Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback: “The sins of the fathers are visited on the children unto the seventh generation” Monitor systems and make adjustments based on their performance and feedback.
Back when I was putting together the plan for year-round food production at the Choko Tree, I developed a seed sowing plan that worked out how I could sow seeds twice a month, based on our tastes, what grows well here and when it grows best. Over the years our tastes have changed and so has our climate, where originally I could grow broccoli year-round, but now we can only grow it a month or two either side of winter. The sowing guide needs to be revised and updated regularly, so our food production efforts are responding to observed feedback from a changing climate.
Also, we have been moving away from species and varieties that are subject to attack by intractable pests like fruit fly, such as growing cherry and roma tomato varieties rather than larger varieties such as grosse lisse and moneymaker as we used to do previously. Also growing citrus fruit trees rather than stone fruit. The western Sydney climate also does not seem to favour pome fruits, but the citrus does well and is productive.
While our food production process is designed to provide a steady supply of fruit and vegetables there are times of the year when various gluts do occur. When these gluts happen, the resulting produce can be passed on to friends and relatives as well as to strangers bypassing the Choko Tree via a street pantry at the front of our block.
Also in the garden, we make use of vegetables that can self-sow by allowing them to flower and set seed, so that food production from that source needs less input from us. It is more productive overall, particularly for vegetables like lettuce, bok choi and cherry tomatoes. As mentioned in Principle 3 edible ‘weed’ species are also allowed to grow and are harvested, requiring no management by us.
Sometimes they don't self sow into the best areas for growing!
All of these tomaotes were self-sown and transplanted into this bed
I write articles for our website on how we do things (like this one!) and while there are technical issues preventing us including a section on each article to provide feedback, I do publish the articles on Permaculture related Facebook groups both within Australia and overseas. These groups allow people to provide feedback, support, criticism and new ideas on how we can improve our permaculture design and lifestyle.
A couple of the Facebook groups we post on
Many years ago, I developed a matrix to help us measure and then plan how we could become more sustainable plus a series of more detailed audit tools, and we have used these, along with our permaculture plan, to help us set up systems so we could be more sustainable and resilient.
The matrix is downloadable here
Something which has not happened but is planned is to conduct a WHIM blitz with permaculture practitioners form Permaculture Sydney West. A WHIM blitz (What Have I Missed) means inviting PSW members onto our ‘choko tree farm’, providing them with a tour so they can see what is in place, then sitting down with them and having a brainstorming session on that is missing or could be done differently or improved. Afterwards the ideas would be reviewed and researched and appropriate ones implemented.
