Anyang!

Hello!

Flora here. Posting for the first time on this big fancy blog of ours. So a little bit about what inspired this whole project.

Both Fauna and I come from rural areas, though in comparison she is the Country Mouse and I am the City Mouse. When we moved in together here in Portland we longed for a house were we could garden. Recapture a little bit of the country, and to just enjoy the many spiritual, physical, and mental benefits of time spent in a garden. As were lucky enough to find a small house on a decent lot, with a very understanding landlord, our urban farm began.

In the course of things we decided that conventional agriculture and and gardening methods were inappropriate for our home. The reasons for this were legion, and I am too sure we will get into all that later. Needless to say organic gardening, intergrated pest management, and permaculture design was where we were headed.

This blog is our online garden journal. A place where we can finally catalog all of the crazy projects we have going on, but also a place to show off the lessons we have learned so that others might glean some knowledge from our mistakes.

By far the most important thing I have learned is to keep a garden jounral, paper or computer or whatever. Being able to track what you used, when, and where is invaluable. Just like saving seeds year to year to create hardy varities, you have to save the kernels of knowledge to resow and watch them grow. This is not simple accounting, but a way to remember what works and what does not. Soil is not one homegenous mass. The seasons are not static and they variate year to year. A journal is all but required if you want to properly rotate crops for nutrient levels and pest management. Holisitic permaculture design is not about throwing stuff in the ground and hoping it works, it requires careful observation.

~Flora