The PDC included one full day of checking out other permaculture sites in the Golden Bay area.
I met many people who are living the permaculture dream, and have low-maintenance, high-production gardens!
Chris and Sylvia at Nikau Gardens showed us all of the plans they created to design their property. So much time and effort went into them, and now they have endless pockets of fruit trees and big, flourishing beds of veggies and fruits!
Discussing how to create useful site maps
Winding around the steep, fruit and native tree covered hillsides
CDs hanging in the garden beds to distract birds
Albie is a man who is incredibly interested in alternative energy systems. He just got so excited telling us about the practical aspects of installing and maintaining them.
Checking out solar panel design. They produce much more energy than they need with this panel, and sell excess to the grid for their neighbors to use
Albie’s hot water shower consists of a rain tank with a long, 20m rubber hose coming out of it. He coils up the hose and lays it on the ground, then covers it in plastic to retain heat on sunny days. The water sits in the pipe and gets really warm. The hose has a spicket propped up to a wooden board, and when he turns it on, the water that comes out is steaming hot!
Albie converted his car to electric before they sold electric cars. Super cool to check out!
Sol Morgan, the coordinator for the community gardens in Takaka, has his own permaculture property in his backyard. On just a quarter acre, he produces enough food to almost entirely sustain his family through the summer! I could barely find a patch left to grass other than a small picnic area.
Explaining crop rotation plan for the property
Sol’s ultra-packed beds! PS. that tin bin in the back is actually a worm farm, and he puts seedling trays on top of it when he hardens them off to make use of all space
Alli had a huge integrated orchard system with chickens and ducks running around everywhere!
Lush house entrance
Super awesome established coppiced tree (grafting on a new, fresh sapling onto an established trunk and root system that wasn’t producing anymore)
Automatic self-feeders for chickens and ducks
The Mussel Inn is a local farm-to-table pub and restaurant. They grow their own fruit and hops for ciders and beers, process everything on site, and have big veggie and herb gardens to provide ultra-local, seasonal food. The only inputs that come from off-site are mussels grown on the nearby beach, as well as a few ingredients from local farmers like meat and dairy products, and some grains which they don’t produce here.
Mandala veggie gardens lined with fejoa trees
Hops with a beautiful view of the hills
The yummy smelling brewery
They even bought a second-hand plastic bottle machine which inflates tiny plastic tubes with air. This way they have to import less weight when they need to purchase plastic bottles for selling to local grocery stores and other pubs in the area.
Bathroom wall made out of clay and used glass bottles
Composting toilet system so customers recycle their nutrients from eating back into the garden. They designed their own toilet, when this handle is spun the human waste empties into the bin below, and can be thrown into the large compost bin directly behind. The nirtogen-rich humanure is combined with shredded cardboard boxes that their imports are sent in to make the perfect mulch.
Instead of buying in concrete or gravel, the parking lot floor is used and ground-up mussel shells!
After a long days field trip, we relaxed and had dinner at the Mussel Inn. Here’s a fresh baked pumpkin and veggie pie with sprouts and tomato relish, accompanied by a fejoa cider!
Another day was spent visiting homes at the Tui community, which all have amazing and unique permaculture designs interwoven in them.
Even tables can be homes for plants!
Pick some grapes on your way to the toilet!
Growth even in the cracks of the staircase
Earth-built mailbox
Large rock in front of glass windows collects thermal mass from the sun all day, an then slowly releases it into the room when the night cools off
One awesome bedroom!
One room roundhouse home! (Robina’s house)
Who says gardens can’t be indoors too?
Veggies with a view