We had an amazing event in the beautiful North Cascades. We learned together how to read a landscape and plan for a sustainable system using Permaculture Design Principles with experienced Permaculturalist Brian Kerkvliet of Inspiration Farms.

May 25 & 26, 2019  One or Two Days in the Beautiful North Cascades, Skagit River Ecosystem learning how to heal the earth.
A live consultation allows one to be involved in the Permaculture design process. You will have the opportunity to observe the design considerations and decisions involved in obtaining the best design for the goals of the client considering the possibilities and limitations of the property. The beauty of this kind of event is that it is dealing with a real property and real design parameters and constraints. Seeing the design process first hand allows one to better design their own land without having to attend a full two week permaculture design course.

Sat. May 25   10am-5pm
Permaculture Design Live Consultation
with Brian Kerkvliet

Sunday May 25, 10-noon    Old Growth Forest Walk
Explore an old growth forest with Terri Wilde, observe a healthy ecosystem and learn edible and medicinal uses of plants and fungi.  Sun. walk only

Whole permaculture weekend: both days of presentations plus
Evening Social Permie Sharing, Lovely Sleeping Accommodations,  includes Lunch, Dinner and Breakfast

Brian Kerkvliet, a co-steward of Inspiration Farm, has a wide breadth of practical knowledge on how to partner with natural systems to bring forth stability and abundance. Having completed three full Permaculture design certificate courses, he now does consultation work for others who want to fast track the establishment of resilient system on their land. Inspiration Farm is an 11 acre homestead styled farm founded in 1994, integrating Biodynamic and Permaculture practices in relation to annual & perennial food systems, animal husbandry, appropriate technology, and land/water nutrient management. www.inspirationfarm.com

Design Steps involved include:
• Client interview and discussion
• Design considerations, goals & strategies
• Walk the land and sketch design
considerations and parameters
• Define property’s zones
• Identifying sector influence
• Water strategies in the landscape
• Look at how to utilize on-site resources
to maximum system benefit
• Put all the information together to map
out a site plan
• Evaluate resources and set a realistic
time-line and phased implementation plan

We are a part of the web of life. We are not served by cutting the complex threads that sustain us. There is better way that insecticides, toxic hand sanitizers, anti-biotic soap, etc. What if instead of responding with fear, we found creative ways to exist compatibly with living kin?

We must stop reacting with death (from our fears) as an approach to dangers.  Slow, think, feel. Approach it as a living whole, Gaia.

For example; antibiotic soap. We are biotic! The notion that we are safer and protected by killing germs with toxins needs to be reconsidered.  Especially in light of new studies that show our own bodies to be living ecosystems that rely on a healthy and broad range of bacteria and other micro-organisms to actually be protected and healthy.  We also must consider the fallout of the toxins as they wash down the drain and mess with life all through the ecosystem.

A change of paradigm needed. When we see a spider in our house, a reaction to kill it instantly must be re-calculated.  The spider eats mosquitoes that prey on us and therefore their proximity benefits us.  This idea that humans have some right or should desire to be alone without other species in a large area is not natural, nor beneficial.  How much fuller and healthier our planet could be if we could enjoy the company of other creatures that are not harming us.

While the “germ theory” advanced us to not wallow in our own wastes, it is time now to embrace the Gaia Theory to prevent us from toxifying ourselves and the life system on earth.

Bare dirt is a strange fetish.  It’s desire for control, for neatness, for simplicity, and only having to deal with what we know.  I propose we change the paradigm to embrace the complexity of a healthy living ecosystem, a “messy” garden, the wild.

I think you should not pull a weed unless you know the weed and have a good reason to.  Now with some weeds we are just in full on “back, back”.  Here in the PNW, take morning glory or creeping buttercup or often Himalayan Blackberry.  But other weeds are not so much trouble and can be tolerated.  And really until you know what something is, and have a reason, I don’t think, killing it is the right reaction. Weeds, Spiders, People.  Not knowing and understanding can call us to knowing and understanding rather than fearing and ignorance.  Maybe you can eat it. Maybe it will die back in a month and a half on its own.  Maybe it is drawing up nutrients, fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere or holding moisture and soil.

What amazing plant has chosen to be in your life?  What plants like growing in the conditions in your garden.  Can you eat it? Most weeds are more nutritious than crops.

So hey, if a plant is really in the way of something you want to grow, work it out, maybe it has to go. But until you are ready to put something else there, leave it be. It is protecting and nourishing your soil. Bare dirt absorbs heat and bakes the life of the soil in hot sun. Water evaporates and life retreats.

I have often heard that the argument for weeding to bare dirt, is that we can’t let the weeds go to seed.  But bare dirt will always have weed seed and something will grow in it when the conditions are right. You can’t get rid of weeds by getting rid of seeds any more than you can get rid of sickness by getting rid of germs.  It is the wrong paradigm. We will lose in this battle of trying to kill everything as a solution. We must now recognize our place in the web of life and strive for healthy, diverse ecosystems for our health and well being.

Therefore as farmers and gardeners it is wiser to choose which weeds you want to live with.
Lambsquarters, Chickweed, Dandelion, Purslane, Amaranth Pigweed, Oxalis, Mallow, Sow Thistle, Clovers, Plantain, and Borage are all edible and fairly removable.  When do weeds need to be brought down and when can they co-exist?  Can perennial polycultures without tilling lead to less weeding?

And when you do weed, leave the weeds as mulch to protect and nourish the soil from where it came. Mulching and composting on site.

“Bare Breasts Not Dirt”