Like all big adventures ours has started with a steep learning curve that we are in the process of ascending. The wonderful thing is that we love what we are learning and that smooths the way towards a quick accumulation of the material we are trying to master. The other thing that has been very helpful is that our learning curve is that we are living on a vast expanse of uncultivated, undeveloped land. It is kind of like living in a forest or maybe more accurately an old homestead because of the structures, animals, and small community of people who reside here. Having come here with very little knowledge of plants, trees, animals, and bugs we have learned a tremendous amount in the last 5 months. Another thing I have observed is that with permaculture in particular is that reading will only take you so far, and applying the principles, observing the results and then responding to what happens is where the real learning takes place. One of the main tenets of Permaculture is “the problem is the solution”. In other words, if you see something as a problem, this is just an assumption or a bias on your part. You have to rid yourself of any information that you come to the table with and be open to seeing things in a different light. The best solution for solving any problems that you are having on your land or with your site is to ask yourself the following questions, “How can this item be used?, “What is it good for?”, “If I can’t use it who can”, or lastly “If I don’t want it here (as in weeds or certain tree species) what can I replace it with that will perform the same task that it is performing?”. This process takes creativity, conversations with others, and often times research to figure out the best use, or the best way to remove or supplant the species you are dealing with on your site.

On the site we are living on there is an abundance of diversity, but there are two species of similar origin that are posing a problem because of their invasive qualities- the Autumn-Olive (Elaeagnus umbellate) and the Russian-Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia). Both of these trees are similar in appearance. They are actually quite beautiful with a medium-colored green leaf on the top, a silvery color on the underside, and an absolutely beautiful berry that comes in red, yellow, and orange colors with little silver flecks. Ascetically it is one of the more pleasing shrubs or small trees that I am familiar with, but unless you are able to control its growth on your land you will go from loving it to hating it. This property has exploded with both Russian and Autumn Olives in the last few years. It is really no surprise with the proliferation of seeds that each tree puts out and the amount of rain that Western North Carolina has received in the last few years.

Both types of trees were introduced to the United States in the late 1800’s and were very popular for erosion control, ornamentation, and wind breaks. Bill Mollison (co-founder of Permaculture) also sites Russian-Olives as a source for chicken fodder although for our area at least it does not seem ideal because the main way the plant propagates itself is through the spread of its seed through birds- mostly wild birds. I have not observed birds eating the Autumn-Olive seeds even though they are extremely prolific here on the property, but there might be enough wild forage elsewhere in our environment that the birds here can have their pick of foods. Besides being wonderful ornamentation, their flowers are highly aromatic and beautiful. In addition, the Autumn-Olive berries can be eaten (PLEASE NOTE: I have read this in several places and I have had people eat them in front of me with no ill results, but you take all actions at your own risk). They possess a tart flavor that can also be sweet. They are best harvested right before the first frost, and you can eat them raw, or make a jam out of them.

I have read a series of mixed reviews on Autumn and Russian-Olives. Some people love them because of many of the reasons mentioned above. They are extremely hardy and do well in northern climates. They are also nitrogen-fixers and are touted by some as a good companion plant when planting other trees. They do have to be heavily pruned to keep them in check, but they can be manageable if you keep on top of them. Other people are very against the propagation of these species. They can be ridiculously invasive and they can crowd out many native species with no problem especially if conditions are right for them to spread out. “Although Russian-olive provides a plentiful source of edible fruits for birds, ecologists have found that bird species richness is actually higher in riparian areas dominated by native vegetation” (http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/elan1.htm). In other words, the Russian-Olive trees take over and as a result the lack of diversity of a place the diversity of the bird species takes a dip as well. Another issue that we have dealt with here is the thorns these babies put out. They are extremely large and can be very dangerous. They are so large that they can pop the tire on a tractor.

This is our first go-around with an invasive species. We have done some research into how to eradicate Russian and Autumn-Olives from the land, including asking other permaculturalist’s what they think. The responses we have received are essentially a slash and burn technique, which last time I checked did not fit into a Permaculture philosophy. While the true burden of dealing with all of the Russian and Autumn-Olives is not really ours to take on, it is something we have thought a lot about in terms of how to deal with species like this without an all out war on them.

We have found that the smaller trees and shrubs can be dug out fairly easily. If you take the time to cut back the foliage, go ahead and take out the stump if possible at that time because the shrubbery will grow back with a vengeance in no time at all. We have an Oak grove across from our house. They are large and majestic old trees, but there is an immense population of Russian and Autumn-Olive trees surrounding their base. Some of the seeds have blown over and propagated babies in the front of our yard. Most of the stumps were very small, but there was one large stump that I have no way of getting rid of since we are chainsaw poor. So what I decided to do was sheet mulch the area (we are looking to improve the soil there as well). After I cut back all of the foliage on the large stump, I took some brown paper bags from the grocery store, cut them so they would open up, and then soaked them in water for about 10 minutes. Then I took them out and covered the stump with them. After that, I layered on cardboard, a thin layer of top soil, and a thick layer of straw on the entire area. The sheet mulch itself will improve the soil in that area, and it is my hope that after a winter without any sunlight and lots of wet weather the large stump will die and we can kick it loose with the heal of our shoes. This is how we are dealing with the problem on the parts of the property that we have been given to work with. The owner of the property has the bigger task of eradicating the entire population of these two invasive species on a much larger scale. She is dedicated to doing things without chemicals. I will keep you updated on how she handles the problem and if the solutions we elected to employ go well.

I know we are slow, but more to come…

Life has been very busy for us these last few months as we settle into our wonderful new home and keep working towards the establishment of our business. Things seem to be moving slow and I feel overwhelmed by the number of tasks that seem to line up in front of us.  However, while I am tempted to turn all of these to-do’s into stress, a more reasonable side of myself is emerging.  It speaks to me in soft tones that whisper, “Don’t sweat it. Just keep moving forward and things will take care of themselves.” This sounds reasonable and I am increasingly able to relax into this mindset. The overt need that is so bred into us as Americans to always do and succeed and do more is starting to fall to the wayside the longer I live on this amazing property. Nature is massaging away the seemingly insatiable drive to compete and rush, and she’s replacing it with a calm stillness and an enormous sense of gratitude just to be alive and here.  We are learning to work at a reasonable pace, and most importantly, remembering to relax and recharge.  Of course, there are still many things I would like to get done, so I live in the space between these two ways of thinking, allowing one to gently nudge the other to the side when necessary, and with the sound of the forest’s fluttering leaves as my soundtrack.

For most of my life I have been searching for my work. There are things that have resounded with me in the past, but nothing that I could put my finger on and say, “Yeah that’s it, that’s what I definitely want to do.” I feel like I have been knocking about all these years doing this and that, but never actually landing on that one thing that I was put on this planet to do. Some people may think this is a silly notion. However, I believe in the core of myself that each of us is put here to do something, and I have been straining to find that something for most of my life.

When I finally made it to college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just knew I needed to go so that I would not have to be a waitress for the rest of my life. And please don’t get me wrong, waiting tables is a great profession and I am not knocking it. In fact, the most money I have ever made in my life was at a waitressing job ($50 K a year), but there is something inherently uninteresting (for me) about the job. It is the same thing everyday, there is little variation, and not much creativity needed (although with some customers you do need to be creative). All of that aside, I did not want to be a waitress for the duration of my life, and I loved learning so I went to college. I started as a psychology major, but ended up as a history major.  After I graduated and took a few years off from school I decided to go back for my teaching license. I decided to teach because I LOVE to share information and anything fun or interesting that I am learning about. I feel that I am absolutely the best advertisement for anything I think is cool or interesting, and I love to help people find ways they can help themselves. I also enjoy helping people re-empower their lives, so it follows that teaching was a pretty safe bet for me.

I taught 6^th grade social studies for four years. I loved being in the classroom with my students. I loved introducing them to information that they had never been exposed to, and halfway through the year they would be discussing these concepts like pros. I loved to walk by a group of students who had been given something to work on as a team, and hear them excitedly discussing what they were going to do for the project, or arguing over a point. “Mrs. Enzo, who’s right him or me? He thinks this, but I think that,” and when I talked to them about the answer and would walk away, “I told you!” All of those moments thrilled me and I loved the energy, and witnessing real thinking taking place (when it was there). I loved encouraging my students to do better and to reach further. However, unfortunately I am also the type of person that has a very hard time playing games.  I feel that there are a lot of “games” that are played in the schools, and a lack of focus on what is best for the students. So despite all of the things I loved about teaching, I could not stay in the current school system “game”.  If it is not authentic, then it is not for me.

But teaching is for me, among other things. Leading up to our move here, I had been talking a lot with Enzo about “the work” (and not the Byron Katie “work”, which I think is brilliant). “The work” is the work of my life, your life, our lives. The work comprises those activities that resonate with you deeply while you are doing them. “The work” is comprised of those things you do and get so lost in them that time disappears.  You are just there in that moment with whatever that thing is that takes you out of time and space and transports you to somewhere else. This is the type of work I have been looking for all of my life – the kind of work that you want to jump out of bed in the morning to accomplish. The kind of work that you don’t mind doing because it is so satisfying that you could do it forever and every time you get the opportunity to do it, you get really excited. This is what I have found in Permaculture in general, and in the activities we pursue here on our site. This is the work I have been looking for all of my life and I am so grateful that I am finally standing on the threshold of my purpose. More than just finding my purpose, I am standing there with the love of my life.

Of course, we only got to this place because we were willing to take a chance, take some risks, and re-design our whole lives. I think I can speak for us both when I say, it was well worth it. We have experienced an amazing amount of serendipity since our arrival here. It feels as if the wind is at our back, and we are easily advancing with an energy that is welcoming us on this path.  We often experience these “coincidences” and assistance from the universe, and much of it is hard to understand. We are taking it all and stride and moving forward one day at a time, enjoying the ride along the way, and more than anything, learning to have faith that we will be taken care of and that things will all work out.

If you have a dream that you’ve always wanted to pursue, Enzo and I say GO FOR IT. It may be difficult at times, and you will definitely have to sacrifice something. But I would say in the end, if you follow your heart, all will be well, and you will never understand how you lived in any other way, or did anything that did not completely resonate with you (and even if it resonates only with you – that is okay). Other people don’t usually know what is good for you.  Only you can know the truth of your own heart. Start listening – today.

More to come soon.

Today, we will have been in our new home for three months. It is hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly, but that is what time does. It has been an overwhelming transition for us. Between the move, setting up the new house, thinking about and working on design ideas for both the house and the larger area that we are going to develop, and managing the new environment, we have had our hands full.

Permaculture is not like regular gardening. While there is a lot of planning that goes into a regular garden, there is much more that goes into a permaculture design because you have to look at all of the elements that already exist on the site including weather patterns, soil, other plants, etc. and then consider all of the elements that you want to fit into the existing conditions. The other thing to consider in permaculture is that you want to enhance connections you make between elements on the site – so that you create a lovely place that nurtures you and at the same time conserves energy and uses it as efficiently as possible before it leaves the site. For example, if you have a downward slope and water is coming into that system, you can create a design that uses that water many, many times within the system before gravity or evaporation pulls it out of the site. Putting in swales (large trenches that are mounded to the southern side of the slope and follow contour), you can catch water and let it soak into the landscape as it moves downhill.  A swale is a great way to harness water on the site for plants that are planted on the swale, and the swale will also create a situation where the water seeps into the ground slowly, hydrating everything from below.  This method will slowly replenish groundwater, recharging aquifers and springs. This is just one example of the power of a great permaculture design.

As of now, we have created a design for the front of the house which we are going to use as an urban permaculture model. That is another great thing about permaculture you can do it anywhere, on any site, large or small it is just a matter of thinking about the best way to combine the elements for that particular site. In any case, we are still working on our design for the larger area that we were given to develop (at this point we are referring to it as the Back-Forty). Although these things are still in progress and there is much work to do before we can implement our designs, we have started two projects so far.

The first project we undertook was a couple of weeks ago. We planted out one side of the greenhouse. The soil in there was pretty compacted so we started by aerating the soil with a small hand tool that we bought at the store. Then we added some lime to the soil to help bring up the PH. The soils in the mountains tend to be on the acidic side, and the lime helps to bring some balance to the soil (although it works better when it is worked into the soil). While there are some plants that like acidic soils, like blackberries which are abundant on this property, most annuals go for a more neutral PH. We then layered in some mushroom compost.  It is unfortunate, but for this first project we had to use a lot of store-bought compost and topsoil. Trying to get a garden off the ground this late in the season is difficult and materials are hard to locate so we did the best we could with what we have here now. After the compost went down, we put in the topsoil and then plated the plant starts that we had bought about a square-foot apart. This project is purely experimental, and I don’t feel like we put in enough time to think about where the plants should go. The plants were a hodge-podge of different things we were able to find and so we placed them the best we could, and sat back to see what would happen. That was about a week and a half ago, and so far it has been a mixed-bag. Some of the plants are thriving and others are not doing as well. To my mind this in not really big deal, it is a learning experience. While learning from books is great and I am a HUGE advocate of books, I think the best way to learn is through experience and so we created an experience to learn from, we shall see how it fairs.

The second project that we put our resources into was some Emilia Hazelip beds that were put down on the Back-Forty. Emilia Hazelip was a market farmer in France that implemented a specific model of growing food that is based on reading Masanobu Fukuoka’s “One Straw Revolution” and Permaculture principles laid down by Bill Mollison and David Homlmgren in the early 1980’s. She had started her farming experience in California in the 1960’s and through her experiences she determined that soil did not need to be tilled or cultivated repeatedly. When she read Fukuoka book his philosophy and practice in Japan reinforced those ideas. She tried his methods on her farm but she did not have any luck with them so she did more research which included Permaculture and came up with a happy medium that worked well for her. We are hoping that it will work for us as well.

Hazelip has a wonderful video on www.youtube.com that is where we discovered her. After watching the video one night, I was so excited I wanted to run down to the Back-Forty and start creating raised beds immediately. Obviously this was not going to happen but I was really jazzed by what I saw because she made it seem simple and easy in comparison with others methods. So we decided that we would put some time and energy into getting the beds raised. I went back to re-watch the video the next morning. Hazelip based her philosophy on Fukuoka’s principles the first one being no cultivation. The first time I watched the video all I heard was no cultivation. Well the second time around you could practically hear the record scratch in my brain when as I looked closer, Emilia and her friends were using a rotor-tiller to prepare her non-cultivated beds. What she meant to say is that AFTER you till up the soil and prepare your beds, THEN it is no cultivation from there on out. This was disappointing initially as my “oh-that-looks-so-easy” bubble burst so loud my ears popped. However, I recovered and convinced Enzo that we needed to rent a tiller to get our project on the way. So we called our local rental place and had the cheapest tiller they had reserved. That was funny because when we got there is was this hand held thing that I would hardly describe as a tiller, we re-grouped and decided to rent a much larger version than we had planned on originally. It was delivered on Saturday morning and we went to work tilling the soil. In a word, not very fun, but over a period of two days we tilled, measured, and shoveled our way into our first raised beds. They turned out well as we followed Emilia’s directions to the letter, and when we were done we straw mulched the beds.

According to Hazelip you do not need to add any amendments to the soil (again this is based on Fukuoka’s principle of no fertilizers). She maintains that the plants take very little from the soil and therefore you do not need to add things like compost, nutrient-rich teas, or any other fertilizers. The straw will help build the soil through time by breaking down and other mulches like grasses (make sure they do not go to seed) can be used to help the soil recover from a degraded state. She also allows a lot of her plants to grow through to seed, and after a plant has been harvested through a season, it is then cut down and used as a green mulch for the plants around it. By doing these things, Hazelip explains that through time, the soil will build itself, and recover creating a wonderful habitat for plants and micro-organisms to live a fruitful and happy existence together.

Like Hazelip and many others, we are not interested in using any chemical fertilizers or herbicides to keep pests from out plants. It is very important to us that this is how we grow our food. Hazelip recommends that you use marigolds in the garden to protect plants from nematodes and other harmful pests. Some other things you can do in your own garden to keep pests away are to organically build-up your soil. Apparently many people who initially plant organically (seems like an oxymoron), give up on it because of all of the pests they incur, but a healthy soil is one of the best defenses to pest problems. Of course this means that re-cultivating (tilling) the garden each year is out. Each time you cultivate, the soil is disturbed and the microorganisms that make the soil healthy are destroyed and have to rebuild their populations.

We have many projects on front of us and we hope to be holding some fall workshops on urban permaculture methods. I have included a video so you can see the Hazelip beds in action so to speak. So far, they seem to work really well. We have worms, not a ton, but they are there and many other critters in the soil. It is sweet smelling and the plants that we have put there, except for a melon plant, have done very well in terms of health and growth. We shall see what the harvest brings. I will keep you updated.

Two weekends ago we had the privilege of being a part of the S.E.E. Expo (Southern Environment and Energy Expo). It was our first experience in terms of being a part of the bigger picture of the forward-thinking set that is a large part of the culture of Western North Carolina. What we found there were wonderful people who are interested in change, and who are seeking to re-empower their lives with information and tools that will sustain them in real and long-term ways.

We were there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and while it made for a long weekend it was invigorating to talk to so many like-minded people. We did two introduction talks on Permaculture, which were well attended. A lot of people are looking for answers about creating self-reliance for themselves and their families, and I personally think that the design science of permaculture can be a large part of the solution for the things that ail us in the world. Permaculture, as Mollison says, is an information and imagination intensive discipline.  So, we tried to keep it to the basics so that we could deliver the most information in the smallest amount of time. We talked about how permaculture is defined, the ethics which are central to the focus and mission of this design science, and the ten principles that are central to the teachings. The other goal we set was to try to give people concrete examples of ways that they could use these principles to empower their own lives. For me, permaculture is about individual re-empowerment and a collective regeneration of what is important, namely our environment and how we interact with it. I think we generated a lot of interest and at least gave the people who attended enough fodder to go out and discover the power of re-engaging with the natural world, or at least an inkling that it is a good direction to go in. A lot of people are already practicing a lot of the different strains of life that run through permaculture, but if they can create a more powerful version of what they are already doing by making functional connections between the elements that already exist in their environment it will just be that much better for them and the community around them.

On Sunday, we taught a four-hour “Introduction to Permaculture Design” class. The idea here was to go a little deeper into the design concepts and then to have the students do some activities that would get them thinking in the direction of analyzing elements (elements being anything that is on your land, i.e. a house, a certain plant, a pond) and creating functional connections between those things on a piece of property. What I mean by functional connections is that each element receives its inputs from the outputs of other elements in the system and its outputs are inputs as well. For example, when we make a meal at home you can put your veggie scraps in a worm bin, the worms will compost (or breakdown) the scraps, you then can use the compost in the garden to grow more veggies, which are then harvested and used in the kitchen to make a meal. This is a simple but powerful example of functional connections. We had a small class of four students, but we were grateful for the opportunity to talk with those folks and share this wonderful information that we have inundated ourselves in for the last few years.

All in all it was a successful weekend both for us as individuals and in terms of starting our business. It was inspiring to interact with motivated, forward-thinking people who believe and are willing to work towards a future that has hope woven into it. We look forward to the next step in our journey.

As the week progressed, the house took shape and we carved out a small comfortable area for ourselves. It basically turned into a studio apartment where we just used the space on the main floor for our entire living area, and in the end this was the solution that worked best for us. There is a small area upstairs that we used to put our clothes. Enzo had enough foresight to get us a couple of zip-up portable closets to store our nicer clothes in for the time being.

The most interesting thing has been watching the process of how we have adjusted, almost seamlessly, (almost), to our new surroundings. Enzo and I, having both grown up in cities all of our lives, had a certain easy familiarity for comfortable surroundings and artificial environments. Climate controlled, few bugs, bathrooms, hot water, essentially all of the comforts of the modern Western world.  But at what price do those things come to us?  Here we have had to carve our current home out of a space that nature had taken back, and our modern comforts have been diminished for no other reason than that no one has ever tried to make a home out of this space that is simply known as the solar house.

The solar house is situated on the side of a hill overlooking an oak grove. It is an earth-bermed house that is literally built into the hill so that the whole backside of the house is enveloped by the earth. The back of the house faces north and the effect gives the house a very cool environment inside even when it is close to 100 degrees outside. The entire front of the house is south-facing and all glass, with the large panes angled precisely to make maximum use of the winter sun’s path across our valley.  As you walk in the front door, there is an area about 10 feet wide on either side of the door that extends the length of the house and is fully separated from the inside by a series of sliding glass doors. This area serves several purposes.  Most importantly, it is our green house food-producing area.  It is also a functional heating and cooling system for the house.  The front of the house is also a “Trombe wall” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombe_wall . The outer wall of south-facing windows has air flow vents placed both below the glass near the ground, and more air flow vents above the glass where the glass meets the roof.  This specially-designed wall of windows brings in light and warmth into the house.  The sun hits the heavy concrete floor (thermal mass), which retains this heat and releases it slowly throughout the nights. This concept is called “passive solar”. The house is warmest toward the front where the sliding glass doors are and as you move into the house it cools considerably. There can be as much as a 25 to 30 degree difference between the inside of the green house area and the interior. It is pretty incredible technology, and simple too – no mechanical systems required! Our electricity went out the other night, and while this was inconvenient in many ways, we did not have to worry about the air conditioning going out or being overly uncomfortable because it is always cool in the house. Of course, this will not be an advantage in the winter, but for now it is great!  We hope the passive solar will perform similar wonders for us in winter time.

The sun house (a.k.a. green house) does its job well, and it becomes very warm in there as the sun moves through the sky. On most sunny days, the sun house can get as hot as 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature in the sun house can be regulated by vents that run along the bottom that are open to the outside to draw in the cool air at the ground level, and four large shutters on the roof of the sun house that can be opened to different intervals to allow that rising heat to escape (in summer) and be trapped inside (in winter).

While the solar house has a lot of advantages, there are some downsides (please keep in mind that this was a test house built 30 years ago). So the ideas that were behind this construction may not have been fully developed (although I suspect that is not completely the case because people have been living in earth-bermed houses for thousands of years).  Anyhoo, the people who built this house may have been purists and may not have wanted to use plastic (which many “green” builders use) in order to make sure the house was sealed tight against moisture. So, the house does not really have a barrier between the earth and the house to keep out the moisture. They just used lots of rock and concrete.  There are also millions of ants that are munching certain areas of the house everyday. They have highways, quite literally, that run in front and in back of the house, and we are constantly finding the workers bodies discarded among bits of wood and shavings about the house. It does not bother me at all. As I have said before I am a live and let live type of person, and they have no interest in us whatsoever, also the areas they prefer to munch don’t really encroach on our living space so whatever. I know some of you are thinking I am crazy, but I tend to think I am just lucky that these things don’t bother me. That way I can get on with the business of business and not obsess about things that I can not control. In any case, the house has its drawbacks, and that is why plastic (in all of its evil glory) is employed so readily in newer earth-bermed houses.

I am glad we have the opportunity to live in the house. Enzo is extremely interested in natural building and has been talking about it a lot in the last few years. He has shown me different articles and books on earth-bermed building and it is all very interesting. The value of living here and having a first hand experience of this particular method is very informative. So far, we are enjoying it. I think that is all for now, more to come later in the adventures of Jessica and Enzo.

Since I have not spent a large amount of time in the country during my life, when we first arrived I was very interested in identifying all of the things you want to avoid in the outdoors. Things like poison ivy, venomous snakes, and the like. Being a modern woman I went straight for the internet to inform myself about these items, and I found some useful and not so useful information. I looked up poison ivy first to find out what it looked like, but what I found was not clear, but somewhat helpful. I actually found a wonderful website in which people would take pictures of what they thought was poison ivy and the person who managed the website would say “yes it is” or “no it is not” and why. Here is the website if you would like to check it out: http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/pictures.html. What I learned was that poison ivy is not that easily identified. There are a few things that point to proper identification, for example: poison ivy is a vine, it typically has three leaves, the base of the leaves is usually wider than the top, they can be smooth or slightly wrinkled, they are often shiny, and can be found at the base of trees or trailing along a roadside. All of these things describe poison ivy, but many of these traits can be found in other plants as well that may be useful. I have been looking around the property for examples of poison ivy and I think I have found a few which include all of the traits that I have listed above. Of course, I can’t be sure of it unless I send in a picture to the website, or touch it (which is not going to happen). I also read that poison ivy does not lose its oil in the winter, therefore don’t go plowing into a patch of it in winter thinking that you are safe. I have never had a run-in with poison ivy, and I hope that I won’t, but when you work outside you often come in contact with plants and animals that may do you harm. I have read the best way to treat poison ivy is to wipe down the area with alcohol within 10 minutes of exposure. Also, wash the area thoroughly with water, but not soap initially. Only use soap to wash up after the area has been rinsed with water. Witch Hazel is also suggested to wash with after exposure. Another natural way to treat poison ivy is to apply another weed that may or may not grow nearby called jewelweed. It is supposed ease the awful itch that is the scourge of all poison ivy sufferers. Some people suggest you have to have an extract of jewelweed which can be complicated and time consuming to get so you can buy it online. However, I have read in several places that if you break the stem and place it onto the affected site it will help it heal. Here is a great website that gives a great explanation of the plant and the many uses for it: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Jewelweed.html. I like this method of using jewelweed because it is easy and accessible and it can probably be cultivated in most places. The other thing that is very appealing to me is that not to long ago I read or heard that in nature there are always natural remedies in the areas where poisonous or threatening plants and animals live. If we can improve our own knowledge of our natural localities we may be able to pinpoint remedies for any of the dangers that inhabit the areas around our homes (that is if there is still the original organic plants that have always been in that locality. If you live in a suburb where the developer leveled all of the local plants and trees before constructing the site this will not be your situation). In addition, this idea promotes the infinite and eternal wisdom of our natural landscape and how re-learning the knowledge that has been lost in our modern lives can empower us in real ways.  The Transition Town movement calls this need for us to retrain ourselves in basic natural living skills “The Great Reskilling”.  One example that comes to mind immediately is that if we can treat ourselves with natural remedies from our backyards we will not have to pay inflated medical bills to doctors who often turn to synthetic petrol-based drugs as a method for healing but which primarily undermine our bodies more than they help them. This in my mind is real power, real knowledge, and really important.

The other things that Enzo and I have been vigilant about avoiding here in the mountains of Western North Carolina are venomous snakes and spiders. As a rule, snakes and spiders do not bother me at all, and as stated earlier I have immense guilt over killing pretty much anything. So, I try to avoid these things and we don’t come into contact, but sometimes circumstances bring you things you would otherwise steer clear of.  For example, the first few nights we were here, we were sleeping with the sliding glass doors open to get some fresh air circulating through the house. We never really thought about any critters coming into the house, but the threshold under the door was missing and there was a huge gap beneath it. On probably the four or fifth night a rain storm came and was blowing everything about. Maggie was in the greenhouse and all of the sudden Enzo said shut that door down there (we have three sliding glass doors that span the length of the front of the house). After we had closed the doors, Enzo took out a flashlight and we all peered out into the darkness at a snake that had slithered in to wait out the storm. We weren’t sure what kind of snake it was, and I wasn’t particularly worried about it, although I should have been because it turned out to be a copperhead snake! We did not find this out until several days later when we looked it up on the internet (at that point we did not have service yet). Usually copperheads are aggressive and they will strike out at you, but this one stayed where she was and stayed very still, as they do initially when coming in contact with a threat, which I guess we were posing. Needless to say, we slept with the doors closed that night. They next day we went to the local hardware store and bought a screen for one of the doors so we could continue to have fresh air in the house, and we also replaced the threshold which Enzo found propped behind the door. We saw the snake one other time, so far, sticking out her head from some stones we used to frame the yard out front. Again, she stayed very still while we were standing there and we have not seen her since although I am sure she is still around. The second time we saw her, Enzo considered trying to get rid of her by flinging her down into the oak grove below. However, I am glad that he did not do it because when I did look it up and found out it was a copperhead the article said that most people are bitten when they try to get rid of or kill the snake. Snakes have tremendous speed and they can move much faster than us, so it makes sense that if you do engage the copperhead, it will do its best to attack you back. The bite can kill you, although many people do survive. Unfortunately the recovery time is weeks and sometimes months and even after recovery you may have pain or nerve damage for the rest of your life.

The lesson we took from this experience is to enjoy your environment, but to be careful and aware that there are dangers around. However, I believe it is unnecessary to maim or kill every slithery or crawly thing that comes across your path because it may best you and kill you instead. Defend yourself if you must, but don’t just kill for the sake of killing or out of fear or ignorance. I also believe that respect is the paramount thing that we should be extending to of all of the creatures that inhabit this earth.  The more you practice this philosophy, the more mutual it will become with the critters you experience. Respect others and you will receive more respect.  This is simply my opinion, but I hope you will consider it.

The first week we worked on setting up the house. There was a lot to clean, re-arrange, and set up. We had a lot of boxes that we had brought into the house, but as we started clearing a space for ourselves among the stuff that Negev had stored there and the ants, spiders, and cockroaches, our space shrunk. This was okay because as I get older I want less and less stuff to deal with because it seems to make life simpler, stuff tends to complicate things. For example, we are paying $55 a month to store a bunch of our stuff that we apparently can live without, go figure.

To deal with the bugs we started first with the wet/dry vacuum. I must say, and I know most of you will think I am absolutely bonkers, BUT I have severe bug-killing guilt. Most bugs don’t bother me. The only ones that really do are the ones that can hurt me, kill me, or put gapping holes in my body from a bite. But for the rest, I have severe guilt over killing them. Most spiders are beneficial because they eat all of the other icky creatures that crawl about on this planet, but alas I had to turn into a bug killer in order to make space for me and my sweetie to live comfortably in our new home. So we sucked and sucked up all of their homes and in time the spiders, ants, and cockroaches slowly abated to other areas, mainly outside where we humans tend to like them. During this time, I also got on the internet to find some natural solutions for pest control. I have a strong and abiding dislike, distaste, downright hatred of synthetic chemicals, so if I am looking for a solution for pest control I like the natural ones. I found out that:

For ants:

• You can put cucumber slices at points of entry, sprinkle dried mint and cloves around doorways, and stuff garlic in cracks.

For roaches:

• Boric acid at the top of kitchen cabinets, apparently roaches have a love for heights. This will kill them if they eat it, diatomaceous earth will also take their lives.
• Catnip satchels left on counters will work as a good repellent, as well as bay leaves, cucumber, and garlic.
• Lastly, if you plant Hedge apple outside the house it is supposed to repel roaches before they ever enter the dwelling.

For spiders:

• It is recommended that you hang Osage or mock oranges from the skylights in the kitchen.
• You can mix vinegar and coconut oil and spray it where spiders make their nests.
• Another spray that you can make yourself is a quart of water, 5 tablespoons of natural liquid soap, one ounce of neem oil, and a few drops of lavender or tea tree oil. (all of these solutions came from www.eartheasy.com)

Out of all of these solutions, I only tried a few, and of those I tried they did work pretty well. I put down slices of cucumber at the entry points, which did seem to help. I also sprinkled dried peppermint and ground cloves along the windows and other entry points (we have three sliding glass doors at the front of the house), and then near the kitchen I set out a few garlic cloves on the floor. I do realize that for many people they will not want a bunch of tea, spices, and garlic lying around their houses however it seemed to work well, and the tea and the cloves gave off a lovely fragrance that wafted through the house the first few days they were laid out. These are not permanent solutions, but the bugs did respond and the herbs can be cleaned up every few days and re-laid. I also used the neem spray to help combat the spiders. I had to clean the cabinets in the kitchen (and suck the spiders out of their comfy wee homes). After I got it all cleaned out, I thoroughly sprayed my neem solution into all of the cabinets and then laid down brown paper bags. A few days later, I noticed that some replacement troops had set up new homes on the bottom shelf which I had decided to leave empty. So I re-sucked them out again (re-vacuumed the area) and re-sprayed the whole area. That was about two weeks ago, and as of this writing there are only a few down there. So, the moral is that we have not won temporarily, but the populations are greatly diminished and no evil chemicals were used. All in all, I am very happy with the spray which I still have a ton of and will obviously have to use again in the future. By the way, the neem spray is not a spider killer (as I have already established I don’t like killing bugs) it simply is a spider repellent, but I believe with repeated applications your house could be virtually spider free, of course without the spiders you will probably have a butt-load of other unwanted pests, but to each their own.

It has been interesting though moving into a house that was never really meant to be a home (more on this later), but has been a home to nature for years. While Negev has used this place as a storage area and humans have obviously been a presence here on and off since it was built 25 years ago, it is apparent to me that the bugs have been the main occupants of this house. During this time they have worked out their own natural economy which does not rely on humans or domesticated animals to fed and support them. Since we have arrived, we have brought in our food and laid it out on the counters, hung it in a fruit basket, put our cat’s food bowl on the floor, and with all of this temptation around the bugs seem utterly oblivious. While we still have some ants in the house, they do not seek out any of our food. They never go into Maggie’s bowl and will not eat her food. We have taken measures to keep some foods sealed in zip-lock bags in the cabinets and our breads we have stored in a big cooler, but outside of these simple steps, bugs’ bothering our food has not been an issue for us at all. I mentioned it to Enzo one day and he said they probably had no need of our food because they were not relying on it before. I thought that made a lot of sense. The other thing that is apparent is that Nature’s systems are in full swing around here. The web of life is active and therefore everything in the natural economy is not focused around humans and human activities like it is in the cities and the suburbs where the eco-systems are wiped out by clear cutting and development. So as we squeeze ourselves into the niche we have carved out in the house, we are learning to live amongst some of God’s ickiest creatures, but it is all part of the adventure. We are part of nature, I know it is a wild idea, but it is true. We need to make peace with these bugs, reptiles, and animals that are also part of nature and deserve to be here just as much as we do. While it may be necessary from to time to kill a few bugs, I think the majority of the time we should simply try to live with them. After all they are more numerous than us, and they were put here by God just like the rest of us, each to do a particular job. As we start getting into the Permaculture part of this blog, I will talk more about the important jobs that bugs do for us everyday. In the meantime, it is important to be compassionate even with creatures that make you go blagh! ewwww! And aaaaaaah! Because don’t you think the golden rule applies even here?

We arrived around 2 or 3 p.m. Of course, we lost an hour driving from the Central to the Eastern Time zone. We stopped by the U-Haul drop off first, which was blissfully close to where we were headed and unloaded my car and the auto transport. Then we made our way to the property where we would be taking up residency for the next, I have no idea how long to be honest with you. It is a passive solar, earth-bermed house. For years (as far as I am aware), the only thing this house has been used for is storage and work space for Negev. When we visited back in May the place was in pretty raw shape. Lots of stuff stacked up here and there, lots and lots of spider webs, and bugs crawling about, and lots of dust scattered over the whole of the house. It was never meant to be a residence, but here we are living in it. While Negev did work on the place a little between May when we first came out here and the day we arrived, it was still in shambles. Which honestly was fine, we were happy to have this wonderful opportunity to re-boot our lives, and we knew coming in we had plenty of work ahead of us before the dawn emerged on this new life. However, after a long journey, the events of the day before, and just the emotional turmoil of change itself walking into a dirty house with no plumbing and makeshift electricity was a huge thing to swallow.

We began immediately unloading all of the items we needed off the truck that would go into the house. We took Maggie and put her into the upstairs room and hoped that she would be okay for awhile by herself in this new and strange place. After we unloaded the truck, we went back to the storage place to pick up my car, and then headed back to the property to find our bearings. We spent some time eking out some space for ourselves among the chaos. After about an hour or two we had a sufficient area set up by one of the front windows with two chairs to sit in and our bed on the concrete slab that serves as the floor. Fortunately, we did not have to go out to find dinner because I had made us a stir-fry two nights before so we would have a nice dinner for us when we arrived. And thank God is all I can say about that because I needed something good and healthy to eat, and I was way too cross-eyed with exhaustion to even fathom getting in the car to go look for sustenance.

After we ate dinner, my sweet husband who is obsessed with music, got out his mini-laptop and put our wedding music on for us to listen to (he was the DJ at our reception). I did not realize what he was doing and when I heard the first notes of “our song” (Corcovado, with Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto), I just broke down and cried. The last two days had been overwhelming and extremely trying, but we got through it together, and all I could think at that moment is thank God this man loves me. What a blessed woman I am!

We sat in the chairs, listened to music, and discussed our situation; what had transpired and what was ahead of us yet. Outside our window, a huge, old Oak grove explodes out of the meadow below. The beauty of the outstretched limbs of the trees drew us out of our chairs and out onto the front lawn (which will soon be covered in beautiful plants). We watched as the sun faded slowly, and the half moon rose overhead blanketed over by sheer clouds. The effect was magical and we sighed with the relief of arrival and the drudgery of the journey behind us, even though the real work still lay ahead of us. As we stood there little points of illuminated lights floated up into our field of vision and the meadow was transformed into a magical land of stars, fairies, and fireflies. “Welcome” the night whispered to us. The night in the mountains was mystical and we were tired, but happy that we finally made it to our destination safe and sound.

           The journey there was very beautiful. It was 6 a.m. when we left and we watched the sun rise as we headed east on 40. Tennessee is a beautiful state. It is green and hilly. Old houses, farms and collapsed barns dotted the sides of the highway as we whizzed by at 55 m.p.h. (Ha ha- slow truck!) Cows and horses graze contentedly. They mooed at each other in delight of their luck on this planet. Someone is eating grass-fed beef. They are all over the south, maybe it is just the local’s, and good for them. Again, I digress. I really do love Tennessee and its landscape. When I first moved there it was almost a novelty. I never in my wildest dreams expected that I would end up in the south of all places, but here I came and here I stayed, and here I learned about myself in ways I had never imagined. It was an amazing blessing, and Tennessee cradled me like a child in a caregiver’s arms. She gave me back my softer self and helped me peel back the defensive front I used to wear so readily. Environment is everything! It has transformative power and I learned that in Tennessee. But no need to get to sappy, she is just a few hours away.

           Maggie (our cat) was great in the car. She had been in a freaked out state since the day before because we had been moving and there were people in the house that she was not familiar with- men to boot. She was even more freaked out when we finally coaxed her back into the house and there was nothing inside. There was no little space for her to go seek out. Enzo gave her a few sedative drops about a half an hour before we pulled out, and when we got in the car I expected her to start meowing, because that is what she usually does. However, Maggie just sat there quietly. I think she realized she was going a bit farther then she was used to, that she was going there with us, and we weren’t leaving her behind. So, she dug deep and hardened her resolve to face the ride ahead. She did not meow the whole time we were in the car, about 6 ½ hours.

           The trip took a long time because we had the U-Haul and it was so weighed down. There were a lot of hills to climb, and that really slowed us down, but I suppose that is what you get when you move to the mountains. Finally though we got to where we were going, but of course you know the day was not over yet. We still had to unload the things we wanted to go into the house. I did my best not to think about that though because if I did by the time we arrived I was just going to lie down in the threshold and cry.  But you know what; I made it through the rest of the day. It is a blessing we are here.

           It was early morning when we started out on the drive. Of course, since we had lost the thread of our journey the day before we were anxious to be our on way. I was driving Enzo’s car and he drove the truck.

            As an aside, I am a sign watcher. Not like stop signs or yield signs, although be rest assured I do watch for those signs as well. However, what I mean is that I watch my environment very closely to find clues from God, the universe, name your preference, about what is to come. I find it comforting and I think it is a good practice. I believe that everything around us at any given moment sends us messages about what we are doing or what we should be doing (being true to yourself- that is the only “should” that should exist) or even what we should not be doing. You can bet that morning as we pulled away from our conventional lifestyle (you know the one that everybody else recommends) I was looking for signs about our journey, whether we were making the right decision, etc. We turned down Nolensville road and headed toward Briley Parkway, going towards downtown Nashville. I never thought the moment would come that I would be leaving this wonderful city I had called home for the last 13 years. At Briley, we made a right and headed up to I-40 where we would spend the bulk of our morning going towards our new and unconventional life (you know the one everyone warns against). The clouds were stacked high in the sky and a sun burst from the dawn created a silver lining around the clouds that was luminescent and beautiful. Sign number one. For those of you who live in Nashville you know that the airport is right off of Briley Parkway and there are several bridges that crisscross over the road as it twists and turns its way north. As we drove, we came upon a bridge that mostly obscured my line of sight to the right, but there was a huge patch of blue sky with puffy clouds hanging loose here and there on the left. At that moment as we approached the bridge, a huge 747 jet took off and lifted its heavy burden up, turning it’s nose toward the great expanse of the open air above. It was as big as the sky itself and my heart took flight with it, because to me it was a sign of the monumental journey that we too were taking, and at that moment I just felt that no matter how much uncertainty there is in this new life we have taken on, everything would be okay. We were being watched over and taken care of by something that was much bigger and more powerful than the sum of us. Most importantly, we had listened to what our hearts were saying, and even though we experienced moments with heavy uncertainty in our minds, the signs had spoken and they told us the sky is the limit.