http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za Experiments in permaculture, natural farming, food forests and more Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:07:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When the question came up, "How could permaculture be applied on a commercial scale successfully?" it led to an amazing opportunity to meet up with Nico Snyman, a long time South African farmer, and his wife Janie, who are using soil organisms to rehabilitate polluted and damaged soils. Over the years ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/saving-our-soils-and-how-the-old-peach-tree-was-brought-back-to-life/ If you're wondering where you can do your course here in SA, have a look at the list below. It also includes online options as well (although be sure to enquire about how much practical vs. theory you'll be doing). Outeniqua Trout Farm (Near Knysna, Western Cape) Contact Andrew or Hazel at ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/permaculture-design-courses-pdc-in-south-africa/ Sepp Holzer has a remarkable permaculture system - he has also been able to grow tropical plants on his farm which is situated high up in the mountains in Austria. All that he learned, was through simple observation of nature; this was way before the term, permaculture, was even coined. He ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/another-2-amazing-permaculture-video-clips/ This is the book that I started with when I decided that permaculture was something I wanted to know more about. At first glance it felt a little like been back at school with a text book (which it is I guess) but if it's something you're interested in, then ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/introduction-to-permaculture/ There are few things that compare to the scent of citrus blossoms on the warm evening air. Every garden has to have at least one of these trees, in my opinion. I bought my lemon and lime trees from the local nursery and planted my lemon tree in a bed near ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/lemons-and-limes/ [caption id="attachment_63" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Seedballs: the final result"][/caption] Both of these concepts: guerilla gardening and seedballing, drew an instant fascination for me (even though I felt the guerilla gardening concept had quite a goody-nerd feel to all of it). Guerrilla gardening: the idea that empty, plantless or shabby areas (whether in the ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/painting-it-green-guerilla-gardening-with-seedballs/ Ever wondered where to find free rocks; especially here in Joburg? I was dying to build a herb spiral and needed to do it on the cheap. And guess who came along? Grudgingly though because I was cutting into his gaming time. I’d been going on and on for a few ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/guide-to-finding-free-rocks-and-how-to-build-a-no-dig-herb-spiral/ Forlawn isn't it? Here it is, our spacious backyard - looks deceptively large in the photo for some reason but in reality it isn’t. Though, when I first decided on going ahead with this whole project experimentation I did feel a bit overwhelmed. Where to start? So I focussed ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/the-art-of-exterior-decorating-or-better-known-as-losing-the-lawnscape/ [caption id="attachment_37" align="alignright" width="237" caption="Bill Mollison and Masanobu Fukuoka"][/caption] These words from Fukuoka's book, The Natural Way of Farming (The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy), caught my attention. I had come across his books after first discovering permaculture and Bill Mollison (but, more on that in another post). Masanobu, a farmer-philosopher ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/natural-farming-no-tillage-no-fertilizer-no-pesticides-no-weeding-and-no-pruning/ This was one of those moments, after seeing this video, that really made an impact on me. An astounding clip on the greening of a patch of the desert. You have to see it to actually get an idea. This video, amongst other few things, has had such an ... http://www.wherethegreenthingsare.co.za/index.php/the-video-that-got-me-into-the-garden/