Check out these awesome homegrown films by Elisa Rathje and family at www.appleturnover.tv on Salt Spring Island, BC
Wood stove cookery, continuous improvement + permaculture in episode 1 of the journal of small work
The journal of small work* is the first episode of the new appleturnover series.
How can we live well within the limits of our living systems? This new series is a response to overwhelming urgency. In the face of the daunting prospect of transforming how we live, let’s start where we are, with what we’ve got, and build from there. This first journal pairs the useful, comforting framework of continuous improvement (kaizen) with the principles of multiple and stacking functions (permaculture), redesigning our systems to meet several needs at once. The wood stove illustrates how these frameworks can help us adapt to rapid change without losing our balance. We can apply these patterns all over. What continuous, incremental action are you already taking towards living regeneratively? What stacking and multiple functions will you add next? Your small work inspires us all to action.
Deep Litter for Raising Chickens
The deep litter method is a good old fashioned way to keep chickens in a resilient natural system. See how to create a regenerative, living cycle in the henhouse and chicken run that yields fresh eggs, nitrogen rich compost for the garden and orchard and a healthy, contented flock of free range laying hens, ducks, geese and chicks.
Pick & Prune
Follows a practice of tending the trees that yields much more than fruit. We made this little picture in the old orchard, the food forest, in late winter and late summer, when we are very much preoccupied with the trees.
It follows how we work with natural patterns within a system that elegantly meets the needs of all the contributors, most especially the fruit trees, but certainly the goats, geese, ducks, hens and chicks, not to mention songbirds, honeybees, wild pollinators, and people.
The people, naturally, are looking for continuous improvement in the system, so that less work, plenty of fruit, a thriving ecosystem, happy creatures and more orchard naps are the result. Pruning well is the heart of that project, and we hope this little film gives some insight into our practice.
Every Day Resilience
In a new article for Permaculture Magazine, Developing Everyday Resilience, Lael tells the story of our family’s journey to create an abundant, self-sufficient lifestyle on Salt Spring Island BC.
Raising Chicks with a Broody Hen