Before each weekend of our Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course, we share recommended readings, videos, podcasts, resources, and activities for our permaculture students to explore. It’s more fun than “homework”–and it’s optional–so we refer to it as “homefun.”
This series of blog posts compiles the homefun that we assign throughout our six month PDC course. Each weekend’s homefun corresponds to the topics of that weekend. Learn more about our PDC course and consider joining us here!
Regenerating Watersheds & Soils
Websites/Readings
- Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond: www.harvestingrainwater.com/
- Slow it. Spread it. Sink it! A Homeowner’s Guide to Greening Stormwater Runoff
- Rainwater Harvesting blog post series on the Santa Cruz Permaculture blog
- Introduction to Soil blog post series on the Santa Cruz Permaculture blog
- USDA Web Soil Survey – a great resource but a bit tricky to use, so we have some directions available here.
- Half price “Can-o-worms” bins available for certain areas of Santa Cruz county.
- Didi Pershouse is an author, educator, and soil sponge strategist committed to building healthy communities both above and below ground. Based in Vermont, she is the founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative.
- Visit the Regenerating Watersheds and Regenerating Soils pages on our Permaculture Wiki. If you aren’t already part of our online Santa Cruz Permaculture Village, learn more and join here.
Videos & Podcasts
- Planting the Rain to Grow Abundance | Brad Lancaster | TEDxTucson
- Compost Knox installation timelapse
- Compost Knox discussion video
- Worm Power – Worm Castings Fertilizer – This video shows commercial scale application of worm composting. The principles apply on a smaller scale too. The part at 4:55 has a good schematic.
- Permaculture for the Future podcast interview with Brad Lancaster on harvesting the rain
- “Walter Jehne, Restoring water cycles to naturally cool climate”: Australian climate scientist and soil microbiologist explains how water processes maintain stable climate
- Permaculture Keyline Water Systems: Hazel Ward @ Wolf Gulch Farm
Activities
- Calculate rainwater harvesting potential from a surface at your house
- Create indoor and outdoor water use budgets for your home
- See instructions in Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1
- Or use the budget outlined in this resource, utilizing water bills or other estimates for indoor & outdoor water use
- Take a soil jar test at the place you live or garden – simple directions. But you’ll want to let it sit, undisturbed, for as long as it takes for the water to be completely clear. Then once you determine the percent sand/silt/clay you can find your soil type from the soil texture triangle (page 14).
- Soil sample / lab test – If you are curious about sending in a soil sample, we recommend A&L Western Labs, who have great instructions on their website. Go with the S3C test, with graphics and recommendations per 1000 ft2.
- Percolation test – follow these directions to see the rate that water can drain through your soil. This is important to know for greywater infiltration and to make sure you are not suffocating your plant roots in heavy clay soils by planting them too deep.
- Sheet mulching – Learn 9 simple steps to sheet mulching.
- Build an indoor worm bin with a plastic storage bin – instructions here.
- See instructions in Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1
- Or use the budget outlined in this resource, utilizing water bills or other estimates for indoor & outdoor water use