Stone pyramids. The perfect hiding spot for insects and small animals
Hello and Happy Monday!
“Ein stabiles Netz braucht möglichst viele Knoten. Knoten sind definiert durch eine Vielzahl von unterschiedlichen Tieren und Pflanzen. Diese treten durch in der Nature erprobte und sinnvolle Beziehungen zueinander in Kontakt”
My parents have been into permaculture for a long time. They try new things, go to lectures and do tons of research to make their garden as beautiful as possible and of course to benefit from it. Since I am in Germany I learned a lot from them already and looked through their plethora of books on gardening, permaculture and to become as self-sufficient as possible. We planted and harvested together and tried to figure out how to get the most out of their 2 acres garden. They also mentioned Markus Gastl, gave me his books and I read “Drei-Zonen-Garten” and “Ideenbuch Nützlingshotels” with delight. If you are into gardening and trying to change things around a bit and don’t necessarily like to have the traditional English Lawn but more or less “a controlled chaos” you should read those books!
Also if your attitude is “back to nature” and you like to stay away from chemicals (RoundUp, Monsanto and whatnot), Markus Gastl is the person to talk to and learn from. He loves Variety, Beauty and Benefit when he talks about his garden. I asked him about his fantastic experience when he rode his bicycle for 2 1/2 years and about 41,843 km total through Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, USA and Canada. Say whaaaat? Pretty amazing, right? And of course whenever a conversations comes to Canada, I am all ears. I love this country so much. So much that le husband and I bought land there. “Markus Gastl, my new guru, has to help me with some projects, give me insight and ideas, ” I thought, while I had one of the most eye-opening conversations with him. When he came back from his long trip, his heart was filled with so many great impressions and experiences that he had the urge to give something back to nature. With created, built and planted his own garden. Hurtus insectorum – The Garden of Insects! Read more about his projects and the trip on his website.
Here are some picture of one of his garden we visited on Sunday – Hortus Felix.
Permaculture? What is it?
Basically, to fairly take care of the earth and the people. When done right, it can provide a somewhat guiding spirit to the tending and creation of your own land.
Markus Gastl invented the “Drei-Zonen-Garten? What is it?
It is important to work with nature and not against and have a little dialogue with it here and there. Do you want the average garden that most people have and use pesticides to get rid of weeds? Spending time in the garden should be fun and not be seen as a burden. My grandmother used to say whenever she was in my parent’s garden that “no matter how sad I feel, this garden makes me happy. It seems like it has something healing.”
If you are fortunate to own a garden, wouldn’t you love to have a little paradise as soon as you step outside of the house? With bees buzzing everywhere, flowers, butterflies and other animals that love to stop by in your garden? How awesome are these hotels for insects for example? We could hear a lot of buzzing and saw little bugs crawling all over. Fantastic!
Surprisingly fast and easy are the steps you need to take to grow vegetables, have a beautiful flower garden and so much more. It is actually less work than maintaining a sterile, clean garden.
I love the Staketenzaun! Great idea! A little expensive to purchase but lasts forever!
Benjes Hecke. I learned that I don’t need to throw anything away that grew and is already on my land!
Overall, I learned a lot. If you ever get a chance to visit Markus Gastl’s gardens, do so! What an inspirational day! Markus, thank you again for taking your time to answer some of my questions. Hope to stay in touch.
Visit Markus Gastl’s website. Click here. Connect with him on Facebook, click here.
Are you as new to permaculture as I am? Are you interested in permaculture? I would love to hear from you, connect and exchange experiences. Of course, once we start working on our land, I will document it all. Permaculture, especially in Canada: How does it work?
