1.0 Preparing the Site

Sleeping under the trees on Yoshino mountain
The spring breeze wearing
Cherry blossom petals

~ Saigyo

Permaculture and the Art of Composting

deep in the work on an integrated compost system for the Heart of the Creek a small center in the little town of Roberts Creek nestled in the cedar trees against the wilds of the pacific ocean on the british columbian west coast with the kind and generous support of Lorinda and Don i have been empowered to create an integrated compost system as one shard in a mission to make the many gardens here into a community permaculture education space a living classroom where people can learn about plants, organic gardening and other ecologically conscious methods of sustainable design and development i thot i would illustrate my process as a way of opening up dialogues about permaculture composting techniques this will be a ritual post evolving with pictures as my process evolves

our story begins with a chunk of hurt land completely owned by morning glories (a very invasive and aggressive flowering vine that chokes out other plants by wrapping tightly around them) and himalayan blackberries (another invasive, though this one has yummy berries) both very hard to get out of your garden space the area behind my little shed is the last area to develop the big property that contains many businesses including a woodworking school, our little elfintome bookstore, our elfinstones crystal shoppe, the gumboot cafe, a yoga studio, a health food store, antique shop, outdoor adventure store renting kayacs and many others since it is the last area it has been the dumping ground for garbage and old building supplies for many many years i cut down the blackberries by hand then dig out the top knot of their root system which lays just below the ground and rake the soil pulling out many morning glory roots creating a level area then i was ready for the next stage