Author: jennynazak

The following comment is my response to someone in one of my eco groups who said she found it too hard to have a compost pile because of raccoons. Feel free to copy/paste any of the following that you think might help with any of your efforts to encourage people in your circles to adopt restorative practices.

Compost bin/pile types and setups can easily be tailored to keep out unwanted critters or not attract them in the first place. I have never had issues with critters in my compost, other than at a community compost project on a ranch in Texas we had armadilloes and starving feral kittens digging underground to get into the box from underneath. We solved that situation pretty easily by feeding the kittens elsewhere; and by making a natural concrete mini berm wall thing that discouraged the armadilloes enough that they found it not worthwhile, and sought their normal wild food sources.

Another way to discourage critters (other than beneficial microbes and larvae) is to maintain a thermophilic (“hot”) compost pile. It takes a compost thermometer and a bit of practice but some folks enjoy it; it can even be a homeschool science project.

A well-managed compost pile or bin is not usually attractive to critters. The occasional possum or raccoon who digs up some freshly added piece of fruit etc from the top of my compost, because I was in a rush or whatever and carelessly didn’t add quite enough cover matter, I don’t stress out. I just rebury the scraps in the morning as needed.

A healthy balance of creatures is essential to soil health, stormwater mitigation, heat mitigation, and other essential functions that are matters of life or death for climate resilience and community wellbeing. Over time, as people refrain from applying poison to their landscape, a healthy population of predators such as owls and eagles and hawks and snakes can start to (re)emerge and help control rodents etc.

If we don’t start taking serious action now to build back the soil biology and water-holding capacity in this region, which has been depleted by sprawl development and murderous landscaping practices, we’ll be having extreme heat and water issues that make a few critter invasions look like a walk in the park.

And, on a thread in another group, where someone expressed reservations about the feasibility of commercial composting:

I think the commercial facility needs to be on high ground and atop a thick “bio-sponge” of straw, brown leaves, waste cardboard/newspaper, or other equivalent carbon-rich material. Whatever is the scaled-up commercial version of a well-managed home compost bin.

And, any application of the finished compost should be done in places where there are plenty of plants to quickly uptake the nutrients.

From what I understand from my permaculture studies: Here in the semitropics (as in the tropics), soil itself doesn’t hold many nutrients, and plants are a key part of nutrient uptake, runoff prevention. We need to replace as much as possible of the trees and other vegetation we have ripped out willy-nilly just about everywhere in this state. (That’s my understanding of the eco-dynamics of this climate, and it fits with my observations in my own yard, local patches of forest, etc. But I don’t have a science background, so I say this FWIW to the best of my understanding).

In our region, the water moves quickly thru the sandy soil. Which is why I’m always trying to encourage people to turn the ground into a sponge by adding thick layer of mulch. Fallen leaves, wood chips, etc. It’s an essential ingredient; otherwise our sandy soil is a sieve as the original post mentioned.

In closing: Anyone having trouble with compost issues (household, commercial, municipal or what have you), give me a shout and I will help you troubleshoot; it’s part of the free community services I provide as admin of the Daytona Beach Permaculture Guild, Permaculture Daytona; and as a node of the worldwide permaculture-design movement. Though based in Florida, I have done composting and other land-based work in all different climates including cold-weather and desert.

We humans have shown ourselves to be a highly adaptable species. Unfortunately, as we industrialized, more and more of our adaptations have become based on chemicals and large mechanized equipment that have turned out to be deadly to other species and to ecosystems. We are now waking up to the reality that we can’t afford this.

Examples of maladaptive adaptations:

For dealing with mosquitoes (or other insects): blitzing an entire yard or community with chemicals — which then kill off the dragonflies, frogs, birds, and other natural predators of mosquitoes. Meanwhile some mosquitoes themselves inevitably survive the spraying, and continue breeding but without the predators to keep them in check.

For dealing with power outages: Each household cranking up a gas generator to power its appliances and stuff. (Maladaptive because, for example, fuel supplies can be disrupted; because it’s dangerous to keep containers of gasoline sitting around; because gas generators create noise and air pollution; and because it fosters individualism rather than community spirit.)

What other maladaptive adaptations can you think of?

Examples of adaptive adaptations:

For mosquitoes: Nurturing healthy ecosystems which offer natural “pest” control. Relying on screen doors, screened porches, mosquito netting, “mosquito clothes” (light-colored, lightweight pants and long-sleeved shirts).

For power outages: Learning how to do without electricity so it’s not a big deal when the power goes out. Eating up the food in your freezer when you hear a hurricane’s coming in the next few days. Neighbors teaming up to cook and share food throughout the neighborhood. Setting up ONE generator for everyone in the neighborhood to charge their phones. Sharing matches, oil lamps, candles, hand-cranked lanterns.

What other adaptive adaptations can you think of?

Someone in the Deep Adaptation group posted an article that talks about how more Americans are seemingly ignoring the risks of climate change and moving to high-risk places.

Over the years, some of my fellow permies and prepper types from around the country have asked me how I can live in Florida, especially right on the coast.

I moved to the Atlantic coast of Florida from Texas back in 2010. I did it to fulfill a lifelong dream of living at the beach. And also to live within an easy bus ride of Orlando, where I had been flying several times a year to teach courses.

BUT, AND, I also moved here to be of service — to cross-pollinate the permaculture design knowledge that I had gained in Austin and other previous places where I’d lived; and to serve as a node of awareness and practical skills regarding climate adaptation and (if necessary) managed retreat.

For what it’s worth, I am more concerned about drought and desertification — even here in Florida — than I am about floods and sea-level rise. Not that the latter aren’t concerns too of course.

But, when it comes right down to it, I don’t feel there are any places that are “safe” from the risks of climate change. The news reports over the past few months of 121-degree temperatures in Canada, and deadly heat waves in chilly northern Europe, and drought and wildfires in Minnesota, and so on, serve as evidence of that.

75 degrees this morning!! Luscious!! And yesterday got down to 77 — first time it’s been below 79 in a good while, and it is amazing how those couple of degrees make a huge difference in sleeping comfort!!

79 or above, I don’t even want a sheet on me. Just sleep on top of sheet. 77, I feel cool enough for a sheet to be pleasant and maybe even necessary. 75 this morning after last night’s big rain, I actually luxuriated under two layers of sheets!

Our normal nighttime low temperature here this time of year is 74. Nighttime lows this summer have consistently been 79 or above. When nighttime lows stay high (one night this week our low was 82), it’s rough on people, plants, pets, and wildlife. Bodies need a chance to cool down.

My suggestions: Keep as many trees as we can. Plant as many more as we can. Prioritize heat mitigation, not beauty, as a landscaping strategy (and beauty will follow). Minimize new pavement. Avoid allowing bare soil, except small patches for ground-nesting native bees. Catch rainwater during heavy rain periods and distribute it to the earth-sponge during dry periods.

Something crossed my mind that I never thought of before so I Googled it. “What happens to string-trimmer string.”

From John Quinn in Earth Island Journal, this article “Strung Out” is eye-opening:

“When they came on the market in the early 1970s, the pollution from their small engines was obvious. Since then the immediate air pollution has improved. But they are still significant sources of neighborhood noise pollution, a problem they share with their equally ubiquitous cousins, leaf blowers.

“The most serious pollution problem associated with the string trimmer, however, may be the easiest to overlook — it has to do with the nylon string that gives the machine its name. This nylon is a synthetic polymer, a disposable plastic item, and string trimmers use prodigious amounts of the stuff. In the course of mowing, the string is worn away and is spewed into the environment as the line whirrs around at speeds up to 28,000 feet per minute.”

The article has a lot more info – very worthwhile read.

On a related note, I read about a cemetery in Antwerp, Belgium, that gets mowed by a farmer with a flock of sheep. The sheep cut the grass while also presumably contributing organic fertilizer. Sort of the opposite of what happens with mechanized mowing.

I always hate to see and hear loud mechanized equipment in parks and cemeteries. By the way, the cemetery I read about is a military cemetery. This bodes well for the future of grasscutting businesses that are built on four-legged, living mowers. If the standard of neatness they achieve is good enough for a military cemetery it should be good enough for any cemetery or park.

This morning I used a string-trimmer (borrowed from a neighbor) to cut the grass of the elderly man across the street who we all help look after. The trimmer I borrowed is a battery-powered one, which makes it much quieter and less smelly than the gas-powered ones.

The other day I read about a grasscutting business in the UK that uses only scythes and other hand-tools. They call themselves the Trim Reapers. This is pretty much my ideal!

Over the past few years I have tried various hand-tools for cutting the inevitable grass, but none has been satisfactory. Push-mower, scythe, sling-blade, grass shears. The blades get dull really fast (or were never sharp in the first place), and I don’t have the knowledge or tools to sharpen them. If we had a blade-sharpening business in the neighborhood, that person would always have steady work. There was an itinerant blade-sharpener in this part of the state — a homeless guy on a bicycle who had pedaled all over the country — but he passed away.

Update: Just now I found this article from Rachel Koski Nielsen at dengarden.com, about mowing with a scythe. Ms. Nielsen gives a lot of good info, and includes 1) a very helpful short video from One Scythe Revolution that shows very clearly how to hold the tool and position your body; and 2) a video from Paul Wheaton on how to sharpen and peen a scythe blade.

Update Sept. 15, 2021: I googled “eco-friendly string-trimmer string” and found this brand Biotrim that is supposedly biodegradable.

For awhile now, I have really been trying to encourage people to collect rainwater. It’s one of the main ways to make our households and communities more resilient to drought-flood extremes, and to self-insure against water shortages (including shutoffs due to contamination etc.).

My home setup is extremely simple, just a few barrels lined up under the roof line. (When the rain stops, I cover the barrels to keep out mosquitoes, and to protect lizards and other yard-babies from falling into the water and drowning).

The latest addition to my setup is several 40-gallon tubs, which can serve as a nice cool tub to take a dip, and then the rainwater can be dumped out to water the trees & shrubs. Each tub can fit a couple of small kids or one mediumish-sized adult. 40 gallons is about 150 liters. The other morning after we’d had a big rain that filled the tubs to the brim, I put my bathing-suit on and climbed into one of the tubs, soaked in the cool water immersed up to my neck for 10 minutes or so. It was lovely!

If you have kids, the rainwater tubs can be mini swimming pools and also an opportunity to teach math skills!! Kids who like water will quickly learn exactly how much rainfall equates to a full tub! OK, I confess – I’m like a kid in this way!! I get super enthusiastic watching the tubs fill, or trying to gauge how full the tubs willbe when I get home, if I’m out somewhere and it starts raining.

I also have one very large tub, a 110-gal, which can serve as a small swimming-pool for kids or a soaking tub for two adults!

To see photos, visit the post on my Deep Green Facebook page.

One of my favorite rainwater collection resources is this rainwater catchment calculator from Innovative Water Solutions. Super simple and handy for homeschooling/unschooling lessons, and for your own calculations. The calculator is very versatile. It says “enter the total annual rainfall for your area,” but you can also just as easily enter the total from just one storm, one month, etc. And where it says “enter your roof area,” you can also enter the roof area of, for example, a shed or gazebo you are thinking of building. Lots of opportunities not only to contemplate your next investment in preparedness, but also to come up with a variety of math exercises for the kids!

Additional Resources:

• Rainwater Harvesting Guide for Beginners (blog post by Rob Greenfield, Nov 1, 2021). Contrary to widespread misconceptions, rainwater collection is not difficult, illegal, or expensive. And it’s a great thing to do whether you live in a dry climate or a rainy climate. And preventing mosquitoes is easy. (I keep trying to tell everyone all of these things, but if any of you are still not convinced, Rob’s article will be a great help to you!)

• I’ve made several posts about rainwater collection here on this blog; you can find them by searching “rainwater” in this blog’s search field. Happy Harvesting! Enjoy helping to restore the natural water cycle while obtaining lovely free fresh water from the sky.

People like to talk about being “self-made,” and not owing their success to anyone but themselves.

I have come to believe there is no such thing as a totally “self-made person.” This idea that any of us succeed on our own is to my mind a bizarre and toxic artifact of hyper-individualistic societies such as we have in my country, the USA.

When I lived in Japan, I was impressed and humbled by the extent to which people were always thanking and giving credit to everyone who had helped them at various stages of life.

It took me a long time to realize how much I owe other people for everything good in my life. Ancestors, family, teachers, bosses, co-workers, friends, neighbors …

I can’t think of anything I’ve achieved in a bubble, “totally by myself” without anyone else’s help or beneficial influence — and that is OK with me!

This is not to understate or devalue the achievements of people who have overcome great adversity to get where they are.

But, the people around us are a huge factor in who we are and who we become.

In his fascinating bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell shows how the time and place in which we are born can be a far more powerful factor in our success, than any amount of personal talent or even diligent practice.

Gladwell’s list of the 70 richest people throughout history, which appears at the beginning of the book, was fascinating. (Cleopatra’s wealth dwarfed Rockefeller’s, among many other interesting finds.)

Out of the 70 people, 14 of them — 20 percent! — were born in the United States in a single decade in the early 1900s. Also, a disproportionate percentage of Silicon Valley moguls were born and grew up in a small geographic radius and unique social climate that featured opportunities most people never see.