Hi Friends,
I keep waiting for the heat of summer to slow things down, but such is never the case. There's still so much to do.
The drought and intense heat of June (a record 106 degrees) have made it intense, but fortunately with irrigation I have been able to keep the garden going and producing. Rain finally arrived here in Mid-July with temperatures dropping below 80. Go figure? It's all very weird.
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I found The Organic Gardening Intensive to be one of my most fun retreats so far. Even I was amazed to count the number of different gardening elements we covered over the 7 days. It was also fascinating to visit the broad array of off-grid and permaculture homesteads. I look forward to doing this one again.
The Buffalo River is considered one of the country's best canoe excursions, with tall bluffs and deep pools, gentle shoals and shady beaches perfect for a picnic and a swim. This is one of our favorite summer pastimes that you do not want to miss.
Just around the corner, July 25-29 or 27-29, a Farm Experience Plus ,the 3rd Summer Retreat,
your chance to explore The Farm's cool creeks, go for a dip at our enchanting swimming hole, and take in the community immersed in forest greenery.
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Canoeing on the Buffalo.
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My wife Deborah has joined the board of a new non-profit, Midwife International, whose mission is to train and increase the number of midwives around the world.
On July 22 we'll be in Atlanta at a fundraiser with The Farm's world renowned author and midwife Ina May Gaskin and Mayim Bialik, PhD from the TV show “The Big Bang Theory,” aka “Blossom,”
who also happens to be a natural birth advocate.
Plenty International continues to lead the way in bringing appropriate, alternative technology to the developing world. A new solar photovoltaic system supplies power and light to a remote village in Belize. Keep up with day to day reports by visiting the Plenty Belize Facebook page.
Like I said, a lot going on...and this is just a small glimpse.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Yours in community,
Douglas
Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com |
Deborah with midwifery student and expectant mother in Belize |
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| Organic Gardening Intensive Review |
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| To follow through on the descriptive word "intensive," we had to cover a wide array of tasks and crops, techniques and hands-on experience. I think you'll see from the list below we did just that. I especially enjoyed visiting the many different permaculture homesteads, each impressive in its own way. I'll never forget the tour of the Amish farm, with the barefoot matriarch leading us through vast rows of tomatoes, corn, cukes and more. Let me know if you would be interested in attending a fall session or one next spring. |
| Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Planted blue corn
Planted winter squash
Planted sweet corn |
Started sweet corn in pots
Weeded & mulched strawberries
Mulched black beans
Mulched watermelon
Harvested white potatoes
Harvested onions
Created 75' wood chip path
Started
blueberry wine
Permaculture
Homestead tour |
More Mulching
Inspected bee hives
Extracted 3.5 gallons of honey |
Morning garden session
Visited Amish vegetable auction
Toured Amish farm
Made biochar stove
Reviewed advanced stove design
Produced biochar
Started aerated compost tea
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| Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
Planted watermelon
Planted Okra
Made and installed tomato cage
Permaculture
Homestead tour
Applied aerated compost tea
Made compost pile
Permaculture
Homestead tour
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Morning garden session
Foliar feeding of plants
Picked raspberries
Planted summer squash
Japanese Beetle eradication
Permaculture
Homestead tour
Visit to Stillhouse Falls
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Morning garden session
Farm Gardens tour
Racked blueberry wine
Visited Farm swimming hole
Camp fire and drum cicle
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Brunch, meditation and good-byes |
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The Swan Trust Buffalo River Canoe Trip: Sunday July 22
If you really want to get away from it all, submerged in nature and
away from phones, cars and virtually any sign of man, then you cannot do
better than a trip down the Buffalo River, located in Lewis County,
Tennessee.
I recently canoed the Buffalo and although the water was down from the
drought, we still had a fine day on the river. Since then this area has had 2 good rains!
Please RSVP if would like to join the canoe trip.
We'll give you directions to where we plan to meet and all caravan to the put-in spot together.
We'll be on the river 4+ hours, so bring plenty of provisions, including lunch, water and/or cold drinks.
For more information or to RSVP for any of our events, contact:
Douglas@swantrust.org 931-964-2590
Swan Trust Office foreverwild@swantrust.org 931-964-4402 |
Getting away from it all on the Buffalo River. |
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Midwife International - Training the next generation of midwives
Around the world, every day, approximately one thousand women
die while pregnant or giving birth. An estimated 8 million more suffer serious illnesses and
lifelong disabilities due to complications at the time of childbirth. Every year up to 2 million newborns die within the first
24 hours of life.
But the crisis does not stop there. In countries where women
have access to care, few have the opportunity to experience normal childbirth. Western medical approaches to childbirth have sent health
care costs skyrocketing without improving health outcomes.
But there is a solution.
One of the clearest answers to this collective crisis is the Midwifery Model of Care, which
treats birth as an essentially healthy process and a significant life event. |
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Midwife International is establishing a 1-year training program
that connects student midwives seeking hands on experience and education,
including certification meeting the standards of the North American Registry of
Midwifes, with birth
clinics around the world, made possible through partnership with organizations
such as Mother Health International.
The birthing centers and school to be established by Midwife
International are like ripples on the water, reaching far beyond to touch the
lives of countless women and children.
To learn more, visit www.midwifeinternational.org |
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Plenty International: A Solar Village in Belize |
 The remore village of San Jose in the Toledo District of Belize is the first village in the Americas to have a modular
centralized solar electricity system managed by a village board, under the
Village Councils Act of Belize.
This centralized solar system is based in a 48 foot container with 28 solar panels
mounted on it,
for a total of
6.58 kW of solar power, one of the largest in Belize.
Each array is connected to a 5,000W grid-tie inverter, which converts the DC
Power from the solar panels into the regular 120VAC used by our modern
appliances.
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 Solar array, San Jose, Toledo District, Belize
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When the sun is shining, the 120V AC power can be used directly by the people
of the village.
The excess power generated can be used by the two Sunny Island
Inverters to maintain the backup battery bank at full charge.
The AC power is sent out from this central point to 19 homes in the village.
Each building
is metered through a new
technology known as electric monitors.
These monitors tell the household the
how fast they are using power at every instant, as well as recording the amount
of their use for billing purposes.
Learn more about Plenty's work with solar technology... |
Students receive training in solar technology.
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