Ventura Cooperative is worker owned and operated. We design and build permaculture gardens. We distribute locally produced goods. Buy Local. Share something. Grow with us.
Here in Ventura we're getting ready for the first El Nino storm this season! Hope you are too. The forecast is calling for heavy rains and wind, high surf on the beach, and snow in the mountains. If you need any help preparing, or with sandbags, flooding, fallen tree limbs, etc. let us know. Call Ventura Cooperative at 805-765-1892. For day by day details on the expected weather local to Ventura follow this link: http://www.weather.com/weather/5day/l/USCA1193:1:US
Recently our friend Kate needed some worms for a worm farm she helped start with Todd at the Binkley Healing Center. She messaged Ventura Cooperative on facebook, we connected, and we set up a time for her to come pick up a box of red wrigglers. While she was with us, she talked about her project with Todd growing food on the balcony. Sweet news! More folks growing their own! Even better....is the news about how they're doing it. They built and planted three wicking beds.
Wicking beds are a great way to save water and grow your own food! Check out the video above from activists feeding their community with food and knowledge.
Kate then invited us to a presentation Todd was doing the next day for his custom designed, handmade, water saving new raised beds. Of course I went and was pleasantly surprised to see how intensely involved Kate and Todd are with growing their own food-- with sustainable and organic means. They did a great job documenting the process. The presentation was informative and inspiring. Plus I like the color purple! (they painted the beds purple ;-)
Our friend Jim Mangis came to the meet-up as well. Come to find out, he helped Kate and Todd get started with plants and soil from his local business Good Tilth Organic Nursery. Jim makes his own excellent compost mix. He spoke about soil, I got the chance to practice a 30sec pitch for our Actively Aerated Compost Tea, and Todd talked about wicking beds. Win-win-win!
So thanks to Kate and Todd for stepping up and implementing a program to grow their own food in a way that fits their needs and lifestyle. Anybody can do it, and at Ventura Cooperative, we're here to help you out!
As our next step in creating a permaculture landscape in Ally's yard, we asked our friend Don to come over with his chipper to help with breaking down a huge pile of brush. Instead of having all the brush hauled off to the landfill, we decided to keep it onsite and use the resource for mulch and compost building. It's part of our permaculture ethic, to close the loop and reuse as much as possible.
Don purchased the chipper with this is mind. Whenever we have a need to chip up a bunch of organic debris, he is the person we call. He's been helping neighbor's and friends since he started in his own backyard last summer. It's a great piece of equipment for small to mid-size jobs. Easily portable and economical, and makes really nice mulch.
Earlier in the week, our crew had cut down a volunteer pine tree and trimmed vines and hedges all around Ally's yard. The trunk and some of the branches were too big to chip, so we cut them into lengths to be used as firewood. Most of the rest of the branches we cleaned for mulching. The rest we lopped up into big compost piles. After about 6 hours of work we had about 5 yards of rough compost and a dozen bags of fine mulch to be used in the yard.
Thanks Don! Now we can move on to the next phase of Ally's edible landscape--building raised beds and compost bins.
