I just joined this forum and mailed my HOS membership form and check. I've been a wine grape grower in western Oregon for over 30 years. We sold our beloved vineyard this past year and bought a new property high in the Amity-Eola Hills. We're now planning to plant a commercial permaculture orchard focused on cider apples, but (in the permaculture design) we'll also plant pears, plums, quince and likely other species. We're curious whether anyone else on this forum has or is planning anything similar? We were Demeter-certified Biodynamic growers with the vineyard, so we're very familiar with the NOP, and we're not fans of the "organic." Our nephew is a student of permaculture and has begun a commercial enterprise to expand such practices. It is our hope to demonstrate commercial success using permaculture as an option to organic.
Hello Koosah and welcome to the HOS,
Sorry, I didn't respond to your post earlier because it was buried in a website technical page. I saw it and had it moved to the forum page, so here goes.
I have a permaculture food forest at my house. Last year, it was one of the HOS tours of gardens for members. I'm sorry that you missed it. This year, the tours have focused on the tours for the annual meetings of HOS, The National Fruit Explorers and California Rare Fruit growers, which are going on right now and through Saturday. I would love to share permaculture ideas with you and others on this site.
I am just learning about biodynamic practices, but I am enthusiastic about learning how to make it work. I agree with most of what Rudolf Steiner wrote and I have read Secrets of the Soil. We have some HOS members who are accomplished biodynamic growers.
I assume that you don't like organic because it doesn't go far enough. I do grow organically, but there is so much to the soil, microbiology, and the wisdom of nature that one will miss if like many, the grower tries to be just barely organic.
Have you read or seen about the Permaculture ORchard in Quebec by Stephan Sebowiaski (sp?)? He has some really good ideas and he has the most well known commercially successful permaculture orchard as far as I know. He also made a video.
Thanks,
John S
PDX OR
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
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