PERMA COURSE

  PERMACULTURE COURSE AGRO - ECONOMY PDC LESSON 7.12 COMPOST – GREEN MANURE MAKES IT GOOD   Green manures are a cornerstone of ecologically sensible agriculture. They can provide outstanding benefits for the soil, crop and you, the gardener by:       ·          Increasing organic matter, earthworms, and beneficial microorganisms  ·          Increasing the soil's available nitrogen and moisture retention   ·          Stabilising the soil to prevent erosion   ·          Bringing deep minerals to the surface and breaking up hardpans   ·          Providing habitat, nectar and pollen for beneficial insects and reducing populations of   pests   ·          Improving water, ro...

  PERMACULTURE COURSE AGRO - ECONOMY  PDC LESSON 7.13  COMPOST – HOW TO USE GREEN MANURE IN THE SOIL   Growing a green manure crop is as easy as throwing out a handful of seed onto freshly cultivated ground, followed by raking to cover the seed.   "Digging the crop in" at the end isn't necessary, as by cutting the plants at the base while still green and lush, usually just as flowers form and leaving the green manure crop on the surface you have 'instant' mulch. This is cheaper than constantly buying in mulch and doesn't introduce new weeds. A combination of a legume and a grass works well, the legume providing nitrogen & the grass, such as oats in winter or Japanese millet in summer, the bulk of the organic matter in the form of large quantity of roots.  

PERMACULTURE COURSE AGRO - ECONOMY PDC LESSON 7.20 WORM FARMING   Worm farming Putting manure (and humanure) through the worm farm is another excellent way of dealing with manure, and worm castings are also a colloid just as the compost is. If you don’t have easy access to manure, you’d do well to have a compost toilet. Humanure is an asset that should not be left outside the cycle of sustainable gardening. How wonderful it would be if everyone would recycle all their waste. Waste is not really a waste product but a valuable resource. When we are actively recycling all organic waste through the compost and then by way of the garden nourish the food that we eat; this is truly sustainable agriculture. How we would build up the fertility in our gardens if everyone cycled all their nutrients.   Humanure is best put through compost worm farms where all the pathogens are in due time totally broken down and be made into rich humus ready to start the whole process ...

  PERMACULTURE COURSE   AGRO - ECONOMY PDC LESSON 7.21  WORM FARMING – COMPOST WORMS   Compost Worms It has been estimated that one teaspoon full of vermicast has up to four billion bacteria whose life cycles interweave with countless protozoa, fungi, worms and many other creatures. These all form the web of soil life that is the basis of plant vitality. Also~ There are 5 – 10 times more available plant nutrients in vermicast than there is in compost or soil.   ·          Vermicast is deemed to be pathogen free. ·          Composting with worms takes less time than composting.   The types of worms used for compost worm farms are of a specific type. These are the tiger worm (eisenia fetida), red worm (lumbicus rubellus), and the red tiger worm (eisenia andrei) and the African night crawler.   The reason for this is that earth worms can’t easily be ...

  PERMACULTURE COURSE AGRO - ECONOMY  PDC LESSON 7.22 WORM FARMING – SUITABLE MATERIAL   Worms like their environment moist and not too warm. In fact, they will suffer and even escape if the temperatures are over 25°C. Their very nature is soft and slimy and so their food supply should also reflect this. Any dry matter will not be particularly attractive to the worms as they are not like caterpillars that will chew into the leaves. Any food scraps added to the worm farm should be wilted and moist.   Any type of manure is OK for the worm farm except for fowl. Humanure is perfect for a total recycling of human waste. Once you have such a system in place, you have all your minerals cycling around on your farm and this means soil, plant, animal, and human health will eventually meet all their mineral requirements. This is true sustainable gardening.   Pathogens and viruses are eliminated by passing through the worm’s digestive tract so the vermicast tha...

  PERMACULTURE COURSE AGRO - ECONOMY PDC LESSON 7.23 WORM FARMING – FOOD FOR WORMS Food for the worms Kitchen scraps (with the exception of onion skins and too much Citrus) Seaweed, Garden waste, Manure, Potting mix Vermicast is classed as sterile, so it is very suitable for raising seedlings in. The pure vermicast should never be used on its own as it will set like concrete if it is allowed to dry out. A good potting soil mix would be 50% of vermicast with 50% sharp river sand. Make sure it is (sharp) river sand and not beach or builders’ sand that you are using, as these sands will act as a water repellent instead. Foliar spray A foliar spray can be made by using one part of liquid worm castings to five parts waters. This should be well aerated for 48 hours. A fish tank pump can be inserted to produce a constant bubbling effect. This is very important as the bacteria can then grow and multiply when the liquid is oxygenated. Add a spoon of molasses or a cup o...

  PERMACULTURE COURSE AGRO - ECONOMY PDC LESSON 9.0 LIVESTOCK GARDENING WITH CHOOKS Gardening with Chooks (chickens) The chook run, as mentioned before, is best placed uphill from the garden to catch the nutrient flow from heavy rains. If you plan to use a deep litter system, can you grow enough forage and mulch for the chooks? Remember the food you can grow for the chooks will not only save you money but will give your chooks optimum health. Chooks need lots of greens and legumes such as pigeon pea. This will give them more protein so they will keep laying more eggs for you. Several runs can be constructed, and the chooks can have access to this one at a time. The other runs remain closed to the chooks as you plant into them. The main vegetable garden can be constructed this way. This means minimum work and cartage all round! Chooks do what they do best, and that is to scratch. A chook that can’t scratch is not a happy chook. All that scratching power is often an untappe...

  PERMACULTURE COURSE  AGRO -ECONOMY  PDC LESSON 9.1  LIVESTOCK - CHOOK DOME OR TRACTOR   Chook Dome or Tractor Chickens can also be used to cultivate your gardens prior to planting. A chook dome is an ingenious way of having control over chooks in the garden as they give the benefits of scratching and cleaning out weeds without the headaches and destruction they can cause. A dome is made of poly pipe and chicken wire. The size of the dome will determine the size of the circular garden shapes. The instructions for this can be found. The principle of this system is that a series of seven circles evolve to become vegetable gardens. Start with the centre circle and then after several weeks when the chooks have cleared the vegetation, the dome is then moved to another position and so on. This way you can sheet mulch the area prior to planting, and you have a minimum fuss vegetable garden. The dome is then revolved around in circles whenever it is time t...

  PERMACULTURE COURSE  AGRO - ECONOMY  PDC LESSON 9.2  LIVESTOCK - ANIMAL FORAGE   Animal forage is an important resource as this is the cheapest way to supplement feed any livestock. It is also the healthiest feed for them as it is fresh and green for optimum nutrition. Grow the forage in the weed barriers, as ground covers such as sweet potato or as support species. Mulch material is really the same as for animal forage. The grassy type plants are however more suitable for mulch as by their very nature they let in the air and moisture. Sugar cane, cow cane, vetiver grass and lemon grass are the firm favourites in Permaculture systems for mulch. Text from the roots, Elisabeth Ferkonia (Aus.) PDC studied with Bill Mollison,