Sustainable Design Elements at Living Earth Garden Project

Greetings! This is Visionary and Head Gardener, Machei at Living Earth Garden Project. This week I will return to presenting the Design Elements of our project. Let's begin by reviewing the list from 2 weeks ago:

• Border - extensive planting of small trees and shrubs
• Tipis - as simple, but durable and effective shelters
• Orchard - fruit trees at this time, with treenuts in the plan
• Yurt - as more substantial, but still simple shelter
• Vegetable Beds - for diet and nutrition
• Outdoor Kitchen - including ramada for shade and other miscellaneous structures

These are the Primary Design Elements that we have begun work on.

There also exist Secondary Design Elements which are systems that support the Primary Elements. Many of these Secondary Elemnets were actually in place, out of necessity, before the Primary ones. Our list of Secondary Elements/Support Systems is as follows:

• Well - for access to clean drinking water
• Compost Toilets - to capture nutrients and avoid waste
• Solar Shower - to rinse off sweat and dust
• Compost Piles - to produce soil fertility

The term 'other miscellaneous structures after 'Outdoor Kitchen' on the Primary Elements list refers to the various installations we have made to make our Secondary Elements/Support Systems functionable. Here follows a short description of each:

• WELL - includes a professionally drilled hole 100 feet down with steel casing installed and an Amish style forced-pressure hand pump with farm hose adapter on top.
• COMPOST TOILETS - is the sawdust bucket system as described in The Humanure Handbook , by Joseph Jenkins. Aside from the necessary buckets, seats, lids and sawdust we have built a rough strawbale shelter with wood slat roof to contain this 'compost potty'.
• SOLAR SHOWER - has gone through a few variations. Our current attempt involves using the tipi tripod design principle. Three long poles are tied together near their tops with a clove hitch knot and a shower bag is hung down.
• COMPOST PILES - are of two kinds now. The first type of pile that we began building was our 'humanure compost' that receives material from the sawdust bucket system as well as kitchen food scraps, some plant debris, any papers or fabrics that will biodegrade, and lots of loose straw. The second type of pile we now build is our 'fruit and veggie compost'. These piles are simpler in that they require no containment and can be built directly on the ground. So far, they have received our own pasture cuttings primarily.

How many of you have any experience with these kinds of systems? By addressing water access and 'waste' disposal, they are enough to get a land-based project started. Some of these systems can be learned on-the-go, while others require special training beforehand. I will go into each of our Support Systems more deeply in the weeks that follow.

With best wishes for this week!

Gardener Machei

Taos, NM