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“PERMACULTURE INVADES IRVINE AND RECREATES EDEN” – IRVINE, CA

11-25-2013 | by Dominic C. Gutierrez | Dom's Favorite Burgers

Passed in 2002, by the City Council of Irvine to convert a 2-mile military landing strip into a metropolitan park, “The Great Park of Irvine”, located at the center of Orange County, hasn’t proved to be so great.

Sadly, it’s now close the end of 2013, and there is really only one site that is always there: A giant, orange, hot-air balloon.

Luckily for us, a new face has popped on the scene, and that face is Alegría Fresh Farm‘s “Edible Eden”.

A little background for those who don’t know, Permaculture, is a type of ecological architecture that proves to combine the ideas of sustainable agricultural design with modern functionality and engineering.

Pioneering this avant-garde landscape are dedicated horticulturists: Dr. Bill Roley (Of the Permaculture Institute of Southern California), A.G. Kawamura (Former Secretary of Agriculture and Innovative Farming Specialist of Orange County Produce, LLC.), and Erik Cutter (Managing Director of Alegría Fresh Farms of Laguna Beach).

Hired by The Orange County Great Park Corporation through the City of Irvine, this collection of southern California’s most innovative and intelligent agriculturists are blazing trails in the edible landscape scene, by creating a metropolitan garden of the future.

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The pictures above show the different types of growing capabilities one has; depending on location and space. Ranging from bleacher-beds, A-frames, and vertical hydroponic systems, each has the ability to grow a variety of plants and/or vegetables using a single “koi-pond-pump” to pressurize the water through the skeleton.

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Today, I was able to assist Dr. Roley by re-soiling and planting some lavender, as well as other high-pollinators, to attract hummingbirds and bumblebee’s to fertilize the crops in the surrounding areas.

First, we laid soil that had been mixed with green-waste compost of Tierra Verde Ind., to fill the raised vegetable bed (below).

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Then we took some of the green waste compost (below)…

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…And layered just the top, of each vegetable bed (below).

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After watering the beds sufficiently, until the deepest layer of soil was moist, we started placing in the plants (below).

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Below are just a few of examples, of what these future-farming constructs can create when the vegetables wake up!

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When we finally lifted our heads after our long-day’s endeavor,  we witnessed our own existence, in creating the renewable ‘farms of the future’.

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To say the least, it was an incredible experience; And I will be going back soon to assist Dr. Roley, in spawning sustainable landscapes for survivors of the “Thousand Year War”, when the cylons attack.


http://domsfavoriteburgers.com/2013/11/07/permaculture-invades-irvine-and-recreates-eden-irvine-ca/


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