The Demonstration Site

Our Demonstration Site:

OM Valley Permaculture demonstration/education site is nestled in the heart of the 2.1 million person metropolis of Cincinnati and the surrounding tri-state area. Located a few miles north of Downtown in Northside, one of the oldest and most culturally rich neighborhoods of Cincinnati, is where we are currently sculpting a little over one acre of land and an 1800 sq. ft. 1908 home to exemplify Permaculture.

This site is in the midst of a forested wildlife corridor that connects Mt. Airy, the 2nd largest Municipal Park in the country consisting of 1459 ac., with several other wildlife preserves of several more hundreds of acres. Everything from Deer, Coyote, Fox, Turkey, and much more have been spotted on this property. The goal is to be Net Producers on this property. That means we produce more than we consume on all fronts as possible. This is a challenge but we believe it is necessary, even in temperate and sometimes cloudy Ohio.

Development of the Site:

Over time we have developing the site based on our desires of food production while balancing that with fitting into the surrounding native ecology.  While picking up the abundance of city waste streams such as wood chips and leaves, we have been building up a fenced in zone 2 garden system.  This project was forwarded quite rapidly through a hands on project we did in a permaculture course in fall 2009.

While it gets cold here in Cincinnati, breakdown still occurs during the winter and so we did go ahead and plant it out in the spring.  It got some perennial vegetables like Jerusalem Artichoke but also some annual vegetables and flowers to help bring some fresh produce and beautiful sights at the beginning of the property.  While it did get a bit weedy, we suspect in the future through more addition of organic matter this will turn into a very good garden.

Animal Integration:

We try to integrate our systems as much as possible at the site addressing the needs of one system with the output of another.  An example of this is our agreement made with a local bee farmer to place a couple of hives in the corner of the property to help pollinate the crops and pick up the free and abundant resource from the surrounding hillsides.  ANother example is the chickens that normally free range the site but also we do let them in the garden occasionally to eat some insect and weeds once our plants are established.  As Bill Mollison states in the book, Introduction to Permaculture, use of biological resources such as the chicken example above dictates that we closely observe our management in terms of time and intensity.  Based on this we then know when to move the chickens back out so they do not do too much damage in the garden space.

Water Harvesting and Soil Rehabilitation:

With the constant question here in Cincinnati looming of weather or not we will get on summer rainfall, we have been concentrating on harvesting some of the runoff water which does build up because of the impervious surfaces and compacted clay soils.  So again with Permaculture students, many hands make light work, we dug a ditch on contour to pick up some of this eroding flow.  The ground was rock hard during the drought so we had to wet the ground as we went with a hose to be able to dig with any efficiency.  The surrounding area will be planted out once the weather turns warmer.

In years past we have also done some work with water slowing and soil rehabilitation with a technique called contour brush piles.  This is taking branches and other refuse from the forest, which we often use our copiccable native Bush Honeysuckle for, and laying them in tight bundles along the level of a hillside.  This helps to slow the water down on its descent but also acts as a hotspot for fungal activity.  This network of biodiversity is also a good bio-filtration system that helps with local water quality.  After is broken down we can plant near it and keep refilling it so that there is always fresh fungal food.

Food Forests:

As we have been developing the site we have also been using microclimate identification along with zone planning to create the beginnings of a food forest.  We already have in several nut and fruit trees as well as the berry bushes.  Numerous herbs from a local nursery have been donated and will help to create more of the insect control in our guild plantings that will soon compliment the anchor trees.

Micro-Enterprise:

In addition to teaching courses and doing design work, we are interested in developing cottage industry businesses to supplement our income in hte regenrative culture work that we are associated with.  This has brought the beginnings of a nursery to come into fruitn to help support the food forests plantings from above but also to increase teh awareness and prescence of edible landscaping plants here in Cincinnati.  Being such a subruban place, there is plenty of land in the area to develop for beauty and edibility.  This nursery resource will help to educate others abotu some of these plants like Saskatoon while also helping to generate a small income.

This above example is just one of the many ways that we embrace the Permaculture principles and ethics.  For example with income streams, we outwardly practice the principle for each important function it should be supported by many elements (generating income through courses, consulting and design, and nursery all the while lessening our need for income through leasing land for bees for honey trade, producing a percentage of our fruit and veg, and making the living quarters more energy efficient).  So through our site and lifestyle choices we hope to embody permaculture to its fullest and we hope to pass this on in this time of great change in our society that is now welcoming Permaculture.  It can’t be stopped now so feel free  to come join us and get inspired!  (contact info Below)

Contact:

Braden Trauth:

OMValleyPermaculture@yahoo.com

513-569-2579