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Dryland Permaculture Plant Profile - Stinging Nettle

5/6/2018

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In this series we highlight useful plants that fit into permaculture systems. These systems work with the patterns in nature and provide a holistic and interconnected context.

For this profile we are showcasing stinging nettle, Urtica dioica is the native to San Diego County and Urtica urens is the naturalized species. Often called a nasty weed, this plant serves a specific beneficial purpose and provides super healthy and tasty food for hardly any work! What could be better!

Stinging nettle. Copyright Permasystems
The big downside of this plant is of course it stings like hell when it comes into contact with skin. The stinging normally does not last long, but reactions vary from person to person. Luckily, the stinging is pretty easily avoided by utilizing good gloves during harvesting.

The plants contain long, thin, hollow hairs that cover the majority of the stem and the underside of the leaves. Nettle stings contain acid (formic acid) but they also contain histamine and other chemicals. Luckily again, these chemicals become completely benign once the nettle is cooked.

Harvesting stinging nettle
Harvesting it pretty easy - just use scissors to cut near the base of the plant. Nettle is best harvested when young, before flowers and seed pods are formed. As a general rule I like harvest plants shorter than 1 foot tall. As the plant ages it gets more fibrous. It can get so fibrous that nettle is known for making fibers like yarn and fabric. And they don't sting!

Now that you have a nice big bag of fresh nettles it's time to cook or dry them. It can also be nice to harvest just a little bit to make fresh tea. For drying, is best to separate the leaves and dry in the sun or a dehydrator. For cooking, you can just throw them in the pan with little water, oil or butter - they can also be steamed. Cook and enjoy as you would spinach. They can be used in an infinite number of dishes - one of my favorites is pesto - just blend up the lightly cooked plant with garlic, pine nuts, lemon juice and sea salt, then toss with your favorite noodle.

Stinging nettle is not only an abundant free growing plant around the globe but it is also rich in vitamins A and C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. (Gregory L. Tilford, Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West). Fresh leaves contain approximately 82.4% water, 17.6% dry matter, 5.5% protein, 0.7 to 3.3% fat, and 7.1% carbohydrates [Lutomski, Jerzy; Speichert, Henryk (1983). "Die Brennessel in Heilkunde und Ernährung". Pharmazie in unserer Zeit (in German)].

Stinging nettle
The plant spreads quickly by seed and also by rhizomes, and is often able to survive and re-establish quickly after fire or other disturbances. They are the exclusive larval food plant for several species of butterflies.

While this plant often gets a bad rap it proves itself to be highly tasty, nutritious, and functional - it is highly overlooked and underrated. When people talk about the "problem" of having to much nettle, the solution is simple, make pesto and share! 


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What Is A Food Forest

2/26/2018

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A food forest is pretty much what it sounds like, a forest of food. Sounds pretty great right. Who wouldn't want a forest of food??

A food forest consists of big trees, medium and small trees, shrubs, vines, herbaceous and ground covering plants. All the different sizes are planted in a way to produce food on multiple vertical levels, all within a single regenerative system whose goal is to take care of itself, with minimal work and outside inputs. The idea is to mimic a healthy old growth forest like we find in nature.

Image from Clynewood, et al., 2014
Food forest image from Clynewood, et al., 2014
The image above gives you an idea of what the plants look like in a food forest system. One of the big goals is high diversity. This means planting as many species as possible in each size category. Each species has multiple functions. One tree species might provide shade, mulch, fruit and nitrogen for other plants. The more functions a species has, the more it is doing to be regenerative, and the less work you are doing! Regenerative means taking care of itself, like being self sustaining.

If we look at an old growth forest we can see a healthy regenerative system with plants of all different sizes. Mother nature is taking care of the system.  Nobody is watering, pruning, weeding, fertilizing or planting, yet it keeps growning and growing! 

Now lets imagine a traditional orchard or vegetable garden like we see below.

Vegetable garden. Copyright Permasystems
This vegetable garden is growing food on mostly one vertical layer, from just above the soil to about 2 feet above. Most of these plants are the same size. As vegetables are harvested from the garden we need to replace the nutrients that were carried away in the food, like nitrogen. Many people add synthetic fertilizers to accomplish this which can hurt the plants and soil in the long run. However, the easiest and healthiest way is to use high-quality compost. This garden also has bare soil so we are loosing water to evaporation and killing the healthy biology in the soil. Plus you have to replant everything each year! Now I'm not saying annual vegetables gardens like this are bad, but with a food forest you can grow more food with way less work.

Most of the plants we find in a food forest are perennial, meaning they keep growing year after year. This is great because unlike most vegetables you don't have to plant them year after year. Perennial plants, which include some vegetables, also grow much deeper roots enabling them to find far more water and nutrients deeper in the soil. This, in turn, means you don't have to provide them with as much water or nutrients.

Picture
Finch Frolic Garden in San Diego County.
Picture
Melbourne, Australia
In these pictures you can see there is so much growing on so many levels it is difficult to tell what's what! This is a very efficient use of space compared to the traditional orchard or garden bed we described earlier. 

By selecting just the right species for the right location you can mimic the old growth forest. For example, planting trees that produce dappled shade, a mix of shade and sun, allow other plants to grow underneath the tree's canopy. The light shading helps to reduce evaporation which can provide a lot of extra water for the system.

We are currently building a food forest in backcounty San Diego County. With our Mediterranean climate we are able to grow a vast array of different species, but due to our limited rainfall we use drought-tolerant species. You can check out our previous blog post to see how we designed our food forest and what species we planted.

There are tons of food forest all over the world. One of the best ways to learn about them is to visit one. If you are in San Diego County check our Resources page to find a food forest in our area.

If you are interested in starting your own food forest - they can be big or small - please be sure to conduct ample research to ensure you are creating a truly regenerative system. In a future blog post we will get into details of how to design a food forest. Remember, work with nature instead of against it!


Food forest. Copyright Permasystems
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What Is Permaculture And Ecological Design?

6/18/2017

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Permaculture system. Copyright Permasystems.
Ecological design = any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes (Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan). Was popularized in 1971 by Ian McHarg in his book, Design with Nature. This book describes an ecologically sound approach to the planning and design of communities.

Permaculture = combines the words permanent agriculture and culture.. Coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978 based on the work by M
asanobu Fukuoka, J. Russell Smith, P.A. Yeoman to simply be ethical, regenerative landscapes and food systems.

Here at Permasystems, we use the terms permaculture and ecological design interchangeably.

Work with nature, instead of against it

Permaculture is an ethical design system used as lens to view the world and a toolbox to develop and maintain regenerative systems. It focuses on using regenerative energies in the ways that nature already does and connects different disciplines, strategies and techniques. Permaculture works with, benefits, and extends the patterns of nature.

Ecological design and permaculture principles have been used by humans for thousands of years. Unfortunately, we have lost many of those skills that were being honed for eons. Now, we are seeing a resurgence of people bringing permaculture tools back and utilizing them for everything from growing food, to designing communities, managing waste, water and soil, building homes and other structures and much more.

Permaculture tree. Copyright Permasystems.

To better understand permaculture, lets take a look at a healthy tree growing in the remote mountains. It grew from a seed. This tree gets water from precipitation, no hoses. This tree gets nutrients from the soil and air, no artificial fertilizers. Soil is built from the leaves that fall off of the tree, from dead branches that break down, from bacteria and fungi living in the soil creating nutrients for plants. Nothing extra is added! It is regenerative!
Now, look at a tree in your yard or neighborhood - how does it compare to our mountain tree? Is it regenerative? If not, how could we make it?



Permaculture can be used at any level, from your house, to your garden, to your neighborhood, to your to city, or beyond...


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