Aprevecho Fish Operation

Trillium

One of the bridges crossing the creek on the property.

Here’s an inside look at the aquaculture operation. When they arrive , the fish will go in these two tanks. The water in the tanks will circulate through the tanks and then through a series of channels which will be planted with plants that feed the fish. Aside from feeding the fish, the plants will clean the water so it can circulate back into the fish tanks.

This is the area where water will flush through at regular intervals. They can grow food, like tomatoes, hydroponically this way. It will already be naturally fertilized because the fish have been using the water.

Another view of the troughs. If you watch the video that is currently on the front page of the website, you can see a glimpse of these planted at about 30 seconds.

One of the things that impressed me about the people of Aprovecho was their willingness to research and try new things. No one had set up an Aquaculture system before, or built a cistern, but they did their research and did it. It was a good reminder to me that I don’t have to be an expert before I start, just well informed and armed with a plan.

Aprevecho Common House

Here’s a look at the common house which was not yet completed. The lumber to build the house was cut and milled on site and they have been working on the interior over the winter. There is a classroom upstairs, and downstairs is a big open space and room for the library. They have used natural finishes likes cobb and beeswax, so when we walked in, everything smelled amazing.

A look at one of the wall sconces and the ceiling of the classroom.

Another view of the staff houses (right, rear) and a cabin that was there when the property was first purchased. One of the interns lives in there now.

A look at the layers of the common house.

Abel shows us their new cistern. Rainwater from the common house is piped into this cistern and then is used to water the plants in the summer. Permaculture theory encourages at least two sources for things, just in case one becomes unavailable. So for water, they currently have running city water and also a creek they could use if they have to. Now that they have the cistern, they have one more way to get clean water. They would like to have a series of cisterns to supply all of their water needs, eventually.

Aprovecho Second Look

After lunch, Tao and Abel gave us a tour of Aprovecho and explained how the property’s mission had grown and changed over the years. Tao and Abel were both very good at explaining permaculture concepts and Aprovecho’s philosophy. They were very good guides/teachers.
This area is at the bottom of their one acre garden. It was very mushy and always had a good amount of standing water. Rather than trying to drain and garden it, they let it remain swampy and mushy and it has grown into this great wetlands zone all by itself. Permaculture theory is interested in where zones meet, as that is where there is the most diversity in species. Whereas some growers would grumble about the loss of land, they are happy to let the land do what it wants to do.
They have a very large chicken run that extends down one whole side of their garden. The chickens (and ducks) thus form a barrier on one side of the garden for insects that might wander through. Also, during the winter, the chickens and ducks are allowed to roam through the garden where they eat a lot of insect eggs and also their droppings fertilize the garden.
Another view of the chicken/duck run.
The chicken house is also designed with multiple doors. The raspberries are planted near the chicken house and a solar fence can be put out around them so that the chickens can come out an alternate door and scratch in the raspberries. Abel reports that this has improved their raspberry crop a lot.
We enjoyed the chickens a lot, though we were very city folk and kept not closing the gate to the run.
Abel and Tao didn’t mind too much.
Here Abel is talking about planting things with an eye toward multiple uses, which is another Permaculture principle. Here is a filbert bush. In commercial growing, filberts (a.k.a. hazelnuts) are trained into a tree-like structure for ease of harvesting. At Aprovecho, they have let them grow into its natural form, because then they can not only harvest the nuts, but also can cut and use the branches for items such as fences.
This is one of their milling areas. When it comes time to cut trees, they are cut with a two-man crosscut saw. Then the logs are pulled to the milling site by horses. A portable sawmill comes and cuts the lengths needed. Then they are dried in the solar dryer.

A look back at the buildings.

Here are some logs inoculated with mushroom spores. Once the plugs are inserted, they can grow mushrooms for a year or two.
In discussing the layers during the weekend, I realized I have not been paying attention to the fungal layer at all in my own Permaculture design. I’ll have to remedy that.

More Aprovecho to follow.

Aprevecho. First Look.

Mini vacation! I signed up for a weekend Permaculture workshop at Aprovecho, which is outside of Cottage Grove, Oregon. Aprovecho, which has come up more than once in my permaculture research, is a non-profit research and education center.

I drove up with Jason Miller, who runs Peaceful Media (a “lovely lil‘ web, video and graphic design firm” as his web site tells us.) In our conversation on the way up, it turned out that he and co-authored a book, Project Everlasting: Two Bachelors Discover the Secrets of America’s Greatest Marriages. It turned out that I had heard of this book because it was featured in the local paper. We had a nice chat on the way up. He also enjoyed the biscuits I made.
When we arrived, we settled in and enjoyed a delicious lunch. Here is a short tour.
The Straw Bale Dorm. This is where people stay when they come for workshops. I stayed upstairs in a lovely, cozy warm room. Downstairs is the kitchen/dining/common room and also two self-contained composting toilets and a shower.
This is the meeting house. It was recently built and was not quite finished when I visited. All the buildings at Aprovecho are built from lumber milled on site and the wood is dried in a solar dried kiln. You’ll see inside of it later.
The self-contained composting systems are a bit stinky, as they are designed to process more solid waste than liquid waste. The liquid waste converts quickly into an ammonia smell, which is not very fun. So we were encouraged to use the outdoor toilets. These are different than outhouses, in that they are modeled on humanure principles. Instead of a toilet seat over a deep pit, there is a five gallon bucket. Nearby there is sawdust to sprinkle on your waste. When the bucket gets full, it is dumped in one of the two compost piles, the gates of which are on the right of the structure below. After compost pile is full, another one begins and the full pile is left alone for a year to compost. After a year of hot composting, it ceases to be waste and is full of nutrients. They compost it again to remove all pathogens and then use it to fertilize their bamboo and other items that are not eaten. This is a great system because 1)It doesn’t smell, not at all and 2)It takes all the water out of the waste management process. Want to learn more about humanure? You can download the e-book for free. Go to here: (http://humanurehandbook.com/store/THE-HUMANURE-HANDBOOK.html)
There are three couples who live at Aprovecho full time. They each have their own house,which can be seen in this picture. There are two small children who live on site and they were fun to chat with during mealtimes.
In the front of this picture, you can see the human powered blender, which was used to make the salsa for our lunch. Behind the blender is the water for the aquaculture project. It is being inoculated in preparation for the arrival of the tilipa. You will see more of that project later too.
A look at the yard on the side of the straw bale house. There is a cherry tree in bloom.
Our delicious lunch: a salad of green fresh from the garden and a burrito.
Generally, Aprovecho logs enough wood from their property for all their heating needs. However, this year they ran short and bought some wood which arrived just after we did. The people in our group formed a “log brigade” line and the wood was unloaded and stacked in a jiffy.
More log brigade.
Inside their kitchen, is this door. I knew what it was before I opened it, due to all my permaculture reading.
Here is a natural way to keep things cool without a refrigerator. The door opens to a screened in area that lets the outside air keep the items cool, but keeps the flies off. The shaded porch keeps the area cool, even during relatively hot weather. They also had a refrigerator outside on the porch.
This is a “truth window” on the way up the stairs to the rooms. It shows the straw bale construction.
The mail and other things area in the main room. Note that I have almost that exact same orange chair in my house.
The wood stove used for both cooking and warmth. We did a lot of sitting around it.
In the kitchen they have an island and under that island is a hay box cooker. The idea is that you heat up what you want to cook (in this case beans and rice) to boiling, then place it in an insulated box. The insulation cooks the food slowly, much like a crockpot, over a period of time. Much less fuel is used this way.
The five gallon buckets scattered around the main space were storage for beans and grains. They also made great stools for sitting on while eating.

Three sentence movie reviews: The Great Debaters


Engrossing drama filled with moral dilemmas as well as mistakes made and made up for. The acting is top notch. It may have been the settings on my mother’s TV, but I found parts of the movie so dark that I could barely see what was going on.

Books read in March

Man, there’s a lot of nonfiction going on this month? What’s up with that?

Read
Positive Addiction
William Glasser
This book is a bit dated it its psychological theories, but makes some good points. The author examines two groups of people: those addicted to running and those addicted to meditation. He supports such addictions, and sees great benefit to getting yourself addicted to some sort of positive activity. It also includes tips to establish your own positive addition.

Uprooting Racism
Paul Kivel
The guide (maybe even The Guide) for white people wishing to examine their own racism. Also the guide for white people who are sure they are not racist, but are concerned about other people’s racism. (Note: both of these groups most likely has some white privilege things to acknowledge.) Each chapter ends with discussion questions making this a very good book to use for a study group. Well written and recommended.

Mediterranean Women Stay Slim Too.
Melissa Kelly
I’ve successfully cut back on the reading of diet books, something of a hidden addiction for me. But I seem to have not actually divested myself from books that are about being slim and still eating good food. It isn’t such a bad thing. This book has a lot of good recipes and points. However, its tone can be slightly grating. It is clear from the text that the author grew up in a family that valued food and the communal ritual of eating food together. Today, the author runs a restaurant where she can continue this tradition. I am happy for her, and wish that we were all raised the way she was and strive to eat the way she does. That said, I think she may have laid out a bit of a tall order for most Americans.

Juliet, Naked
Nick Hornby
(first “Lucky Day” book)
I was excited, but cautious, about this book as I really love Nick Hornby’s writing, yet really did not like A Long Way Down. Happily, this book captures all the gleeful Hornbyesque dialogue and descriptions. As Hornby is aging, so are his characters. Because I am aging too, I don’t mind a bit.

The setup of the story was delightful, as were the life and musings of an aging former big deal rock star.

Math: Facing an American Phobia
Marilyn Burns
I was reading part of this book for an assignment at school and Burns was so funny, I just kept reading for pleasure. Burns analyzes why the vast majority of the country “hates” and “can’t do” math, and also points out that any efforts to teach math in a different, possibly more accessible way, are often loudly protested. It seems that people want their children to learn math in exactly the same way they did, even if the result was that they themselves hate math and describe themselves as not very good at it.

That makes me a little crazy. But Marilyn Burns, though troubled and confused about this, cheerily looks at a variety of math strands, how we use them in daily life, and how she would teach them in a classroom. This was so witty, interesting and thought provoking, I recommend it to everyone, not just “math” people.

Search for Dinosaurs
Bischoff
Another in the “Choose Your Own Adventure“-esque series from my youth. I had a very difficult time with this as my eyes tend to glaze over at words like “Mesozoic” and “Jurassic” and so I had trouble picking up the clues from each chapter.

Downtown Owl
Chuck Klosterman
I’m just going to say right now: prepare yourself for the ending. You will be breezing along enjoying the story and the writing and Klosterman’s incredibly unique way of seeing things and then BAM! The ending just hits you over the head and there is no real resolution and you will walk around in a kind of book daze for the next week feeling angry. But it is an anger tempered with some other emotions such as embarrassment–Why didn’t I see that coming?–and rationalization–Well, it is his book and he can end it anyway he wants, and indeed there were so many other memorable parts.

Ultimately, this is an awesome book, with several laugh-out-loud-read-them-to-any-one-who-is-willing parts. People who have spent any amount of time in a small town would enjoy the explanation of the change in the Town of Owl’s mascot, which I meant to read out loud to my mother, but the book went back before that could happen. His competing analysis of George Orwell’s 1984 from an adult/teenager perspective has clearly been fermenting inside of him for years, possibly since high school. The hidden rules of the single woman in a small town are hilarious, as are the twin internal monologues during a conversation between a man and a woman in a bar.

“Glee” is one word to describe how I feel when I read Chuck Klosterman. In this, his first work of fiction, I felt a sustained glee for 250 of its pages. Those last six pages? Be prepared. They are coming.

Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout
Yet another book that I didn’t have to wait for 187 people to bring back from the library. I love, love, love the “Lucky Day” cart at the Kenton branch library. I also loved this book of interconnected short stories. I didn’t love Olive Kitteridge, but I came to respect and feel sympathy for her, which I think was the point.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One
Judith Jones
I liked that the focus on the cookbook is using your leftovers in two or three delicious meals. I’ve found this method in cookbooks with “normal sized” portions, but this was the first time I’ve seen it in a “cooking for one” cookbook. I enjoyed Judith Jones chatty tone and her discussion of techniques and equipment used in cooking for one. This cookbook seems to me to be very French inspired, which is fine with me, but might not be good for some. Overall, it was good enough for me to buy in hardback, which says a lot.

Started but did not finish:
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
Mildred Armstrong Kalish
I would like to read the rest of this book as I always find depression-era tomes interesting, even if they make me feel guilty for not scraping the extra bit of egg white out of the eggshell with my finger, as the author pointed out the women in her family always did. Nothing was wasted.

Three Sentence Movie Reviews: Sunshine Cleaning


This has two great actresses I love and I expected to like it. But it was boring and incredibly dissatisfying. Matt went grocery shopping for an hour in the middle of it, came back and guessed what had happened in his absence, it was that predictable.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2009/sunshine_cleaning.html

Three sentence movie reviews: The Blind Side


Given all the anti-racism reading I’ve been doing I expected not to like this movie. After all, it’s the quintessential–as my friend once referred to the genre–“white woman swooping in to save the poor black kid in the projects” genre. But, darn it, Sandra Bullock is charming and fun to watch and she wins me over every time.

Now go read the book.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2009/blind_side.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Young Victoria


Kinda slow in the middle, but as my mother observed, “When nothing is happening, you can just look at all the pretty things in her hair.” Emily Blunt is very good as the young queen, the politics are well explained and Albert is very cute. A good movie to bring your knitting with a somewhat complex pattern to.

ps. passes the Bechdel test. Two women? Yes. Who talk to each other? Yes. About something besides a man? Yes! (Though if you count the British Throne as masculine, this would be a no)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/uk/2009/young_victoria.html