December 9, 2010

Sipping a glass of red on a Friday evening as I reflect on this past week of non-stop work. Peter and I head back to Maine for the holidays next Friday, hence the 17-day work marathon sans break. Phew! Christmas has never looked so relaxing. :)

Exciting event of the day: Transplanting the avocado trees that arrived safe and sound from California yesterday! We ordered 4 tree for now, experimenting with how they do this winter in Phoenix greenhouse. If still kickin' in the spring time, more will definitely be ordered. They're all cold-tolerant to 25 degrees or so, thus we have some decent wiggle room, as Phoenix never dips below 40. This is all part of the next tropical succession - mangoes, avocados, papayas, guavas, etc. Not a bad time to be apart of this operation!

Process of transplanting today: 1) Free tree of all packaging 2) Cut bottom of plastic pot and up the sides until the rim 3) Place 5-gal. pot inside of 10-gal. pot that has 3 inches of manure/potting soil/mycelium mixture already mixed 4) cut the pot up to the rim so that, essentially, you have cut pot vertically in half 5) Carefully remove one half of pot at a time minding the root ball 6) Once the tree is now sitting in 10-gal. pot, back fill with more of the potting mixture, adding worms and compost tea and compacting soil a bit 7) Stake tree and voila! Our avocados will await their transplant into the ground for 2 months.

The other day I cleaned out the aquaponics tank out with Karen, our editor. In 85-degree heat and 95% humidity, it was a sweaty job! We transferred water lettuce and water celery to water buckets (there was water involved, yes) and cleared out all the grime, watering the nearby beds with a hose connected to the bottom of the tank as we worked. For now we've decided to just keep the tank full for thermal mass benefits, since we don't have any fish. However, to utilize vertical space, we placed a wooden flat on top of the tank and are now keeping all tropical bedding plants there. Karen and I then worked to cut back the lablab vines that had aggressively spread along the passion fruit trellis. We collected the beans and separated the dried from the fresh for later propagation and eating, respectively.

Karen is the latest addition to Team CRMPI. She has been working (very diligently!) with us on the book project and hurray it is finally moving! No doubt, our system for writing is laborious, but as long as it works for everyone involved, we're sticking with it. Our sample chapter is "Multiple Functions in the Greenhouse" so Jerome walks through the greenhouse with recorder in hand and talks out each feature and its associated functions. I then transcribe this information and revise it with him. We then send it to Karen for editing and sprucing up. Well, the hope anyways is that this will result in a snazzy sample chapter that'll win us a book contract to be launched in 2011. Fingers crossed!

The stack of articles that has been written about Jerome and his life's work is impressive, plus the number of time he has been noted in a book or invited to speak on a panel... He has single-handedly earned CRMPI a world-renowned reputation within the Permaculture sphere. I mean, he couldn't have done it without all the generous help from volunteers, interns, neighbors and students but he was essentially the catalyst for the sustainable food production movement in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. Nowadays there is a slew of non-profits in this valley (almost too many!), many of which are working towards greater food self-sufficiency. Personally, I'd like to work towards collaborating with them, in order to gain more resilience for us all and to share resources and ideas. Hmmm... something to work on.

Every day is a flurry of phone calls, e-mails, running in and out of the greenhouse, hosting volunteers, holding meetings, cooking, visiting the bunnies, a trip to the composting toilet, a cup of tea, transcribing for the book project, recording greenhouse temps, writing up invoices, ordering plants, planting seeds, spraying kelp extract, lying in the hammock, taking in this gorgeous country, a heated debate, attempting a grant proposal, filling up water jugs at the spring, washing dishes, watching a bit of "news" via John Stewart, making a fire, a dash to the sauna and finally, a quiet evening reading to myself.

December 4, 2010

Another busy day here. One of our 3 board members came for a visit to discuss the big meeting in January where we will outline our revitalization plan for CRMPI. I may be named executive director, which is a position I would be honored to fulfill!

Greenhouse Work:

Spent many hours in Phoenix today brainstorming the next succession of planting and then doing it! Where there was a giant tomato tree, cucumber vines and unhealthy tomatoes in pots, we have mulched and prepared for annuals. We mulched with a lasagna layering method using horse manure, coffee, worms, ashes, leaves, bio-tea and lots of water. Today we began the planting! In order of rows from rock wall towards the path: Spilanthes, Fava beans, dinosaur kale, kohlrabi and more tomorrow. Be delicate with those seedlings!

Willow tea was made to inoculate plants. To make: stuff as many willow leaves into a bucket as possible and fill in the cracks with water. Allow to soak overnight and use tea when planting. Left over leaves can be used in mulching.

Drained the aquaponics tank in preparation for our new worm farm! The tank wasn't being used to grow much and the thermal mass gain was negligible. Time to transform it into something useful... worm farm anyone? These we will use for our own gardens (inside/outside), as well as for sale items in the spring when others begin planting. Stay tuned for how to make a worm farm...

Organized all the potted plants on top of the flats today. This will facilitate an inventory sweep as we prepare a plant list for 2011. Keep records of which plants you have!

Cleaned out propagation area in hopes of installing shelving above the table, as well as to clear out the crap and make it a productive area again.

Planted peas and beans along trellises, intermixed and in no particular order. Just get those seedlings in the ground and climbing up those poles!

Phew. I think there was even more than that but the ol' noggin is too tired to describe anything further. Goo'day.

December 3, 2010

Today was a grey day, an indoor sort of day. We made headway on recording our volunteer hours, which amounted to approximately $36,000 per year. Amazing! And we have more volunteers visits scheduled for this last month of the year.

We're hoping to schedule a talk at Basalt Library for a talk given by Michael and Jerome on greenhouses. I personally think we need to begin incorporating the local community into CRMPI more. Citizens of the town should know that a plethora of gardening knowledge sits right above their heads on Basalt Mountain. Whether this means organizing events every so often to invite locals to visit CRMPI, share a "hot bevie" and take part in a small workshop, I don't know the details yet. Either way, more outreach.

Sprayed kelp extract. This is to be sprayed on the under side of leaves before 11 a.m. (when the stomatas close) while playing music, as this supposedly "opens the leaves" more. Who really knows...

December 2, 2010

Today was a relatively productive day! We began compiling volunteer hours on a spreadsheet to facilitate grant proposals. CRMPI would not exist without the immense amount of help we receive from volunteers, interns and workshop participants. Unpaid, these individuals nevertheless walk away with hands-on experience, new information, inspiration to apply our techniques, as well as an armful of fresh veggies! It's crucial we recognize the income generated by such generous labor.

We also created a spreadsheet to record temperatures inside & outside the Phoenix, soil temp., sun exposure, and humidity. It could be the beginning of a research and development project we undertake to assess Phoenix's capacity to maintain above-freezing temps in the dead of a Colorado winter. So far, temps have not fallen below 41 degrees even on sub-zero nights. We've been stoking the saunas on the most bitter of evenings but today we were granted FULL sun and the Phoenix rose to 88 degrees! No need for a sauna tonight.

I helped Jerome to organize his e-mail files, as there has been an influx in people interested in our tours, workshops, and courses. We're trying to stay on top of immediate responses to such inquiries since we always appreciate recognition of and interest in CRMPI. This summer will entail several workshops, two advanced course, the design course and a party to celebrate CRMPI's 25th year of operation!

Grants! We're buckling down this winter to write several grant proposals since much of recent funding has been redirected to the Growing Dome Project at the Roaring Fork High School. A project worthy of donations, however, it's now time to inject new ideas and fresh funding into CRMPI.

I watered all of Phoenix. These days, once a week hydration is sufficient. I picked all flowers from the spilanthes plants for Jerome's infamous tinctures.

The book project. I believe we have found an assistant with writing and editing skills to help us out with the greenhouse book! We need to prepare a sample copy for Chelsea Green Publishing due January.

Overall, Peter and I have been discussing CRMPI's functionality. At present, this is an amazing center for learning, training, teaching, research and development, growing food using sustainable practices, and exemplifying permaculture principles and ethics. CRMPI's potential is limitless. Ideas recently thrown our have been an elder care center, a livelihood program for individuals who need a launching pad for their own small business, consistent visits from college groups, etc. So there is only good that can come from this place, however, we are not currently functioning at full capacity. We need to begin revitalizing our funding, expanding our board, taking on a facilitator to help us re-organize and in general, bring CRMPI back up to a highly functioning non-profit. I see this winter as a wonderful opportunity for rejuvenation. Step by step we can get CRMPI back on its feet. And what a shame not to do so. All the ideas are here and our network of past students, volunteers and interns makes for an impressive history of connection to this site. The world is changing rapidly and permaculture, I believe, will undoubtedly help shape a future of peace and prosperity.