This is the presentation for a free two-day permaculture workshop 8 of our students and two We Are All Farmers Permaculture Institute folks conducted in the WV coalfields. Along with how to organize a workshop, this includes thinking about a site for permaculture design, ethics in permaculture, as well as how to recipes for key practices such as sheet mulch, composting, vermiculture, water catchment, and beautification.

1. Agenda, March 29 - 30, 2013
We Are All Farmers Permaculture Workshop (weareallfarmers.org),
in conjunction with Sustainable Williamson
The We Are All Farmers Permaculture Institute is committed to serving the Appalachian-Piedmont region and to helping people produce more of their own food & energy
there. As part of that service, we provide three free workshops a year to non-profit or community groups. Contact weareallfarmers@gmail.com or call (704) 592 2557 to
get involved!
A series of hands-on learning activities, centered on principles and resource management through permaculture.
Day 1: March, 29, 1/2 day permaculture workshop at a reclaimed mine site and orchard (the Mingo County Orchard) 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
(and do some hands-on work to):
1. Improve access to land by using “waste” brush to create Hugelkultur.
2. Increase fertility: Use “waste” plant and weeds to make compost and Hugelkultur.
3. Manage Water: Create onsite water solutions in places without wells or public water.
4. Some strategies to manage productive trees.
5. Some strategies for natural beautification.
6. Identify some useful plants. Just because it looks like a non-useful weed doesn’t mean it is. Get to know what is useful and not for fertility. Thinking outside the neat, tilled
row.
7. Partner with a trained permaculture designer to create an onsite orchard and low management garden design. Work with and discuss with a trained permaculture
designer some of the approaches for garden and orchard design through brainstorming.
Day 2: March 30, 2013, Full day permaculture workshop, 9:00 – 3:30 p.m.
9:00 – 10:00 Introduction to Permaculture/Overview of Systems for the Community Garden & Introduction to Each Other
10:15 – 11:00 Garden Walk–discussion & brainstorm led by Edward Marshall on what could be done with the garden based on permaculture principles and systems design.
Focus: SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
11:00 – Prepping for the hands-on workshop. All hands on deck to prep/set up for the afternoon workshop! Set up, familiarity with materials, breaking into teams. People will
divide into 2 – 5 teams to address some needs of this space. Each team will be led by one – two permaculture designers trained by the We Are All Farmers Permaculture
Institute.
12:00 – 1:00 Permaculture Potluck.. PLEASE BRING FOOD TO SHARE.
1:00 – 3:30 Hands-on Permaculture Workshops! At this workshop, teams will learn:
1. BUILDING SOIL
Solution: No Till Sheet Mulch/Lasagne mulching to build fertility and improve soil
2. WATER CATCHMENT (sourcing water on site rather than having to bring it in) through an addition to the hoop houses
3. COMPOSTING by making secure compost bins>> also for fertility.
4. VERMICULTURE through working with earth worms and learning how they are your best tool.
5. BEAUTIFICATION—planting and or suggestions of plants to increase beauty while increasing fertility and producing a yield.
Wrap Up at 3:30 with a touching base about the day’s accomplishments and the next steps.
Thanks for being here and happy permaculturing!!

2. The We Are All Farmers
Permaculture Institute

3. Why We Are All Farmers?
Everyone can take more responsibility for their food
and energy production/use–thus, We Are All Farmers.
Why are you
We Are All Farmers ?
Start where we are, start with our community, start with hands-on
approaches, bridge unusual suspects, create community
Response to the stats–act local coupled with policy (both are needed)
Academic is important; research is important—not the focus of this
presentation; not the current focus of what our institute does

4. What is permaculture?
Permanent culture
Permanent agriculture
Regenerative, managed practices (economic,
interpersonal, ethical, often with a focus on food and
energy production/management)
“care of people, care of earth, share of surplus to both”
Many permaculture rock stars: Bill Mollison, David
Holgrem, Geoff Lawton, Masanobu Fukuoka, Sepp
Holzer—More important than these people
themselves are the communities created, the ethics
adhered to, and the approaches stewarded

5. Permaculture is
systems design
Copyright Karl Schmidt 2008

6. Why permaculture?
Why did we choose this?
Been there and done that with
other modes of farming
(Edward) and other modes of
social change (Crystal).
Worldwide network, lots of info
sharing, lots of methods tried
and true; jive with our ethics

7. Why the Appalachian-
Piedmont region?
Opportunity to be back in the region we are from
Important to commit to a community and a region
Important to recommit to being land-based people
Important work to do in our own “back yards”
Stewarding land and community take investment over
the long haul
A permaculture institute needed to serve this region
Focus on community & practices with lower $ entry-
points into energy and food production/responsibility

8. All well and good–
but what does that look like?
730 East 4th Avenue, Williamson, WV USA
Turning a community garden into permaculture: “care of people, care of earth, share of surplus to both.”
How can we envision those ethics with this site? How do we make a system that produces a
yield and has high labor at the beginning, but less labor over time?

9. USDA Hardiness Zone 6a: -10F to 0F
Last Frost Date (2013): April 21
First Frost Date (2013): October 22
Average Growing Season: 180 to 210 days
Average annual precipitation 40 to 45 inches

10. “Conventional” gardens

11. More
www.irrigationdirect.com
Ufseeds.com
Www.plant-care.com

12. In Permaculture,
design unifies plants, animals, soil & people
Permacultureusa.org

13. Community Unifies
Terrainforma.ca

14. Examples of Integration
From the Left clockwise: treehugger.com; ordinary-2-extraordinary.com; upbeetlandscapes.com

15. The food forest gardening approach is the creation of
systems that are productive and abundant yet which require
very little maintenance.
http://foodgrowsontrees.blogspot.com/

16. A Forest Garden
http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/1422/food-forestry/

17. All well and good–but what does that
look like?
30 East 4th Avenue, Williamson, WV USA
Turning a community garden into permaculture:
“care of people, care of earth, share of surplus to both.”
How can we envision those ethics with this site?
How do we make a system that produces a yield and has high labor at the
beginning, but less labor over time?

18. www.123rf.com

19. Filter the ideas
through hands-on
training in
permaculture design
and these principles
permaculturepower.wordpress.com

20. www.earthactionmentor.org

22. Mingo County We Are All Farmers Permaculture & Sustainable Williamson Recipes and Workshop
Beautification: Eric
Potential Plants
Beneficial flowers
Crimson clover + Inoculant would take it to another level.
Borage--a dynamic accumulator and self-seeds readily after it's established.
Edible Flowers
Scarlet Runner Beans
Cinnamon vine: an interesting perennial vegetable that can be used ornamentally. It has edible tubers and some arial tubers.
Runner Beans and Cinnamon vine would probably need to be started in a hoop house.
Comfrey might be good for the orchard as well if they don't already have it there.
Vermiculture: Brian
Materials: 10 gallon plastic container or untreated wooden container + lid
Obtain and shred non-color printed paper or cardboard
Shovels for soil
Food scraps
Soil
Sand paper and glue (optional)
Drill with tiny drill bit or needle punch
Worms!
Recipe
If conditions are right, worms can consume half of their body weight
in organic matter each day. Worms required a moist, dark environment
with protective bedding, air, and a food source in order to thrive. In
order to get started, obtain a container such as a large plastic bin
(around ten gallons in volume). Wooden containers will work as well,
as long as the container has not been treated, and is constructed in a
way that will prevent the worms from crawling out. The container will
need a lid with holes for ventilation.
Obtain and shred non-color printed paper or cardboard. Fill the
contained about 2/3 full will this bedding material, and wet it until
it is spongy, but not soaked. Add a four cups of soil. Add one pound
of live worms and cover with the bedding. Add a large piece of
cardboard to cover all or most of the bedding. Each week feed the
worms approximately three times their weight in food, which can
include kitchen scraps and other organic wastes. Avoid meat, bones and
dairy, as these can lead to rodent problems. Keep the moisture level
in the bin spongy, but not soggy, and certainly too dry. Check to
make sure that the food is being eaten. If it is not all being
consumed, feed less.

23. Sheet mulch and/or Hugelkultur: Kirk & Racquel
As much cardboard, food grade buckets, and vegetable scraps possible.You can't have enough of this.
Materials needed: Corrugated cardboard, newspaper (black and white print only)
hardwood mulch or wood chips or sawdust (can even use limbs and brush from felled trees as in Hugelkultur)
compost or animal manure (cow, horse, pig, etc.), and straw or hay. Optimal also: coffee grounds, bone meal, egg shells.
1. Layer the ground with cardboard or newspaper. Do not use colored slicks.
2. Cover the area with a thick layer of hardwood mulch, saw dust or wood chips.
. 3. Add on the top of that layer another layer of compost or manure.
4. Alternate the layers of mulch and compost until the desired height is obtained.
5. Straw can be added between the above layers.
6. Water the area well and allow settling
Water Catchment: Seneca & Edward
Seneca Haynes put together this video of what is needed for Mingo and what this might look like. Go to the link here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKFnB-3Kklk&feature=youtu.be
Here is another idea of how to do this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKmLgTrYwM
An aquaponics view of IBC's:
http://www.slideshare.net/golax1974/ibc-of-aquaponics
A plumbing view of IBC's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB6R-RftJnw

24. Compost bins-- Nate
Community Garden Site:
( 16 ) palettes, ideally the same size
60' long 4' tall hardware wire 1" x 1" or smaller mesh
1 box 1/2" square staples for staple gun
1# galvanized wire/fencing staples, at least 1/2" long
2# 2 1/2" exterior grade screws, star drive preferred over phillips
( 8 ) 4" thick cinder blocks or ( 12 ) bricks
( 3 ) 8' long 1"x4" boards
( 12 ) 4" galvanized door hinges
( 6 ) eye hook and latches 4" to 6" long
Tools needed for both sites:
flat bladed shovel
several hammers
tape measure
cross cut wood saw
phillips head screwdriver
tin snips for cutting sheet metal
wire cutters
pencils
2' or 4' level
( 2 ) or more cordless drills w/ extra batteries
( 3 ) or more star drive bits for drill ( to drive in screws )
( 2 ) 3/16" drill bits
Rough recipe:
1. determine preferred location, lay out 3 palettes side by side, mark locations and place cinder blocks / bricks at corners ensuring they are level
2. place bottom palettes across cinder blocks and attach hardware wire with staples
3. working from one end, place palettes on three sides of first base palette, screwing them into the base palette and each other
4. place palettes on two sides of the other two palettes and screw them in place leaving opening on same side of each bin
5. attach wire vertically to inside of palettes forming each bin using staples
6. attach remaining palette to front of each bin with 2 hinges and attach 2 eye hook and latches to the other side, ensuring palette swings freely
7. if attaching tops, do so with remaining hinges ( two per palette )

25. Useful tools
Hand spades
Drill with tiny drill bit or needle punch
Cordless drills
flat bladed shovel
Hammers
tape measure
cross cut wood saw
phillips head screwdriver
tin snips for cutting sheet metal
wire cutters
pencils
2' or 4' level
A frame level
machetes
pruning tools
loppers

26. Take flyers for our courses/workshops
Free Crop Mob & Pig Roast April 27 + other classes in the summer
Seeking WWOOFers/farm interns
Full weekends only PDC this fall-- one full work exchange still available +
four ½ exchanges
Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter: weareallfarmers
Keep in touch!
Get involved!
Happy permaculturing!
“The field lies open to the intellect.”
--Bill Mollison