Lucie and I will be presenting a series of 8 classes at Leisure Square in Vero Beach starting October 25 and running through June 2015. Each class will have two parts, classroom and practicum which can be taken separately or together though some practicum units will be less impactful without the classroom understanding. As a…
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Understanding the Food Forest, and employing Forest Guilds for Florida: Find out how you can do your part to save our world.
Composting 101 offers everything you need to know about composting to successfully create your own compost pile, passive compost, or sheet composts. It is instructive for the first time compost concoctors as well as compost connoisseurs, offering information about the many different ways to make compost happen in your yard, as well as the basic and fascinating…
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I have posted new pics from our food forest project at Peak/LOVJuice in Vero Beach Florida. If you are interested click on this link to see the newest blog post at FloridaRegenerativeLandscapes.com and those amazing pics from our 8 months old project.
Lucie and I are presenting another Layer Mound Workshop. This one will be at the Sebastian/Roseland yard of Joann McGrath. The property is on a sandridge, and this workshop will be the first bit of work we will be doing on this yard, though we expect to be helping Joann to transform her property to…
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Two weeks ago we built a layer mound in our Layer Mound Workshop at Mark Stanley’s garden in Vero. Saturday we will be having a Planting Seeds Workshop. We will spend some time learning a bit about planting seeds, about different types of companion plantings, and poly-culture, and then we will plant Mark’s seeds in…
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Due to popular demand and because the timing is right we are presenting the Lasagna Layer Mound Workshop again. This class will take place at the garden of Mark Stanley in South Vero, on Sunday November 3, at 9am and will go to approximately noon. The cost of this workshop is $20 to help cover…
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Lucie and I will be presenting a Layer Mound Garden class and workshop Saturday August 24, at 10am at the Peak Health and Fitness project location in Vero Beach, Florida. Come take the class, have a live organic vegan juice on us, and learn hands on how to layer up a garden for an instant…
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In April bull dozers came to the canal behind our property and pulled down all of the deep shade that had grown there. The water management district had a project to do back there, and in a few days my west side fence that had been buried in the deep shade of Brazilian pepper trees…
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Here is a link for our newest article at Florida Regenerative Landscapes. Florida Regenerative Landscapes is the name of a new partnership fellow Permaculture Designer Lucie Burke and I formed to handle Permaculture Landscaping jobs.
This front yard project started in mid February. I am posting pics from before and from time to time. This is an ongoing project as gardens are constantly changing themselves, but the instant results are stunning even in pictures. Seeing the speedy evolution of this garden project is a thrill. Mark is really excited about…
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Hold onto your hats, I have some work to do on my blog and there may be some disruptions and there are going to be some changes in our look here at ManureDepot.com. Thanks for your patience.
I have been working hard on my education over the last 5 years and now I have just completed my first Permaculture Design Course. The Permaculture Design course was March 15 − 26, 2013 at the Sustainable Kashi Yoga Retreat in Sebastion, Florida. It was presented by Koreen Brennan of GrowPermaculture.com. With guest presenters Richard Powell…
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Slow Food Gold and Treasure Coast is offering a series of garden classes. On Sunday April 28th at 1pm to 3pm I will be presenting Planting The Summer Garden In Florida. This class will be held at Heathcote Botanical Gardens in the old house at the back of the property. It is a…
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This fall and winter there is a great deal to see and to eat in my South Florida Garden. I have gained a little extra time this year to spend at the homestead garden and I can see how that is paying off. I have been harvesting turmeric and ginger that grew all summer in…
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Sweet potatoes are good for the soil. All summer long their vines and heart shaped leaves keep the soil covered. The mulch below the vines breaks down in cool comfort. The swelling potatoes gently move the soil repairing any compaction issues that existed before them. I find the soil below the potato vines to be black, well aggregated (lumpy) and loaded with worm castings. The weeds that are coming up around my transplants are easy to slip out of the soil where the potatoes were. The new crops are growing as if all of their soil needs are being met, and the soil is holding moisture much longer than the native soil.
A few years ago I began growing Lima Beans (Phaseolus lunatus) in the garden when I scored some Violet’s Multicolored lima beans at a seed swap. Lima beans will grow well in the hottest weather we have here in South Florida, and when they begin to yield, they will supply lots of very nice buttery…
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Join Heathcote Botanical Gardens and its community partners for Living in a Watershed, an Interactive Workshop and five-part series to begin September 30th. Through seminars, guided tours and hands-on activities the workshop facilitates an understanding of watersheds and the threats that our local rivers and estuaries face. Participants will learn strategies for protecting our vital water resources – beginning right in their own backyards. As part of the course’s $50 fee, participants will receive a rain barrel and a membership to Heathcote Botanical Gardens. Sessions meet on Sunday afternoons from 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. For more information or to register call (772) 464-4672.
I will be presenting Harvesting In The Garden @ Heathcote Botanical Gardens in the office 10am Saturday September 22 2012. Learn what we grow, what parts we harvest and use, how we use or don’t use water during the harvest, and how to use store or save what we grow. The cost for this presentation…
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Long before people began making compost piles composting was happening. Compost is the result of the decomposition of organic materials. Everything that came from the earth goes back to the earth. That is the natural rule that has kept the earth clean for as long as it has hosted life. Without the agents of decomposition the earth would be overrun with plant and animal wastes. Imagine if every leaf that fell to the ground never changed, if every bit of manure that hit the ground, and every creature that perished simply stayed where it fell. Throughout the ages, whether it be rock, tree, or crude oil, everything decomposes.
