The Lyman Estate is a short walk from where we live in Waltham, MA and is one of the first places we explored in our community when we started 'Our Permaculture Trip' in the fall of 2011.
The estate features several almost 200 year old greenhouses, some of the oldest in the United States, that are still used today. The Lymans were passionate horticulturalists and grew citrus and other 'tropical' plants like bananas and pineapples in greenhouses built several feet into the ground (called 'pit' greenhouses). The property was also a working farm, and today still houses a working nursery and various exotic and native plants on display. Part of our 'trip' has been to connect with our community through building relationships with people, organizations and learning about our shared history and how it can help us imagine the future. The idea of growing pineapples in Massachusetts is one of those small examples of the exciting possibilities that our current paradigm makes seem impossible. These greenhouses are just one example of using appropriate and available technology (remember these are almost 200 years old!) to shift what we believe is possible. This is one solution towards providing local, sustainable and simple sources for food preferences we've acquired through a destructive system of global food production and distribution.
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In our F.E.A.S.T. Permaculture Design Course, we brainstormed a list of "the shoulders we stand on", the pioneers that have come before us - people, places, books, experiences - that we draw upon and have gratitude for:
There are many more that are not present on this list -- What would you add? We wanted to share bit of knowledge from our trip to Tripple Brook Farm in Holyoke, MA last fall as part of our Permaculture Design Course.
This farm has been around for 100+ years, and is currently run by Steve Breyer, who has for the past 37 years. Once a poultry farm, they now operate as a nursery with over 500 species of plants for sale. They’ve been experimenting with 1000+ species over the years and their many successes (and mistakes) have been critical to moving forward the work many Permaculture practitioners in Western, MA (namely Eric Toensmeier of Edible Forest Gardens and Jonathan Bates of Permaculture F.E.A.S.T.). We had the privilege of hearing directly from Steve. He had only 10 minutes for us, and wanted our key take-away to be the importance of groundcover when establishing and maintaining any garden. Dwarf comfrey, mintroot, coreopsis among others, are a low maintainance way to keep weeds (that you don’t want) at bay, retain water, and feed your plants the nutrients and minerals it needs through the understory. It seems so simple, yet took many years for them to figure out. Part of what is so unbelievable about permaculture is its simplicity, making us realize that we already have the tools we need to create the world we want. It is matter of directing our will and energy towards the fulfillment of that vision. Once Steve left that day, we continued to learn about his ingenuity by using some of the tools he has developed and patented on sale on their website. He engineered and built an insulated greenhouse that pushed the zone up to 8 or 9 inside even during the winter. We got to try their human-powered tree digging system on a blueberry shrub that was having a hard time competing with nearby pawpaws and hardy pecans. We encourage you to check out their website, buy some plants, or ask a question. Steve is happy to help. |
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