Introducing the University of Here

I have been enjoying taking classes again. That said, I find that there are many things I wish to focus on that are not being covered. This has lead me to start a program of self-study that I am calling the University of Here at Campus Vorax. The basic recipe is:

1. Pick a topic of study
2. Identify texts or other relevant supporting material
3. Identify learning objectives
4. Identify evaluation criteria and learning "forcing functions"
5. Write up a simple syllabus

I have written up four courses for the spring term:

• Edible Forests Gardens (working through the two volume book of the same name)
• Landscape design of our Front Yard
• Plant identification on our property
• Stained Glass

My hope is that having a week-by-week schedule will provide enough impetus to make forward progress in the face of the myriad distractions which will present themselves.

Natural calendar

I have been thinking about how to break down the year into parts that are short enough to have similar weather from year to year and across the period, and the breaks along the eight days in the Wheel of the Year (Solstices, equinoxes, and their mid-points). I am leaning towards 16-divisions of about 3 weeks each:

6/21 Summer Solstice

3 weeks

7/11 Mid-early Summer

3 weeks

8/ 1 Mid Summer (Lughnasadh)

3 weeks

8/21 Mid-late Summer

3 weeks

9/23 Autumnal Equinox

3 weeks

10/12 Mid-early Fall

3 weeks

10/31 Halloween

3 weeks

11/20 Mid-late Fall

3 weeks

12/21 Winter Solstice

3 weeks

1/11 Mid-early Winter

3 weeks

2/ 2 Groundhog Day

3 weeks

2/25 Mid-late Winter (Gas Tax Day)

3 weeks

3/20 Vernal Equinox

3 weeks

4/10 Mid-early Spring (William of Ockham Day)

3 weeks

5/ 1 Beltane

3.5 weeks

5/25 Mid-late Spring (Towel Day)

3.5 weeks

6/21 Summer Solstice

Not really sure what to call the mid-mid-points.

Some of the dates are fudged (e.g., Beltane) a little to match cultural traditional dates rather than the astronomically derived date. I'm more interested in fostering some cultural resonances than being a slave to accuracy.

I think this will be useful for organizing garden tasks, planting dates, gathering statistics, grouping journal entries, seasonal menu planning, managing and planning around solar access, etc.

Gardening on the North side of a house on a North facing slope

I've been doing some more musing about gardening "on the the North side of things".

The seven feet of yard nearest the house never see direct noontime sun because it is always in the shadow of the house. The next seven feet only get direct sun in the height of summer (June - mid July). Then we get into the region that gets sun from the spring through fall equinox.

So I guess this means I will have a strip of shade garden (maybe with some trellised shade tolerant vines). Then I'll do raised bed gardening between two swales.

This is the side of the garage facing East. It seems to be screaming for espaliered fruit trees.

I am also becoming more interested in figuring out how to make best use of the roof of the garage. It probably gets pretty good light for growing up there and it isn't really set up well for solar power because of the tall trees just to the South of it. But maybe windows that capture some passive solar heat to drive the green house behind the garage.

Here is a look at the 25' x 22' space behind the garage.

That's about a three foot drop behind the little wall.

I had always thought of the chickens / ducks/ quail going against the back fence, but they may do better right behind the garage, then the greenhouse / pool house?

There are a couple trees that we need to work around or deal with. I need to determine how much space they need as well as how much space we need for the exercise pool. I am hoping I can "stack" the functions of the greenhouse vertically sharing the same space with the pool. It seems to me they should have compatible requirements and issues.

This is the tree I climbed to take these photos. Shasta showed me how it was done.

This cherry tree has a pretty funky form at the moment. It has a lot of character. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of micro climate it creates in the heat of the summer.

Shasta has been having even more fun than me exploring the new back yard.

Understanding place

It seems like there are a lot to understand about a place.

Here ares some aspects about our new place

• Climate
• Geology
• Hydrology
• Solar exposure
• Topography
• Ecology: flora, fauna, mycology
• Soil
• Demography
• Agriculture: where does my food come from
• Economy
• Government: agencies and representatives at city, county, state, nation, global level
• City systems: city services, power, gas, water, storm water, sewage
• Architecture
• Society

I am thinking it would be nice to put together something like a scrap book with all those different sections and add to it as I gather more and more information on each topic.

Some of them would be good as map overlays. Some as photos with captions. Or maybe it would be better as a blog of sorts. It will take some experimenting to figure out something that makes sense.

Crazy Idea: fowl greenhouse swim center complex

For the area behind the garage I think I may have too much stuff I am trying to fit in:

• Chicken henhouse
• Duckhouse
• Quailhouse
• Space for endless pool -- exercise, thermal mass
• Outdoor shower -- use the rain water to clean up after a swim, use gray water on site
• Rain water storage -- provides lots of thermal mass
• Greenhouse -- passive solar and source of light for winter growing
• A composting toilet -- for infrequent use, gather humanure.

There are a lot of musings about chicken greenhouses on the internet in the permaculture crowd.

These are a lot of functions to stack, but I don't see why they couldn't play well together.

Since most of the use of the greenhouse will be from equinox to equinox (Sept. - March), we only need to capture light when the sun is below 45 degrees above the horizon. We also don't want too much solar capture in the summer when the sun is more like 68 degrees high.

This makes me think of using clerestory windows facing south with 1:1 roof pitch behind in sort of a saw tooth pattern (a little like this).

We could install solar water heating on the garage roof for the pool, though we will likely need auxiliary heat in the winter.

All of the rain from both structures could be captured and kept inside the envelope for thermal mass, and for use watering plants, the poultry, duck pond, and for showers. The composting toilet would be nice for pre/post swim "emergencies" and while working out in the yard. And why waste perfectly good waste?

From the coops I've seen it doesn't seem like a couple hens, ducks, and quail are going to take all that much space, especially if we stack them somewhat.

So, how much room will my crazy complex take?

How much water should I have storage for? In what shape?

Multnomah Front Yard Section

First cut at zone maps for the font section...

• West fence in front -- zone 2: perennials with nice street appeal.
• West fence to the back -- zone 3: espalier with perennial understory shade.
• Front of garage -- vines on trellis.
• East facing side of house along driveway -- potted espalier and vines on vertical supports.
• Front porch -- potted plants.
• Front trellis -- beef up support for wisteria above front porch. Second climber from other side.
• Front yard -- zone 1 near the steps up the front porch, zone 2 further away.
• East fence in front -- zone 2: perennials with nice street appeal.
• Planting strip -- zone 3: fruit trees

Multnomah Back Yard Section

In the back section we have fences all around which will allow us to introduce some helpful fauna: chickens, ducks, quail, and rabbits. We should also create welcoming habitat for mason bees, various birds, frogs, and beneficial insects.
The back yard slopes down from the house with a several feet of drop to the back fence.

I'm thinking the area behind the garage would be good for coops for the poultry, a greenhouse, and a place for an endless pool for us to exercise in.

The upper area would make a good Zone 1 for raised bed annual gardens. and a low deck off the back of the house (the current deck is too high which just gives a "better" view of the unsightly bits over the back fence into the commercial area of Sandy Blvd.)
If we add a swale before bellow the beds that will create an area for Zone 2 with perennials.
Then another swale and Zone 3 with fruit and nut trees, vines, and shade tolerant perennials.
One last swale before zone 4 with some tall growing evergreens: firs, coastal redwoods, and maybe a cedar. These will be as close to the back fence as we dare, layered with the tallest growing to the back (North) side.

Somewhere we need to work in a pond for the ducks, that will hopefully also be supportive habitat for frogs.

Along the fence on the East side it would be nice to set up some supports for climbing plants.

Excess rainwater, beyond what we can store, will be diverted into the swale system with level sills.

In the very North-East corner will be Zone 5, our little patch of wilderness.

Permaculture Planning -- zones, sections, goals

In permaculture planning it is useful to distinguish 6 zones:

• Zone 0: The built environment: house, garage, porte cochere
• Zone 1: Intensive gardening -- Annuals, finicky plants that need tending
• Zone 2: Perennial gardening -- Plants that produce year after year
• Zone 3: Food forest -- Fruit and nut trees, vines, understory plantings
• Zone 4: Forage forest -- timber (in 100 years or so)
• Zone 5: Wilderness -- leave it be

For planning purposes, I also think I will divide the property into three sections:

• The back: back yard, garage and area behind it, east side yard.
• The house: Front porch, trellis over porch, window plantings, indoor plants, back deck, rain catchment system.
• The front: planting strip, sidewalk, front yard, driveway, porte corchere and plantings west of the driveway.

With this division I can write separate articles focusing on one section at a time. Before I get into that level of detail, I should reflect on my overall goals:

1. Produce a lot of food for ourselves and our friends
2. Minimize inputs: fertilizers, purchased stuff, city water, labor
3. Maximize diversity: nurture a rich interoperable mini-ecosystem
4. Focus on natives: but allow for some well adapted species and strains
5. Contribute beauty: try for a balance that will quiet the eye and calm the soul

So, with those as organizing principles we can proceed to plan the sections....