Florie Brown : It looks fantastic Kathryn your own paradise the goats look contented do you keep them for milk?

Kathryn Michaud : It is Florie, I count myself lucky to be here. I have begun to harvest some produce, but got off to a late start. Will continue adding raised beds and trellises, so it should just get better from here on in. The course taught me so much and how to tackle the challenges of extreme temps; -40 C to 40 C, + heavy rains and run off.

The ponds manage; water, insects, and temps in the garden. The shade trellises help manage temps of 15 C at night and 40 C during the day, reducing stress on the vegetation. I have 4 adult does that I milk, plus 3 kid does and 1 kid buck; total 8. They are all easy going and appear to be content. I love goats! They are truly amazing animals, and very intelligent.

Rodney Robinson : Monster job Kathryn!! I am planning on lots of trellises for next year. I had two this summer. green bean and cucumber, but the rabbits ate the shoots. Our two raised beds exploded with production that we are eating right now. Enjoyed your pics.

Cindy Madou : Wow, Kathryn I'm jealous of your ponds. I've planned a big one, but seeing your pics makes me wonder if I shouldn't squeeze in some small ones. Nice work.

Kathryn Michaud : Thanks Cindy. Small ponds have their benefits, can be installed/constructed single-handed, fit into tight spaces. They're too small for fish but great for frogs and small aquatics. All the ponds are approximately 10'x 7'x 3' (x5); 3 are on 3 separate tiers of the garden and gravity flow one into the next, and the 2 at the front of the house also gravity flow.

I've wanted to do these for a decade, but didn't realize the major benefits they would bring.

Rodney; the trellises are all either up-cycled/recycled materials, or found wood from the bush. At present I'm using old feed bags as shade cloth, not very aesthetic but certainly effective, and some cedar bows while waiting for the vines to come into play.

All of your comments/encouragement is so appreciated, I think I fair rather well for a lone 57 year old with mobility issues. My approach is to break tasks down into smaller manageable increments, and attempt to remain patient about it all.

Thanks again for your comments, they are truly so very appreciated.

Fatima Silva Franco : Hi Kathryn, ponds look beautiful! It is amazing that they are so new and already full of life.

Kathryn Michaud : How true Fatima! I was totally taken aback.

Linda Morrison : Hi Kathryn! I´m just getting back to the permacultureglobal site after a long time away, due to a poor internet connection which is now resolved. So I´m visiting my classmates a bit to see what they are doing.

Everything you´ve done at your place looks amazing! It is wonderful to hear about your project. I really like the small ponds and trellises, both wonderful for moderating our extreme climates. I am designing a couple of each of those things, as well, and hope to get them on the ground before next summer; after this last summer's heatwaves and dryness, I´ve realized I want to create as much shade as I can get overhead for my kitchen garden and main crops.

I´m harvesting olives right now and have spent a lot of time making compost this summer and fall, as well as re-designing some of my garden beds so that the paths are on contour. During the rain we had here in September, I got a small food forest planted and my chicken system design is ready to go. That will be my next project! As a lone 70 year old, I appreciate your strategy of breaking projects down into small pieces... I do that too. Sometimes I feel a bit like and ant, but things do get done.

My biggest project in the last 4 months, however, has been to start a Permaculture Circle in Granada. We have had three meetings so far and I am amazed at how many people are interested, both in sharing their knowledge (there are 7 of us with PDCs, which I didn´t expect at all!! ) and learning ( there are also some folks who had never heard the word permaculture before they attended the first meeting!). We are in the process of getting to know each other & organizing working groups for different activities we want to do. I do a power point presentation for each meeting about some permaculture theme, which always induces lots of interesting discussion / Q&A sessions! It´s quite a lot of work, but I love it and am so amazed how people have "shown up" with just the talents, ideas and enthusiasm I need both for my own project and for teaching permaculture to more people. Geoff was certainly right about that, too!! When we do what we love, things begin to bloom, don´t they?

Kathryn Michaud : I haven't been on this site in so long, sorry to have missed your lovely message. Although I haven't been on here, I have been so busy, crazy busy! When I started implementing my design I could never have anticipated so many positive results influencing so many others: Ex; I insulated my horse drinker in a sort of "hot bed" dry compost, well not only did this help heat the drinking in the coldest months we've had in decades, it also kept the drinker cool through our summer drought. It kept the water from evaporating. Wow, winter heat and summer cooling. Never could have imagined! Dug a fish pond 20'wx40'lx10'd in an area I thought had promise to do so, once again in flipping spades, all clay, no stone, no rock, and it's spring fed, not one, two, FOUR, couldn't believe it! Planted 25 + fruit trees on two swales, expanded the kitchen garden by x2 = hundreds of pounds of produce = canning like a maniac. And so it goes, there more, so much more, bit of a Permaculture Monster. I have one student, and possibly a second for a PDC this winter. Sorry to say I never took the time for even one pic. Shame. Now is time for getting ready for winter, hoofing it big time. I was so pleased to hear what you have been doing, and how you're getting on. Please to stay in touch. I promise I'll do a better job. Cheers! K