Professor Lonnie Gamble | StudentBlogs / Darren Faulkner

10/15/07-Our visit on 10/9 to listen to a University of Virginia professor speak of sustainable communities and how detached we have become from the environment was for me a nice sign that these ideas are beginning to filter into the general public. Overall, I'm happy to be in this class and I'm trying my best to absorb it all.

10/17/07-International Permaculture Article

I found an article about a small English community and how they powered their homes. The name of their development is the Steward Community Woodland and they had no intention with connecting to the grid. They are also sustainable foresters so they needed quite a substanial amount of electricity for their wood cutting tools. They started off experimenting with human power utilizing recycled exercise bikes and permanent magnet motors, all salvaged from local recycling centers. The power produced (4-5 amps or 50-60 watts) was used to light their buildings (with battery storage) and power their laptop computers. Still more was needed though so they began a so-called micro hydro power plant using once again recycled motors and pipes to harness the power of a nearby creek's flow and they were able to generate up to 300 W but they stuck with ~100 W outputs because that's all their batteries could take. They had also gotten use to using very little electricity and had many energy saving techniques in place. Next, they tried PV cells but they really didn't like them because they saw them as being expensive and couldn't be maid by them. They tried a small wind generator but were limited by local restrictions and wind turbulence so they don't use them. Finally, they're experiment with wood gasification which is a process where wood is burned in such a way that the flammable gas can be extracted before combustion. They could either use it directly for heating or have it filtered, cooled and fed into a converted gas engine. The article ended with their stance on batteris and related equipment. Basically they purchase everything second-hand because they feel they're not an environmentally responsible solution and they're expensive. Overall, they generate enough power for 7 adults and 4 children on site and they use no more than 100 W of power every day but they use a lot of wood to heat their homes.

Guild Project Ten plants picked for their ability to stabilize soil and provide edible resources that would work in our climate zone:

Cytisus scoparius-Broom
Elymus canadensis-Canadian Wild Rye
Hierochloe odorata-Holy Grass
Leymus racemosus-Volga Wild Rye
Hippophae rhamnoides turkestanica-Sea Buckthorn
Elymus glauca-Blue Wild Rye
Diospyros virginiana-American Persimmon
Acer spicatum-Mountain maple
Ailanthus altissima-Tree of Heaven
Alnus rubra-Red Adler

Meaning of scientific name: Derived from Greek Dios = gods, spyros = wheat or loosely, “The fruit of the gods” virginiana means that it was first classified in what was then the colony of Virginia.
Synonym: Diospyros mosieri
Common names: Common persimmon, Possumwood, American ebony, Eastern persimmon, Virginia date palm, Virginia plum among many others.

The meaning of persimmon has its origins in the Algonquin language family is thought to be from the Cree or Delaware words meaning “dried fruit”.

Origin and distribution of species: Eastern N. America, New England to Florida, west to Texas and Kansas.

Native to woodland gardens, sunny edges. Can live in sandy, loamy or clay rich soils. It likes plenty of moisture but can live in poor conditions as well. Considered threatened in CT and IA but ok else where.

Average height: ranging from 30-50’ but can grow up to 62’

Deciduous
Fragrant flowers in the summer, pollinated by insects and wind.
Fruiting begins when the tree is about 6 years old.
Orange (typically) fruit that’s ½ to 2 ½ inches in diameter
Deep roots that promote stable soil, short slender trunk, narrow branching leaves that often lead to a round capped look.
Oval leaves, tree is dioecious (both male and female trees are required to get seeds)

Bark: dark brown or dark gray with scaly divisions.
Uses: The fruit is highly edible once ripe and can be prepared many ways. Has been used (fruit) to treat bloody stools. The leaves are high in Vitamin C and can be used as an antiscorbutic. The inner bark can be used as a mouthwash or external skin wash for warts. * Stable soil promoter. The wood is very sturdy and is resistant to wear. Often made into golf club handles.
Seed: best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe. Stored seed requires cold-stratification and should be sown as early in the year as possible. It usually germinates in 1 - 6 months at 15°c. Pot up the young seedlings as soon as they are large enough to handle into fairly deep pots and plant them out in early summer. Give the plants some protection from winter cold for their first winter or two outdoors. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Layering in spring.
Commercial Varieties: Meader, Ruby, Yates, Early Golden, Pipher, John Rick, Woolbright, Miller and Ennis-seedless.
Sources of plant material: easy to obtain from many nurseries.
Guild: Along with a persimmon tree, I would plant some mung beans for nitrogen fixation and some raspberries for well, they’re delicious and they are fire resistant.
Sources

Bioneers in Grinnell

I thoroughly enjoyed the Tallgrass Bioneers conference this weekend in Grinnell even though I couldn't take everything in because of the vast amount of information that was conveyed in such a small amount of time. That said, the national and local organizers did a wonderful job of choosing speakers and everyone was given ample time to speak. I was mostly interested in sustainable renewable energy but also found all the other engrossing. They presented talks on a lot of different topics that I would never have thought would be pertinent but I was wrong. I came to see that taking in account the impoverished, oppressed and neglected is very important if we ever want to change our global environment for the good. Everything needs to be taken into account because everything's connected whether we think so or not.

I also enjoyed very much spending time with everyone and I had a lot of fun. It was very nice to be around even more like-minded people and showed to me that we're out there and our strength as a climate change movement is building and gaining speed.