A new dawn rising

This is the first post in ages, and the reason is that mykósriza did not have a clear path. Now there is a new sheriff in town and we are about to kickstart it.

The story of mykósriza started with a seed of dreams of a sustainable future. Now its taking roots in the form of mykósriza, literally. 

We are going on a fungi adventure.

Stay tuned!

Rocket Science!

"A rocket stove is an efficient cooking stove using small diameter wood fuel which is burned in a simple high-temperature combustion chamber containing a vertical chimney and a secondary air supply which ensures almost complete combustion prior to the flames reaching the cooking surface."

Rocket stoves are getting a lot of attention these days especially among permaculturist so I decided to build my own small prototype. With a little help from my friend, "Bear" this is how it turned out.

Bear preparing the meal

 This one is built using fireproof bricks. Not really a rocket stove but still using the idea as the basis for my own design. 

It was really easy and fast to assembly (about 5 minutes).
Once started it got hot very quickly and when the flames started to come up the chimney it was ready to use.

Lifestyle with Bear

The design can be more advanced and many people incorporate mass heating in the stove efficiently. I've seen examples of stove having both stove, oven, mass heated bench and chimney in the end. 

Rocket stove with multiple functions at Vale da Lama

Hot compost maniacs

Hot composting is our preferred method of getting a good, nutrition rich compost for our garden.
Its fast, easy, and you can compost pretty much any organic material in it even smaller twigs and branches.
We just cant get enough!

So after we had some spring cleaning of the herb garden me and "Rebella" made a new even better hot compost than the last on.
This one was made lasagna style with kitchen waste, half ready cold compost, goat manure and straw.
Throw in some humus between the layers for effective microorganism and finish with an urination ceremony to wet and kick start it and we are on track!

Before...

After :)

Compost maniacs!

Permaculture design on la Gomera

Just got home from an amazing Permaculture Design Certificate course on la Gomera, canaries islands. A really interesting and educating course with some amazing people set in a magical subtropical paradise!

Tought by Helder Valente with the New School permaculture this gives you a deep dive into the world of permaculture.

But whats "permaculture"?

"Permaculture is a branch of ecological design and engineering that develops sustainable human settlements and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems." said someone but this doesnt really give total justice to the full understanding of "whats it all about".

he core ethics of permaculture are:

Take Care of the Earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first ethic, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish.

Take Care of the People: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence.

Share the Surplus: Healthy natural systems use outputs from each element to nourish others. We humans can do the same. By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above ethics.

This together with some basic principles you get a picture of the basic concept.

Not wanting to go into to much detail in this very large subject called permaculture, I recommend anyone who is interested in learning more to participate in one of the many PDC courses offered around the world or why not volunteer on a permaculture project? Or just applying and trying in your own way, in your garden, your social life or elsewhere where the ethics and principles might be applied.

Here are as follows some pictures from the recent course. ENJOY!

Permaculture Ethics and principles.

Design in progress

Drawing contour lines at the playa using an A-frame

Making a hot compost pile

Breaking into the dry toilet

Using the sand as a educational tool the beach is a creative and fun place for a classroom

Designing a foodforest

Making Biochar using recycled materials

Cooking on the rocket stove!!!

FoodForest designs!

Finding order among chaos in the patterns of nature

Coffee infused composed

Yesterday we had some coffee while making our designs for the future. The coffee was kicking in and in a poof the drawings were done. Restlessness was building up as expected and boredom soon followed as I realized I had nothing more to draw or do, or so I thought.

Inspired by the lack of good compost available I made a hot compost pile, lasagna style with kitchen waste,  straw, goat manure and mix of other random organic material lying around.
Water it cover it and let it sit for 3 days before turning it. About 1 cubic meter big.
The goal is to turn this into ready to use compost in 21 days. We shall see...

Compost pile is ready. So am I!

how to transport a wheelbarrow

Preparing for climate change!

So we are preparing for a year full of fun! 

We want to get our hands dirty as soon as possible. Winter is still going strong here in Sweden so we will warm up with a trip to northern Thailand to a town called Pai.

 Here we will with our friends Lilly and David try to figure out what all this Permaculture thing is about.

Lilly and David are creating a food forest transforming barren land to a lush jungle and they have come pretty far already producing delicious fruit from just three years of growth.  You can read more about what they are doing at permapai.wordpress.com

So we will pack our bags and once again awaken the vagabond spirit.

Panorama over Pai valley

Welcome to mykósriza.
We will blog about our work in and with nature.
And more in between.

Every week throughout the year we will have at least one post that we will fill to the brim with hot stuff.