – 5.5#; grapes – 23.5#; honeyberry – 2#; jostaberry – 1#; mulberry – 3#; peaches – 602.5#; raspberry – 2#; strawberry – 14.5#

Maple syrup – 3 quarts

Sea salt – 1.25 gallon

We brought in 64 gallons of goat milk (from 3 goats); 68# goat meat; 4# goat lard

Our poultry harvest came to: 1,319 (109 dozen) chicken eggs from 11 hens; 490 (40 dozen) duck eggs from 3 ducks; chicken meat – 60#; duck meat – 14#

Gleaned crops: apples – 500#; pears – 75#

Food Preserving

Preserving food for the off-season is how we eat from local year-round. Here’s a summary of what I put up this year:

Canned: peaches – 105 quarts; blueberries – 7 pints; strawberries – 5 pints; pears – 8 pints; peach juice – 12 pints; grape juice – 5 pints; strawberry juice – 5 pints

Dried: peaches – 10#; grapes (raisins) – 1.75#

Refrigerated: lactofermented cucumber pickles – 6 quarts

Frozen: blueberries – 1 gallon bag; snap beans – 16 pts; eggplant – 10.5 qts; basil pesto – 16 pints; chevre cheese – 10 pints; mozzarella cheese – 10#; and most of the meat.

Root cellar: carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips.

We store these crops in a cold room: garlic, potatoes, winter squash, and apples.

These are stored on the shelf: dried beans, popcorn.

Other yields to mention are: wood for heating,water captured for the garden and animals, medicinal herbs, exercise, clean air.

Great crops this year were clearly peaches and wintersquash. It was the first year we had a measurable amount of asparagus, finally! Beets and parsnips also did better than expected. Lower than hoped for yields stand out in sugar snap peas, broccoli, cucumber, summer squash and berries. I would have liked more carrots and potatoes. Everything else was roughly what I planned for.

In my next post I will talk more about the lessons from the season that these numbers speak to.

Also, over the next year or two I plan to write about more of the twelve principles of permaculture. I don’t expect to write about them in order, but will skip around as they seem to fit the work we are doing and what is on my mind. After all, like I said last post, they are not a checklist to get through one after another, but guidelines to live with as a way of better aligning ourselves with the wisdom of the world around us.

He knows how to get a yield!

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by | November 30, 2024 · 5:35 am

Observe and Interact

The first principle of permaculture, Observe and Interact, is one I return to again and again. This is how it is meant to be since the principles are not a checklist to work through and be done with but a way of looking at the world that you try to deepen over time.

Bumblebee on Anise Hyssop

Observe and Interact basically tells us to pay attention, engage, and learn. This seems like it should be easy for human beings with our capacity for thinking, reflecting and remembering. At the moment, however, our culture does not seem to encourage critical thinking, seeing reality, or empowered action. It is a complex, convoluted and often overwhelming world of information these days. This is part of why the garden is such a great place to take in these principles. This sort of embodied and direct learning and feedback greatly helps us to grasp and internalize all the principles of permaculture.

So, it follows that the more that we garden and homestead the more we understand the importance of principle number one: Observe and Interact. This year we found ourselves particularly noting the benefits we get and the problems we avoid by paying attention.

It has always been my goal to carefully inspect every part of our three or so acres in use on a regular basis, maybe every other week. While I have not met that goal, I did manage to keep an eye on this land enough to catch and deal with some problems before they got out of hand. Here are some examples.

Dandelions in Spring

I have been working for years to build our soil and encourage vibrant plant growth while being picky about what plants live here. I have a long list of plants I like, including some that other people detest like dandelions, but there also plenty which I do not want taking up residence here, including some that can be very persistent. My experience is that stopping plants from establishing themselves is much easier than trying to remove them later.

This year we had garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) try to move in. I found the garlic mustard in my front orchard where I spend a lot of time. There were just a few plants when I noticed and identified it and pulled it out. Throughout the season I walked by the area and pulled up the few straggly new ones that tried to come back. I will keep an eye on it next year, but don’t foresee much of a problem. Later in the season, I was visiting the goats when I noticed a vine climbing up the fence. It was about 2 feet tall and when we dug it out the orange root confirmed that, yes, it was Oriental bittersweet. It hasn’t come back yet but we will keep watching. We’ve had this happen before with bittersweet and it does sometimes take a few rounds to get out all of the root.

While most people think of these plants as impossible to get rid of, especially without chemicals, we find any plant we can keep cut back eventually dies. The smaller it is when we start the process the faster it all goes. Again, noticing is the key. Of course, we also have goats if we needed to really keep something knocked back that has gotten established – like poison ivy was when we first got here!

This would be too many peaches!

As you know from my last post, I had a fabulous peach season this year. It would not have been quite as good if I had not been tuned into them long before they were ripe. We pruned in the late winter and thinned after fruit set in the spring. I felt like we did a good job, but another walk through in early summer alerted me to some issues. First, I tend to leave enough fruit on to make up for loss from other animals, but for some reason we had very little theft by squirrels this year. So I needed to do another round of thinning to prevent branches from breaking and to let the remaining fruit grow nice and big. Also, I could see the trees were getting very bushy and full.  Although it is not the recommended time to do a lot of pruning, we have found that a mid summer cut back is useful for our more vigorous trees. Otherwise, they put on so much leaf growth they shade the peaches too much to ripen well. So far, we have not seen a downside to careful summer pruning. Certainly this year we had a spectacular season with lots of delicious fruit, as I reported in August. Stay tuned for my harvest summary update in about a month for the final numbers!

Songbird nestlings need a lot of food

This year many people experienced high animal pest numbers. We had some problems for sure. The chipmunks stole most of my strawberries, and we had many gorgeous songbirds visiting us – and taking most of our berry crop. But our fences generally held, keeping the deer, porcupines, raccoons and groundhogs at bay. In July, however, I noticed something nibbling the winter squash leaves in one of the orchards. Just a few, but still… the next day a few more were gone and a few young squash had been gnawed on. So, we scouted around the area very carefully and, yes, found a den with multiple entrances. We were unsure if he/she scaled a fence or

Young, Vulnerable Winter Squash

tunneled in but we acted fast to refill the holes and remove the critter and managed to save a lot of our produce for the year.

 

 

Grey Tree Frog

Although my observations are particularly tuned in to catch problems, it’s also important to see the beauty, health and productivity all around me. No matter the season or the stressors, there’s always something to appreciate.

 

Life off the homestead is busy, full and important to me, too, especially this year when I have been so busy as a peace activist. Plus, I’m only human. So I miss plenty of things. I do notice, though, that with time and practice it is more natural and easy, just a part of who I am, to be connected to and observing this land that supports and shelters me.

Cleome

 

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