Designing Living Systems: Permaculture & Korean Natural Farming
Conventional gardening is beautiful but often inefficient. The schools of thought we are introducing today are all about making your land into the most bountiful and productive space possible. By working with nature instead of against it, we can create closed loop systems that are cheap and virtually take care of themselves! Permaculture = Permanent + Agriculture Basic Tenets • Start small and build slowly. • Plant things that are useful, not just beautiful. • Allow for diversity, it promotes system health. • Waste not. Good design reduces waste and uses what is created. • Observe and interact with your landscape. Then accept feedback and make changes. • Stack functions. Good design elements have multiple purposes. • Follow natural patterns – not straight lines and boxes.
Goals: abundance, resilience, ease, zerowaste
What can it do for your landscape?
• Direct water where you want it • Save space • Save $$$ • Feed you and friends! • Improve soil health • Provide for wildlife • Reduce pest pressure
Korean Natural Farming = Use of indigenous microorganisms to improve soil health without herbicides or insecticides or fertilizers through an extraction process.
IMO = beneficial fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and protozoa
KNF Compost Tea Recipe
• 2 cups rice • 2 cups brown sugar • 2 cups water • Small cardboard box
Cook rice and place in cardboard box. Take to forest and spread leaves to expose soil and look for white mycelium layer. Place box of rice on soil and recover with vegetation. Cover with milk crate or other box and weight down to deter wildlife interest. Leave for 1 week. Mix rice 1:1 ratio with brown sugar. Mixture keeps indefinitely.
Take 1 tbsp of mixture per gallon and bubble it in a 5 gallon bucket with an aerator pump. Leave overnight and use as fertilizer in soil or with foliar application.