Tag Archives: designs

Connect Africa Hub – A Permaculture Design

Posted on by Bill Wilson

Illustration of the Final Design

Permaculture Design Course Graduates - Summer 2011 - Stelle, IL

 Context:

Grant Shadden took his PDC Training with us – summer 2011.  While here, he shared about his upcoming 2-month trip to Africa to support the work of the Connect Africa hub. 

We were all moved by the work of this organization and by Grant’s, and his wife Paige’s, devotion to assist in the work there.  Grant was actually taking this training in order to come up with a design for this organization and a 20-acre site they want to develop.  

As such, we made the decision to assist him by making it one of the final design projects for the PDC Course.  4 other students self-selected themselves to work on this design with Grant. 

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Design Tools – Calculating The Sun’s Path

Posted on by Milton
The sun is an important influence on any permaculture design and has a huge effect when it interacts with a building, our gardens or solar PV. I thought it would be good to highlight some tools that are available to help us assess where the sun will be at any given point in time.

SunCalc
A Solar Pathfinder for Google Maps

SunCalc allows you to drag the tool to different points google maps. It shows you where the sun will rise, set, or be at a given moment on a specific day of the year. The shaded area shows the highest and lowest point for the sun over the year. 

Sun Path Chart Program
University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory

If you enter your latitude and longitude or just your zip code you can make a chart with this online tool. I find this chart very useful to print out and take to a site to help me estimate where the sun is in the sky at different times of the year.

 

  

The Solar Pathfinder

While expensive, the solar pathfinder is a neat tool that allows you to to see where the sun will be at a particular spot, at different times of the year. This gives a very accurate picture of where the sun and shade will be and is a useful tool that is often used by PV installers.

 

 

Wind & Sun Farm – A Permaculture Design (Part 2 of 4)

Posted on by Milton
Previously, we posted part 1 of 4 of the Wind & Sun Farm Design.

Here is part 2 and we will continute to post the remaining pieces of the design as time permits.  

If you want to be sure to see all 4 parts, you can subscribe to our blog by email in the sidebar at the top.

Pictured:  Initial drawing of a keylined hillside with swales and linear food forest overlaid. 

 

We Begin North of the Home with…
Area 2 – The Eastern Hillside
(Design team – Greta, Kathi & Bill) 

Part 2 of 4

 

Current Conditions

  • The field is east facing with a substantial slope (approximately 20%) that is presently planted with alfalfa and a host of other prairie and pasture plants. The land sustained many years of agricultural practices including tilling and chemical use which has caused two significant areas of erosion indicated on the map with tan, squiggly lines (see map a ways down).
  • The excess water during rain events and snow-melt flows northward at the bottom of the hill where a substantial wet spot, located mostly on the neighbor’s property, has sprouted up many moisture loving trees and shrubs, most notably, black willow.
  • Some aged maple trees boarder the north/south highway, providing substantial shade on the lowest part of the property in the mornings.
  • Area 2 comes right up to the work and living area of the farm (Area 1) and picks up again just south of said area for 200 feet where the ridge meets the southeast corner of the property.

 

Permaculture Design Recommendations

Developing the Eastern Slopes of Wind & Sun Farm

Keylining and Swales

In order to deal effectively with two distinct areas of erosion, (cream colored squiggles in aerial photo below) while simultaneously preparing the soils for an abundance of food production, we recommend keyline plowing in years 1 through 3.  Keylining is done until dramatic improvement to soil quality is achieved.  

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Wind & Sun Farm – A Permaculture Design (Part 1 of 4)

Posted on by Milton

Permaculture Design Charrette — July 2011

Above: The Design Crew – Completion of a Cup Swale

So often in the world of permaculture we focus on the elements of a design, like gardens, herb spirals food forests, or chicken tractors. It is all too easy to get distracted from what the real goals of permaculture are, which is how we assemble the items in the landscape into a cohesive and synergistic whole; the permaculture design.

Creating a design is an important part of our Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) courses but is not the only way that a design can be made. At the invitation of John and Ann Hippensteel, Midwest Permaculture was given the opportunity to host a permaculture design charrette at Wind and Sun Farm in Door County, WI. The charrette was opened up to their family & friends, and the greater public, with the intention of creating a useful and practical design for the family and was held over a 5 day period from June 29 to July 3, 2011 on the Farm.  In attendance were 4 family members, 6 other students, and 3 Midwest Permaculture instructors/designers — Bill Wilson, Milton Dixon and Bryce Ruddock.

In the coming days we will share this design on our blog, beginning with an overview of permaculture, the farm, goals of the design and our process. Click more to read on below!

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What is a Permaculture Design Charrette?

Posted on by Bill Wilson

A-Frame being used during a Permaculture Design Charrette

 Learning to Create a Permaculture Design With Others  

Often times, the best way to learn something is by simply doing it.  It’s one thing to read and study about the permaculture design process, but until one actaully sits down and goes through all of the considerations and steps involved for an actaul piece of property, do the intricacies of this work really hit home.

The purpose of a charrette (a group design process) is to go through the design journey with others, some with more or less experience.  The idea is to tap the collective wisdom of the entire group to create a design that is likely better than any one person might create.

We will be hosting such a charrette in Door County, WI, over a 5-day period (June 29-July3) for a 40-acre farm. We will start by observing what is already there in the way of soil, sun, water, plants, local markets and other energy flows, move into what is possible with these combinations in comparison to what the land owners would like to create, and then dig into the research and design steps. By the time we are done, our hosts will have a permaculture design that they may implement over the next several years.

Time permitting, we may dig into some hands-on earth works such as digging some swales or rain-gardens.  Food and camping are included with the training.

Door County – Permaculture Design Charrette – June 29-July3