The is a spring permaculture tour of the DR orchard, which was first planted around time the founders bought the land over 20 years ago. Parts of the orchard have gone in and out of production over the years, but some of the fruit and nut trees have been steadily growing and are almost to the point of paying off.
https://www.facebook.com/HardcoreSustainable/
You can buy a small salad spinner to wash and prepare a small salad, or you can make a farm scale spinner out of an old washing machine, but for those in between amounts, there is another super easy and cheap method I’ve used with success for many years.
I mentioned my water system explanation video and here is the link:
Part of sustainable food production is planting a diversity of crops. Permaculture promotes stacking functions and synergistic plantings of crops and perennials. Every season I make use of the space in between my rows of grapes to grow vegetable produce on a larger scale. This space is normally kept in grass or a cover crop, but this seems like a waste of land when it could be producing more food for sale or home eating. All that space needs to be mowed and maintained throughout the season. In addition, by planting vegetables I can reduce the competition for water and nutrients with the grapes since vegetable root systems are much shallower and less extensive than grass roots. Since starting this practice, I’ve found an increase in the productivity and vigor of the grapevines.
The crazy fluctuations in movement of the jet stream these days caused by the warming of the Arctic are leading to extreme variations in winter temps, which wreaks havoc on even the hardiest of grape varieties.
A lot of farmers in the US are denying climate change instead of anticipating and preparing for it. If they were smart, like European farmers, they would be doing something about it, or at least not denying its existence.
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/pruning_severely_winter_damaged_grapevines_in_michigan
My hoop house has been a great asset in recent years for getting early season greens. I got started a little late this year, but still have a good crop of spinach going. It always does much better than spinach outside the hoop house because it can get a longer cooler season with the passive solar heating and temperature regulation of the hoop house. I also talk about the starts I’ve gotten going this season.
I got this gadget for turning conduit into quick hoops that can be used for either quick frost protection, quick pest protection, or longer term low tunnels. I plan to make mobile low tunnels for between my grape rows.
