Goodbye Joe

In Memoriam: Joe Bageant

Goodbye Joe, thank you for blessing us with your presence.

And thank you to Fred for his words.

Permaculture Guild Identified: Pinus sp. and Amanita sp.

My parents have several Pinus strobus and Pinus resinosa growing around the edge of the their property. About two years ago, some mushrooms fruited. They were recently identified as Amanita muscaria var. guessowii Veselý. Funny thing is that in the just over 20 years they've lived there, this was the first, and so far, only fruiting. Since I plan on planting several Pinus koraiensis, I think I'll get some soil from under my parents trees to inoculate my trees.

My Standing Desk Does More Than Keep Me Awake In The Afternoon...

...since it's more dangerous to fall over asleep while standing!

From ABC (Australia),  Sit less to lower heart disease risk:
[S]tudies show sitting for long periods can be dangerous to health, even when people exercise regularly, increasing the risk of heart disease and other conditions by 80 per cent.

Interestingly,

Professor Hamilton says the negative effects of sitting can be seen even after an hour. 

 So, if you don't like standing all day (or have back problems) at least get up and move around every hour.

Asberry Acres Forest Garden - Permaculture Plan Update: Improved Polyculture Guilds

My previous plan didn't properly take into account that my nitrogen fixers (Caragana arborescens, Elaeagnus umbellata) tolerate some shade in the Low Tree layer. The Apios Institute Polyculture wiki has an entry for a fruit tree-gooseberry-pea shrub polyculture. I'm also going to try polycultures centered on each of my nitrogen fixers with Castenea pumilla and some Corylus spp. hybrids. These polycultures also allow me to pack the trees in more densely and encouraged me to use a more interesting layout than simple staggered rows and columns. I've also added a Weeping Willow and a Rose of Sharon hedge around the north and east sides because they're pretty ;-)

Wise teachers...

chang[e] something from unconscious and incidental to conscious and intentional.

Asberry Acres Forest Garden - Permaculture Zone 1 Veggie Garden

I've done a significant amount of planning for Zones 2 (Home Orchard) and 3 (The Farm) and left Zone 1 (Home Garden) for later. Here's the Zone 1 preliminary design:

Asberry Acres Forest Garden - Permaculture Mini Guilds

Note: apologies for the late posting, been working another project that I'll talk about on a later date.

Definitions:
Edible Forest Gardening:
(according to Ethan Roland of appleseedpermaculture.com) - [An edible forest garden is] a consciously designed ecosystem [following permaculture principles] that mimics the structure and function of temperate forests. [It is] a perennial polyculture of multipurpose[, usually perennial] plants [where] each species fulfills at least 3 functions.

Permaculture Guild:
(had some difficulty finding a solid definition for this term, so here's my take) - A grouping of organisms (plants, animals, fungi, etc.) that are known to grow well together in a particular habitat and successional phase.

Since there isn't much research on more than a few well-known guilds, I'm taking a very experimental approach to find out what works or doesn't work. My guilds are also going to start out simply with plants and fungi growing in my wood chip mulch. Animals such as bees, ducks, and goats are planned for later.

Layers:
(according to Robert Hart)
1) A ‘canopy’ layer consisting of the original mature fruit trees.
2) A ‘low-tree’ layer of smaller nut and fruit trees on dwarfing root stocks.
3) A ‘shrub layer’ of fruit bushes such as currants and berries.
4) A ‘herbaceous layer’ of perennial vegetables and herbs.
5) A ‘ground cover’ layer of edible plants that spread horizontally.
6) A ‘rhizosphere’ or ‘underground’ dimension of plants grown for their roots and tubers.
7) A vertical ‘layer’ of vines and climbers.

Layers 1, 2, and 3 have already been planned.

Plants and seeds to be used:

Latin Name	Common Name	Layer(s)	Function(s)	Use(s)	Notes
Claytonia perfoliata	Miner's Lettuce	Ground Cover	Ground Cover, Shade	Edible	Annual
Sium sisarum	Skirret	Root		Edible
Polymnia edulis	Yacon	Root		Edible	Not hardy Z5
Symphytum officinale	Comfrey	Herb, Root	Bees, Nutrient Accumulator	Medicinal, Food, Biomass	Allantoin
Urtica dioica	Stinging Nettles	Herb	Insectary	Edible	Nutritious
Camassia quamash	Quamash	Root	Bees	Edible
Crambe maritima	Sea Kale	Ground Cover	Bees	Edible
Chenopodium capitatum	Strawberry Spinach, Strawberry Blite	Herb		Edible	Annual
Chenopodium bonus-henricus	Good King Henry	Herb		Edible
Asparagus officinalis	Asparagus	Herb	Bees, Insectary, Nematocide	Edible
Cynara scolymus	Artichoke	Herb	Bees, Butterflies	Edible	Not hardy Z5
Levisticum officinale	Lovage	Herb		Edible, Essential Oil, Medicinal
Artiplex hortensis	Orach, Mountain Spinach	Herb		Edible	Annual
Astragalus membranaceus	Huang Qi	Herb	Legume, Bees, Butterflies	Medicinal	Not hardy Z5
Armoracia rusticana	Horseradish	Root	Bees, Flies, Beetles, Nutrient Accumulator	Edible, Fungicide, Repellent
Tropaeolum majus	Nasturtium	Vine	Aphids	Edible, Insecticide	Annual
Dioscorea batatas	Chinese yam	Vine		Edible, Biomass
Ribes uva-crispa	Gooseberry	Shrub	Thorns, Birds	Edible
Lonicera caerulea	Honeyberry	Shrub		Edible
Vaccinium corymbosum	Blueberry	Shrub	Bees	Edible	Needs acidic soils
Apios americana	Ground Nut	Vine, Root	Legume	Edible
Helianthus tuberosus	Jerusalem Artichoke	Herb, Root	Bees	Edible	Inulin root
Fragaria x ananassa	Strawberry	Ground Cover		Edible
Passiflora incarnata	Maypops	Vine	Bees	Edible, Medicinal
Actinidia arguta	Hardy kiwi	Vine	Bees	Edible
Humulus lupulus	Hops	Vine		Edible, Medicinal, Fiber, Paper
Portulaca oleracea	Purslane	Ground cover		Edible
Borago officinalis	Borage	Herb	Bees, Insect Repellent	Edible	Not hardy Z5
Rheum x cultorum	Rhubarb	Herb	Insecticide	Edible

Standing Desk Update

Not much to say beyond that I'm still doing it and I bought a small plush rug to stand on since my feet are still getting sore by the end of the day.

Significantly Increased Vitamin D Intake Needed for Good Health

HIGHER VITAMIN D INTAKE NEEDED TO REDUCE CANCER RISK

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha have reported that markedly higher intake of vitamin D is needed to reach blood levels that can prevent or markedly cut the incidence of breast cancer and several other major diseases than had been originally thought.  The findings are published February 21 in the journal Anticancer Research.

While these levels are higher than traditional intakes, they are largely in a range deemed safe for daily use in a December 2010 report from the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.

“We found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of 4000-8000 IU are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce by about half the risk of several diseases - breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes,” said Cedric Garland, DrPH, professor of family and preventive medicine at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.  “I was surprised to find that the intakes required to maintain vitamin D status for disease prevention were so high – much higher than the minimal intake of vitamin D of 400 IU/day that was needed to defeat rickets in the 20th century.” 

Read the rest at UC San Diego

About 6 months ago, I started a regimen of 3600 mg of fish oil (1080 mg of omega 3 fatty acids), 2000 I.U. of Vitamin D and 1000 mg of calcium. I did so in the hopes that my psoriasis symptoms would decrease. Unfortunately, that experiment has failed to produce the desired results. The upside, however, is that I've been completely cold/flu symptom free during this whole time - even during the height of the cold/flu season. To the best of my recollection, I've never been cold/flu free for any 6 month period in my life. I strongly recommend others start this experiment and include any safety protocols that might apply to you individually.