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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Niche Analysis is one of many permaculture design tools we can to implement the least change for greatest effect. By understanding needs and yields of all elements in any system, we can organize relationships among these elements to mimic nature. We can also use this tool to think outside of the anthropocentric norm to fulfill needs and utilize needs that includes but is not limited to human involvement. This helps us understand what needs could be fulfilled by other parts of the system rather than external sources, and identify potential problems and their solutions before implementing a design. You want to run a niche analysis on all elements within your system, from plants, to animals, to uninvited guests, neighbors and yourself. One way to do this is to use scrap paper, one piece for each element, and write down the following:
Also make note of:
Element Examples (Needs/Wants):
We started a lot of seedlings, and we mean a lot of seedlings. We didn't know how many would survive, or how many plants we would need of each variety to produce enough yield to eat over the summer and into the fall. Instead of purchasing a ton of new seedling trays, we:
One option we found online was newspaper pots. Not only do these use on-site materials, reusing a material that would otherwise be recycled, but they can go straight into the ground. The thin layer of newspaper breaks down, and makes the transplanting process less stressful for all involved. We used this source from Dave's Garden to create ours. We found other ideas that involved some origami folding which in general seemed more complicated. We did use paperclips to hold the edges of the pots together which we easily removed during transplanting (and reused on our seed packets). What DIY seedling planters have you made for your garden?
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