Water Bars, A-Frame Level and Comfrey...

... are just a few of the projects we worked on yesterday with the help of AVI volunteers and residents. Lloyd and Meesh constructed an A-Frame level. A simple triangular tool using gravity to determine an accurate level reading. The Egyptians used it in building pyramids. We use it to put water bars and brush pile fencing on contour. The two standing bars are about 5.5' long and spread 6' apart. The cross bar secures them and a plumb betty hangs from the apex. To calibrate, it's set on level ground and a notch is marked on the cross bar where the plumb betty hangs. You can see here that at this particular spot on the patio it is not quite level. This allows for drainage. Dave and Shawn dug some water bars to help with erosion from all the crazy rain we've been having. Amie transplanted comfrey around the chicken fence so that there will be a ready chicken food supply easily at hand. And thanks to Mary and Blaize for their help too! Thanks everyone!

*** ThE bEEs ARe HerE ***

The bees arrived and got settled into their new digs today. Just in time too, before a torrential thunderstorm came in. (Can't wait until our rainwater catchment system is all set up!) Here's Shawn carrying in one of the hives. Their apparent annoyance at being moved was evident by the very audible buzz coming from the box. Now in full bee suit, he takes the temporary screen closure off the hive opening to let the bees roam about. They seemed eager to get out but not too angry.

Tomato Spacing

Meesh here. Hi. I'm taking a poll... how far apart do you plant your tomato plants? There's been some discussion 'round here whether it should be 2 ft or 3 ft. Wondering what peoples' thoughts were. Please comment. And here's something new I learned about transplanting tomatoes... plant them deep so they root stronger. I had learned that when transplanting (in general) ya put the start plug in the ground so that the surface of the plug soil is level with the surface of the ground soil and not to get any new soil packed up around the stem of the plant. Well, I guess with tomatoes it's different. We have tomato starts that are about two feet tall, they're now planted in the ground with just about 6 inches of the plant above ground. All the stems underground will take root making the plant stronger. Any comments?

Janell and Shawn had a great radio show discussing Permaculture on VIRATO LIVE! 880 AM The Revolution. If you missed it, you can check out the archive at http://880therevolution.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=ViratoLive.xml

Janell on da mic! Preach it, sistah.

Shawn called in remotely. Here are his levels. Hi Shawn.

Listen to Shawn & Janell discuss Permaculture on the radio tomorrow

Shawn and Janell of Ashevillage Institute will be discussing Permaculture on VIRATO LIVE! 880 AM The Revolution, Saturday, May 23, 10 AM to 11 AM ES Or listen online at http://viratolive.com

Volunteer Day

Big thanks to our volunteers that came out yesterday to help! We got a lot done and couldn't have done it without you. We appreciate it!

Mary and Blaize harvested burdock root and mugwort and planted tomatoes and basil in a keyhole bed. Keyhole beds allow us to make better use of the arable space available. We placed a keyhole-shaped path into an oval-shaped bed instead of continuing the path all the way through. We have more space to plant and can still access the plants within arm's reach from any of the footpaths, eliminating the need to step in the beds and compacting the soil.

Sage joined Mary and Blaize planting squash. Thanks for your help Sage!

Dave and Lloyd worked on building a base for the heavy bee hives that will arrive this weekend. Our bees are being placed with the chickens for a reason. Multiple functions is one of the leading principles of permaculture. Elements are placed in the design to mutually benefit each other and eliminate tasks. In this case, the bee colony clears their dead out of the hives providing a food source for the chickens. And that's just one function. Thanks also to Lucinda and Frank for coming out to help. After a gorgeous morning of hearty work, it was nice for the whole crew to take a break together, share a yummy potluck lunch and chat a bit. Hope to see y'all next Thursday!

2009 Season at AVI underway

Things are ramping up around here. This last week we welcomed our resident permaculturist, Shawn, and his family to the AVI house. Shawn is designing our site master plan which we'll be implementing throughout the summer. We also welcomed Lloyd, an AVI resident, who arrived the same day to round out our core team of sustainability superstars: Steveo, Keri, Ira, Michael, Janell, and Meesh.

Ashevillage Institute core team meeting

Meetings, meetings, meetings are the order of the day. It takes a lot of planning and organizing to run this show and make real and lasting change. AVI core team meeting, website development meeting, strategic planning meeting, volunteer orientation meeting, Permaculture Design Course meeting... phew! Good thing we have a sweet and stellar cast of characters, nourishing wild and fermented lunches and plenty of organic dark chocolate to get us through!

Volunteer meeting with bikes, barrels and burdock under the apple tree

AVI on the radio

Ashevillage Institute will be discussing Permaculture on VIRATO LIVE! 880 AM The Revolution, Saturday, May 23, 10 AM to 11 AM ES Or listen online at http://viratolive.com

Permaculture Class!

Our Permaculture class spent the weekend camping up at Earthaven Ecovillage where our teacher, Miss Patricia Allison lives. We built some fires, shared some stories, made some mead, dug out a pond and went on plant walks..... in between all this fun Miss Patricia taught us a couple of things too.

Miss Patricia is explaining a classic permaculture design called the "herb spiral".

This is one of the many bees that are workin' it in Miss Patricia's garden.

Hey, Greg... What is this?...saw him cruisin along while we were on our plant walk.

Gwennie is playing hookie from class and I caught her red-handed at the playground!

Saturday night we had a talent show and boy was I blown away at the talent. Kelly (first pic) started a fire with handmade tools that she made herself and Grant picked his banjo for us (lower pic). Dylan shared two poems that he wrote while hitchhiking and exploring. Also there was a presentation on hydrogen power by Damon (who has a hydrogen cell on his car), stand-up comedy and a tear jerking, appalachian-inspired tune written and performed by Cassie. Steve screamed some rock, Claudia brought some seaweed that she harvested herself in Maine, Jeremy played and sung a song he wrote himself, and Greg did some crazy harmonizing thing with his throat called"Tuvan Throat Singing ".....These are just a couple of the highlights....Annie and I did an impromptu version of "Puff the Magic Dragon" with Jeremy's accompaniment but I was so bad that everyone in the class started singing along to cover up my tone deafness. Talent shows are the way to go! Much more fun to watch than TV.

Volunteer fabulousness!

Julie's creations

We had a beet, basil, and peach platter; OUR garden salad; and a mixed green salad!

New AVI residents

Garrett is the funny blue alien who came all the way from hawaii to hang with us....and he likes it!

This is Julie.....she's awesome and a fabulous cook.

Some Great Folks

Sandor Ellix Katz was one of two presenters who came and taught our Wild Foods and Fermentation workshop. What an inspiring and cool thing to have been involved in! We were so lucky to have him and Frank Cook spend so much time with us. They answered our questions, and empowered us to take a second glance at things like weeds and microrganisms! Sandor is the author of Wild Fermentation and The Future Will Not Be Microwaved. He made tempeh, meade,villi, kombucha, and kefir just for us! All these things are super good for us because of active enzymes, beneficial bacteria, and partially digested proteins that our bodies love us for. Check Sandor's skills out here.

Frank Cook was the other presenter at our Wild Foods and Fermentation workshop. What an amazing human being he is. Frank took our class on plant walks both Thursday and Friday. He, along with Mary and Angelina, (Thank ya'll!) made a fabulous South Indian meal for us consisting of Idlis (fermented lentil and rice flour) and Sambar. He talked to us and the plants about what an important part they play in our well being. Lots of plants that we consider "weeds" are so exceptional in many ways and we just don't know it. His mantra at the moment is "eat something wild everyday." Take a look at Frank's website, www.plantsandhealers.com/ for more info about the genius things he's dedicated his life to.

morning tea

Frank made a great tea for the students in our workshop before class started....all the leaves were from our yard and have various medicinal properties.

1. Kudzu

2. couldn't figure this one out...looks like an oversized red raspberry leaf....Hey Frank,you out there? let me know what this one is.

3. Dandelion

4. Mint

5. Sumac

6. Rose of Sharon

7. Sorrel

8. Violet

pretty genius huh? anyway...take a look at Plants For A Future to see which weeds are good for you in your yard.

How eatin' should be

So above is the fabulous gourmet meal we devoured on Friday during our Wild Foods and Fermentation Workshop. The menu was (starting clockwise from upper left)

-A dressing made from homemade miso, a Sandor-made villi (cultured dairy goodness),organic lemon juice, and tahini.

-wild greens pesto

-coleslaw with wild greens from the yard and edible flowers

-pan-fried Tempeh we made the day before

- miso soup

-russian raisin bread baked locally from Farm and Sparrow

-wild greens salad that included lettuces,lamb's quarter, broccoli, basil, tomato, daikon, althea, nasturtium, calendula, arugula, walnuts, thyme, strawberry leaves, lavender, yarrow, rosemary, & mint!....did ya get that?

-homemade sauerkraut with a plethora of veggies including cabbage..of course...burdock root, red onions, garlic, carrots and some different types of seaweeds.

- last but certainly not least a dandy honey wine (meade) made with mangoes and pineapples

Where does our stuff come from?

We go shopping for things, we use bags from the store, we buy a bunch of reusable bags but forget to use those and shop for more things and more bags. Where does it all come from and where does it go? PLEASE watch the video called "The Story of Stuff" I can't really say or write how necessary and appropriate this video is. See for yourself.

ode to the latin ladies

So, Ben can sing some songs in Spanish and it's AWESOME! He's our entertainment alot when we get some down time.

just another garden day...

During our garden day, we worked on the cob bench that was started during the natural building workshop. Jen (left) and Janell are smoothing out and designing shape of it.

Our garden is beautiful AND edible.

Ben (foreground) and Jeremy are making a mulch bed.Adding leaf mulch adds carbon to the topsoil and builds it up. We use mulch beds instead of tilling up the soil for multiple reasons. "No-till" gardening includes increase of soil quality (soil function),preservation, and protecting the soil from erosion. Another benefit is not disturbing the microbes and organisms that make our soil alive. Some hot friends came over to help us burnish the earthen plaster on the house and remove sand particles.

Natural Building

Sienna gettin' dirty...

Meka's dirty toes...

muddin it up....

(left) making adobe bricks

(middle) plastering over concrete

(right) Josh is plastering our window

everybody's doing the mud stomp.

Our Natural Building workshop went smoothly and it was alot of fun for everybody. Above is pretty much everyone who took the workshop over Thursday and Friday. Our Permaculture class did some earthen plastering on Saturday and Sunday. We built that really cool arch on Janell's front porch.

Summer Solstice

We attended The Summer Solstice celebration at The Botanical Gardens here in Asheville. What a spectacle. Drama! Singing!Dancing!Kazoos! this celebration had it all and there was a potluck feast afterwards.