3 Nitrogen Fixing Plants for the Forest Garden

Michelle | April 25th, 2012

Nitrogen fixing shrubs are valuable in agroforestry systems. They can be integrated into perennial agriculture systems to restore and maintain nutrient cycling and fertility self-reliance. The following 3 nitrogen fixing plants have additional uses and benefits as well. This is a quick snap shot of nitrogen fixing plants. Please share your experiences with these or other plants used primarily to fix nitrogen.

1) Siberian Pea Shrub (Caragana arborescens)
• Ornamental, edible, and can be used in windbreaks
• Does best in full sun
• Tolerant of adverse growing conditions, such as poor, dry soils, extreme cold, salt, and wind
• Can become invasive

2) Ceanothus (Ceanothus americanus)
• Also known as New Jersey Tea
• Non-leguminous nitrogen-fixing shrub native to most of Eastern North America
• Often found in dry woods and gravely banks
• Can grow 2-4 feet tall
• Prefers sandy or loamy soils.
• Does best in well-drained soil but can grow in poor soil.
• Can grow in sun or semi-shade.
• Does not take well to root disturbance or heavy pruning.
• Attracts butterflies, hummingbirds, and birds.
• In addition to fixing nitrogen, Ceanothus has numerous medicinal qualities. It has been used to treat fevers, sore throats, bronchial disorders, lymphatic congestion, and sores.

3) Alder (Alnus spp.)
• Native, non-leguminous nitrogen fixing tree
• There are several species native to Pennsylvania, including A. incarnata, A. serrulata, and A. viridis.
• A. viridis is an endangered species in Pennsylvania.
• Most alders grow 15 to 25 feet tall
• Tolerates a wide range of soils, including heavy clay or poor soils.
• Tolerant of polluted soils and can be used for land reclamation.
• Grows quickly when young, and regrows when coppiced.
• Twigs and branches or coppiced pieces of alder are often used for basketry.
• It is not very durable or very good firewood.
• It does not start to cast shade until late May.
• Has a heavy leaf canopy and can help to build up humus in the soil.

Permaculture Resource List

Juliette | January 31st, 2012

Compiled by Elizabeth Lynch, Troy Hottle, and Juliette Jones

Pc Communities, on-line or other

Pittsburgh Garden Experiment: http://www.meetup.com/PittsburghGardenExperiment/
Eastern Permaculture Guild: http://www.meetup.com/permie/
Eastern Permaculture Guild: penn-permaculture-list@meetup.com
Local Food Cleveland: http://www.localfoodcleveland.org/
Three Rivers Permaculture Guild

Pittsburgh-local Resources

Pittsburgh Permaculture: http ://pittsburghpermaculture .org /
Transition Pittsburgh: http ://www .meetup .com /transitionpgh /
Pittsburgh Garden Experiment: http ://pittsburghgardenexperiment .org /
Steel City Soils: http ://steelcitysoils .com /
Octupus Organics: http://www.octopusorganic.com/
Urban Homesteaders: http ://www .urbanhomesteaders .com /
Three Sisters Farm: http ://www .bioshelter .com /
Sustainable Monroeville: http ://www .sustainablemonroeville .blogspot .com /

Pittsburgh Permaculture’s Resources

What is Permaculture? – A brief description of permaculture
Pittsburgh Hardiness Zones – this article takes a detailed look at the USDA hardiness zones and the updated Arbor Day Foundation map
Patterns and Design – a discussion about the pervasive patterns of nature and how they might be integrated in our designs
Fruit Tree Guild - this page describes a permaculture design we installed at the Edgerton Avenue site in Point Breeze
Permaculture Pond – a description of a pond install that is designed to function without pumps or filters while providing a beautiful, productive habitat
Grape Vine Awning – a page explaining the placement of a grapevine on the south side of the home to help reduce energy costs
Vegetable Seed Starting – color coded charts to help you time your vegetable starts
Actively Aerated Compost Tea – a guide to making your own compost tea and constructing a cheap yet effective brewer
Grafting at Home – an article explaining the theory of grafting fruit trees and how to do it with what you already have at home
Stackable Worm Bin How-to – a picture guide to making your own stackable worm composting bin using 5 gallon buckets
Addressing Concerns about Worms – a discussion about the recent concerns surrounding invasive worms and the relative risk they pose

National/ International Resources

Northeaster Permaculture: http://northeasternpermaculture.wikispaces.com/
Northeaster Permaculture Convergence: http://northeastconvergence.wordpress.com/
Midwest Permaculture, Illinois: http://midwestpermaculture.com/
http://www.tagari.com/ Co-originator of permaculture Bill Mollison’s Website and the International Permaculture Institute’s Home.
Pc Institute in USA: http://www.permaculture.org
Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute: http://www.fingerlakespermaculture.org/
http://www.holmgren.com.au/ Co-originator of permaculture David Holmgren’s web page
www.permacultureactivist.net/ World’s oldest permaculture magazine and a great resource
http://www.permaculture.net Net working site and home of a permaculture directory
www.permacultureinstitute.com PC institute of Northern California
www.earthaven.org/ A growing neo-tribal ecovillage dedicated to caring for people and the Earth by learning, living and demonstrating wholistic, sustainable culture

Pc List-serve

The intention is to cross pollinate and create mutually beneficial and supportive relationships between the members of the list and to support and learn about their individual and community-based permaculture related endeavors. To post a message to all the list members, send email to permaculture@openpermaculture.org.
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://openpermaculture.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture_openpermaculture.org

Economics

New Economic Institute: http ://neweconomicsinstitute .org /
Financial Permaculture: http ://www .financialpermaculture .org /
www.pcuonline.org/ Permaculture Credit Union – the first financial institution based on the ethics of permaculture
Gross National Happiness: http ://www .grossnationalhappiness .com /
Beyond Money: http ://beyondmoney .net /2010/09/20/no -virginia -the -economy -will -not -recover /
Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS): http ://www .transaction .net /money /lets /
World Resources Institute – Valuing ecosystem services: http ://www .wri .org /publication /content /8381
Article: http ://endoftheamericandream .com /archives /12-simple -things -you -can -start -doing -right -now -to -prepare -for -the -coming -financial -apocalypse
Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators: http ://calvert -henderson .com /
Social Investment Forum: http ://socialinvest .org /
Social Funds: http ://socialfunds .com /
Socially Responsible Investing Report: http ://www .naturalcapital .org /docs /SRI %20 Report %2010-04_word .pdf
Portfolio 21: http ://www .portfolio 21.com /
Domini: http ://domini .com /
Pax World Investments: http ://www .paxworld .com /

Podcasts

Sustainable World Radio: http ://www .sustainableworldradio .com /Permaculture _Podcasts _7941.html
C-Realm: http ://c -realm .com /
Agroinnovations: http ://agroinnovations .com /

Other Resources

Bioregional Congress: http ://biocongress .org /
International Permaculture Convergence: http ://www .ipcon .org /
Transition Towns: http ://www .transitionus .org /
Global Ecovillage Network: http ://gen .ecovillage .org /
Permaculture Research Institute: http ://permaculture .org .au /
Gaia University: www .gaiauniversity .org
Wiser Earth: http ://www .wiserearth .org /

Books

Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual- Bill Mollison
Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability- Dave Holmgren
Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set)– Dave Jacke
Gaia’s Garden, Second Edition: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture– Toby Hemenway
The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics)- Masanobu Fukuoka
The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, Third Edition- Joe Jenkins
The Herbalist’s Way: The Art and Practice of Healing with Plant Medicines (Chelsea Green)- Nancy and Michael Phillips
The Green Pharmacy: New Discoveries in Herbal Remedies for Common Diseases and Conditions from the World’s Foremost Authority on Healing Herbs- James A. Duke
Invasive Plant Medicine: The Ecological Benefits and Healing Abilities of Invasives- Timothy Scott
Bioshelter Market Garden: A Permaculture Farm- Darrell Fre
The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems- Fritjof Capra
Entropy: A New World View- Jeremy Rifkin
The Secret Life of Plants- Peter Tompkins
Secrets of the Soil : New Solutions for Restoring Our Planet- Peter Tompkins
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Cess Center for Environmental)- Christopher Alexander
The Timeless Way of Building- Christopher Alexander
Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change- Don Edward Beck
Plants and Society- Levetin & McMahon
Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification- Thomas Elpel
Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England- Tom Wessels
Seeing Nature: Deliberate Encounters with the Visible World- Paul Krafel
The Ecology of Eden: An Inquiry into the Dream of Paradise and a New Vision of Our Role in Nature- Evan Eisenberg
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus- Charles C. Mann
The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution- Andrew Bard Schmookler
Ecological Design, Tenth Anniversary Edition- Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan
EcoCities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature- Richard Register
Farmers of Forty Centuries: Organic Farming in China, Korea, and Japan- F.H. King

Pesticides/Pollution

Films

A Farm for the Future: http ://www .youtube .com /watch ?v =xShCEKL -mQ 8&feature =related
In Grave Danger of Falling Food: http ://video .google .com /videoplay ?docid =3162503821561656641#
Permaculture: the Growing Edge: http ://www .belili .org /permaculture /Permaculture _GrowingEdge .html
YERT: http ://www .yert .com /
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil: http ://www .powerofcommunity .org /cm /index .php
http://www.documentarywire.com/permaculture-in-costa-rica
http://www.documentarywire.com/perma-kultcha
http://www.documentarywire.com/permaculture-a-quiet-revolution
http://www.documentarywire.com/haiti-earthship-project-overview
http://www.documentarywire.com/forest-gardening
http://www.documentarywire.com/farming-with-nature
http://www.documentarywire.com/first-earth-uncompromising-ecological-architecture
Josh Byrne in Australia – an amazing one year transformation of a suburban lot in Perth, Australia with Josh Byrne
Sepp Holzer in Austria – this is a fantastic set of videos which capture the design and implementation of Sepp’s unique methods on his farm in the Alps
Permaculture Trio in Great Britain – the collection of three segments in one video, this film captures the efforts on three very different sites, includes Robert Hart and Ken Fern
Synergistic Gardening with Emilia Hazelip – a student of Fukuoka, Emilia explores how to apply his teachings to her garden
David Holmgren Interviews – the cofounder of permaculture discusses a number of very relevant issues in the context of permaculture in this series of videos

Worktrade Opportunities

http ://www .wwoofusa .org /
http ://www .wwoof .org /
http ://www .wwoof .org /newsite 08/
http ://www .wwoofinternational .org /
http ://www .diggersanddreamers .org .uk /index .php ?one =pnv &two =pnv
http ://ec .europa .eu /youth /evs /aod /hei _en .cfm
http ://www .attra .org /
http ://www .rodaleinstitute .org /classifieds
http ://www .growfood .org /
http ://www .helpx .net /
http ://www .backdoorjobs .com /
http ://www .idealist .org /
http ://www .angelfire .com /hero /wwoof /
http ://www .backdoorjobs .com /farming .html
http ://www .workaway .info /
http ://www .worldvolunteerweb .org /
http ://www .couchsurfing .org /

Permaculture Design autumn equinox discount

Michelle | September 21st, 2011

Permaculture Design Sale!

Now through October 1st…
Have your landscape designed at a discounted rate. We design landscapes of all sizes and conditions and would love to work with you to bring your dream to reality. Permaculture design utilizes ecological principles to create landscapes based on your wants and needs and in accordance with nature.
One of the principles that we follow is to make the landscape as self-sustaining as possible, which means less labor year after year to maintain.

Interested?

From now through October 1st, we are offering a 20% discount off of our design services! Let’s talk…

412-780-5833 or info@pittsburghpermaculture.org

Fall is the perfect time to design your space so that come spring, you are ready to plant!

Here is what one client says about her experience working with us:

“Working with Pittsburgh Permaculture was an enjoyable, exciting, and smooth experience. They designed based on my hopes for the site, but added thoughtful, researched suggestions, many of which we decided to include. I always felt that my vision was kept as priority in the design process, and the tone of the discussions was both professional and warm. I regularly recommend them to others.”
-Kimberly B.

The fall equinox sale will only run through October 1st, so please contact us soon to discuss how we can turn your space into your haven.

412-780-5833 or info@pittsburghpermaculture.org

Peace & enjoy the last days of summer :)

Pittsburgh Permaculture