Wow, I have been working with Wakarusa Valley Permaculture for almost a year now!  I moved all of my plants and belongings from Colorado in the beginning of April 2016 to begin a new site that would be farm-scale (hopefully using keyline design which we have begun!) and create a new hub for those seeking to live in sustainable communities.  

   We have had several friends help us out in this first stage of the farm, with everything from local plant knowledge to materials, animals, and personal connections -- a particularly important asset.  We've toured and worked at several farms including those at the annual Chestnut Growers of America meeting, partnered with local grocery stores to utilize their organic wastes as chicken feed and compost medium, been offered plants and cuttings, been directed to the Missouri Department of Conservation -- from whom we ordered 490 tree seedlings, for which we're having a Spring Planting Party, which happens to also be the one year anniversary of Wakarusa Valley Permaculture's inception.

   Since there haven't been any real updates this fall or winter, you might be curious what we've been up to at the farm.  I can tell you that when you don't have patience, no pace is ever fast enough!  We have been working to consciously design what amounts to chipping away at fundamental projects and using what little time we get to work together to it's greatest advantage.  We make compost, then more compost, and accept more waste than we can reasonably compost at the time we get it, knowing we will eventually use it.  

   Volunteers have and will help, of course, but I've found in the past few years that unless you have a system already fully functioning, it is difficult to get the average person REALLY interested in a permaculture project.  We're looking forward to showing people something special in a few months when the ground thaws and frosts have ceased.  

   The chickens (as predicted) have with blinding efficiency been doing all of our tilling and fertilizing of garden and nursery planting areas, a great deal of which will never be tilled again.  Being planted with perennial polycultures, all planted areas will create enough ecosystemic interaction to sustain themselves after the first year or two.

   Here are two great photo albums that show both our fall scramble where we acquired a couple (dozen) more chickens than originally anticipated and had to put several projects on hold, and our winter, thus far, which shows the chickens move from their original, hilltop chicken kingdom down to the farmhouse for ease of access and to give the site a rest from the scratching (plowing) so it can be planted this spring.

   We have innumerable projects planned including holding workshops on subjects like keyline design and habitat construction, selling our produce at the farmers markets and local restaurants, construction of greenhouses and outbuilding using natural building materials and techniques, and digging swales to the ends of the earth!  :)

   It would be awesome to hear from some folks on here who want to join the efforts at Wakarusa Valley Permaculture or partner with us if you already have something going on in the area, so give me a holler here or hit us up on Facebook.  Much love, y'all, and I hope everything is well and growing your way!