Winter is almost over, and with it the time for
introspection also draws to a close. The heavy rains and shorter days have given
us time to create a sign system that illustrates our priorities in the garden. In
the coming year some focuses like crop selection and soil building will stay
the same, and this season they will be enhanced by a winter of planning that we
did not have last year.

Education is also a key priority as we enter the 2008
growing season, and one of the primary tools that we developed this winter is
our garden didactic system. This collection consists of 23 concept signs and 30
profile crop signs. They will be scattered throughout the garden to greatly
enhance its accessibility.

This project was beneficial to the Energy Garden initiative
because in the process compiling the content, we were able to summarize our
work to date. In addition, the signs helped us to identify the focal points of
the garden and the methods that influence its development.

The concept signs consist of:

·
Goals of the Sebastopol Energy Garden

·
Community Compost Collection

·
The Sebastopol Energy Garden Growth Collage

·
Square Foot Gardening Method

·
Natural Farming – The “Do Nothing” Method

· Cover Crops

·
The Water Catchment System

·
Drip Irrigation

·
Culinary Herb Spiral

·
Mandala Garden: The Sheet Mulch Technique

·
Methods of Season Extension: Towards a “Four
Season Harvest”

·
Appropriate Technologies

·
Processing and Harvesting Techniques

·
Tree Guilds: Edible Forest Gardening

·
Garden Cycle Tracking

·
Ethanol Production

·
The Fractional Still

·
Recycling and Compost: Designing “From Cradle to
Cradle”

·
Chickens

·
Biointensive Concepts

·
Permaculture Principles

Each sign corresponds to something that is happening in the
garden or that has influenced its progression. There are also 30 profile crops
that we have chosen because of their ability to help us adapt to Peak Oil.
Instead of a lawn, we are selecting a great range of crops to benefit humans
and the environment. Please see http://www.energyfarms.net/node/1495 for a list
of these crops.

These signs will enable people with a wide range of
understanding of sustainability to experience a transformed suburban lawn. When
people visit this year, during our second growing season, they will be
introduced to a diversity of crops with a large variety of functions. In
addition, they will be exposed to techniques and technologies that are easy to
learn and have the potential to make a big difference in their lives.

The rains will soon stop, and spring will bring a time of
action. We will sow seeds of diversity in the garden and hopefully, inspiration
in the community. The Energy Garden is always open to visitors and we look
forward to helping more people experience the resilience of the Earth.

In the last two days Rachael, Jason, and I planted out 45 bare-root grapes. It is important to get bare-root plants into the ground before it gets too warm and the plants break their winter dormancy. We planted a diversity of mostly seedless varieties including: Reliance, Sweet Seduction, Venus, Diamond Muscat, Dawn Grapes, New York Muscat, Golden Muscat, Red Flame, Perlette, and Concord. The grape section begins on the west side of the orchard and spans 1900 Sq feet. The next grape project will involve creating a trellis system to train the vines laterally.

Rachael and Jason Putting Grapes in the Ground

More Work with the Grapes

We are really making a push to get our bare-root plants into the ground. To do this we will have to plant the remaining fruit trees and the grape section. Jason and Dan Bednarz made their way to the site early Tuesday and dug holes for the pear trees. Dan Bednarz is on a west coast trip speaking about the implications of Peak Oil and Healthcare. Before heading north to Portland he lent a hand at the farm as he and Jason readied 6 holes. One more hole was made on Tuesday for the seventh pear tree.

On Wednesday Jason picked up the remaining fruit trees from Sanhedrin Nursery and we set to work planting them ahead of the rain. In order to prevent the trees from sinking into the ground below their graft (topic for another blog L), we were careful not to dig too deep in the center of the holes. Seven pear trees went into the ground completing the orchard section south of the vehicle access path.

Five other fruit trees were planted along the northern fence line. The back section is now completed to forest access gate. From east to west you will find raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, 2 peach trees and 3 persimmon trees. We have a total of 29 fruit trees on the site.

Below is the grand total of fruit trees on site:

Apples Varieties

- 2 Gravenstein

- 2 Liberty

- 2 Red Fuji

- 2 Sierra Beauty

- 1 Arkansas Black

- 1 York

Cherry Varieties

- 1 Lapins

- 1 Montmorency

Plum Varieties

- 2 French Improved

- 2 Green Gage

Fig Variety

- Black Mission

Pear Variety

- 1 Sensation Red Bartlett

- 1 Seckle

- 1 Commice

- 1 20^th Century Asian

- 2 Housi Asian

- 1 Blake’s Pride

Peach Variety

- Q-18 White Peach

- Triple Grafted (Indian Free Peach, Q-18, Frost Ready)

Persimmon Variety

- Fuyu

- Hachiya

Dan Bednarz

Dan Getting to Work On Another Fruit Tree Hole

Shot of the Orchard With Newly Planted Trees

Finished Blackberry and Raspberry Section in the Northeast part of the Site

We started transplanting Peas mid Saturday and it has taken us until early Tuesday to finally finish planting all the starts. I want to thank Kristin Bradford for coming out and helping with the project of transplanting on Saturday and Monday. We are also thankful for Rachael Adair’s help on Monday and Tuesday. Sometimes I would look away to do something and when I turned around I would be amazed at how many plants Rachael had done.

We are planting out the Peas using Grow Biointensive methodology which focus on intensive planting. Four rows of peas are spaced 6 inches apart. The “in row” spacing is three inches. As a comparison and to highlight the intensity of the plant spacing I planted half a section in 6 inch “in-bed” spacing. The entire bed that borders the walk path is full of peas. The area near the path is a little over 160 sq feet. With more starts to transplant, we added another 66 sq feet of peas in our “soon to be” annual section.

While some people were working on the peas others were simultaneously planting out bare-root raspberries and thornless Boysen and Black berries. Two separate beds where made on the most north-east part of the site. Each bed is located five feet from the back fence line and is spaced a few feet from the vehicle access road.

31 bare-root Raspberries have been planted, totaling approximately 130 Sq feet. There are five known varieties of Raspberries including:

- 5-Willamette

- 4-Latham

- 5-Heritiage,

- 4-Amity,

- 4-Indian Summer,

- 8-un-marked raspberries

Likewise, 31 Boysen and Blackberries were put in about 130 Sq feet. Again there is a diverse mix of varieties including:

- 5-Thornless Evergreen Blackberry

- 5-Thornless Dirksen Blackberry

- 5-Thornless Boysenberry

- 5-Kiowa Blackberry

- 4-Black Butte Blackberry

- 4-Olallie Blackberry

- 3-Siskiyou Blackberry

I know this has been mentioned earlier, however, bordering the blackberries are five blueberry plants. They take up about 60 Sq feet and the variety includes:

- 2 Misty Southern Highbush

- 1 Blue Southern Highbush,

- 2 Ozark

Once this berry section starts producing it will be a wonderful addition to the farm. Juices and jams are clear uses, as well as the opportunity for the kids to harvest a healthy snack. The addition of fruit to the CSA boxes will no doubt be great extra for members.

Kristin Transplanting Peas

Rachael Working with a Group of Volunteers and Enjoying the Afternoon

Jason Planting Bare-Root Blackberries

Berry Section Almost Fully Planted Out