Permaculture Plan: Surveying/Analyzing & Landscape Design for our Forever Home's Dream Garden

Now that our home is built and we're happily living in it, we're ready for the much bigger job of setting up a legacy garden and self-maintaining landscape around it. Permaculture is the design science of tuning the ecology around us, and Brandy Hall and Rebecca Baxter from Shades of Green (ShadesOfGreenP...) are experts in this. Hear from them how our property might be re-tuned to transform it into a garden that requires minimal maintenance.
More on this home and property at: HomeDiagnosis....
About Shades of Green
Shades of Green is a regenerative landscape design, build and education firm located in Atlanta, GA. For over 10 years, Shades of Green has designed and installed regenerative outdoor spaces for commercial, residential and municipal clients that contribute to protecting biodiversity, growing food, medicine, and pollinator habitat, building soil, and restoring the water cycle. Founded by Managing Director Brandy Hall, Shades of Green is a Woman-Owned, Certified B Corporation and member of the Sustainable Sites Initiative. Find out more and become a part of the Shades of Green community at shadesofgreenpermaculture.com and on Instagram.

[@lindacgrace2973]

I totally understand the temptation to use herbicides, and they might just be necessary. But, as an experienced gardener, may I suggest that you rent a herd of goats? I'm sure you can figure it out online. It is a common practice west of the Mississippi. The goatherd and hungry goats come onto your property. The goats love to browse (especially kudzu) and eat all the weeds to the ground. Once an area is cleared, the temporary pen fence is moved and the goats are set to clear the next space. In the arid west the goats are enough to solve the invasive species problem, in the lush rainy Georgian climate, you will probably still have to use herbicides; but after the goats are done, you will need far less. Love your permaculture design - best of luck!

[@HomePerformance]

Thanks Linda, but we had 36 goats out here for 6 weeks when we first landed. Yes, it’s effective!

[@lindacgrace2973]

@@HomePerformance Yes, indeed. They're hungry little critters! I shoulda known you were already hip to that trick. Best of luck with your permaculture venture!

[@HomePerformance]

Thanks!

[@brl5755]

Also a weird note, running a small gas engine without catalytic converter is ~11x worse than running a 1990s era V8. Equipment choice and landscaping such that you need the equipment less often can go a long way over the lifetime of the land. Also yardwork sucks that time is better spent elsewhere!

[@timgleason2527]

This winter I was shoveling my driveway while my neighbor was out with his snowblower. I had to stop halfway because the badly tuned snowblower engine was blowing out so much black smoke that I could barely breathe. Came out later and had a much better time.

[@HomePerformance]

👍🏽👍🏽

[@AntsAasma]

I can't but help to feel like there's a certain amount of hubris to thinking we are able to design something as complex as ecosystems to work how we want them to. But it's certainly better than ignoring how natural systems work completely and just bruteforcing nature to our liking.

[@HomePerformance]

I think these experts would say that’s why you never rush this process- you try things in stages and see if it encourages the way things want to work in the first place.