Posted by:
Beth
(
)
Date: July 21, 2018 12:54PM
I grew up in an apartment in Philadelphia. Yeah, people threw candy wrappers on the ground, and the garbage collectors went on strike some summers, and it was crowded and kind of just, ugh.
That said, as a kid, I loved it there. I lived right off of Penn's campus, there were monthly school field trips to the art museums **with a docent** (we weren't allowed to run amok as was our wont - shout out to Lot's Wife). We had little folding chairs or rug remnants we carried from gallery to gallery, sat in front of amazing works and learned the stories behind them. We ran amok in The Franklin Institute, and I held a big ass snake at The Natural History Museum (I was five - I didn't know any better). We jumped in historic fountains. There's a lot for a kid to do there.
City living is out of my system. Nice to visit...
I moved to the PNW in 2012 (shout out to all the support I received from RfM when I decided to haul ass!), and I kind of like it here - the non-city parts. I would argue that Seattle doesn't exactly rise to the level of city status, but that's my colonial city bias showing ;-P.
Last October, I moved to a small, kinda dilapidated ex-logging town halfway between Seattle and Portland. It's way too expensive to for me to live closer to my job in SeaTac, but I'm allowed to work from home.
Alllright. Now. Anyone who has seen a Western WA lawn in August might wonder, "What's the point, and when is that thing going to set off the next multi-state wildfire?" I don't have a ton of land, but my lot hasn't been carved up since the town was founded. I have riparian rights that run with the land, and I have waayyy too much brown grass. I don't want to try to have a manicured lawn. Won't happen. The man who lived here before me used a trash pump to water his lawn and vegetable garden. Eventually I might use one for other reasons, but the fossil fuel component puts me off.
I've been reading about permaculture, and I'd really like to get rid of this grass. Dude's vegetable plot was tilled so many times that it's about 6"-1' lower than the rest of the area. Last April, I threw down some crimson clover seed and I'm letting the dandelion tap roots break up the soil. I'll chop and drop in September, toss down some soil amendments, cover the area with cardboard - basically sheet compost the hell out of it. I've already been working on the front yard. I can't wait for the 200 bales of straw... O_o
My fireplace insert is so ballin' (came with the house), that my need for firewood is low compared to the heat output, and I don't need to use much gas heat in the winter. When the tree guy comes at the end of the growing season, I'll have some green firewood for next year and wood chips for mulching this fall.
So, yeah. I'd like to learn how to grow most of my own food. I'd like to try to create close to zero waste. The hazelnut and apples trees are cool, but I'm going to do the zone thing, collect water (I have NO IDEA why water catchment isn't a bigger thing here), help keep the bank from falling into the river, dig a duck pond. Stuff like that.
In the end, if I plan this close to right, it will be less work than mowing, weeding, etc. that serve no practical purpose whatsoever (in my mind). NB This is like a 5- to 10-year plan. But there are local permies (and by local, I mean 45 miles away in the woods), who could come for a working party, who can sell and haul animal poop out here...blah blah.
This is the forum I frequent - there are sections for local permies as well as folks all over the world. Not everyone is all Silent Spring OMG we're gonna die. Some people just like the idea of making what you need and sharing your abundance, be that food, experience, information, time.
Permies: Permaculture Homesteaders and Goofballs:
https://permies.com/ETA: Compost pile need a kick start? Pee on it!
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2018 04:16PM by Beth.