Welcome to My Permaculture Life
As I'm planning out my seed schedule and mapping out some guilds for clients to plant in the spring, I felt like I should finally write the first blog post here at Ancient Origins. I wanted to check in and update where we are at as a business, what we offer, what we are learning, a little about where we have been, and how this all began in the first place. So, come along with me, and I will try not to ramble on too much.
Welcome to my family's permaculture journey, where we do this for so many reasons that I can't keep track of anymore. Simply put, Permaculture is EARTH CARE, PEOPLE CARE, AND FUTURE CARE.
All people of the past, present, and future have relied upon, currently rely on, and will always rely upon the earth. It is critical that the same opportunities the earth has to offer everyone now can continue forward. This is for all of humanity, not just myself or my family. I hope you will continue reading as I introduce you to PERMACULTURE and why it is such a vital tool in changing our planet as well as our own personal well-being.
The dictionary definition of permaculture is - The development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient.
Bill Mollison (one of the founders of permaculture) wrote in his Book, the permaculture designers manual, that permaculture (or permanent culture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems.
We seek the harmonious integration of landscape and people. Permaculture has and will continue to provide food, energy, shelter, and other non-material needs in a sustainable way. We follow the ancient Iroquois seventh generation rule, that we will leave the resources and opportunities and health of our planet in better shape for seven generations into the future. I've tried to model my life this way. The decision I make today will affect life on earth seven generations from now.
It is a hard task in the modern world. But when I see where things are heading... I'm happy to be learning and educating others in sustainable and regenerative ways of living that interact as part of nature rather than just being consumers. As I said above, the most basic principles of permaculture are EARTH CARE, PEOPLE CARE, AND CARE OF THE FUTURE.
Earth Care is recognizing that all of our needs to continue living are provided by the earth! It is seeing that all of our food, water, and shelter comes from the earth and that we have a responsibility to behave within the boundaries.
People Care is about both the acknowledgment that we are all connected and rely upon each other. We are a community. It is also compassion for others—in families, communities, and even strangers with food, shelter, water, clothing, kind words, prayers if you are spiritual, and in other ways. People Care is how we form resilient, safe, and strong communities for ourselves and future generations.
Care of the Future is recognizing that despite our modern way of living, where there may seem to be unlimited supplies of anything we want, in actuality, we need to respect that there are limits to non-renewable resources. If we care about the future, we will concern ourselves with saving, sharing, donating, preserving, setting limits, reducing consumption, and returning both natural and man-made capital to support the preservation of socioeconomic and environmental systems for generations far beyond our own. On a pasture it can be as simple as spreading out the cow manure to sanitize the field and spread out the returned and changed organic matter. Keeping life in a cycle or what we call a closed loop system. We can participate in this system. In our personal lives it could be volunteering at a local nursing home or donating to charity. It may be designing and building a community garden where others can come to eat and learn the joy of the soil.
A Little More About Us: How We Got from There to Here
From a very small age I was attracted to getting lost in the woods and eating ALL the berries. I've always wanted my own farm. It seemed like such an adventure and noble endeavor. I was not actually ready at all for what that meant when I first was given that chance, and I lost my first farm in my early twenties. That’s Ok. Life happens. I had to move to Philadelphia for work and to reset. There, I met this beautiful lady who is honestly the best wife in the universe for dealing with me. My son and my wife are immense inspirations behind everything I do, and we all work together as a team on our little farm.
When we first met, Mrs. Heitzman encouraged me to chase after something I felt I could use to help the world that was more in my own element, and so I went to Integrative medicine school. I felt like nutrition and herbalism had done so much to literally save my life. I wanted to help others down that path. I wanted to learn what the ancient cultures I respected so deeply did to remain at optimal wellness, to see what they would do with some of these modern disease processes, and to reflect the value of that in my working with patients. Bush medicine can sometimes be the best medicine if you ask me.
Studying these thousands of years of science as well as holistic history led me to so many great clients, literally helping to rid them of ailments they were told they would be medicated for forever… and so I began doing non-profit work as a nutrition specialist. However, we all know the healthcare system is flawed/broken, and I really could not reach the people so desperate for change.
When the pandemic began, we felt it was time to make the long mulled over decision to homeschool our son and start the self-sufficient life we’d always talked about. One benefit that maybe outweighs them all is that we now know what to do to feed our family if the shelves at the grocery store are empty. In fact, we try to do as much as we can right here at home. We advocate for others to do the same. Make do and mend.
Why did I choose permaculture as a career and way of life to begin with? Well, modern life never made sense to me. It seemed to me that this could all collapse in a moment. It seemed to me we were robbing the earth, degrading the soil, polluting the air, destroying habitats, and doing nothing about it. We had always talked about relying more on ourselves. Now was the time for us to actually do that. This is all for a whole other blog perhaps, as so many families all over the world are beginning to feel the chaos of our reckless ways of living.
I decided to put my Permaculture Design Certification into action in our own lives. We sold our old home and bought a house on land that was basically an empty football field, nothing but a big lawn. What came next was that I found the answers to being more connected, more soulful, and more like the independent person I'd always wanted to be. Even better, this endeavor towards a more regenerative life has led to time with my family, time to work together, time outside learning skills, adventures all over this beautiful country, and the opportunity to share what I learn with you all.
I built our food forest from my education and some experiences, and then decided to use my PDC to build this small business you’re reading about today. I love being able to conceptualize what I see working in a perfect ecological system out on my favorite trail in the woods into a beautiful food forest design for someone's family backyard, or maybe a community center where people can be fed, enjoy the artistic beauty of the earth, as well as get a little education.
My beautiful family is always willing to help pull the weeds, although to be honest, we don’t need to do this too often, as we are aiming for methods that don’t require much human input.
Gardening has always been a passion for me, but there's a huge difference between landscaping and growing some peppers, versus what is involved in developing a food forest around a super guild with several fruit and nut trees, berries, water harvesting swales, compost systems, insectaries, nitrogen fixers, herbaceous layers, medicinal herbs that might double as a deterrent to pests, water catchments from roofs, beautiful perennial flowers and herbs, ground cover that can be harvested as food, annual vegetables interwoven, protective border planting, a healthy soil that is diverse in all kinds of life, and so on. These are the things I love piecing together, like how do we shape the earth to harvest the essential life source of water on its own in a natural closed loop system that looks beautiful? How do we make design decisions that serve as many purposes as possible?
It's a lot to learn and this isn't touching the deep soil science and microscopic end of it. There is an infinite amount of knowledge for us to grasp, but the great part about permaculture is that we use the smallest, simplest steps to make the biggest impact or yield. We make changes, then observe. That means you can get started on a permaculture journey today!
Maybe you learn how to make sweet potato slips (they don't grow from seeds), or maybe you build a keyhole garden. Maybe you just plant a pack of seeds you purchased into some pods to transplant into a raised bed. Maybe you collect some rainwater. Better yet, you buy a few fruit trees! Even better yet, you plant a guild around those fruit trees and start a food forest!!! This blog isn't a sales pitch, but if you ever need help or advice on anything, even just seed starting, that's what I'm here for. If you want to learn food preservation methods or how to make a tincture, we can do it together. If you want to turn 5 acres into a food forest full of nuts, fruits, vegetables, diversity of life, and medicine… I'm here for that too.
This past year we were able to walk into what used to be our yard and pick something for dinner from the food forest on a daily basis. We set some clients up with food forests that will surely be better than our own as well. I'd love to keep teaching others these ways that I truly believe are the best shot we have at turning not only our planet, but the way we treat one another around. I'm ready to learn and push my mind and body some more in the direction it was created to go.
I’m ready to challenge myself to ask the hard questions and use permaculture knowledge to solve our problems. Who is producing our food? How are they producing our food? Broad scale agricultural changes start in our backyards and with local farmers willing to use permaculture methods.
Permaculture is systems within systems within systems. It is big picture thinking. Not just a Hügelkultur mound. Or a cob pizza oven. For me, my goal is to fit permaculture into this life we are forced to live. To prove that we can thrive in a better way that allows us to be free, and I am certain that we, along with the planet will be healthier and happier for it.
- You can’t see it all, but here is a client’s greenhouse we designed and built, also a self composting keyhole garden, and food forest that includes sheet mulching and water harvesting swales. This was designed and implemented in December before any guilds could be planted here in chilly Pennsylvania. Seed schedule is ready for spring and we can’t wait to show you this customers progress in their first year of growing.
We call this place “Golden Spruce Food Forest”
We have a really deep culture of good healthy food and ways of life on this planet. There's more to life than empty calories. It's making music, making food with each other, enjoying time together, and enjoying community. We can stop degrading the earth's soils and destroying ecosystems anytime we want. We don't have to invent the solution to problems that nature has already solved. We can imitate natural food systems on our farms, in our gardens, and landscapes. We can mimic the perfect patterns we see in nature all around us.
Throughout time, humans have used patterns in various ways to interact with each other and the natural world. We’ve crafted art, images, songs, and dances to house critical information about medicine, weather, history, humanity, nature, and more. Where we don’t see these patterns, we create them. We give meaning and understanding. For example, we navigated the stars using constellations we invented to make them readable.
In food forests and our systems in general, when we apply patterns, we must ensure we apply them to support and enhance the ecology. Often times, when enough observation and reflection is made, patterns will present themselves and do the work for us. For example, designing on contour. The goal is aligning our lives, and our designs to the natural patterns already at work.
I mentioned seed schedules and seed starting at the beginning of all of this. Right now, it’s the first week of February and I will be starting some seeds early so we have a jump. Within the seed schedule I make, you can find a good amount of info, such as when to start seeds indoors, when to transplant them outside, when to direct sow seeds outside, how deep to sow the seed, how many days until it should germinate, and much more useful information. A good road map allows for succession of crops to get continual harvesting and maximize the season as long as we can. With the diversity in a food forest, some years I might grow 40 or 50 different little crops, but this season we will be focusing strongly on the guilds around our fruit trees and locking them into a super guild. Then we'll focus on some staple annual crops that will find their way into the raised beds at some point. Our fruits and veggies will mostly be in guilds, I even use guilds in the raised beds.
I did not imagine my first blog post on our site would be this long, however, there is so much I have to share, and so much more to learn. What is most important is to focus on the principles and details that will allow us to enact these planet saving principles in our own lives. Then we can share them as a community. You can literally start today. In the text of Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, Bill Mollison said, “The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children. MAKE IT NOW”
This is my permaculture life. I believe it’s possible in our gardens for our families, and on largescale farms that feed the nations. I believe that it starts with me.
