Cleaning Up After Hurricane Debby, Permacultured Pastures, and My Garden

byTeriRehkopf

779 followers

3 months ago

Hurricane Cleanup

As you can see, our first pile of brush from Hurricane Debby is still waiting to be picked up. We only had a bunch of brush falling around our place from the hurricane, although it did go over the top of us during the night and early morning.

Trees surround us, and I swear this keeps the trees from falling. We have so many tree roots that show in the ground that I mow over. There isn't enough sand/dirt to cover many places.

I was in the throes of bronchitis when the hurricane hit. I didn't feel much like dealing with another hurricane. I went outside a few days later and picked up the fallen branches in the front yard first so I could mow. Remember, our 'yard' encompasses about a half acre in the front and another half or more in the back yard.

Then, I have the rest of the 5 acres to mow in the side and back pastures. I'm cultivating native plants that are growing, working with the practice of permaculture. Permaculture principles is to nourish the earth, not strip it down as we do in gardening. Basically, you use the natural plants in the environment instead of planting new ones.

Permaculture thrives on a closed-loop system: all waste (output) is reintegrated as resources (input) to ensure the dynamism and energy efficiency of the growing system. This means harvesting seeds, using weeds to rebuild the soil, composting, and more.

I’m just beginning to apply permaculture, and I don’t have that many plants yet to work with. So far, it’s just been creatively mowing walkway paths around the existing plants. I have yet to try to plant anything within the permaculture.

I finally have gotten over the 3-week bout of bronchitis,, which ended up stopping up my ear. I still hack a bit, and that will probably continue for a while. My lungs are clear, and my ear has been flushed.

I’m not swimming yet, but I have gotten my head and body wet to work in the oppressive heat. It’s supposed to be 110 heat index today! The top layer of my pool is hot water. It feels yucky until I get in and swish it around.

I started another raised bed for beans. The other raised beds were too shaded and mixed with tomato plants. Only one of the tomato plants has fruit, but I’m getting a few beans. Take a look at the beans and potatoes growing in a tiny side garden I did when I was thinning the beans. I’ve gotten a few beans from it! It's a true survival garden, lol.

It’s tough to do much writing in the summer since I’m the chief mower. I wake late, a bit before 10 AM, due to painful restless leg hitting me at 12:30 AM and keeping me awake. I jump on my emails, Wealthy Affiliate, and outside before the afternoon rains.

I will conclude by saying I’m going out to mow now! See ya’ later 😊