Lived most of my life in the sub-tropic Florida panhandle region of the U.S. Transplanted to the more temperate area of the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, U.S. I've had lots of gardening experience throughout my life, even as a child (although I considered it much more of a chore back then). In just the past few years, I've come to realize my passion in life is gardening. And I believe permaculture is the best system of gardening for us, the plants, the animals and the Earth as a whole. Permaculture is so much more than just gardening, but I think my calling is to improve the Earth, specifically by growing plants. Permaculture helps me realize that dream a little bit more with every passing day.

My initial foray into permaculture began after trying to use my very small backyard vegetable garden to save money on food. After realizing conventional backyard vegetable gardening can cost more than just buying the vegetables from a grocery store (in seeds, plants, fertilizers and mulch), I decided to figure out how to grow vegetables without all the extraneous costs associated with doing it "the normal way." Reading various books and online articles on gardening, composting and water conservation over several years led me to the permaculture community. Although I have no formal permaculture education or training, I constantly study permaculture techniques and designs, and I try to apply those to my own backyard garden.

My current project goals are to plant more fruit trees and edible perennial plants/herbs to supplement (and eventually outproduce) my annual vegetable garden. The project pace is slow, as financial considerations prohibit me from purchasing all the plants I would like to add at once. Instead, I gradually add what trees/plants/herbs that I can when I can find a good deal or trade with a friend. Eventually, I would like a majority of the food my family eats to come directly from our own yard... at least during the Spring and Summer months.

As far as long term goals are concerned, I hope to one day own a larger piece of property (as in five acres or more) to start up a regenerative agriculture farm. My farm would be loosely based off of Mark Shepard's farm designs and techniques, using plants that are native (whenever possible) to where the farm would be located. Until I can save enough money to buy that land, however, I will keep making improvements to my suburban property and learning as much as I can about permaculture in the process.

Swales in the Suburban Backyard Garden

My Collection of Perennial Plants and Fruit Trees So Far

How and Why I Put Urine to Good Use in My Garden