We Are All Farmers Permaculture Institute

The We Are All Farmers Permaculture Sheet Mulch Workshop April 14, 2012

Introduction

What follows is a participant-observation of the glorious We Are All Farmers Permaculture Sheet Mulch Workshop April 14, 2012 held at Eightfold Farm. Many thanks again to Eric Jackson for hosting!

Eightfold Farm is a former dairy farm located on a small slope in a transitioning rural area in Forsyth County, about twenty minutes from Winston-Salem, NC. Approaching on a looped main road takes you past a few remnant farms but much encroaching suburban development. In sight of the farm is a huge high school—Ronald Reagan High—and across from the farm and the main road sets an open field not recently plowed and now thick with tall weeds.

The farm consists of the main house, one large hay barn, an empty concrete dairy, several storage sheds, and several electric fences holding pasture-raised laying hens and a handful of domestic geese. The fields to the back of the farm have been planted in various soil-building grasses. Trees and a naturally growing hedge of brush ring the fields. Peeking through the trees and down the slopes sets the massive high school.

The farm was Eric Jackson’s grandfather’s farm, and he now rents and caretakes the property.

On the day of the event, the other two main organizers and I were greeted by the sounds of drum corps in the stadium at Ronald Reagan High…and only with time did we realize that a marching band competition was taking place over the hill from us. Thus, clicking drumsticks and pounding basses punctuated our day of spreading compost, straw, shredded wood, and coffee grounds and planting heirloom potatoes.

Eric supports many of the principles of permaculture, and he wanted to incorporate permaculture design principles on his farm. Edward and I are certified in permaculture and wanted to begin to offer workshops in the community. We organized this event through handbills at a key seed swap event in Winston-Salem in January and through social media like Meet Up and Facebook.

What is a Meet Up?

Popularized through the social media website meetup.com, a Meet Up is an event which interested members of the general public may attend. You find a Meet Up you are interested in, sign up online, and commit to meeting with other members with a similar interest or affinity. The types of Meet Ups on the site range from hobbies to religion to semi-activist events such as ours.

11: 30 am, April 14, 2012

Eric and Edward (E & E) finish organizing the materials for the workshop. Coming out from the large barn, Eric and Edward have set out a large pile of cardboard and several buckets of compost. Next to a contour ditch, E & E have set up a picnic tent to provide shade for workshop participants.

The two men return to the empty dairy. Part of the empty dairy has been converted into a kitchen and a large eating room. The room has windows but no screens or glass. A high table sets in the middle of the room. Lining the wall near the kitchen sits a long folding table, adorned with a royal blue tablecloth. Permaculture magazines and books lay scattered and on display. A laptop displays a photo gallery. A sign up sheet rests in a clipboard.

 

On the large table in the center of the room sits the first dish for the potluck. Another table hosts drinker coolers with iced water and iced tea. A party-size thermos boasts a yellow sticker announcing “French Press Coffee.” A super-sized speckled camping pot holds ice.

E & E walk through the dairy main room and out onto the concrete porch to its back. They sit on the glider couch, each commenting a worry that maybe no one will show up for the event.

Edward leans against the wall, his eyes closed, a coffee cup poised on his belly.

12:00 p.m. The first participants arrives. Sporting shorts, a cowboy hat, and lamb chops, this participant heads toward the house, then is waved toward the dairy. He, Edward, and Eric know one another and man-hugs (crooked arms, pats on the back) are given all the way around. Eric comments that he will now make a salad for his potluck contribution. He and Participant 1 head toward the house.

Within a few minutes, the next few people arrive. An older gentleman flanked by two younger men, one each a generation a part from the next. They appear to be grandfather, father, and son. With these first arrivals, Edward appears from the porch. The men shake hands and conversation on farm starts. Some sort of interest arises and Edward leads the men out of the converted dairy, past a storage shed, toward some plants growing a second storage shed.

Simultaneously, the another participant arrives. He heads first toward the house, but then is waved to the actual location of the potluck section of the day’s event, in the converted dairy. Upon his greeting, he lets me know he found this Meet Up through the Meet Up social media site. He sets down the food he has brought. Following behind him are more participants.

Part of the fields along the row have been mowed. A hand-painted “parking” sign leans against a tree. Edward and the three men come back to the converted dairy.

12:30 p.m.

Eric and Participant 1 emerge from the house to meet and greet. By now, ten people meander through the dairy. The sky has changed from bright sun to overcast and there is a general sense that people aren’t quite sure what to do with themselves.

12: 40 p.m.

By now, 18 adults and two elementary-age children wander through the room and some have settled on the concrete porch outside. I decide to go ahead and start the food. I begin removing plastic wrap and pot lids from what people have brought. I call out for folks to come to eat.

A woman with dark long hair and bangs, wearing shorts, a short-sleeved Western shirt, and a bandanna at the neck suggest that I say a blessing, since I seem to be “the person with the loudest voice.” Unsure of myself and unsure of the crowd, I conjure up a jumble of heartfelt words of gratitude for people taking time out of their busy lives to come on a beautiful Saturday in April to engage in community and permaculture. I also find my way to thanking the sky and being grateful for the food.

People form an impromptu line around the raised table. Paper plates are filled, iced tea and water poured, and people compare notes on what is what dish and how the food was prepared.

1:15 p.m.

I call the day’s participants out to the back porch. The porch is raised. It extends about eight feet from the converted dairy. Intended or not, it forms a natural stage. The day’s participants sit on the stage, so Edward, Eric and I step out into the grass, about one and a half feet below the porch. I have been chosen as emcee, so I step out into the middle of the grass, welcome everyone, say a few words about who I am (VT doctoral student interested in communities in economic decline), about Edward, explain how we ended up in North Carolina recently, and then turn the attention to Edward.

 

Edward explains some of the basic principles of permaculture. He terms it a “systems design,” and notes that today’s agenda includes looking at a farm system, but that permaculture can be applied to economics, building, and so on. He emphasizes that the day’s work will be hands-on and that we can learn permaculture and talk more about it as the workshop progresses. He turns the attention back to me, and I thank and introduce Eric.

Eric thanks everyone for coming and explains that this farm used to be his grandfather’s. He himself has been on the site as its caretaker for about two years. He also credits Edward with introducing him to some new concepts regarding farming and land stewardship.

Eric turns the attention back to me, and I motion wide for us to get up and moving toward the barn to “get our hands dirty!”

1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

We Build a Massive Sheet Mulch Bed

The participants move to the field adjacent to the barn. Eric and Edward indicate a ditch that has been dug. Edward explains that Eric dug this ditch along the contour using a pull plow (correct terminology on my part?) in order to create a catchment for water. I am videotaping as Edward explains how water can be stored in the ground through use of swales when a tall male participant lets me know that I am standing on a pea plant. I move into the ditch and continue to film.

The work then starts. Participants rush toward a pile of cardboard and paper that Edward and Eric have set next to the ditch. Snaking from near the road to about ten feet from the barn, participants layer the cardboard into a five-foot wide swath, piling cardboard until no plants can be seen. The pea plant I had stepped on gets covered by cardboard. Participants and Eric take turn with long water hoses spraying down the cardboard to prepare it for the next step.

The next step comes with layering compost on top. For this project, the compost consists of coffee grounds gathered for free from a cafe in Winston-Salem. Participants spread buckets of coffee grounds mixed with kitchen scraps over the cardboard.

Eric then walks through with a bucket of blood meal. Edward explains that this is a nitrogen source for the plants.

On top of this layer, people are placing potatoes to be grown. Edward calls out to Eric and asks how he wants the potatoes spaced. Eric lets us know that at about two feet. Edward comments that with the potatoes, this year, Eric may not get much of a yield, but as the soil improves, next year should be a good crop.

 

I alternate between documenting the building of the sheet mulch lasagne and participating in its construction. Along with participants, I pick up armfuls of straw and scatter them across the sheet mulch bed.

Behind me, people push one of two wheelbarrows of leaf mulch mixed with chicken litter to the mulch bed. The chicken litter-leaf mulch is located in the adjacent room in the barn. Eric explains he had collected leaves from the farm and other people’s bags of leaves and put them on the barn floor the previous fall. He then let his 20 chickens into the barn to scratch the leaves and pick them. The leaves, by this April (2012) had formed dirt deeper down with torn leaves on top.

Four to six participants work to gather this mixture into buckets and with shovels into the wheelbarrows. A steady stream or participants move between the sheet mulch bed and this room. I also put down my video camera and grab a shovel.

After this layer is complete, and after the participants take a break (the sun has returned and people head under the picnic tent for shade), we turn our attention to the massive pile of shredded wood. Eric comments that he got this wood from a tree-trimming company for free; the company was glad to have a free place to dump this “litter.” We now fill our buckets and wheelbarrows with this shredded wood. Eric grabs a tarp he has and brings it over. On the tarp is a gargantuan photo of Tiger Woods. I ask where he got this from, and he lets me know someone he knows runs a print shop and no longer needed this tarp.

The participants stomp across the multiple images of Tiger Woods, filling the tarp with shredded wood, and dragging the wood to the sheet mulch bed. As two people pull from the far side of the bed, other participants roll the tarp, dumping the shredded wood. Other participants fill in, raking the shredded wood into place. The woman who asked me to say a blessing follows up by spraying everything down.

 

3: 00 p.m.

The sheet mulch bed reaches completion! One female participants continues to spray down the bed with a hose. By now, most of the participants have headed for the shelter of the picnic tent or toward the shade of the barn. The lone female participant, her long dark hair swishing behind her, handles the hose like a gun, spraying it into the air once for “Victory.”

3:30 p.m.

The workshop’s participants have scattered. A few hangers-on stay, chatting with E & E. The sun remains strong and the participants have moved themselves into the shade of the barn.

One participant moves her van from next to the road and closer to the barn. In the open van are two Rotweilers in two separate cages. The woman takes one, then the other to greet us. After participants have pet and greeted the dogs, she returns to the van and emerges with one of the dogs dressed in a clown collar and Easter Bunny ears. They trot toward us, the dog carrying a basket of small candy bars by the handle in her jaws. The woman commands the dog to put down the basket, which she does at our feet. Then she instructs the dog to bow, which then also does.

The participants thin. Whereas only two hours before people had greeted with handshakes, now, people say goodbye with hugs. People swap business cards, phone numbers, and email addresses.

The few remaining folks then gather on the ground under the shade of a leaving maple and swap tales.