Pictures of PDC at Fox Hollow Farm

Bill Wilson
August 19, 2014

Hayden Wilson and Bethany Gardner of Midwest Permaculture

Hi Friends of Midwest Permaculture.

Bill, Ernest, Hayden and I ( Bethany) are at our farming PDC course here at Fox Hollow Farm in Ohio. Bill is doing most of the teaching while the three of us support the delivery of the course along with the Rickard family (the farmers) and staff.

Bill asked me and Hayden to make a brief photo-log of the course and to drop the pictures here into a single blog post.

We’ll break it down into daily selections which we hope will give you an idea of what happens at a typical PDC course along with the unique aspects of this wonderful farming course. We’re having a great time.

Hope you enjoy…. Bethany

Day 1

Students — On day 1 we toured the farm meeting one of the Rickards horses, Polly. It is a halflinger breed used to pull logs and other heavy items around the farm.

Outside shower — Ernest shows us how to use the outdoor shower that he built.

Composting Toilet — Ernest also built a composting toilet as a back-up to the indoor bathrooms with showers.

Pastured raised pigs — Jesse Rickard shows our students their pigs and explains a little bit about how they are pasture raised with the chickens. They are also used to work up the soil when and where needed.

Permaculture students. — After the tour, some of the students are discussing their thoughts on the farm.

Day 2

A-frame in action. — Hayden showing the students how to use an A-frame, which is used to mark contours on the land for swale digging.

Students working with the A-frame — Here we have one of the students working with the A-frame.

Students Looking through the site level — After they find level ground with the A-frame, they look through the site level to learn how to use this instrument and to double check their work. Bill hosted this section.

Cooking — While the students are busy learning, Chelsea Gandy and her staff prepare the next meal. Chelsea and Jesse host a ‘Farm to Table’ business serving gourmet meals right from the farm so cooking for our group of students is right up their alley.

Day 3

mob grazing — Chelsea holding class on a shaded hilltop that looks down over the farm. A perfect classroom!

Midwest Permaculture PDC Course at Fox Hollow Farm, OH, 2014 — Here is the view from the tree classroom as we worked our way down hill.

Load Up the Truck — Students loading up in the pick-up truck, to ride over to the distant pastures.

Looking at the pasture — Learning about various pasture characteristics used for rotational-mob grazing with sheep and cattle.

Lunch Time — Jesse and Bill host a conversation about logging during lunch.

Day 4

Day to day — On the 4th day, Jesse and Chelsea explained day to day life on their farm. On this particular day, the sheep got out and here we watched as they get the sheep back to where they need to be.

After supper, Ernest shows us all about rocket stoves and how useful they can be.

Day 5

Woodlots — On day 5 here at the farm we are talking about woodlots and logging. Here Jesse is using Molly and Polly ( the 2 horses) to not only escort one of the students up the trail, but also to show us how amazing and useful they are here at the farm.

Variety show — After all of the fun today, students had the chance to share a little more about themselves during the Variety Show!

Day 6

swale — Kaitlyn and Anya use the A-Frame to mark the contour where the Hugelkultur Swale will be dug.

Hugelkultur Swale — All of the students work hard on digging out the swale.

Chainsawing — Hayden is cutting wood to fill the Hugelkultur Swale.

Chainsawing Lesson — Jesse does a short demo on how to properly and safely fell a tree.

Bill Working — Bill is getting his sandals dirty while he helps finish the Hugelkultur Swale

Day 7

Today the students are working on their design projects. I want to take a little bit off of the students today and have some pictures of “Behind the scenes” Staff and a few foliage pictures that I could not resist.

Jesse and Hayden discussing design work for the students. — Jesse of Fox Hollow Farm and Hayden of Midwest Permaculture in deep discussion

Chelsea in the kitchen holding a ham that will be for Supper.

Chelsea and Janai working hard in the kitchen! Thanks to the kitchen crew! The food has been so delicious!

Day 8 – Graduation Day!

Bill awarding a Midwest Permaculture hosting award to Chelsea and Jesse — Bill awarding a Midwest Permaculture Hosting Award to Chelsea and Jesse

Here is the entire support team. This is how many people it took to deliver the course and keep the farm running for the entire week. Kneeling: Hayden and me (Bethany). Standing: Bill, Janai, Chelsea, Jesse, Lisa, Bruce & Ernest.

Thanks for viewing. I enjoyed taking and posting these pictures.
Maybe you can join us for one of our future courses…!!!

Bethany

2 thoughts on “Pictures of PDC at Fox Hollow Farm”

Kathryn Hardage
December 6, 2014 at 5:06 pm

Very valuable overview. I am glad to see the process using cleared land, although our land is deeply forested, so I am working back the other way.

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Jean
October 26, 2014 at 5:49 am

Thank you for showing us the daily events at Fox Hollow Farm’s permaculture design course by Midwest Permaculture. I appreciate your documentation of the week’s events. God bless you!

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