Well, we’ve finished our first full year on our new property. We still love it, and we’re still excited about all the possibilities, so I think that’s a good sign. My partner has had to do the bulk of the ‘heavy lifting’, and he’s still enthusiastic, so I’m hopefully optimistic that he’s not going to hit me over the head with a shovel and drop me in a swale when I come up with yet another BRILLIANT permaculture idea.

As prescribed by permaculture, observation has been our main focus during this time, and there has been a lot to observe:

• 3 apple trees of yet unknown pedigree, and questionable edibility
• 3 plum trees of much deliciousness
• 3 eucalyptus trees which will supply some lovely eucalyptus oil
• Some bamboo, which will be expanded upon next year
• 3 little ponds around the house. The birds and frogs love them. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover a 6 inch goldfish in one of them!
• What we like to call our ‘old growth’ Scotch Broom forest - about 1.5 to 2 acres, which The Man has been cutting off at the knees (well, at the soil line, actually) But it is a nitrogen fixer, so I’m not going to hate them too much. All those roots can just rot - adds to the soil.
• LOTS of alders - which are nitrogen fixers, and fire wood
• Watching the water flows - which of course changes every time The Man cuts down some trees. Living and learning.
• We have sand . . . lots of sand. Soil? Not so much. Rocks? Yep. Big ones.
• And we have deer . . . lots of deer.
• The weather - which, as everyone is experiencing - is erratic, not doing what it is supposed to do, worse storms than the ‘old timers’ have ever seen, hot dry summers, not as much rain in the winters - you know . . . weather.
• We’ve got birds, bugs, frogs, snakes (harmless little garden snakes), and The Man swears he’s seen lizards, but I haven’t seen them yet. And we’ve got the most awesome owls makin’ jungle noises in the night. Love them owls.

And my thoughts on my observations:

• The apple trees are old, and gorgeous. There are three different kinds of apple - two are small and red and not very tasty, and one is large and very light green, and pretty tasty. Because I love the look of the old trees, and I just can’t abide the thought of cutting them down, I plan on making apple cider vinegar from them.
• The plum trees are also old and gorgeous, and the plums are really tasty, so they stay - to later be incorporated into mini food forests.
• The eucalyptus trees are really cool (I know the Aussies are used to them, but I’m not!) I plan on making eucalyptus oil (along with other essential oils).
• The bamboo will be expanded on as we clear more places and decide where stuff is going. 
• The little ponds are lovely, and will be cleaned out and brought back to health with some productive plants, fishes for the ‘squitoes, and some pretty things, too.
• The broom. Well, the broom field is shrinking. And, we have been chipping it into large piles of future hugelkultur and mulch material. That will put it to good use!
• The alders are everywhere, pioneering their little hearts out along with the broom - some mixed with the evergreen forest, and some in large stands, where it was obviously cleared at one point. But we’re not worried about the alder. It is useful, and easily cleared away if we decide we need more growing space in the future.
• The sand. I was worried about the sand when I first started looking around, but I feel much more confident now. I have learned about building up soils, adding humus, get those soil microbes microbing, and all those fantastic permacultural soil things. My plan for starting my garden beds is to dig contour swales, and create hugelkultur beds. This will help me jump start my garden, as well as build soil, and, very importantly, begin to drought-proof our property. You’d think that living on a small island with water all around, we wouldn’t have to worry about drought - but you know how it goes. Further work on building soil will be on going - compost, sheet mulching, hugelkultur, manure, mulch, mulch, mulch - whatever it takes to make it gorgeous.
• The deer. Yeah, fencing. And more fencing. I’ll try to not make it look like an institutional compound, but it’s the only way. Some days we have nine or ten deer hanging out in the front yard, waiting for the apples to drop. I don’t want to hate them, ‘cause they’re sweet, and the babies are incredibly cute. So we’ll learn how to live together.
• The weather is the weather. Nothing to do but roll with the punches.

So, now that we’ve observed, and still have no idea what is going on - on with the planning!

Not much was done this year in the growing department: I had my delicious hugelkultur herb spiral, tasty greens, some scrumptious little yellow tomatoes, and some gargantuan and awesome zucchini. I have put together compost windrows to work their magic over the winter. Not having animals in the mix yet, we are a little short on manure - other than from the deer - but I used everything we have, from grass and leaves, to wood chips, weeds, coffee grounds, soil, kitchen scraps, and something rather unfortunate and unrecognizable that smelled . . . well, you know how those things are.

And The Plan:

My goal of a permaculture market garden is dancing through my head. But I’m breathing deeply, and reining in my rampant enthusiasm, and working on The Plan. 

We have marked out the general area of the market garden, with extra space for expansion. Swale digging will commence shortly. We’ve planned the spot for the greenhouse . . . well, a couple of potential spots, depending on the size, which I haven’t decided yet. You know how it goes. 

The Man is planning on growing hops, so I’ve been investigating how best to grow them permaculture style - what grows best with them; what the soil needs; how we can lessen the need for irrigation, etc.

In true permaculture spirit, we have many ideas for a diversity of farm incomes. But my first and main goal is to provide us with some fresh healthy veggies next year. Then we’ll plant some fruit, nuts and berries, work on our drought-proofing plans, build a chicken coop, and so on, and so on, and so on . . .

I’ll put up some plan sketches soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos of our beautiful property.