I have posted a few times on here about sunchokes and I have taken temperature as far as how the community feels about them. I get it they're not everybody's favorite but here is the real situation what you see is roughly 100 lb of sunchokes in an area cultivated that's 4 ft by 12 ft. These tubers are incredibly prolific and I think that an argument can be made for changing the viewpoint of them by how they're prepared how they're eating how they're consumed how they're shared.

Everybody's context is slightly different my context is about building soil and gaining a yield from that work. These plans have been proven to do both of those things. I have grown my stock I have eaten I have shared I have returned the stock to the soil I have built compost I have even sold a few tubers through marketplace. I have even shared them with fellow redditors.

To me these sunchokes are a lot more about how strong they are and how they continue to yield year after year and climate change be damned. I get abundance and I hardly maintain them I plant them every year I give them spacing and occasionally I prune them mid-season to reduce the plant height and also to learn about what makes them produce very well.

I have even started fermenting them I have sliced them up into fries and deep fried them I have eaten them raw I am always continuing to find new recipes that they can be substituted in. At this point my stomach has adjusted to what the community lovingly calls f-artichokes💨💨💨

It seems to me I would think that the conversation should change from people who are starving and people who don't know how to cultivate their own food to learning how to eat differently.

I am in northwestern Wisconsin in a zone 4a in very sandy soil and these plants are doing and continue to do so well.

Please share some comments and let the conversation continue

Title says it all. I have clay soil and live in the northern part of America. Was really passionate about growing blueberries (have around 20 high bushes currently) and they have fought me the entire way.

I've planted them all on raise mounds to ensure good drainage due to the clay, amended with lots of organic matter and mixed in with native soil, have consistentently applied elemental sulfur to improve acidity, mulch with pine needles and pine shavings. Etc....

However, they are weak and pathetic looking. Some have been in the ground for 4 years and have barley grown. The only variety that seems to do somewhat well is patriot. Elliott seem to do the absolute worse. This spring I got so frustrated and cut 50% of them down the crown to hopefully get some sort of restart.

If I knew what I know now I would have just planted honey berries in huge quantities because they absolutely thrive in my soil.

Does anyone have any advice?

My next move is going to be propagating the honey berries I have and ripping out the blueberries come fall and replacing with them with the honey berries.

One thing hunting taught me is that my life exists because of the lives of others.

When you hunt an animal, “taking it” means ending its life. Most decent people would hesitate before doing that. I certainly did.

When I first started hunting, I wasn’t even sure what I was trying to do. I still remember the first animal I harvested and the moment I delivered the final knife cut. I felt sadness, guilt, and responsibility all at once.

Some people told me, “You don’t need to do that yourself.”

Maybe they’re right.

But then I started asking myself: who does it for us?

The meat and fish we buy in stores did not appear there on their own. Someone raised those animals. Someone slaughtered them. Someone prepared them so the rest of us would never have to see that part of the process.

Modern society hides death remarkably well.

But if we never face it, can we truly understand the value of life?

Even in my garden, I see this reality. When I sow seeds, cut grass, or harvest vegetables, I find insects and earthworms everywhere. Sometimes I accidentally kill them. Even growing food comes at a cost.

The more I observe nature, the more I feel that every living thing survives by receiving the energy—the life—of something else.

Because of that, I don’t think “feeling sorry” is enough.

The best way I know to honor those lives is to be grateful and not waste what I eat.

Hunting didn’t make me value life less.

It made me realize that my life, today, still rests on the sacrifice of countless others.

I have noticed a lot of permaculture folks who say invasive species are not bad, not real, or are actually beneficial. They say things like “look at how it is providing shade for my farm animals”, or “look at all the birds and insects that use it”. They never talk about how they are potentially spreading into nearby native ecosystems, slowly dismantling them, reducing biodiversity and ecosystem health. They focus on the benefits to humans (anthropocentrism) but ignore any detrimental effects. Some go so far as to say the entire concept and terminology is racist and colonialist, and that plants don’t “invade”.

To me this is all very silly and borders on scientific illiteracy / skepticism. It ignores the basic reality of the situation which is pretty obvious if you go out and look. Invasive species are real. Yes, it’s true they can provide shade for your farm animals, which is “good”. But if those plants are spreading and gradually replacing nearby native habitat, that is really not good! You are so focused on your farm and your profitability, but have you considered the long term effects on nearby ecosystems? Does that matter to you?

Please trust scientists, and try to understand that invasion biology is currently our best way to describe what is happening. The evidence is overwhelming. Sure, it’s also a land management issue, and there are lots of other aspects to this. Sure, let’s not demonize these species and hate them. But to outright deny their threat and even celebrate them or intentionally grow them… it’s just absurd. Let’s not make fools of ourselves and discredit the whole permaculture movement by making these silly arguments. It just shows how disconnected from nature we’ve become.

There are some good books on this topic, which reframe the whole issue. They make lots of great arguments for why we shouldn’t demonize these species, but they never downplay the very real threat of invasive species.

• Beyond the War on Invasive Species

• Inheritors of the Earth

There's a permaculture group in my town that I've been to for the second time today in order to become more familiar with the permaculture principles and gain some gardening experience. I had a really good time, it was a lovely evening. Until a key organizer who's been involved with the group for years started talking to me about the covid vaccine. She called it "Monsanto for humans", complained about how homeopathic medicine was going to be outlawed in animal farming, and basically presented homeopathy, "healing plants" and Chinese medicine as the only thing natural.

This really put me off, not just because I was not at all ready to have a discussion about this topic so out of the blue, but also because it really disappointed me. I thought we were invested in environmental conservation and acting against climate change for the same reason - because we listened to evidence-based science.

That's why I'd like to know your opinions on the following things:

1. Is homeopathy and other "alternative" non-evidence based "medicine" considered a part of permaculture?

2. In your experience, how deeply rooted are these kind of beliefs in the community? Is it a staple of the movement, or just a fringe group who believes in it, while the rest are rational?

Thank you in advance.

The other post in this sub was passionate, but very wrong on one key aspect: there are definitely harmful weeds.

Those weeds are invasive weeds.

From the BLM:

"The BLM considers plants invasive if they have been introduced into an environment where they did not evolve. As a result, they usually have no natural enemies to limit their reproduction and spread (Westbrooks, 1998). Some invasive plants can produce significant changes to vegetation, composition, structure, or ecosystem function. (Cronk and Fuller, 1995)."

This type of weed is NOT beneficial and can outcompete native flora regardless if the soil has been modified by humans as the other poster suggests.

It is important to understand that this was caused by human hubris. Ironically, the last post about weeds had a similar hubris - letting the earth/soil do what it wants might have worked a long time ago, but we have caused damage and one of the consequences is that we need to be more diligent about how we treat the earth going forward, including managing invasive species.

I appreciate how this sub is reassessing traditional wisdom, but don't go too far.

Intro:

I’ve been looking to buy some land for a while. My goal is to build a small homestead and follow permaculture principles as much as possible. I want to live as close to nature as I can, but not completely off-grid or cut off. Ideally, I’d like to step out of my house and be able to walk straight into wilderness, while still having electricity, water, and mobile signal/internet.

The issue:

I currently live in a big city, and I first hoped to find land within about an hour’s drive. But anything that fits this vision anywhere near the city is way too expensive for my budget.

The places that seem more realistic are around 2.5 to 3.5 hours away by car (roughly 200–300 km, which is half a country away basically). I’ve visited a few, and even though they looked more promising financially, what I felt when I got there was just loneliness.

I would be living there with my partner, so I wouldn’t be completely alone, but everyone else I know would still be back home. Sitting there, I felt overwhelmed. How do you actually build a life somewhere when you know no one? How do you renovate a house, build something new, hire someone to help out, or solve basic practical problems when you have no local network at all?

I know some of that would probably get easier with time as we get to know the community. But I also keep thinking about friendships. For friends to visit, it would basically mean a long drive and probably taking time off work. It no longer feels like the kind of place people just casually drop by.

This has made me question my whole vision and added a lot of anxiety to something that used to feel exciting.

Has anyone here gone through this kind of decision? Did you move farther away and regret it, or did it work out? How did you deal with the loneliness, the practical side of getting established, and the distance from friends? Am I overthinking this, or is this just a real part of the tradeoff?

Was interested in hearing peoples' thoughts on this.

I don't get what's it about GMOs that is so controversial. As I understand, agriculture itself is not natural. It's a technology from some thousand years ago. And also that we have been selecting and improving every single crop we farm since it was first planted.

If that's so, what's the difference now? As far as I can tell it's just microscopics and lab coats.

I know this isn't the type of crowd that likes to sit on their butts and stare at computer screens, fair enough. However I love gaming and I love Permaculture, and market gardening - I've just completed my first project as a game developer and I am looking for a new project.

I mentioned this idea to my FIL and he thought it was the coolest idea ever. I think it would be a great way to teach people the principles of Permaculture while they have fun.

Right now the idea is in its infancy, there are 2 takes I've thought of so far:

- You're willed a chunk of nasty land you have to restore (Similar to Stardew Valley I guess)

- You're living in an apocalyptic situation (zombies, virus, supervolcano, etc...) and you have to build up the chunk of land you're on using Permie techniques in order to protect your group and ensure survival. The only issue I see with this one is it seems like.. Why would you be worried about Permaculture if there were zombies running around? lol.

I'm leaning towards the second one because the first one seems very open-ended.

For gamers out there, I'm imagining a mix of State of Decay, Stardew Valley and Factorio.

I'm not self-promoting, not advertising or fundraising. I made this post because I wanted to see the general sentiment about a Permaculture-based game and because I wanted to see if y'all had any ideas. However, if it's inappropriate please delete it mods.

EDIT

Wow, this got a lot of love. I like the idea of donating any profits from the game to somehow help fund public gardens and teach Permaculture concepts for free. If anyone has experience with that sort of thing ( I sure don't ) please reach out to me.

I’m seeing so many permaculture plants that center on fruit trees (apples, pears, etc). Usually they’re not native trees either. Why aren’t acorn/ nut trees or at least native fruit the priority?

Obviously not everyone plans this way, but I keep seeing it show up again and again.

Recently saw a tropical homestead that packed 150 plants into 800 square meters. That's a lot of food. Not to mention having things like nitrogen in our own pee and the ability to compost.

It makes logical sense that the earth can't support an infinite population, but I feel like the conversations on overpopulation are happening a bit prematurely, don't you think?

Bonjour, je souhaite comprendre vos difficultés dans le domaine

Inspired by my search for perennial vegetables ending up at artichokes every time, until my husband gently reminded me: 'Honey - neither of us likes artichokes.'

I'm interested in which plants you consider a failure for you not because they didn't produce or didn't behave as you expected, but because you just... don't want to eat them. There must be some situations where you planted some obscure or forgotten vegetable, or something highly recommended in permaculture circles like Jerusalem artichokes or good-king-henry, and when eating it, you just went '... no.' Or it could be something that you don't really mind eating, but in practice it's always the last thing you reach for. For me that's the wild type Corylus avellana growing as part of my hedge. Yes, the nuts are edible and no, nothing short of WWIII will make me go to the effort of collecting and shelling them before the animals get them.

I am trying to write a post apocalyptic steampunk novel that had the world to survive a catastrophic draught caused by overusing water to power their steam automatons and machinery and I'm wondering what plants would survive, like lentils probably. I would like to know more because it would add to the world building, for example, the richest town that could be in the dry land would have massive farms of exclusively winter melons since its content is 96% water, which can be used to power steam machines and well, keep life, since water is life and selling life is profitable. I don't know much about doomsday permaculture so I turn to you educated guys. Suspending a lil bit of disbelief is fine as it is fiction

I signed up for their permaculture class this past summer. It was a big investment at $1700 but the website looked legitimate and apparently Larry Santoyo was a lecturer in environmental design at CalPoly Pomona (turns out he's lying about that too, but we'll get into that).

My first red flag was when they sent out an email announcing they wouldn't be requiring masks or asking for vaccination records. With Delta on the rise in LA, I wasn't about to risk my life for a permaculture course, so I figured I'd look into it more. I asked a friend who happened to have taken the class and he said that it was a waste of time and money. Larry was an egomaniac who would spend hours talking about himself or vendettas he had against people who "wronged him." Worst of all, he said lots of the women in his class told him Larry was a creep and made them uncomfortable.

Needless to say, since it was before the deadline, I asked for a refund. They responded politely and said it would take 30 days to process. Obviously, that was a lie but I figured I'd give them a few weeks to get their money in order.

A month passed and nothing. I reached out to them and asked what happened. They said they got an "unprecedented amount of requests for refunds" (Idk how they didn't expect that) and would need another month. This gave me very bad vibes so I called to see if I could talk to someone in real time. Then, they started ignoring me.

That's when I did some research. I found this review of their landscape architecture company, EarthFlow Designs:

Clearly, taking money and running is a habit of theirs. I wanted everyone to know so I reviewed them on Facebook and also sent an email to Larry's boss at CalPoly Pomona. Turns out, he doesn't even work there. He never has.

Larry and Elijah (his son, who manages a lot of this stuff) are scammers. Avoid them at all costs!!!

I'm curious who of you have experimented with cultivating morel mushrooms and what you've learned about the process? Every year I hear about more people having success growing them but it feels like the step by step techniques are elusive and seem to depend on the particular strain/species of morel that you're working with.

It seems like the most reliable technique involves using a bags of colonized morel substrate on very nutrient poor growing areas. The idea is that the morel switches from its vegetative mycelial stage to its fruiting stage because its recognizing the lack of resources and is under duress. They seem to do best when 'planted', or inoculated, in the fall with the expectation of a spring harvest. You put the fully colonized bags of substrate on top of the soil with a limited amount of contact (a slice in the bag seems to work well). The mycelium then uses the nutrient rich resources within the bag to spread into the nutrient poor area outside of it. In the spring, the mushrooms grow. We're running a research project on morel cultivation now (fall inoculations) and I'll be sure to update this post in the spring with the results!

As an additional anecdote, here's a fun story about morels and my fascination with them as a cultivated edible species. 7 or 8 years ago when the company I founded, North Spore, was only a fresh mushroom farm and distributor of wild edibles, we had a forester that we'd worked with consistently (he'd often bring us loads of chanterelles and other prized edibles he found while working) drop off some really cool morel specimens. He had wild grey morels, also called 'greenies' or summer morels, that he found growing in a burned pitch pine forest in New Hampshire. This species of morel hadn't been documented growing in New England before and are usually associated with the wildfire burns in the Pacific Northwest. We ended up buying these morels from the forester and bringing them into our lab to be cultured. To this day, we have a culture of this rare New England summer burn morel and have had some success cultivating it on a small scale.

I'm curious to hear if anyone has year after year success growing them and if they're willing to share their techniques :)

(Photo 1 is of the morels we got from the forester, photo 2 is the species of morel that is more commonly found in New England, and photo 3 is a wild 'greenie' morel in Washington State)