Permaculture and sustainability in HH
Re: Permaculture and sustainability in HH
When the soil was moist, weeds grew like crazy. I had plenty of resource for my compost pile.
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dundrillin
- Guru
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- Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 3:06 am
- Location: Buriram/HuaHin
Re: Permaculture and sustainability in HH
Takiap wrote:Interesting thread, but I'm not to sure about this Mr Mollison chap........lol. I wonder if he ever kept ducks to control snails/slugs. If he did, he wouldn't have had any crops for long anyway since the ducks would have wiped everything out.
Backyard chickens (at least the Thai type) are the most effective type of pest control the world has ever seen, but at the same time, they destroy everything else in the garden as well. Of course you can move them around in a tractor, but then their pest control abilities are reduced.
Seriously though, apart from my two small vegetable patches which the chickens can't get into, our property is virtually pest free. Anything that moves gets eaten. We can only thank our lucky stars that chickens are as small as they are.
Anyway, I do hope this thread keeps going because I'm sure I'll pick up a few good pointers from those in the know.
Yes your right about chickens,when we kept them I have seen them kill and eat frogs.
My Malaysian friends tells me it is impossible to grow olives in Thailand/ Malaysia ! I find that surprising I imagined it would be a good cash crop
Re: Permaculture and sustainability in HH
^ The winery west of Hua Hin has plenty of groves of olive trees.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
Re: Permaculture and sustainability in HH
Yes, I was up there a couple of months ago. Apparently olive trees need good drainage as waterlogging the roots can kill them, so I imagine it's probably true that much of Malaysia and Southern Thailand is far too wet for part of the year but on hillsides in drier areas further North, it's obviously possible.hhfarang wrote:^ The winery west of Hua Hin has plenty of groves of olive trees.
Re: Permaculture and sustainability in HH
It is very dry in Petchaburi and Prajuab Kirikhan provinces.
Re: Permaculture and sustainability in HH
Teerapan,
you must have had some kind of dream or plan of what you were going to do with your piece land. Can you please give us a bit of an idea of what you set out to do there with your project. And may be a bit of a description of what your place was like when you started too.
Would also be interesting if you could tell us why you chose to make those particular swale excavations in your photos on your land and what have been the results of them so far.
you must have had some kind of dream or plan of what you were going to do with your piece land. Can you please give us a bit of an idea of what you set out to do there with your project. And may be a bit of a description of what your place was like when you started too.
Would also be interesting if you could tell us why you chose to make those particular swale excavations in your photos on your land and what have been the results of them so far.
Complexity is so simply overrated
Re: Permaculture and sustainability in HH
David
I used to read "The One-Straw Revolution" and a few other books written by Masanobu Fukuoka back in university time. I was impressed by his philosophy and dreamed that one day will have a chance to actually put ideas into actions. However, I grew up in urban areas and my family have no experience doing agriculture at all. After graduate, I was busy working and climbing up the hierarchy. A few year ago, I was admitted into hospital for chicken pox. The enzyme level in my liver was too high and I was diagnosed with fatty liver. I decided that it is time for my seriously change my life style. I thought that it was a good time for me to do gardening as my hobby and to put Mr.Fukuoka's idea into action.
When we looked for a piece of land, I preferred mountain view but my wife wanted some place that it is not too far from the beach. We ended up buying 18 + 10 rai plots of land near mountain in Petchaburi province because it is not too far from Bangkok so we can afford to spend time in this plot of land every week ( if we want to). Originally, I thought that it will rain a lot in Petchaburi because it is in the Southern Thailand. I recovered later that I was very wrong. Petchaburi has annual rainfall below Thailand average rainfall. It is almost the driest province in the country. This is good when you want to enjoy weekend on the beach but it is good for agriculture.
At the beginning, I followed Mr.Fukuoka's concept of "Do-nothing" farming. I leave everything to mother of nature without any irrigation at all. This is how my garden look like in dry season after I stop watering :
More than 200 lime trees that previous land owner planted died in my very first experiment of Mr.Fukuoka's concept. So much for "one straw revolution". Things are not as easy as it sounds in the book. We intervene with nature in this garden until it can not survive without human's help (irrigation is badly needed). Nevertheless, I didn't give up. I still believed that we can turn this piece of land into natural food forest. One day, I will be able to see tree can grow here without irrigation.
When "do-nothing" did work for me, I searched for other approach. Fortunately, I discovered that there is another concept called "Permaculture" which was introduced by Bill Mollison. I think that Mr.Fukuoka and Mr.Mollison were trying to achieve the same thing with different approaches. I decided to test out both concepts. Since my plot of land is near the mountain with slope down from North to South, I decided to begin with a strategy to catch run off water and re-direct them into the ground using "swale" technique.
I begin by clearing the area to measure contour line for swale digging.
After that I hire a backhoe to dig swale on the contour line as shown in the pictures shown before. The swale can catch run-off water and improve soil moisture. We have less problem in the dry season but we still have to help watering some trees. I now let weed and pioneer tree grow in order to get some biomass and mulching. I planted tree under shadow of pioneer tree and use weed as mulch. I gradually plant 30-70 new species of tree among this pioneer tree every year. When this new tree strong enough, I gradually cut down the pioneer tree. I still plant tree every weeks and my fatty liver illness is now gone.
I don't know exactly how my garden will look like at the end but I become more healthy. I enjoy working out in this garden almost every week. I start to see more wildlife in my garden. I think that it should be enough. At the end of the day, it is about the journey, not the destination.
Lastly, I learned it the hard way that "do-nothing" farming that Mr.Fukuoka taught us is not "don't do anything" farming. I believe that he meant us to find out "the step(s) that we don't need to do" (nothing) in nature farming. There are something that we should leave them to mother of nature and there still are something that we should do. Cheers.
I used to read "The One-Straw Revolution" and a few other books written by Masanobu Fukuoka back in university time. I was impressed by his philosophy and dreamed that one day will have a chance to actually put ideas into actions. However, I grew up in urban areas and my family have no experience doing agriculture at all. After graduate, I was busy working and climbing up the hierarchy. A few year ago, I was admitted into hospital for chicken pox. The enzyme level in my liver was too high and I was diagnosed with fatty liver. I decided that it is time for my seriously change my life style. I thought that it was a good time for me to do gardening as my hobby and to put Mr.Fukuoka's idea into action.
When we looked for a piece of land, I preferred mountain view but my wife wanted some place that it is not too far from the beach. We ended up buying 18 + 10 rai plots of land near mountain in Petchaburi province because it is not too far from Bangkok so we can afford to spend time in this plot of land every week ( if we want to). Originally, I thought that it will rain a lot in Petchaburi because it is in the Southern Thailand. I recovered later that I was very wrong. Petchaburi has annual rainfall below Thailand average rainfall. It is almost the driest province in the country. This is good when you want to enjoy weekend on the beach but it is good for agriculture.
At the beginning, I followed Mr.Fukuoka's concept of "Do-nothing" farming. I leave everything to mother of nature without any irrigation at all. This is how my garden look like in dry season after I stop watering :
More than 200 lime trees that previous land owner planted died in my very first experiment of Mr.Fukuoka's concept. So much for "one straw revolution". Things are not as easy as it sounds in the book. We intervene with nature in this garden until it can not survive without human's help (irrigation is badly needed). Nevertheless, I didn't give up. I still believed that we can turn this piece of land into natural food forest. One day, I will be able to see tree can grow here without irrigation.
When "do-nothing" did work for me, I searched for other approach. Fortunately, I discovered that there is another concept called "Permaculture" which was introduced by Bill Mollison. I think that Mr.Fukuoka and Mr.Mollison were trying to achieve the same thing with different approaches. I decided to test out both concepts. Since my plot of land is near the mountain with slope down from North to South, I decided to begin with a strategy to catch run off water and re-direct them into the ground using "swale" technique.
I begin by clearing the area to measure contour line for swale digging.
After that I hire a backhoe to dig swale on the contour line as shown in the pictures shown before. The swale can catch run-off water and improve soil moisture. We have less problem in the dry season but we still have to help watering some trees. I now let weed and pioneer tree grow in order to get some biomass and mulching. I planted tree under shadow of pioneer tree and use weed as mulch. I gradually plant 30-70 new species of tree among this pioneer tree every year. When this new tree strong enough, I gradually cut down the pioneer tree. I still plant tree every weeks and my fatty liver illness is now gone.
I don't know exactly how my garden will look like at the end but I become more healthy. I enjoy working out in this garden almost every week. I start to see more wildlife in my garden. I think that it should be enough. At the end of the day, it is about the journey, not the destination.
Lastly, I learned it the hard way that "do-nothing" farming that Mr.Fukuoka taught us is not "don't do anything" farming. I believe that he meant us to find out "the step(s) that we don't need to do" (nothing) in nature farming. There are something that we should leave them to mother of nature and there still are something that we should do. Cheers.