Today is Thursday the 11th  and my fourth day working at CRMPI. I will have photos up hopefully in the next few days. The two books I have been reading and taking notes from most lately are; Secrets of Plant Propagation 

by Lewis Hill

Permaculture: principles and pathways beyond sustainability

by David Holmgren

The work has remained steady and I am excited for tomorrow because I will be doing my first planting. There has been a lot of 'spring cleaning' as we clean and reorganize the house, property, and greenhouses. Jerome is a firm believer in the forest garden model of farming, heavy sheet mulching, and he attributes all success to his worms. Jerome's worm bucket making process goes as follows:

Step 1) Find some local worms

2) Get one or more 15 gallon nursery pots

3) Place layer of straw/hay/leaves on bottom

4) Place nitrogen source i.e. kitchen waste or stable cleanings (manure)

5) Add worms

6) Add coffee grounds

7) Place top layer of straw/hay/or leaves

8) Moisten

9) Keep moist

A basic rule of Jerome's is that if worms are alive in the soil than seeds can be planted and plants grown.

Jerome inoculates wood chips with Mycelium and uses this in soil. Mycelium helps plants assimilate needed nutrients.

I have been working a lot with the tomato plants and these are some notes from the work:

- When pruning tomatoes it is important to differentiate from vegetative growth and fruiting growth. Tomato plants will just get bigger and bigger and can take up a lot of room so it is good to prune back vegetative growth, which is identified by broader leaves and lack of flowers or fruit.

- Tomato plants can be cut back to practically the stalk, then transplanted to a pot to be moved or sold and will continue to produce despite the shock.

well, I got lots of notes from the books but I will incorporate them into writings later hopefully.