REFLECTIONS
Behind the Scenes- Why I chose this Project
This project is a monumental achievement in my life. Indeed, I enrolled in Gaia U largely to raise my level of competency with many of the Applied Permaculture skills in the area of Land Stewardship. I certainly was interested in Energy, Personal Health and many other petals of the Permaculture flower; however, I believed that doing Garden designs was how my Gaia U program would unravel. In GaiaU fashion, I have fully accepted and been very grateful that this was not my pathway for my first 8 OP's. I appreciate the many learnings and growth that allowed me to arrive to this Land Stewardship OP as a more competent designer. This OP represents for me a tremendous growth and documentation of my skills as a Permaculture Designer in the way that many people outside the movement see Permaculturalists (i.e. Land Stewards).
Planting with my nephew
Pathway Design: Evolution of Self as a Designer
In this OP I used two design methodologies:
1. For the OP Design, I revisted the GaSADIE model as it is the first one offered in the GaiaU Orientation and it feels like a clean, simple Permaculture Design Methodology.
2. For the Core Report, I allowed form to match content; consequently, I developed a design model that mimics the growth of plants.
There has been significant growth for me as a designer throughout my precapstone and capstone phase. I was a novice to design methodologies entering my precapstone phase. Indeed, it wasn't until my OP 4 where I developed my own methodology: ORGBADIE that I felt truly empowered as a designer. ORGBADIE illustrated for me that there are many models with many clever acronyms; and most importantly, I, as the designer, need to capture words and phrases meaningful to myself that facilitate my design process. I begin to believe that almost all design models follow a very similar pattern with emphasis on slightly different things:
1. Awareness of what is
2. Awareness of what I want
3. Deciding strategies upon how to arrive there
4. Breaking strategies into actionable items
5. Implementing actionable items
6. Evaluating whether I arrived where I want.
Some have macro-cycles, some encourage micro-cycles, some encourage more observation at different points (beginning vs. middle vs. end), some have key words that unlock doors in a designer's mind. Many design methodologies that permaculturalists use mimic nature in some form or another: seasons, days, plant cycles.
I truly began to play with design during my capstone phase, creating design methodologies that followed the chakras and seasons. Each of these has opened doors of insight into each project, and overwhelmingly has helped me understand this pattern level awareness of recognizing where I am and implementing steps to get to where I want to be. Specifically, in the ORGBADIE model that I developed, I always try to remember to leave space for Brainstorming without judgement. I recognize in myself that my critical analysis can enter into the Design process perhaps a bit too soon. I am drawn to design processes that reflect the cycles of life (seasons, plant growth, days, etc.. . . ) I appreciate that connection of archetypal energies with nature and humanity. In my life, I think that making these connections to the energies around me feels important and feeds my soul and I would like projects to be designed in this way.
I have evolved tremendously as a designer. When I began my Master's Degree in Integrative Eco-Social Design, the concept of design was fairly foreign to me. Now, I begin to see how I can make anything into a design process that facilitates me getting from here to there with Competence and Attention (awareness and articulation). Design is a way to make the strategies we use in our life a more conscious process. Gaia has truly helped me articulate my goals and reflect upon my goals. In some way, this consciousness around the process feels to me at the heart of design.
LIPD Reflection
Many of the skillflexes that I articulated both at the start of my Master's program and my Capstone year in my LIPD involved land stewardship skills of permaculture. I have grown tremendously, specifically regarding soil management, earthworks, and propagation. In addition, many of the broad strokes that I painted in the LIPD regarding finding ease and joy in my life are viscerally landing in my body these days. Of course, I occasionally still am overwhelmed or busy; however, I am finding much ease and joy in my personal and professional lives. My need for artistic outlet was satiated as well in the garden, particularly through flower arranging and layering plants. The intention to define and promote myself as an Applied Permaculture Designer is becoming realized through the classes that I have taught here in Baja and the garden design I am starting for one of my neighbors.
OP Process Reflection
I successfully completed all of the goals I set out for in this OP. I created a nature based design methodology that allows form to meet content. At the encouragement of my advisor, I delved much deeper into planetary impacts of my projects and evolution of myself as a designer. I extensively researched Applied Permaculture Design as that is the specialization of my Master's Degree and this OP aligns the most with how many people in the world see Permaculture Designers.
Collaboration: Leadership & Cooperation
I very much feel like the project manager for almost every aspect of our 1 acre homestead. Most of my family does not ever come to our land unless I am here although they still provide input. Collaborators include Mexican workers, family and friends at times. This large variety of collaborators gives me a great lens on my own ability to delegate and notice how I work with others.
I realize that working together greatly assists my energy in getting stuff done. It is not super normal in my life to be alone and having my own space and time has brought about interesting challenges and opportunities. One opportunity that I have been capitalizing upon is that I get well more than twice as much done when I have someone here helping me. Working with a buddy puts a little extra spring in my step.
Working with workers also helps me realize that so much of the design is knowing what and how something needs to happen. Managers and designers need not necessarily be implementers. This is how the industrialized system has created designers from craftsmen. Originally, craftsmen all executed their designs. Now, it is very common for a designer to outsource all the implementation/execution.
However, living in Mexico presents challenges for me in terms of how well I can articulate the particulars of how I wish to execute my design (communication in delegation is key.) In the case of Raul and other Mexican day laborers, I now intentionally work closely with the worker when I have a very specific method to be employed that my grasp of the Spanish language can't articulate. This is useful awareness when delegating to my family and it affirms that the more concrete and specific tasks I am able to articulate, the more life happens how I want. I realize that I am quite excited to start and manage my own businesses. I like having employees and I feel that I effectively and compassionately articulate what I would like done, both with my workers and with my mom.
My sister started the rock pathway project and that has unfolded new directions and design for the property. It defined spaces in a very positive way and has created new use of sand that my mom and I started after the pathways were in place. Nice having many minds working on the same project.
At times, it is also very effective for me to slow down and take advice from Raul, Fidel or Allejo who have lived in this bioregion for their entire lives. I certainly have more knowledge than they do about plants; however, I fully respect the visceral relationship they have with this region.
Primary Collaborators:
Bea -- my sweetie
Raul -- gardener who come 3x per week for 2 hours
Alejo, Fidel -- special project workers when I have stuff beyond what Raul can do
Mom -- a core member of the land stewardship design team, mom loves the garden
MTMP
Am I communicating with collaborators?
I have good communication with my Mexican workers and I maintain great communication with Bea and mom. Communicating project design with the rest of the family is difficult; however, none are very interested (until things aren't how they want it). I find it is difficult for me to work with collaborators who don't like to design, but do like to complain.
Am I renegotiating with Gaia?
I have maintained clear communication with Jennifer as this project expanded into many more months than I initially anticipated. This was due to many factors. I see more and more clearly that life always seems to get full/busy. It's like my buddy who said after being late by 15 minutes every day, "It should only take 30 minutes to get here but every day, some stupid thing on the road slows me down by 15 minutes." I hope I can learn that it actually takes 45 minutes.
Am I renegotiating with myself?
At times I considered pushing through to finish this OP. I am grateful that I renegotiated with myself and gave myself space to finish this in alignment with the values in my LIPD and OP2 regarding self care. This has been a long road and I am grateful for the quantity of information and experiences produced.
My primary mantra was "I love everything I am doing; however when I feel stressed by deadlines, it is not fun for me." I have learned a lot about how much to take on in my life. Leaving space for the days to unfold is a lesson that many elders try to impart on the younger generation; however, most people I know fill their days beyond their capacity and consequently end up stressed. As I have felt stressed doing exactly what I want to be doing, I realize that I need to leave myself more space to joyfully engage with the life that I want to live. Thus, I can't always do everything -- RIGHT NOW.
Bean to Bean: Liam Planting a Chocolate Tree
Relationship to Applied Permaculture Design
• 4.1.2 "OP Design Methodology" uses GaSADIE which is a standard design methodology in the field of Applied Permaculture Design.
• 4.2.1 "The Field in context of Permaculture" describes how this OP relates to Permaculture ethics and values
• 4.2.1 "Design methodology" demonstrates how I use the design science of Permaculture to create this project including designing a curriculum and a small scale independent fair trade minded company.
• 4.2.2 "Relocalization" focuses upon that aspect of my thesis that relocalization is crucial to the permaculture movement as a whole.
• 4.1.3 "Permaculture Principles" demonstrates how I utilized Permaculture Principles throughout this project.
Classic Gaia Questions
What went well?
Everything -- the property is feeling more and more alive and it looks incredible. Mom and I walk around it every day with smiles and joy.
Fortuitously, I arrived in Baja during September because of a car accident. This allowed me the humid warm season to lay around in hammocks and design unhurriedly. Loads of spaciousness felt great.
I have a green thumb. I am even better at propagating plants than I knew.
What was Challenging?
The two elements most directly related to stewarding our property in Mexico that are the most challenging for me are 'Mexico time' and 'familial patterns.' Mexican workers who I have hired often come late or simply don't show up at all. Related, but a separate issue is that our water is scheduled to come on every 4.5 days; however, again this is irregular at best. This adds a unique design challenge to the By 'familial patterns,' I am primarily pointing to the fact that none of the others are as vested with their time or energy. Working with collaborators is generally very fun for me; however, few in my family create space in their life to actually spend time talking about how we could move forward. I often find myself in the position of feeling responsible to bring consensus without anybody willing to come to the meeting.
What would I do differently next time?
Land stewardship tips:
Follow the Permaculture Scale of Permanence. When my family started this property 10 years ago, I think we put aesthetics before some of the most basic functions like water and earthworks. Smaller examples include:
I would dog-proof the fence before planting.
I would do all earthworks regarding water before anything else.
I learned that earthworks around patios and such should always be at least 2 inches lower than a patio to mitigate sand and silt from constantly being blown on the patio.
I would watch the patterns during hurricane before building.
For the nursery:
I would use a different system of marking plants as writing on popsicle sticks even with sharpies doesn't work for long term watering.
I would like to mark and run experiments like two different cuttings equally vibrant and leave one in the nursery and put one in the ground.
I would like to experiment with giving some plants water daily vs. every other vs. every third day.
What are my next achievable steps?
Noticing the last two for the what would I do differently: I now have a massive nursery and opportunity to play even more consciously.
We are improving the garden most now by adding in some clear boundaries such as rock walls. This also allows for covering the fine sandy soil with coarse sand that doesn't blow around as much.
Planting is a passion for me. I am trying to incorporate permaculture layering models especially around the fence where we already have a mixture of shrubs and trees and ground layers and vines. I am consciously employing this technique more and more. Mixed with mulching, our ecosystem is guarding water and enriching soil.
I would like to check out some nurseries in the states, potentially even work with some nurserymen for a little while.
I would like to initiate more palm and succulent production. The succulent production I have been doing is fairly easy, and I believe that most succulents will propagate even more easily than I have been doing. This is only relevant in that I am interested in scaling up my production.
Many of my interesting palm varieties are starting to flower and seed. This is exciting as palms are a very common landscaping plant here in Baja.
Propagating some of my exotics (myrrh, frankincense, allspice, cinnamon, kaffir lime) is a necessity as I attempt to start an "exotics nursery." I have been actively experimenting with this and I am hopeful that I will be able to learn through trial and error and seek out advice and support from other exotic growers.
I am excited to see how my water earthworks will mitigate run off during the next rainy season in September.
Brainstorm and play with services offered by Liam. Consult some of the other Applied Permaculture sites for inspiration
Website Development mind-map (again inspired by APD research).
LEARNINGS
Key Un/Learnings
Clarity in Communication is highly valuable:
When delegating a task in Spanish, the more complex the task, the better it is to demonstrate the task in person at least once. Communicating ineffectively in Spanish highlights the difficulty of delegation in many arenas. It is a skill to have someone understand exactly how I want it done.
Family: Everyone has different hopes and needs. Creating space for sharing these is very valuable.
NURSERY
Just doing it with awareness and documentation is great.
Cuttings
• Everybody on youtube recommends putting cuttings in a terrarium.
• Semi-hard cutting are my favorite. However, in the past, I exclusively used these to the detriment of throwing out softwood tips and hardwood which also do well (especially under different conditions).
⁃ Softwood needs constant water (even a jar of water) whereas hardwood will rot with excess water.
• "Why take a cutting when you can plant a seed." Herebierto & Don Miguel.
• There is exponential growth that occurs in nurseries.
• Plants at the edges receive the least water.
• Daily water in nursery is TOO much for many cuttings: roses, geranium. I like daily water for the first week then every other day.
• Lightening soil is more significant than fertilizing for my nursery. Peat moss and sand good nursery mix.
• Herebierto recommends sphagnum moss for air layering.
• Gross vs. Refined knowledge & Rapid Prototyping: I tried to refine knowledge before I even had enough experience to know what to look for. Useful to know general patterns before refining knowledge.
• Use healthy vigorous shoots for new cuttings. Don't stack functions of pruning and cutting. I like deadheading and cuttings as rose flowers are new growth.
• Desert plants: Succulents: let latex drip out 1 day - 3 days. Aloe and cacti can go right in the earth (aloe -- peel off some leaves).
• Heriberto does amazing succulent propagation from simple leaf cuttings on perlite lightly misted and the roots simply shoot out, under shadecloth. This was amazing to witness.
• Propagation methods seem very similar: cuttings, layering (ground/air), grafting.
• Nurseries are a wonderful example of good design:
- Looking years ahead.
- Documenting what is happening.
- Actively Experimenting with new plants and new techniques.
LAYERING (in this instance I mean 7 layers of a perenial polycultural food and medicine forest as opposed to propagation through layering.)
Visceral understanding of layering plants with ground layer, shrubs, small trees, canopy trees, and incorporating vines.
PRUNING
Sometimes pruning things back is the best way to create more: roses, basil, life.
TEACHING is a great way for me to learn.
Holding the lens of teaching others often encouraged me to articulate to myself what I was doing: soil, water management, propagation
LEARNING
New learning strategy -- "Watch a dozen youtube videos" is becoming second nature to me. I don't think everything on youtube is true but I love hearing what a dozen people say and then trusting key patterns. There is the risk of the echo chamber effect; however, the same risk exists in academia.
GENERAL
When I say every day for a week "It should only take 30 minutes to drive there, but every day this week, something slowed me down by 15 extra minutes." Perhaps eventually I will learn it actually takes 45 minutes.
"Barato siempre sale mas caro."
Trying to go cheap always ends more costly.
Capitalism destroyed the gift economy. Even for people that I genuinely want to gift something, the capitalist culture in which we live leaves a residue of obligation.
ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION is great
Nursery: Keep Playing.
Earthworks & Water:
Playing with diverting water during the hurricane was very fun on our non-sloped land: opportunity to witness momentum and an invisible 1 degree slope.
Agave. I have researched and researched agave syrup and tequila without fully grokking it. I need to dig one up as it sends out shoots and understand what I am looking at.
I like Managing people
I hope to start companies where I set up the system and have employees do the execution.
I am appreciating design and abstract conceptualization and recognizing viscerally how powerful it is to share our intentions with ourselves and team members. Creating space and time to share necessary information seems to be the most challenging part of organizations.
SOIL
Put organic matter in the soil and it becomes soil.
Compost
Many people on the internet believe that cuttings even when dried for a week or two are still green in a compost.
Going heavy on the brown is a great way to mitigate flies and smell (and simply slows it all down).
Skillflex Assessment
Hard skills of homesteading: chain saw, pruning, irrigation, graywater, water management
Drylands water management: digging swales and trenches, more mulch basins, soil improvement
Tree Maintenance: pruning, transplanting, growing from seed
Seed Saving: yes
Pattern Literacy: especially around nursery
Irrigation: I do all the irrigation here
Herbalism: cat's claw, a couple new medicinals
Strategic Planning: lots of new design for water and plants
Strategic Thinking: good implementation
Project/Promise Management: clarity with family and Gaia
Priority Analysis: happy with my choices
Action Learning: huge growth Active Experimentation
Documentation: proving to be more and more beneficial
Permaculture Design: starting a design for a neighbors property from blank slate
Balancing action & theory: Play in the nursery + youtubing + planting the garden
Capacity to reframe adversity as opportunity: it's Mexico
Ecological Design: both on our property and thinking about larger ecosystem, neighborhood beautification project
Reading Landscape/Spirit of the Place: feng shui books, feeling where plants want to be
Non Violent Communication: it's a family property
Mentoring: my sweetie wants to learn more about all of it
Leadership capacities: I delegate to many workers and share information/manage for the family
Family Time: loads
Articulate of my needs: finally became an adult, and clear about my needs
Hosting dinner parties: someone's gotta eat all this food + miracle fruit parties
Art in Design: flower arranging, layering plants
ePortfolio skills: continue to grow
Hip to 21st century: new skills, getting facile with computer
Kolb Kite: Doing, Experimenting, Reflecting, Thinking
Doing:
I spend about 4 hours in the garden each day. In addition to this, I Additional doing includes watching videos, reading books and visiting other nurseries/gardens. There are many doings in the garden: pruning, cutting, dividing, starting seeds, digging beds, choosing fertilizer, composting, creating hugelkultures and much time walking around thinking about design.
Actively Experimenting:
My largest opportunity for growth for the second OP in a row was to Just Do It. I love Active Experimentation and perhaps nowhere more than in my nursery. This was a very playful winter for me, especially in the nursery and with soil.
Abundant active experimentation in different styles of cuttings: rooting hormones, SW/HW/SH, moon phase.
Watching a youtube video last night, I loved when the guy said, "If you start to like taking cuttings, soon you will find your entire home and garden overrun with little experiments happening everywhere. Trying to gain the 10000 hours as a propagator as I realize that I am trying to find the refined versions when I don't even know if I will have a 10% or 90% success rate. I think I benefit from this Active Experimentation on a gross level before trying to refine my approach. (Akin to many first time parents trying to tell the world how to raise a child after raising one).
I am filling each bag with 20+ cuttings so that I can spread them later if there are plenty and plant some together, and try all kinds of things.
It literally never occurred to me until I was watching youtube videos on cuttings that I could propagate my kaffir lime tree by cuttings (this is reportedly difficult and I'm not overly hopeful without a proper greenhouse) however, I am excited to try and try with other trees that I otherwise can't get more of down here.
Compost vs. Hugelkulture and thinking about anaerobic composting. I love getting my hands in the soil.
Reflecting:
Documentation of interventions and primary themes, continued research and watching as I am doing propagation supports reflection. I try to journal every couple of weeks to reflect upon learnings in the nursery.
The ping-pong of learning and doing deepens many themes into my body (new growth, leaf bud, outward facing).
Thinking:
Loads of thinking applying the videos to my practice in the garden. I try to spend 30 minutes at twilight early in the morning or late in the day thinking on.
Permaculture Principles
Observe & Interact:
I spend 30 minutes in the morning or evening simply walking through my garden and noticing.
Keen awareness of the importance of awareness and noticing during active experimentation. I certainly am checking on how moist the soil is remaining as I have different tests and studies going on.
I am noticing hardwood vs. softwood vs semi-hard and how they do with different amounts of moisture.
Work with Nature:
I am in my garden at least 4 hours practically every day (and often 8). I spend conscious time observing and designing to work with Nature.
The problem is an opportunity
The rains were heavy. I seized the opportunity to examine where swales were necessary/possible.
Make the least change for the greatest possible affect:
Exploring whether water/soil cuttings, ground layering, division, or seeds is the easiest for different species.
Digging small but effective irrigation swales while it's raining. We are mostly flat so small changes create drastic effects.
The yield of the system is theoretically unlimited
Interplanting and layering is my new passion and the yields of beauty and fruit continue to rise.
Everything is connected: Essential in a food forest.
Fun working simultaneously on cuttings, seeds, soil and trees as they are all different points of the living system. It's great to think about soil porosity and fertilization for maximizing fruit yield and incentivizing root growth.
Relinquishing Power:
Mostly from a designer's perspective of setting goals but then listening to my heart, body and nature each day to inform how the day unfolds.
Unknown good benefit:
I am starting a nursery primarily to learn. This is yielding the massive benefit of lots of plants which I can plant in my acre or on my road or give to neighbors/friends. I do believe that more plants is generally good for the world.
Succession of Evolution:
The years certainly inform the succession of evolution. I see my soil change radically from direct inputs from me and from passive inputs (mulching) and from natural occurrences (arroyo wash extra silt/mud on land). Fun to see and allow the plants that thrive on their own as I point much focus upon creating the ecosystem and allow the plants to live their life.
Seeing the aloes and agaves planted on the fence line become mulch under the growing bouganveila and climbing vines is fascinating. I am worried that my current 300+ trees now will slowly became 5 humungous flame trees. I am consciously watching so many plants being eaten and digested by bigger plants.
Diversity yields stability:
We have so much diversity and I believe that this decreases my workload as many plants propagate themselves. We have very little disease problems on our site as the plants protect each other.
Information as a resource:
Very fun to teach classes here and share awarenesses around the ease of propagation and the importance of soil management (for water in the drylands).
Holmgren
Catch and store energy:
Soil is one of our greatest stores of energy. I catch water and nutrients in my soil.
Timing on leaf budding is a great aspect of catching the new growth and turning it into new roots/plants rather than solely another branch on the existing bush.
Obtain a Yield:
Yes: Loads of new plants, good soil and time in nature (part of my yield is giving myself the inspiration to get outside and play in the garden). And many new friends that I give new plants to. It's fun to gain social capital through sharing plants.
Produce no waste:
Pulling spent water bottles out of the trash at the beach where they would be burned and reusing them as planter pots.
Design from Pattern to Details:
Organic matter into the soil is the most critical aspect
Expansive growth is the most important aspect for propagation (prunings/grafting)
Use Small and Slow Solutions:
I am amazed at how easy and economical it is to start plants and give them time rather than investing the larger price tag and heavier plants for immediate gratification. I love watching plants grow.
Stacking Functions:
When deadheading my rosebushes, I clip a little low and use for new starts/cuttings.
I also reuse flowers from bouquets for cuttings (with less success but some)