FIELD NOTES: READING THE LANDSCAPE An introductory field guide to site opportunity Rick Cobb HS 590 Permaculture - Spafford Spring 2014 My travels across the continent have taken me as far north as the winter ice-packed edge of the Arctic Ocean pressing into Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. This is the arctic inland tundra where I lived and worked for five months in a remote mobile cat-train camp. Professionals mixed with the fringe of employable society as we surveyed and mapped the subsurface geology. In tracked vehicles we quaked the earth to project frequencies legible to geophones laid in grids and sold the corresponding data to the petroleum industry. Our machines sustained our lives in this dark inhospitable winter environment. On the north slope of this continent it was plain to see how far humanity’s habitat has expanded well beyond its natural range thanks to our leverage with ancient hydrocarbons. Further south, I have explored and guided tourists by kayak among the bespeckled islands of Bocas del Toro Panama, where indigenous tribal villages coexist with open water resort palapa lodges housing the sun seeking vacationers of greater privilege. Among the tropical maritme forests I realized, as I did in the arctic, that like plants, humanity is comprised of both pioneers and stayers, and in both places mankind vies for site opportunity, both as transient migrants and indigenous locals. As a builder, explorer and dreamer I catch my mind wandering in each new place I experience. Questions such as “if this were my land, what would I do with it?” seem ever present. Between the arctic and the tropics I have been fortunate to see opportunities and constraints produced on many small scale sites. Prior to the design or construction of any new projects I am asked to consider, I take time on the site to observe all that I can with careful consideration to my natural instruments of sense and intuition. Rarely do we have the opportunity to spend an entire cycle, or a whole year to observe the site (as suggested by Mollison) to form truly robust ideas that inform our designs. More often, I am often asked to come out with a friend or client and offer my suggestions about their site over an afternoon or weekend. These rapid assessments lack comprehensivity and the thorough analysis only time can provide, but I’ve often felt that educated assessments can be made in compensation. Such is the root interest of this paper, Field Notes: Reading the Landscape, and is taken from the point of view of the permaculturist landscape architect (aspiring). It can be said that everyone has a perspective on site opportunity. To a hammer everything is a nail, to a developer perhaps a new strip mall, to a landscape architect perhaps an award-winning place-making feat of incredible creativity and ingenuity, but what to the permaculturist? Several books were explored under this consideration and will be condensed to establish a primary checklist for anyone seeking to understand site opportunity from a whole systems design vantage point. I will subcategorize areas of interest into history & culture, geography & location, geology & soil, hydrology, climate & microclimate, vegetation, wildlife, and risk assessment. There are four primary ways to go about reading the landscape. They are 1) Science, 2) Field Naturalism, 3) Contemplative Awareness, and 4) Indication / Rules of Thumb. Prior scientific knowledge offers direct advantage to the permaculture observer. Such knowledge can be based in description, classification, and explanation. Field naturalism “involves the skills of careful observation and recording of the landscape, the intention being to experience the diversity of nature first hand, learning to move carefully, patiently watching (listening, feeling, tasting, and smelling) to objectively record” {Holmgren, David. 2002;} Contemplative awareness is similar to mindful meditation “where the mind is out of gear, but the senses are fully attuned” {Holmgren, David. 2002;}. A periphery of focus is a good example. This mode enables observing undistracted by form and bias. And fourth, interpretations based on existing conditions and remnant signs of past events serve as indicators and rules of thumb. This paper will primarily focus on field naturalism with a bit of indication on the side.
History & Culture Returning to my travels, it has been fascinating to see the issues of native versus non-native people, old boys networks versus newcomers, or just conflicts from people who start conversations with “you ain’t from around here”. Many of my friends have land, generally family land that would be perfectly suited to that quaint permaculture farmstead on small acreage if only they could be satisfied with the cultural flavor of the location. I suppose when it comes to place, the vicinity either already has what you’re looking for or you create it, build it and they will come, as it were. Even in those times you may find yourself swimming upstream and going against the grain, so much so that even the best laid intentions gain no traction in the muddy local soil. It remains important to question whether you will benefit from cooperation, trade, communication, and security in your community of interest. Beyond the local color, historical research on the means by which the landscape under question was manipulated is not to be overlooked. Upon some tilling one time in a Lee County field I discovered the soil to smell much like hog waste. Upon further inquiry I discovered a fairly large hog farm had been there a hundred years ago, and the soil was quite rich from it. Indicators such as abandoned structures, field sizes and shapes, woodland stumpage, non native vegetation, old grown in road beds, wind flagging or other stress evidence in trees, barren soil, erosion trenches, etc. can be tell-tale signs of historical land use and can offer first hand and immediate insight into a sites opportunities and constraints. Geography & Location Where in the heck are you anyway? Undoubtedly you are in a region, a specific bioregion, corresponding to soil, climate and microclimate, hydrology, elevation, aspect, relief, slope, and exposure with a fixed angle of latitude relative to the equator, that is considered to have a hardiness zone, is adjacent to certain types of resources, and has a particular socio, economic, political and cultural zest. You are within a proximity of other locations hosting their own unique set of geographical conditions, opportunities and constraints. So knowing what criteria makes the checklist tailored to your needs is the way to answer this question, be it for yourself or for a client if you are the consultant here. Geology & Soil Igneous rocks are literally rocks formed from fire, straight out of magma churning below and within the Earth’s crust. On one end of the spectrum is granite, which is acidic, composed mostly of silica and oxygen. It forms slowly, is impervious to water and very slow to decompose. On the other end is basalt, rich is bases and liquid when molten, containing minerals that are rich from plant nutrients. Between the two are an assortment of intermediate rocks. All of which decompose at varying rates to become sand grains and clay particles. Through the process of erosion these grains are sorted and reformed into sedimentary rocks, such as clay and sandstone. Clay is known to drain poorly but to be basic and nutrient rich, while sand is known to drain well and be nutrient deprived, also acidic. Now that we have established the basis of all soil derived from the decomposition of eroded rocks, how do you determine what soil is present in the location you are observing? And what about the addition of decomposing vegetation on the creation of topsoil? From here we can apply a simple soil test to determine if we have something loamy in the right configuration to be advantageous to the growing conditions we desire. Use the flow chart on the next page (courtesy of Patrick Whitefield) to make assessments of the soil compostion in hand.
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HOW TO TEST TEXTURE Take about a teaspoonful of soil, knead it till it loses all structure and roll it into a ball. It needs to be at just the right moisture content to form the strongest ball it can. Too wet and it squidges, too dry and it crumbles. You may need to moisten it and if it’s a bit too wet you can dry it by kneading it for longer. In fact if you knead a sample for too long you may need to re-moisten it. It’s important to get the moisture content right because a sample that’s too wet will feel more silty than it really is. When you have the strongest ball you can make with that soil ask yourself this series of questions: Does it consist entirely of organic matter?
Yes
Peat
No Is it predominantly sandy?
Yes
Will it make a stable ball? No Sand Yes Sandy loam
No Is it silky or buttery and very easy to squash?
Yes
Silt or Silty loam
No Is it relatively hard to squash?
Yes
When rubbed does it take a polish or a matt finish? Polish Clay Matt Clay loam
No Start again One mistake which is easy to make when you start using the finger method is to always answer Yes to the question ‘Is it very easy to squash?’ All soil is easy to squash and this question is relative. Once you’ve handled a few contrasting samples you’ll get used to it. The feel of a really silty soil is unforgettable once you know it but hard to put into words. This gives you the basic types, which are certainly enough to get started in soil sampling. But finer distinctions can be significant and you can take it a stage further. A soapy feeling tells you there’s some silt in a soil which is predominantly sandy or clayey. This soapy feeling is quite different from the stickiness of clay. If you can feel it in your sample you can redefine it as follows: Sandy loam Clay loam Clay
Sandy silt loam Silty clay loam Silty clay
In the same way, if you can feel a bit of sand in a soil which is predominantly clay, you get: Clay loam Clay
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Hydrology To state the obvious water is life, and if the intention is to live off the site in question, it better have access to water. Search for existing water sources such as springs, creeks, rivers, ponds, etc. but also consider methods of catchment. These may be from other structures such as the roof of a barn or by terracing the landscape to slow, spread, and sink water that precipitates there, retaining it or for aquifer recharge rather than allowing it to runoff. When considering runoff its important to question what is running off onto your property from neighbors as well. Other considerations are seasonal fluctuation of rainfall, the existing water table, local water rationing or restriction regulations, ownership of the water rights, climate evolution and its inherent range of variability. Climate & Microclimate In doing your homework you will know what the climate data says, and perhaps the hardiness zone, but what will become equally as important are the microclimates of the site. Such are determined by aspect, sun-shade bands, the seasonal solar path, prevailing winds, wind tunnels, wind breaks, humidity, air temperature, soil moisture, local water bodies, micro rain-shadows, frost pockets, frost prone areas, thermal sinks, thermal massing, and the potential for convective heat transfer. Analysis from varying positions on the site will determine opportunities and constraints therein. Landscape itself must also be considered. Woodland, woodland edge, open ground, rock garden, borders, water edges, marsh, and water bodies will all have there own unique microclimates. Several apps such as suncalc.net and other simple methods can aid the determination of sun-shade opportunities at the broadscale perspective. However, a solar pathfinder tool is still a reliable non-electronic method for determining site specific shading data displayed on its reflective top dome. The time of day and available sunlight on that day is also irrelevant for the use of this instrument. Information from the unit will display sun-shade durations for an entire year in an exact location. Vegetation Indications about site conditions based on plant succession become helpful when looking at guilds or specific plants. Consider local ecological systems and what function vegetation plays therein. On pages 5, 6, and 7 useful lists have been compiled for baseline assumptions. Disclaimer: these lists should be used with a healthy amount of skepticism when looking for clues of site conditions. The plants listed may not represent site conditions with certainty. Wildlife When it comes to wildlife, especially in gardening, we want to attract beneficial creatures and protect our plants from pests. Evidence of wildlife will indicate the health of the landscape and should be noted during field observation. Do you see signs of life that indicate certain conditions? What do you notice? Are there signs of wild, domesticated, or feral animals and what cost/benefit do they perceive to have? Do your neighbors have dogs that may pose a threat to your chickens? Abundance (contrasted with scarcity) as well as diversity of wildlife should not be overlooked. Risk Assessment The day you visit the site might be perfect, sunny and warm, saying to you welcome back to the garden of eden. However, risk and natural disaster is part of life and must be considered. I never expected or prepared for an EF4 tornado at a cabin I built in Lee County, but within a matter of minutes the structure mostly exploded and left 150 acres of prime timberland devastated. Luckily I survived, and will approach all future situations with a healthy respect for the destructive forces of nature. Always consider fire, flood, drought, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, and storm surge potentials at any site under analysis, as well as the unfortunate man made disaster potential due to any number of causes. In conclusion, permaculturists seeking to make a rapid assessment of site opportunity while visiting a site should seek to understand the whole system of sustainable coexistence at the site specific level, while maintaining awareness of the deep ecology underlying the bioregion in which the site is situated. These insights can inform the seasoned professional as well as the novice landscape observer, and should be considered when investigating site inventory for analysis. Field Notes: Reading the Landscape
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Indicator Plants
Source: Robert Kourik ~ ‘Designing & Maintaining your Edible Landscape Naturally’ Field Notes: Reading the Landscape
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Source: Robert Kourik ~ ‘Designing & Maintaining your Edible Landscape Naturally’
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Source: Robert Kourik ~ ‘Designing & Maintaining your Edible Landscape Naturally’
Source: Patrick Whitefield ~ ‘The Earth Care Manual’ Field Notes: Reading the Landscape Rick Cobb
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References Alexander, C., 1936-. (1977). In Ishikawa S., , Silverstein M. and (Eds. ), A pattern language Towns, buildings, construction. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/ catalog/record/UNCb1468235 Aranya. Permaculture design : A step-by-step guide. Hampshire, England; White River Junction, VT: Permanent Publications; Distributed in the USA by Chelsea Green Publishing. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.nc su.edu.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2712793 Bell, G. (1992). The permaculture way : Practical steps to create a self-sustaining world. East Meon, U.K.: Permanent Publications, 2004. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/ NCSU2817349 Holmgren, D. (2002). In Holmgren Design Services. (Ed.), Permaculture : Principles and pathways beyond sustainability . Hepburn, Vic.: Holmgren Design Services. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.e du.prox.lib. ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU1647594 Kourik, R. (1986). In Kane M. (Ed.), Designing and maintaining your edible landscape naturally. Santa Rosa, CA; Emmaus, PA: Metamorphic Press; Distribution, Rodale Press. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu/ catalog/record/NCSU688816 Mars, R. (1996). In Ducker M. (Ed.), The basics of permaculture design. Hovea, W.A.; Califon, N.J.: Candlelight T rust; Permaculture Resources. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/ record/NCSU1556307 McHarg, I. L. (1992). Design with nature. New York: J. Wiley. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu.prox. lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU1010422 Mollison, B. C. (1991). In Slay R. M. (Ed.), Introduction to permaculture. Sisters Creek, Tasmania, Australia: Tagari, 2009. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2186099 Morrow, R. (2006). In Allsop R. (Ed.), Earth user’s guide to permaculture. Pymble, N. S.W.: Kangaroo Press. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2275107 Whitefield, P. (2004). Earth care manual : A permaculture handbook for britain & other temperate climates. Portsmouth: Permanent Publications. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/ NCSU1764274 Whitefield, P. (2009). The living landscape : How to read it and understand it. EastMeon: Permanent Publications. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2285918hh
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