326 – Questions From Morgan Bowen; Trees; the PDC at Wheaton Labs; the Ant Village

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Paul sits down with Morgan Bowen. Morgan (the man who peed on a mountain lion) has listened to all of the podcasts Paul has produced, mainly while soaking in the tub. As they reminisce about the mountain lion, they go over what animals are in the area, concluding none would harm adult humans.

Since Morgan has listened to all of the podcast he is able to sit down with Paul and ask him questions. Morgan’s first question focuses on what kind of trees could replace conifers. Paul explains that in his view dividing it all up into chunks and planting a diverse mix of what your passionate about, as well as a few things that considered impossible to grow in your area.

Morgan then asks about what exceptions there may be to not planting trees from seeds. Paul gives an example of building swales to divert waste to a swale planted with willow and cottonwood trees. Paul is pretty sure they don’t have taproots and transplant very well, so don’t need to be started from seed. Another exception is to buy a certain species of apple that you want, plant that tree and then collect the seeds to plant others. There is also a maple tree called Sweet Sap Silver maple, which has a much higher sugar content and you can tap the tree much faster (9 years as opposed to 30) and may be hard to find from seed since it is a rare tree.

Paul brings up the importance of artisans of seed and soil, and how in an ideal permaculture system where you have almost no need for money, you’re able to experiment with planting and put in what you’re passionate about or think is fun.

Morgan asks Paul to explain ant village and Paul goes over it for Morgan’s listeners, which leads into talking about Curtis Stone’s methods of growing food intensively on a small plot. They go over what is possible and Paul gives some insight into the ant village challenge, and how the ants will be able to accomplish many different things given the variety in personality.

They move on to talking to about the Permaculture Design Course which happened at Wheaton labs. Morgan gives some insight into what the PDC was like and what it wasn’t like, comparing it to other PDC’s they know of it.

Paul gives some more tips on planting, emphasizing how starting a small section and making it awesome, and then moving on to another area later on is a great way to go about exploring permaculture. He expresses it’s totally fine to make a larger design but not to be married to it.

Morgan and Paul finish off remarking about what is happening now at the labs and basecamp and how it has been an incredible progression.

Credit: Vida Norris

Relevant Threads

Visiting the Labs
2015 Super Weeks
Ant Village

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