Staying healthy when travelling is so important. Here are my top travel and wellness tips for you to consider for your next trip to make it the best one yet.

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Staying healthy when travelling is so important. Here are my top travel and wellness tips for you to consider for your next trip to make it the best one yet.

by Harris Moore Manual Training Toys for the Boy’s Workshop was originally published in 1912. After a short introductory section on basic woodworking and shop tools, the book offers 42 shop projects. Each project comes with a cutting list and dimensioned drawing, and all date from the early part of the 20th century (many, no doubt, are from the 19th century). Paperback, 112 pages Shipping / Billing Information This product ships direct from the manufacturer: Your order will ship in approximately 5 business days. This product is considered special order. Your account will be charged when you place your order. Express or overnight shipping is not available for this product. Ships by Ground to the 48 contiguous states. Cannot ship to Alaska, Hawaii, PO Boxes, APOs, US Territories, Canada or other foreign countries. Return Information When returning product, please include the invoice number or customer number and refer to the back of the invoice for shipping instructions.If purchased at a Woodcraft Store, please return the item directly to the store where your purchase was made. Warranty Information If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, return it within 10 days for any reason. Contact Woodcraft Supply customer service @ 1-800-535-4482 for details.

Back in May of 2016, I published an article on an experimental polyculture for meeting the fertility demands of the fruits, nuts, herbs and perennial vegetables on our plot without relying on animal manures and imported compost. We called this polyculture the biomass belt. The Biomass Belt - Producing Fertility Without Manure You can find the original biomass belt article here. 4 years later we have had a chance to see how the polyculture has performed and have learned a thing or two about the way the plants interact with each other, what works and what does not. During this post, I'll be revising the design based on our observations and presenting a version of the design that appears to be working well in our polyculture market garden. I'll start with an introduction to the polyculture and the species involved and go through the design considerations, development, and management practices for this polyculture. We'll look at how the polyculture has developed in our garden and how you can purchase the plants (or seeds and cuttings) from our nursery should you wish to try growing this polyculture in your own garden. So let's start with what is the Biomass Belt What is the Biomass Belt ? The biomass belt is a simple closed system, perennial polyculture dedicated to growing mulch and fertilizer for annual and perennial crops. How does it work? The polyculture is composed of mineral accumulating comfrey in raised beds, Nitrogen fixing ground cover sown into pathways and a Nitrogen fixing hedgerow. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov The comfrey is grown in raised beds for biomass and can be cut from 4 - 7 times each year with the material being used to make liquid fertilizer or used directly as mulch. The deep-rooted comfrey mines nutrients deep in the subsoil that would otherwise wash away with the underground soil water or remain inaccessible to other plants. Some of these nutrients are relocated within the comfrey leaf and when cut and applied as mulch or converted into liquid fertilizer, the nutrients are delivered back to the topsoil again accessible to crops and other plants. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov The Nitrogen hungry comfrey is fed with the biomass from Nitrogen fixing plants, that through a partnership with soil micro-organisms can convert atmospheric Nitrogen into Nitrogen fertilizers useful to themselves, but also becoming available to neighboring plants. For more on Nitrogen fixation see here. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov The pathways between the beds are sown with a Nitrogen fixing ground cover and mown following a comfrey cut with the trimmings applied to the comfrey beds. The hedge composed of Nitrogen-fixing shrubs and fast-growing grasses running parallel to the comfrey beds, once mature, is trimmed at regular intervals (once or twice per year) with the trimmings deposited onto the comfrey beds. Each time the path vegetation and hedge are cut, root tissue underground is shed in to the soil providing significant quantities of organic matter and nutrients to the plants. In summary, the unique ability of the Comfrey to feed deep and produce copious quantities of biomass is utilized to provide nutrients to main crops whilst the pathway ground cover and hedgerow's unique ability to fix Nitrogen is utilized to provide nutrients to the comfrey. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov What follows is a design guide covering how to select a site for this polyculture, a close look at each component of the design and the species within each component, and what I hope are clear and concise instructions to build and manage this polyculture. At the end of the post you can find a summary table of the plant species, a brief description of how we have set up this polyculture in our Polyculture Market Garden and a link to purchase the polyculture from our bio nursery in plant or seed form Want to learn more about Regenerative Landscape Design? Join The Bloom Room! The Bloom Room is designed to create a space for more in-depth learning, for sharing projects and ideas, for seeking advice and discovering opportunities. Ultimately, it aims to build a more intimate, interactive, and actionable relationship between members, a way for the Bloom Room community to support each other’s projects and learning journeys, and to encourage and facilitate the design, build, and management of more regenerative landscapes across our planet. What you can expect as a member of the Bloom Room As a member of the Bloom Room you can expect; Access to an interactive forum where you can ask questions, direct what type of content you would like to see as well as share your own content and projects. Monthly live session featuring general Q&A and tutorials on design software for creating and presenting polycultures. Live session every month for members to showcase your projects, plans, designs, and gardens, with guest speakers from the community. Full Access to all of the content on Substack A 50% discounts on all of our online courses Future opportunities to join our Global Regenerative Landscape Design and Consultancy Service, with potential roles for those with the will and skill to join our design team. An opportunity to take part in the group ownership of a Regenerative Landscape. You will find more details on that here. Become a paid subscriber to our Substack to join. The annual subscription is currently $70 and the monthly subscription is $7 (monthly subscription excludes discounts for products and services) . You can join here, we look forward to meeting you! Design Considerations General - The polyculture can be situated to provide boundary hedging or subdivision hedging within a property whereby the Nitrogen fixing hedge provides a permanent living fence and the comfrey beds run adjacent to the hedge. Light demands - For optimal growth, the polyculture should be orientated along the west-east axis and be to the north of any light demanding crops to reduce shading. The plants we have selected below will grow in partial shade and on other orientations but will yield less biomass as a result. Water - Adequate irrigation is a key to healthy and productive plants. This polyculture is not well suited to semi wetlands and areas with a high water table and will not thrive in very dry areas with no access to irrigation. In dryland/climate, selecting a position for the polyculture that requires as little irrigation as possible is essential and can be achieved by planting on contour and using simple earthworks to keep rainwater around the root zones of plants. N.B. All of the plants we have included in the polyculture are drought tolerant (Trifolium repens - White Clover to a lesser extent) and will survive long periods without water once established, but will not produce high yields of biomass in these conditions. Subsoil Mining - Siting the biomass patch, specifically the comfrey beds, below compost toilets/manure piles and areas that are likely to receive nontoxic leachate will help prevent the loss of nutrients draining off-site. Proximity to crops - Consider the distance between your beds and where you need to apply the mulch or prepare and store the liquid fertilizer. If growing comfrey for mulch it probably doesn't make much sense having to haul the material over large distances. Species Selection - Species selection should take into account the following; Climatic compatibility with the site Drought tolerance Speed of growth i.e fast-growing Tolerance of hard pruning Benefits to wildlife Ground Preparation Raised beds are a major part of our fertility strategy and when managed properly overtime they retain water and nutrients very efficiently. This polyculture can include one or two 1.3 m wide raised beds for comfrey surrounded by 50 cm paths and a 70 cm wide raised bed for the Nitrogen fixing hedge. It's important never to tread on the soil of a raised bed and the above dimensions allow reach within the beds from the pathways. The bed length can be as long as best fits your site and needs. The following illustrations and photographs are based on a 10 m long section of this polyculture. Example Perennial Polyculture - The Biomass Belt - Bed Layout To form the beds the area should be cleared of all plants, best achieved in most situations by sheet mulching with ample organic matter 6 months prior to planting. Pernicious perennials such as wild brambles - Rubus fruticosus and couch grass - Elymus repens should be dug out before mulching and the soil should be forked over as deeply as possible with a strong garden fork. If you have a heavy clay compact soil it's best to double dig and incorporate plenty of organic matter (20- 40 L m2) into the comfrey beds before planting. The right shape shovel for forming paths Once you have cleared the whole area of weeds and forked it over to relieve compaction, mark out the bed shapes with string and dig out a 10 cm layer of soil 50 cm wide to create paths around the bed, applying the soil to the surface of the planting area and thereby creating a raised section of earth that will be your bed. A flat bottomed shovel is a good tool for this job. The beds with corners pegged and string attached If you are not sheet mulching, remove all weeds, fork over the beds, cut out the pathways and apply 20 L of compost per m length of the comfrey beds and 5 L to the nitrogen-fixing hedge bed. The compost should be applied to the surface and topped with a 20 cm layer of mulch. The biomass belt beds, forked over with compost and mulch applied - Photo by Trisha Franke The beds are now ready for planting and the paths for sowing. A side note when path forming - We are fortunate to have access to a stream that we can divert into the site and we flood paths for irrigation. When establishing the paths we alter the depth and gradient to facilitate the required movement of water within the polyculture. The slower the water travels along the paths the less erosion there will be. Capillary action draws the water deep into the beds and underground. Below you will find a closer look at each component in further detail based on a version of this design we have implemented in our Market Garden The Polyculture Components Nitrogen Fixing Hedge Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover Comfrey Bed 1. Nitrogen Fixing Hedge The Nitrogen fixing hedge supplies a significant biological source of Nitrogen and biomass, habitat for wildlife including a number of beneficial species, and makes an excellent living boundary/fence on the perimeter of a site or as a subdivision within a site. The hedge is composed of two species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs Elaeagnus angustifolia - Russian Olive and Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive and one the fastest-growing plants in the temperate zone Miscanthus x giganteus - Giant Miscanthus. Below is a design illustration of a mature Nitrogen fixing hedge. Planting Distances for the Hedgerow Maintaining the Nitrogen Fixing Hedge Formative Pruning and Trimming - If planting out single stemmed whips, the following formative pruning is necessary during or after planting out. Cut up to 1/3rd off from the top of the whips. The cut should be made just above a node and at a 45-degree angle. This will encourage the plant to form a multi-stemmed crown. The following year the tips of each of the multi stems can be cut again encouraging further branching. Once the plants have developed full crowns they can be trimmed to reduce width and to the desired height at least once per year. After trimming, the arisings can be raked onto the comfrey bed. The Miscanthus plants can be cut annually with the stems chopped up into 10-20 pieces and placed on the comfrey beds. The best time to trim the hedge is early winter when the comfrey is dormant and mid-summer after the comfrey has been cut. The summer cut avoids disturbing nesting birds and provides mulch during the dry season. The biomass belt in Year 4 with the hedgerow forming nicely Feeding - These plants will not require any feeding, however, mulching with a 30 cm diameter mulch mat or card/straw mulch whilst the plants are establishing for the first 2-3 years will be beneficial both in reducing irrigation needs and preventing weed competition. Irrigation - The first season after planting, irrigation should be applied when the soil beneath the mulch is dry. In the following years irrigation is only necessary during very dry summers and should be applied before the plants begin to wilt. The plants will grow much faster and produce significantly more biomass if they have a good supply of water. Native wild plants that emerge around the shrubs can be left to grow freely once the shrubs have matured and if they are not directly competing. Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes? Join us on our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course. We look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity. Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course You can find the course details here and at the moment we have a $350 ( 20%) discount for full enrollment to the course. Just use RLD2024 in the promo code section of the registration form to receive your discount. Nitrogen Fixing Hedge - Species Overview Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive Permaculture Plant - Elaeagnus umbellata Overview: A large deciduous shrub from E.Asia, growing 4.5 m high and 4.5 m wide, hardy to zone 3 (-35C) tolerates part shade, very drought tolerant. Branches are often thorny, leaves are bright green and silvery beneath. Yellowish white, fragrant flowers are produced in May-June, followed by rounded silvery brown (ripening red) fruits in Sep-Oct. Sometimes cultivated for its edible fruit. There are many named cultivars. Flowers are rich nectar and very aromatic. Plants can fruit in 5 yrs from seed. This specie is considered invasive in the U.S Uses: Edible fruit raw or cooked which is very tasty and can be made into jams, preserves etc. The fruit contains about 8.3% sugars. 4.5% protein. 12 mg per 100 mg Vitamin C. The harvested fruit stores for approximately 15 days at room temperature. It can be used as a hedge plant and tolerates maritime exposure succeeding in the most exposed positions. The nectar from the flowers is attractive to bees comprising 28% sugars. The plant is used as a nurse tree, when planted with fruit trees it is reported to increase the overall yield of the orchard by 10%. It can also be grown as a biomass crop on a 3 year rotation. Nitrogen Fixing Potential: The species is classified by USDA as being a MEDIUM nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of 85-160lbs/acre or 39-72kg/4050m² or 14g /m2. Biodiversity - The shrubs will begin to flower in the 4th or 5th year after planting and are attractive to a wide range of pollen and nectar feeding invertebrates. If you leave some fruits on the tree they provide a good source of winter food for birds. In time as the hedge thickens up with regular pruning, suitable nesting habitat will form inside the lower part of the hedge. Birds such as Wren, Chiffchaff and Robin are commonly found in dense low hedging. These birds can help to keep common vegetable pest populations low. Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. It should germinate in late winter or early spring, though it may take 18 months. Stored seed can be very slow to germinate, often taking more than 18 months. A warm stratification for 4 weeks followed by 12 weeks cold stratification can help. The seed usually (eventually) germinates quite well. Prick out the seedlings into individual pot as soon as they are large enough to handle and plant out when they are at least 15 cm tall. Planting Material – 3 year old plants will provide an instant hedge effect but can prove expensive when planting out large areas. 1st year whips are cost effective and with proper pruning and some attention during the first few years of development will quickly fill out. These plants can be grown from seed although may take up to 18 months to germinate. Once they do germinate they can be ready to plant out 7-8 months later and can starting providing good quantities of biomass within a few years. We supply Elaeagnus umbellata seeds and 1st year saplings from our plant nursery - Click here for more info. Elaeagnus angustfolia - Oleaster, Russian Olive Overview:A deciduous large shrub or small tree from Europe and W.Asia, growing approx 7m high and 7m wide. Hardy to zone 2 (-40C), tolerates part shade, salt and air pollution. It has silvery branches often thorny, with silvery scales when young, silvery willow-like leaves, silvery flowers in June and yellowish-silvery fruits ripening in October. Plants prefer continental climate. This specie is often cultivated in Europe and Asia for its edible fruits (there are many named varieties some of which are thorn less). The plants begin to flower and fruit from three years old. It is very tolerant of pruning even right back into old wood. The flowers are sweetly scented. Fruits hang on the plant for much of the winter providing a valuable source of winter food for birds. The fruit is readily eaten and disseminated by many species of birds. This species is considered invasive in the United States. Uses: Edible fruit -raw or cooked as a seasoning in soups. The taste is dry sweet and mealy. The oval fruits are about 10mm long and contain 17 amino acids with total sugars making 54%of the composition. In China they are made into a beverage Expected fruit yields are 7-9kg per plant. The seed is edible raw or cooked. The seed oil, flowers and leaves are used medicinally. Plants can be grown as a hedge in exposed positions, tolerating maritime exposure. An essential oil obtained from the flowers is used in perfumery. A gum from the plant is used in the textile industry in calico printing. Leaves are used as goat and sheep fodder. The wood is hard, fine-grained and used for posts, beams, carving, domestic items and makes good fuel. The plant is attractive to bees and is known to be grown as a biomass crop on a 3 year rotation. In Pakistan it is valued as a pollard fuel and fodder crop. Nitrogen Fixing Potential: This specie is classified by USDA as being a HIGH nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of 160+ lbs/acre or 72>kg/4050m² Propagation: Establishment and reproduction of Elaeagnus angustifolia is primarily by seed, although some spread by vegetative propagation also occurs. Cold stratification required for 30-60 days. N.B I'm not sure how the Nitrogen fixing potential of the above species are calculated and the relationship between regular pruning and N input into soils, but it's something I intend to look into further. If anybody can clarify this matter please comment below. CAUTION - These are pioneer plants, their ecological role is to take a position in disturbed sites and sites of poor fertility. In doing so they restore soil health and build fertility eventually giving way to more permanent plants. If allowed to seed these plants will quickly colonize disturbed sites such as vast areas of plowed fields that have been extensively cleared of nearly all wildlife to cater for industrial agricultural practices. Because of the tendency of these plants to establish quickly in these areas, they are often referred to, rather ironically, as noxious and invasive species. There may be some examples of these plants displacing healthy native floral communities but not that I have witnessed. It's advisable to check your local environmental agency to see whether these plants are considered invasive in your area before planting. Miscanthus x giganteus - Giant Miscanthus Overview: M. × giganteus is indeed a grass of giant proportions, forming very tall clumps of green leaves, their tips bending gracefully in layers. It grows well on marginal land and needs little fertility, it is a C4 plant, and thus exhibits greater photosynthetic efficiency and lower water use requirements than other kinds of plants. It has very low nutritional requirements – it has high nitrogen use efficiency and therefore is capable of growing well on barren land without the aid of heavy fertilization. These attributes may make this plant an excellent "grow your own" mulch option. Uses: Mulch and biomass, Used as high-quality bedding typically for equine applications. Used as a cover crop providing shelter for game birds such as Pheasants and Partridges. Capable of producing relatively high quantities of ethanol fuel from the biomass Propagation: The plants can be propagated easily from division and even from small pieces of rhizomes Planting Material: Rhizomes of these plants can be used and will establish well within a few seasons. All of these plants are available in a multipack from our online store here or as individual plants from our bio nursery. 2. Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover White Clover - Trifolium repens under the shade of a Walnut tree in our forest garden four months after sowing. A perennial Nitrogen fixing ground cover should be established quickly in the pathways and on the vertical edges of the bed to protect the soil from erosion and provide a further source of Nitrogen input to the polyculture. I have experience using White Clover - Trifolium repens for this purpose but there may be other suitable species. Sowing the Ground Cover Following digging out the pathways, slightly loosen the surface of the path with a rake and hand sow the white clover seed onto the surface of the path and into vertical edges of the beds at a rate of 0.75 g per m length of bed. Tamp down with a shovel and water with a fine head sprinkler. The seed should germinate within 5 - 6 days. The best time to sow is late April - mid-June. Keep a close eye on the emerging seedlings and irrigate when below the soil surface is dry. Keep foot traffic to an absolute minimum whilst the cover is establishing. Maintaining the Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover Once established the cover will tolerate light foot traffic, i.e, related to the management of the polyculture. If the pathway is used extensively its unlikely productive cover will establish although cover on the vertical edges of the beds will do. The pathway cover can be cut the following spring after sowing and then on each occasion after the comfrey is cut. The trimming can be emptied around the base of the cut comfrey plants. A lawnmower with a maximum width of 50 cm with a catch bag is ideal for mowing the pathways. If you mow up and down the path with one wheel on the edge of the bed in one direction and one wheel on the other edge of the bed in the other direction you can also effectively cut the bed margin growth too. Allowing some patches of the clover to flower and seed provides a good source of nectar/pollen to native bees and a bank of seed in the soil for self resowing. Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover Species Overview Trifolium repens -White Clover Plants for Pathways - Trifolium repens - White Clover Overview: White clover is a dwarf, prostrate, mat-forming perennial that can spread via stems which freely root along the ground at the nodes. Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist soils in light shade, but tolerates full sun and moderately dry soils. Uses: White clover has been described as the most important forage legume of the temperate zones. Besides making an excellent forage crop for livestock, clovers are a valuable survival food: they are high in proteins and although not easy for humans to digest raw, this is easily fixed by boiling the harvested plants for 5–10 minutes. Dried flower heads and seedpods can also be ground up into a nutritious flour and mixed with other foods, or can be steeped into an herbal tea. The plants ability to spreads aggressively by creeping stems makes is a good ground cover plant. The plant is also used as a companion plant when undersown with cereals or tomatoes. Nitrogen Fixing Potential: The species is classified by USDA as being a HIGH Nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of +160lbs/acre or +72kg/4050m² or 18g /m2. Other sources state up to 545 kg of N per hectare per year is possible. Biodiversity: The plants provide a source of nectar and pollen for a number of native bees as well as the honey bee. Propagation: Best propagated by seed. Pre-soak the seed for 12 hours in warm water and then sow in spring in situ. Division is also possible in the spring and autumn. Planting Material: For covering an area quickly seed is the best option. We supply Trifolium repens - White Clover seed from our plant nursery - Click here for more info. 3. Comfrey Beds The comfrey beds provide copious amounts of biomass rich in Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium and many other valuable plant nutrients that the plants mine deep in the subsoil. The plants can produce 60 cm long roots that harvest these nutrients and relocate them into the plant biomass back on the surface. The biomass is used to feed crops in the garden Comfrey Patch Layout Planting out the Comfrey Patch Spacing - The plants should be spaced 60 cm apart in rows and 60 cm apart at diagonals between rows. Plant the rows 15 cm from the edge of the beds. Maintaining the Comfrey Patch Cutting - In the first year allow the plants to establish so that the roots develop well and penetrate deep into the subsoil. The following year the cuttings can begin. You can scythe the beds for a quick harvest or cut each plant individually with a pair of secateurs or hand sickle. Cut to 5 or so cm from ground level. The leaves are prickly so if you have sensitive hands wear gloves. You can cut the comfrey as the flowering stalks emerge up to 4 times a year. Allow the plants to flower at least once during the season to provide bee fodder to a range of native bees as well as Honey bees. Leave the last flush of leaves before the winter so that invertebrates can find winter shelter in the undergrowth. Feeding - After you have cut the comfrey, mow the pathways between the beds and empty the contents to the base of the comfrey plants. Any mowings from the surrounding area can be used in a similar way. As the Nitrogen fixing hedge establishes, they should be trimmed to the required height and shape with the trimmings also applied to the comfrey. This can be done once a year for the first 4 years but biannually as the hedge develops. For extra feed and to increase yields undiluted urine can be applied to the plant at a rate of approx 1L per plant twice per growing season. Urine is an excellent feed for comfrey. Irrigation - Comfrey will produce more biomass if irrigated and in dry climates it's essential to irrigate. Comfrey plants wilt very fast in hot conditions and will stop photosynthesising at this point. 20 L m2 / week should be more than adequate. The beauty of biological systems are that if they are managed correctly, each year the soil in the beds will improve resulting in less water required and higher yields. Comfrey Beds Species Overview Species - Symphytum x uplandicum - Comfrey 'Bocking 14' Permaculture Plant- Comfrey - Symphytum x uplandicum 'Bocking 14' Overview - 'Bocking 14' is a hybrid comfrey plant developed in the 1950s by an original ecotrepreneur Lawrence D Hills specifically for its ability to produce tremendous quantities of biomass. Comfrey is adaptable to many soils but prefers moist, fertile soils. Thin soils over rock will give a poor crop, but on light sands and loams, this crop will be productive if adequate nutrients are present. Comfrey productivity is not very sensitive to soil pH, but the highest yields occur on soils with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. For more on this incredible plant see a previous post Comfrey - Believe The Hype Uses - The healing properties of this herb are well renowned, making it an essential first aid plant. The beautiful flowers are highly attractive to a wide range of bees including Apis mellifera - the western honey bee. Comfrey has a long history of use as an animal feed. The leaves are best received by animals wilted. Fresh leaves can be eaten by pigs, sheep, and poultry but cattle, rabbits and horses will prefer to consume wilted leaves. Research indicates that a comfrey solution can be used to prevent powdery mildew. Pest predators such as spiders, lacewings and parasitoid wasps associate with this plant. It's best to leave some plants alone in order to sustain pest predator relationships. Uses - Mulch - Freshly cut comfrey leaves make good mulch because they're high in Nitrogen, so they don't pull nitrogen from the soil while decomposing, as high-carbon mulches like straw and leaves do. Comfrey's high potassium content makes it especially beneficial for vegetables (such as tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers), berries, and fruit trees. With adequate feed and watering, we've seen yields of 2 - 3 kg of biomass per plant per cut. Plants can be cut up to four times in a year. One of our comfrey beds before and after the first cut of 2016. Uses - Liquid Fertiliser - What I like to call "Comfert". Fill a barrel, preferably with a bottom tap and a gauze on the inside (to prevent clogging) about 3/4 full with fresh-cut comfrey and add water to fill the barrel. Cover it, and let it steep for 3 to 6 weeks. The smell from the resulting liquid is far from attractive so approach with caution :) The tea may be used at full strength or diluted by half or more. Don't apply before heavy rain is forecast as most of the nutrients suspended in the liquid will wash straight through the soil. For the best results apply the feed to your vegetables when they are in most need of the extra fertility. This will be different for each crop, for example, tomatoes are best fed when they are setting fruit and then any time during the fruiting period. Applying comfert before this can be counter-productive and make your plants more susceptible to pest problems. The black slurry at the bottom of the barrel can be dispersed evenly back over the comfrey patch. Uses - Liquid fertilizer concentrate: "Comfert Plus" can also be made by packing fresh-cut comfrey tops into an old bucket, weighing them down with something heavy, covering tightly, and waiting a few weeks for them to decompose into a black slurry. You can put a hole into the bottom of the bucket and collect the concentrate in another container as it drips out. Dilute this comfrey concentrate about 15 to 1 with water, and use as you would Comfert. You can seal this concentrate in plastic jugs until you are ready to use it. Biodiversity - The last growth of comfrey leaves can be left uncut before the winter. The leaves can provide habitat for nesting spiders and invertebrates. Allow the plants to flower at least once between cuts to provide bee fodder to a range of native bees as well as honey bees. Cutting back the flowering comfrey when neighboring crop plants are in flower will drive the pollinators to your crops, increasing the likelihood of successful pollination. Propagation - Root cuttings are the only way to propagate 'Bocking 14'. The cuttings should be grown on in small pots and planted out in the spring as soon as the first leaves emerge. Planting Material - You can plant out with crown divisions or root cuttings. A crown division is simply putting a spade through the center of a mature comfrey plant and transplanting the divided sections. I divided the crown into quarters and these established very well in the first year. Do not cut the plants in the first year in order to allow a deep root system to develop. Welcome to our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture plants, seeds, bulbs and Polyculture multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy. We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Yuu can also find our full list of trees. shrubs and herbs for forest gardens on our website here Enter Our Store Here Plants, Seeds, eBooks, Consultancy, Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree Orders for Permaculture, Polyculture, Forest Gardens and Regenerative Landscapes. Biomass Belt Overview Enki- Species List (per 10 m length) based on one comfrey bed Qty Botanical name Common name Family Hardiness USDA Layer Function N fixers 6 Elaeagnus umbellata Autumn Olive Elaeagnaceae 4a - 8b Shrub Fertility/Biomass/Polleniser Berries/Windbreak 5 Elaeagnus angustifolia Russian olive Elaeagnaceae 3a - 8b Shrub Fertility/Biomass/Polleniser Berries/Windbreak Biomass Plants 10 Miscanthus x giganteus Giant Miscanthus Poaceae 4a -9b Herb Biomass/Nesting Habitat 52 Symphytum x uplandicum Comfrey Boraginaceae 4a -9b Herb Biomass/Fertility/Polleniser Ground Cover 50 g Trifolium repens White Clover Fabaceae 4-8 Ground Fertility/Polleniser If you would like to try the biomass belt in your garden or farm you can buy all of the plants for a 10m section of the belt in our multipack from our store here. We are also offering the polyculture in seed/cutting packs that you can find here. You are also welcome to purchase the plants separately and you can find links to each species below. Just send us an email with your order. Biomass Belt Plants Elaeagnus angustifolia - Russian Olive Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive Miscanthus x giganteus - Giant Miscanthus. Trifolium repens - White Clover Symphytum x uplandicum - Comfrey The Biomass Belt in Our Market Garden Garden Overview Location: Shipka, Bulgaria, Southeast Europe ​Climate: Temperate Köppen Climate Classification - Dfc borderline Cfb USDA Hardiness Zone: 5b (conservative) - 7a (risky) Latitude: 42° Elevation: 565 m Average Annual Rainfall: 588.5 mm Prevailing Wind: NW & NE Garden Name: Aponia - Polyculture Market Garden Garden Location on our Project Map - See here The hedge of fast-growing Nitrogen fixing shrubs is planted into 70 cm wide "no tread" bed rows that run parallel to 1.30 m wide "no tread" bed rows of Comfrey 'Bocking 14'. In between the beds are 50 cm wide pathways that are sown with a Nitrogen fixing ground cover such as Trifolium repens. The biomass belt is located in the red box in the above image of our Polyculture Market Garden. The beds run lengthwise west to east with the comfrey beds on the south and the nitrogen-fixing hedge on the north. This is to maximize plant exposure to sunlight. The beds and paths are laid out on contour with the beds elevated around 10 - 15 cm above the surrounding pathways. We irrigate the beds by diverting stream water into the paths and dropping sandbags at various ends to control the level. We can raise the water level in paths to approximately 15 cm resulting in the thorough absorption of water into the bed soil. Water is drawn up towards the surface of the bed via capillary action. We produced liquid fertilizer from one of the comfrey beds for the first two years with the other bed used for harvesting comfrey root cuttings and we have harvested 1000's of cuttings from this bed. The liquid fertilizer provided a great supplemental feed for the plants in our young raised beds. As the garden beds developed overtime, soil conditions improved and the liquid feed was unnecessary. We now use the comfrey biomass to apply directly as mulch to perennial beds in the forest garden for our soft fruiting shrubs and fruit trees. All in all, we're pretty happy with how the polyculture has turned out. The area is teeming with wildlife during the growing season, the biomass production from the beds and hedge is high and the maintenance is relatively low. The hedging density could probably be halved although it would take a year or two longer to establish. we have not been irrigating the area for the last two year and Irrigation would certainly boost productivity as I've noticed in wet summers the comfrey patch is much more vigorous. we'll see in the coming years how the hedge matures and perhaps one concern may be that more trimming of the hedge facing the path may be required for ease of access. Here you can see how the polyculture has developed over the years. Support Our Project If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways. Become a member of the Bloom Room. A $70 annual or $7 per month subscription to our Substack provides you with access to live sessions, design tutorials, a members forum and more, see details here. Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Nursery or Online Store Joining us for one of our Practical Courses or Online Courses Comment, like, and share our content on social media. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :) Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants

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I can't believe that November is here already! It's just crazy to think of how fast this year has flown. It's also crazy birthday time with THREE of our daughters having birthdays in just a months span. Today is also Papertrey Ink Senior DT challenge post day too! We are all creating calenders with the various calender products and the Calender Basics stamp set. I'm excited to share with you what I came up with! Click on any of the...

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Back in May of 2016, I published an article on an experimental polyculture for meeting the fertility demands of the fruits, nuts, herbs and perennial vegetables on our plot without relying on animal manures and imported compost. We called this polyculture the biomass belt. The Biomass Belt - Producing Fertility Without Manure You can find the original biomass belt article here. 4 years later we have had a chance to see how the polyculture has performed and have learned a thing or two about the way the plants interact with each other, what works and what does not. During this post, I'll be revising the design based on our observations and presenting a version of the design that appears to be working well in our polyculture market garden. I'll start with an introduction to the polyculture and the species involved and go through the design considerations, development, and management practices for this polyculture. We'll look at how the polyculture has developed in our garden and how you can purchase the plants (or seeds and cuttings) from our nursery should you wish to try growing this polyculture in your own garden. So let's start with what is the Biomass Belt What is the Biomass Belt ? The biomass belt is a simple closed system, perennial polyculture dedicated to growing mulch and fertilizer for annual and perennial crops. How does it work? The polyculture is composed of mineral accumulating comfrey in raised beds, Nitrogen fixing ground cover sown into pathways and a Nitrogen fixing hedgerow. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov The comfrey is grown in raised beds for biomass and can be cut from 4 - 7 times each year with the material being used to make liquid fertilizer or used directly as mulch. The deep-rooted comfrey mines nutrients deep in the subsoil that would otherwise wash away with the underground soil water or remain inaccessible to other plants. Some of these nutrients are relocated within the comfrey leaf and when cut and applied as mulch or converted into liquid fertilizer, the nutrients are delivered back to the topsoil again accessible to crops and other plants. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov The Nitrogen hungry comfrey is fed with the biomass from Nitrogen fixing plants, that through a partnership with soil micro-organisms can convert atmospheric Nitrogen into Nitrogen fertilizers useful to themselves, but also becoming available to neighboring plants. For more on Nitrogen fixation see here. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov The pathways between the beds are sown with a Nitrogen fixing ground cover and mown following a comfrey cut with the trimmings applied to the comfrey beds. The hedge composed of Nitrogen-fixing shrubs and fast-growing grasses running parallel to the comfrey beds, once mature, is trimmed at regular intervals (once or twice per year) with the trimmings deposited onto the comfrey beds. Each time the path vegetation and hedge are cut, root tissue underground is shed in to the soil providing significant quantities of organic matter and nutrients to the plants. In summary, the unique ability of the Comfrey to feed deep and produce copious quantities of biomass is utilized to provide nutrients to main crops whilst the pathway ground cover and hedgerow's unique ability to fix Nitrogen is utilized to provide nutrients to the comfrey. Illustration by Georgi Pavlov What follows is a design guide covering how to select a site for this polyculture, a close look at each component of the design and the species within each component, and what I hope are clear and concise instructions to build and manage this polyculture. At the end of the post you can find a summary table of the plant species, a brief description of how we have set up this polyculture in our Polyculture Market Garden and a link to purchase the polyculture from our bio nursery in plant or seed form Want to learn more about Regenerative Landscape Design? Join The Bloom Room! The Bloom Room is designed to create a space for more in-depth learning, for sharing projects and ideas, for seeking advice and discovering opportunities. Ultimately, it aims to build a more intimate, interactive, and actionable relationship between members, a way for the Bloom Room community to support each other’s projects and learning journeys, and to encourage and facilitate the design, build, and management of more regenerative landscapes across our planet. What you can expect as a member of the Bloom Room As a member of the Bloom Room you can expect; Access to an interactive forum where you can ask questions, direct what type of content you would like to see as well as share your own content and projects. Monthly live session featuring general Q&A and tutorials on design software for creating and presenting polycultures. Live session every month for members to showcase your projects, plans, designs, and gardens, with guest speakers from the community. Full Access to all of the content on Substack A 50% discounts on all of our online courses Future opportunities to join our Global Regenerative Landscape Design and Consultancy Service, with potential roles for those with the will and skill to join our design team. An opportunity to take part in the group ownership of a Regenerative Landscape. You will find more details on that here. Become a paid subscriber to our Substack to join. The annual subscription is currently $70 and the monthly subscription is $7 (monthly subscription excludes discounts for products and services) . You can join here, we look forward to meeting you! Design Considerations General - The polyculture can be situated to provide boundary hedging or subdivision hedging within a property whereby the Nitrogen fixing hedge provides a permanent living fence and the comfrey beds run adjacent to the hedge. Light demands - For optimal growth, the polyculture should be orientated along the west-east axis and be to the north of any light demanding crops to reduce shading. The plants we have selected below will grow in partial shade and on other orientations but will yield less biomass as a result. Water - Adequate irrigation is a key to healthy and productive plants. This polyculture is not well suited to semi wetlands and areas with a high water table and will not thrive in very dry areas with no access to irrigation. In dryland/climate, selecting a position for the polyculture that requires as little irrigation as possible is essential and can be achieved by planting on contour and using simple earthworks to keep rainwater around the root zones of plants. N.B. All of the plants we have included in the polyculture are drought tolerant (Trifolium repens - White Clover to a lesser extent) and will survive long periods without water once established, but will not produce high yields of biomass in these conditions. Subsoil Mining - Siting the biomass patch, specifically the comfrey beds, below compost toilets/manure piles and areas that are likely to receive nontoxic leachate will help prevent the loss of nutrients draining off-site. Proximity to crops - Consider the distance between your beds and where you need to apply the mulch or prepare and store the liquid fertilizer. If growing comfrey for mulch it probably doesn't make much sense having to haul the material over large distances. Species Selection - Species selection should take into account the following; Climatic compatibility with the site Drought tolerance Speed of growth i.e fast-growing Tolerance of hard pruning Benefits to wildlife Ground Preparation Raised beds are a major part of our fertility strategy and when managed properly overtime they retain water and nutrients very efficiently. This polyculture can include one or two 1.3 m wide raised beds for comfrey surrounded by 50 cm paths and a 70 cm wide raised bed for the Nitrogen fixing hedge. It's important never to tread on the soil of a raised bed and the above dimensions allow reach within the beds from the pathways. The bed length can be as long as best fits your site and needs. The following illustrations and photographs are based on a 10 m long section of this polyculture. Example Perennial Polyculture - The Biomass Belt - Bed Layout To form the beds the area should be cleared of all plants, best achieved in most situations by sheet mulching with ample organic matter 6 months prior to planting. Pernicious perennials such as wild brambles - Rubus fruticosus and couch grass - Elymus repens should be dug out before mulching and the soil should be forked over as deeply as possible with a strong garden fork. If you have a heavy clay compact soil it's best to double dig and incorporate plenty of organic matter (20- 40 L m2) into the comfrey beds before planting. The right shape shovel for forming paths Once you have cleared the whole area of weeds and forked it over to relieve compaction, mark out the bed shapes with string and dig out a 10 cm layer of soil 50 cm wide to create paths around the bed, applying the soil to the surface of the planting area and thereby creating a raised section of earth that will be your bed. A flat bottomed shovel is a good tool for this job. The beds with corners pegged and string attached If you are not sheet mulching, remove all weeds, fork over the beds, cut out the pathways and apply 20 L of compost per m length of the comfrey beds and 5 L to the nitrogen-fixing hedge bed. The compost should be applied to the surface and topped with a 20 cm layer of mulch. The biomass belt beds, forked over with compost and mulch applied - Photo by Trisha Franke The beds are now ready for planting and the paths for sowing. A side note when path forming - We are fortunate to have access to a stream that we can divert into the site and we flood paths for irrigation. When establishing the paths we alter the depth and gradient to facilitate the required movement of water within the polyculture. The slower the water travels along the paths the less erosion there will be. Capillary action draws the water deep into the beds and underground. Below you will find a closer look at each component in further detail based on a version of this design we have implemented in our Market Garden The Polyculture Components Nitrogen Fixing Hedge Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover Comfrey Bed 1. Nitrogen Fixing Hedge The Nitrogen fixing hedge supplies a significant biological source of Nitrogen and biomass, habitat for wildlife including a number of beneficial species, and makes an excellent living boundary/fence on the perimeter of a site or as a subdivision within a site. The hedge is composed of two species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs Elaeagnus angustifolia - Russian Olive and Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive and one the fastest-growing plants in the temperate zone Miscanthus x giganteus - Giant Miscanthus. Below is a design illustration of a mature Nitrogen fixing hedge. Planting Distances for the Hedgerow Maintaining the Nitrogen Fixing Hedge Formative Pruning and Trimming - If planting out single stemmed whips, the following formative pruning is necessary during or after planting out. Cut up to 1/3rd off from the top of the whips. The cut should be made just above a node and at a 45-degree angle. This will encourage the plant to form a multi-stemmed crown. The following year the tips of each of the multi stems can be cut again encouraging further branching. Once the plants have developed full crowns they can be trimmed to reduce width and to the desired height at least once per year. After trimming, the arisings can be raked onto the comfrey bed. The Miscanthus plants can be cut annually with the stems chopped up into 10-20 pieces and placed on the comfrey beds. The best time to trim the hedge is early winter when the comfrey is dormant and mid-summer after the comfrey has been cut. The summer cut avoids disturbing nesting birds and provides mulch during the dry season. The biomass belt in Year 4 with the hedgerow forming nicely Feeding - These plants will not require any feeding, however, mulching with a 30 cm diameter mulch mat or card/straw mulch whilst the plants are establishing for the first 2-3 years will be beneficial both in reducing irrigation needs and preventing weed competition. Irrigation - The first season after planting, irrigation should be applied when the soil beneath the mulch is dry. In the following years irrigation is only necessary during very dry summers and should be applied before the plants begin to wilt. The plants will grow much faster and produce significantly more biomass if they have a good supply of water. Native wild plants that emerge around the shrubs can be left to grow freely once the shrubs have matured and if they are not directly competing. Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes? Join us on our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course. We look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity. Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course You can find the course details here and at the moment we have a $350 ( 20%) discount for full enrollment to the course. Just use RLD2024 in the promo code section of the registration form to receive your discount. Nitrogen Fixing Hedge - Species Overview Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive Permaculture Plant - Elaeagnus umbellata Overview: A large deciduous shrub from E.Asia, growing 4.5 m high and 4.5 m wide, hardy to zone 3 (-35C) tolerates part shade, very drought tolerant. Branches are often thorny, leaves are bright green and silvery beneath. Yellowish white, fragrant flowers are produced in May-June, followed by rounded silvery brown (ripening red) fruits in Sep-Oct. Sometimes cultivated for its edible fruit. There are many named cultivars. Flowers are rich nectar and very aromatic. Plants can fruit in 5 yrs from seed. This specie is considered invasive in the U.S Uses: Edible fruit raw or cooked which is very tasty and can be made into jams, preserves etc. The fruit contains about 8.3% sugars. 4.5% protein. 12 mg per 100 mg Vitamin C. The harvested fruit stores for approximately 15 days at room temperature. It can be used as a hedge plant and tolerates maritime exposure succeeding in the most exposed positions. The nectar from the flowers is attractive to bees comprising 28% sugars. The plant is used as a nurse tree, when planted with fruit trees it is reported to increase the overall yield of the orchard by 10%. It can also be grown as a biomass crop on a 3 year rotation. Nitrogen Fixing Potential: The species is classified by USDA as being a MEDIUM nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of 85-160lbs/acre or 39-72kg/4050m² or 14g /m2. Biodiversity - The shrubs will begin to flower in the 4th or 5th year after planting and are attractive to a wide range of pollen and nectar feeding invertebrates. If you leave some fruits on the tree they provide a good source of winter food for birds. In time as the hedge thickens up with regular pruning, suitable nesting habitat will form inside the lower part of the hedge. Birds such as Wren, Chiffchaff and Robin are commonly found in dense low hedging. These birds can help to keep common vegetable pest populations low. Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. It should germinate in late winter or early spring, though it may take 18 months. Stored seed can be very slow to germinate, often taking more than 18 months. A warm stratification for 4 weeks followed by 12 weeks cold stratification can help. The seed usually (eventually) germinates quite well. Prick out the seedlings into individual pot as soon as they are large enough to handle and plant out when they are at least 15 cm tall. Planting Material – 3 year old plants will provide an instant hedge effect but can prove expensive when planting out large areas. 1st year whips are cost effective and with proper pruning and some attention during the first few years of development will quickly fill out. These plants can be grown from seed although may take up to 18 months to germinate. Once they do germinate they can be ready to plant out 7-8 months later and can starting providing good quantities of biomass within a few years. We supply Elaeagnus umbellata seeds and 1st year saplings from our plant nursery - Click here for more info. Elaeagnus angustfolia - Oleaster, Russian Olive Overview:A deciduous large shrub or small tree from Europe and W.Asia, growing approx 7m high and 7m wide. Hardy to zone 2 (-40C), tolerates part shade, salt and air pollution. It has silvery branches often thorny, with silvery scales when young, silvery willow-like leaves, silvery flowers in June and yellowish-silvery fruits ripening in October. Plants prefer continental climate. This specie is often cultivated in Europe and Asia for its edible fruits (there are many named varieties some of which are thorn less). The plants begin to flower and fruit from three years old. It is very tolerant of pruning even right back into old wood. The flowers are sweetly scented. Fruits hang on the plant for much of the winter providing a valuable source of winter food for birds. The fruit is readily eaten and disseminated by many species of birds. This species is considered invasive in the United States. Uses: Edible fruit -raw or cooked as a seasoning in soups. The taste is dry sweet and mealy. The oval fruits are about 10mm long and contain 17 amino acids with total sugars making 54%of the composition. In China they are made into a beverage Expected fruit yields are 7-9kg per plant. The seed is edible raw or cooked. The seed oil, flowers and leaves are used medicinally. Plants can be grown as a hedge in exposed positions, tolerating maritime exposure. An essential oil obtained from the flowers is used in perfumery. A gum from the plant is used in the textile industry in calico printing. Leaves are used as goat and sheep fodder. The wood is hard, fine-grained and used for posts, beams, carving, domestic items and makes good fuel. The plant is attractive to bees and is known to be grown as a biomass crop on a 3 year rotation. In Pakistan it is valued as a pollard fuel and fodder crop. Nitrogen Fixing Potential: This specie is classified by USDA as being a HIGH nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of 160+ lbs/acre or 72>kg/4050m² Propagation: Establishment and reproduction of Elaeagnus angustifolia is primarily by seed, although some spread by vegetative propagation also occurs. Cold stratification required for 30-60 days. N.B I'm not sure how the Nitrogen fixing potential of the above species are calculated and the relationship between regular pruning and N input into soils, but it's something I intend to look into further. If anybody can clarify this matter please comment below. CAUTION - These are pioneer plants, their ecological role is to take a position in disturbed sites and sites of poor fertility. In doing so they restore soil health and build fertility eventually giving way to more permanent plants. If allowed to seed these plants will quickly colonize disturbed sites such as vast areas of plowed fields that have been extensively cleared of nearly all wildlife to cater for industrial agricultural practices. Because of the tendency of these plants to establish quickly in these areas, they are often referred to, rather ironically, as noxious and invasive species. There may be some examples of these plants displacing healthy native floral communities but not that I have witnessed. It's advisable to check your local environmental agency to see whether these plants are considered invasive in your area before planting. Miscanthus x giganteus - Giant Miscanthus Overview: M. × giganteus is indeed a grass of giant proportions, forming very tall clumps of green leaves, their tips bending gracefully in layers. It grows well on marginal land and needs little fertility, it is a C4 plant, and thus exhibits greater photosynthetic efficiency and lower water use requirements than other kinds of plants. It has very low nutritional requirements – it has high nitrogen use efficiency and therefore is capable of growing well on barren land without the aid of heavy fertilization. These attributes may make this plant an excellent "grow your own" mulch option. Uses: Mulch and biomass, Used as high-quality bedding typically for equine applications. Used as a cover crop providing shelter for game birds such as Pheasants and Partridges. Capable of producing relatively high quantities of ethanol fuel from the biomass Propagation: The plants can be propagated easily from division and even from small pieces of rhizomes Planting Material: Rhizomes of these plants can be used and will establish well within a few seasons. All of these plants are available in a multipack from our online store here or as individual plants from our bio nursery. 2. Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover White Clover - Trifolium repens under the shade of a Walnut tree in our forest garden four months after sowing. A perennial Nitrogen fixing ground cover should be established quickly in the pathways and on the vertical edges of the bed to protect the soil from erosion and provide a further source of Nitrogen input to the polyculture. I have experience using White Clover - Trifolium repens for this purpose but there may be other suitable species. Sowing the Ground Cover Following digging out the pathways, slightly loosen the surface of the path with a rake and hand sow the white clover seed onto the surface of the path and into vertical edges of the beds at a rate of 0.75 g per m length of bed. Tamp down with a shovel and water with a fine head sprinkler. The seed should germinate within 5 - 6 days. The best time to sow is late April - mid-June. Keep a close eye on the emerging seedlings and irrigate when below the soil surface is dry. Keep foot traffic to an absolute minimum whilst the cover is establishing. Maintaining the Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover Once established the cover will tolerate light foot traffic, i.e, related to the management of the polyculture. If the pathway is used extensively its unlikely productive cover will establish although cover on the vertical edges of the beds will do. The pathway cover can be cut the following spring after sowing and then on each occasion after the comfrey is cut. The trimming can be emptied around the base of the cut comfrey plants. A lawnmower with a maximum width of 50 cm with a catch bag is ideal for mowing the pathways. If you mow up and down the path with one wheel on the edge of the bed in one direction and one wheel on the other edge of the bed in the other direction you can also effectively cut the bed margin growth too. Allowing some patches of the clover to flower and seed provides a good source of nectar/pollen to native bees and a bank of seed in the soil for self resowing. Nitrogen Fixing Ground Cover Species Overview Trifolium repens -White Clover Plants for Pathways - Trifolium repens - White Clover Overview: White clover is a dwarf, prostrate, mat-forming perennial that can spread via stems which freely root along the ground at the nodes. Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist soils in light shade, but tolerates full sun and moderately dry soils. Uses: White clover has been described as the most important forage legume of the temperate zones. Besides making an excellent forage crop for livestock, clovers are a valuable survival food: they are high in proteins and although not easy for humans to digest raw, this is easily fixed by boiling the harvested plants for 5–10 minutes. Dried flower heads and seedpods can also be ground up into a nutritious flour and mixed with other foods, or can be steeped into an herbal tea. The plants ability to spreads aggressively by creeping stems makes is a good ground cover plant. The plant is also used as a companion plant when undersown with cereals or tomatoes. Nitrogen Fixing Potential: The species is classified by USDA as being a HIGH Nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of +160lbs/acre or +72kg/4050m² or 18g /m2. Other sources state up to 545 kg of N per hectare per year is possible. Biodiversity: The plants provide a source of nectar and pollen for a number of native bees as well as the honey bee. Propagation: Best propagated by seed. Pre-soak the seed for 12 hours in warm water and then sow in spring in situ. Division is also possible in the spring and autumn. Planting Material: For covering an area quickly seed is the best option. We supply Trifolium repens - White Clover seed from our plant nursery - Click here for more info. 3. Comfrey Beds The comfrey beds provide copious amounts of biomass rich in Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium and many other valuable plant nutrients that the plants mine deep in the subsoil. The plants can produce 60 cm long roots that harvest these nutrients and relocate them into the plant biomass back on the surface. The biomass is used to feed crops in the garden Comfrey Patch Layout Planting out the Comfrey Patch Spacing - The plants should be spaced 60 cm apart in rows and 60 cm apart at diagonals between rows. Plant the rows 15 cm from the edge of the beds. Maintaining the Comfrey Patch Cutting - In the first year allow the plants to establish so that the roots develop well and penetrate deep into the subsoil. The following year the cuttings can begin. You can scythe the beds for a quick harvest or cut each plant individually with a pair of secateurs or hand sickle. Cut to 5 or so cm from ground level. The leaves are prickly so if you have sensitive hands wear gloves. You can cut the comfrey as the flowering stalks emerge up to 4 times a year. Allow the plants to flower at least once during the season to provide bee fodder to a range of native bees as well as Honey bees. Leave the last flush of leaves before the winter so that invertebrates can find winter shelter in the undergrowth. Feeding - After you have cut the comfrey, mow the pathways between the beds and empty the contents to the base of the comfrey plants. Any mowings from the surrounding area can be used in a similar way. As the Nitrogen fixing hedge establishes, they should be trimmed to the required height and shape with the trimmings also applied to the comfrey. This can be done once a year for the first 4 years but biannually as the hedge develops. For extra feed and to increase yields undiluted urine can be applied to the plant at a rate of approx 1L per plant twice per growing season. Urine is an excellent feed for comfrey. Irrigation - Comfrey will produce more biomass if irrigated and in dry climates it's essential to irrigate. Comfrey plants wilt very fast in hot conditions and will stop photosynthesising at this point. 20 L m2 / week should be more than adequate. The beauty of biological systems are that if they are managed correctly, each year the soil in the beds will improve resulting in less water required and higher yields. Comfrey Beds Species Overview Species - Symphytum x uplandicum - Comfrey 'Bocking 14' Permaculture Plant- Comfrey - Symphytum x uplandicum 'Bocking 14' Overview - 'Bocking 14' is a hybrid comfrey plant developed in the 1950s by an original ecotrepreneur Lawrence D Hills specifically for its ability to produce tremendous quantities of biomass. Comfrey is adaptable to many soils but prefers moist, fertile soils. Thin soils over rock will give a poor crop, but on light sands and loams, this crop will be productive if adequate nutrients are present. Comfrey productivity is not very sensitive to soil pH, but the highest yields occur on soils with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. For more on this incredible plant see a previous post Comfrey - Believe The Hype Uses - The healing properties of this herb are well renowned, making it an essential first aid plant. The beautiful flowers are highly attractive to a wide range of bees including Apis mellifera - the western honey bee. Comfrey has a long history of use as an animal feed. The leaves are best received by animals wilted. Fresh leaves can be eaten by pigs, sheep, and poultry but cattle, rabbits and horses will prefer to consume wilted leaves. Research indicates that a comfrey solution can be used to prevent powdery mildew. Pest predators such as spiders, lacewings and parasitoid wasps associate with this plant. It's best to leave some plants alone in order to sustain pest predator relationships. Uses - Mulch - Freshly cut comfrey leaves make good mulch because they're high in Nitrogen, so they don't pull nitrogen from the soil while decomposing, as high-carbon mulches like straw and leaves do. Comfrey's high potassium content makes it especially beneficial for vegetables (such as tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers), berries, and fruit trees. With adequate feed and watering, we've seen yields of 2 - 3 kg of biomass per plant per cut. Plants can be cut up to four times in a year. One of our comfrey beds before and after the first cut of 2016. Uses - Liquid Fertiliser - What I like to call "Comfert". Fill a barrel, preferably with a bottom tap and a gauze on the inside (to prevent clogging) about 3/4 full with fresh-cut comfrey and add water to fill the barrel. Cover it, and let it steep for 3 to 6 weeks. The smell from the resulting liquid is far from attractive so approach with caution :) The tea may be used at full strength or diluted by half or more. Don't apply before heavy rain is forecast as most of the nutrients suspended in the liquid will wash straight through the soil. For the best results apply the feed to your vegetables when they are in most need of the extra fertility. This will be different for each crop, for example, tomatoes are best fed when they are setting fruit and then any time during the fruiting period. Applying comfert before this can be counter-productive and make your plants more susceptible to pest problems. The black slurry at the bottom of the barrel can be dispersed evenly back over the comfrey patch. Uses - Liquid fertilizer concentrate: "Comfert Plus" can also be made by packing fresh-cut comfrey tops into an old bucket, weighing them down with something heavy, covering tightly, and waiting a few weeks for them to decompose into a black slurry. You can put a hole into the bottom of the bucket and collect the concentrate in another container as it drips out. Dilute this comfrey concentrate about 15 to 1 with water, and use as you would Comfert. You can seal this concentrate in plastic jugs until you are ready to use it. Biodiversity - The last growth of comfrey leaves can be left uncut before the winter. The leaves can provide habitat for nesting spiders and invertebrates. Allow the plants to flower at least once between cuts to provide bee fodder to a range of native bees as well as honey bees. Cutting back the flowering comfrey when neighboring crop plants are in flower will drive the pollinators to your crops, increasing the likelihood of successful pollination. Propagation - Root cuttings are the only way to propagate 'Bocking 14'. The cuttings should be grown on in small pots and planted out in the spring as soon as the first leaves emerge. Planting Material - You can plant out with crown divisions or root cuttings. A crown division is simply putting a spade through the center of a mature comfrey plant and transplanting the divided sections. I divided the crown into quarters and these established very well in the first year. Do not cut the plants in the first year in order to allow a deep root system to develop. Welcome to our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture plants, seeds, bulbs and Polyculture multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy. We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Yuu can also find our full list of trees. shrubs and herbs for forest gardens on our website here Enter Our Store Here Plants, Seeds, eBooks, Consultancy, Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree Orders for Permaculture, Polyculture, Forest Gardens and Regenerative Landscapes. Biomass Belt Overview Enki- Species List (per 10 m length) based on one comfrey bed Qty Botanical name Common name Family Hardiness USDA Layer Function N fixers 6 Elaeagnus umbellata Autumn Olive Elaeagnaceae 4a - 8b Shrub Fertility/Biomass/Polleniser Berries/Windbreak 5 Elaeagnus angustifolia Russian olive Elaeagnaceae 3a - 8b Shrub Fertility/Biomass/Polleniser Berries/Windbreak Biomass Plants 10 Miscanthus x giganteus Giant Miscanthus Poaceae 4a -9b Herb Biomass/Nesting Habitat 52 Symphytum x uplandicum Comfrey Boraginaceae 4a -9b Herb Biomass/Fertility/Polleniser Ground Cover 50 g Trifolium repens White Clover Fabaceae 4-8 Ground Fertility/Polleniser If you would like to try the biomass belt in your garden or farm you can buy all of the plants for a 10m section of the belt in our multipack from our store here. We are also offering the polyculture in seed/cutting packs that you can find here. You are also welcome to purchase the plants separately and you can find links to each species below. Just send us an email with your order. Biomass Belt Plants Elaeagnus angustifolia - Russian Olive Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive Miscanthus x giganteus - Giant Miscanthus. Trifolium repens - White Clover Symphytum x uplandicum - Comfrey The Biomass Belt in Our Market Garden Garden Overview Location: Shipka, Bulgaria, Southeast Europe ​Climate: Temperate Köppen Climate Classification - Dfc borderline Cfb USDA Hardiness Zone: 5b (conservative) - 7a (risky) Latitude: 42° Elevation: 565 m Average Annual Rainfall: 588.5 mm Prevailing Wind: NW & NE Garden Name: Aponia - Polyculture Market Garden Garden Location on our Project Map - See here The hedge of fast-growing Nitrogen fixing shrubs is planted into 70 cm wide "no tread" bed rows that run parallel to 1.30 m wide "no tread" bed rows of Comfrey 'Bocking 14'. In between the beds are 50 cm wide pathways that are sown with a Nitrogen fixing ground cover such as Trifolium repens. The biomass belt is located in the red box in the above image of our Polyculture Market Garden. The beds run lengthwise west to east with the comfrey beds on the south and the nitrogen-fixing hedge on the north. This is to maximize plant exposure to sunlight. The beds and paths are laid out on contour with the beds elevated around 10 - 15 cm above the surrounding pathways. We irrigate the beds by diverting stream water into the paths and dropping sandbags at various ends to control the level. We can raise the water level in paths to approximately 15 cm resulting in the thorough absorption of water into the bed soil. Water is drawn up towards the surface of the bed via capillary action. We produced liquid fertilizer from one of the comfrey beds for the first two years with the other bed used for harvesting comfrey root cuttings and we have harvested 1000's of cuttings from this bed. The liquid fertilizer provided a great supplemental feed for the plants in our young raised beds. As the garden beds developed overtime, soil conditions improved and the liquid feed was unnecessary. We now use the comfrey biomass to apply directly as mulch to perennial beds in the forest garden for our soft fruiting shrubs and fruit trees. All in all, we're pretty happy with how the polyculture has turned out. The area is teeming with wildlife during the growing season, the biomass production from the beds and hedge is high and the maintenance is relatively low. The hedging density could probably be halved although it would take a year or two longer to establish. we have not been irrigating the area for the last two year and Irrigation would certainly boost productivity as I've noticed in wet summers the comfrey patch is much more vigorous. we'll see in the coming years how the hedge matures and perhaps one concern may be that more trimming of the hedge facing the path may be required for ease of access. Here you can see how the polyculture has developed over the years. Support Our Project If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways. Become a member of the Bloom Room. A $70 annual or $7 per month subscription to our Substack provides you with access to live sessions, design tutorials, a members forum and more, see details here. Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Nursery or Online Store Joining us for one of our Practical Courses or Online Courses Comment, like, and share our content on social media. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :) Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants

Last month, I shared a short video featuring some hand/foot combinations using the classic Stick Control book. This application, inspired by Alan Dawson’s method, consists of the first 12…

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This up-to-date textbook fills a longstanding gap for graduate courses in chemical reaction engineering. It explores the interplay between transport processes and reaction kinetics, multiphase reactions and reactors, and optimization and reactor stability. The book includes a brief review of major concepts, describes chemical kinetics and its relation to thermodynamics and transport phenomena, and addresses reactor classification and reactor design for increasingly complex situations. It helps readers to develop the facility to apply engineering analysis to a representative spectrum of industrially important reaction engineering problems.\nFilling a longstanding gap for graduate courses in the field, Chemical Reaction Engineering: Beyond the Fundamentals covers basic concepts as well as complexities of chemical reaction engineering, including novel techniques for process intensification. The book is divided into three parts: Fundamentals Revisited, Building on Fundamentals, and Beyond the Fundamentals. Part I: Fundamentals Revisited reviews the salient features of an undergraduate course, introducing concepts essential to reactor design, such as mixing, unsteady-state operations, multiple steady states, and complex reactions. Part II: Building on Fundamentals is devoted to \"skill building,\" particularly in the area of catalysis and catalytic reactions. It covers chemical thermodynamics, emphasizing the thermodynamics of adsorption and complex reactions; the fundamentals of chemical kinetics, with special emphasis on microkinetic analysis; and heat and mass transfer effects in catalysis, including transport between phases, transfer across interfaces, and effects of external heat and mass transfer. It also contains a chapter that provides readers with tools for making accurate kinetic measurements and analyzing the data obtained. Part III: Beyond the Fundamentals presents material not commonly covered in textbooks, addressing aspects of reactors involving more than one phase. It discusses solid catalyzed fluid-phase reactions in fixed-bed and fluidized-bed reactors, gas-solid noncatalytic reactions, reactions involving at least one liquid phase (gas-liquid and liquid-liquid), and multiphase reactions. This section also describes membrane-assisted reactor engineering, combo reactors, homogeneous catalysis, and phase-transfer catalysis. The final chapter provides a perspective on future trends in reaction engineering.

What does pantsing mean? Who plots their books? Learn the answer to these questions and more when you watch our 124th episode, “Plotting vs. Pantsing - Revisited”. Join us to find out if we’ve revised our basic book writing plans.

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Full Guide : How to turn your home into a self-sufficient homestead 👉 https://homesteadingschool.com/guide

Welcome to my revisited, updated and expanded posting about how I made my very own basic sewing pattern for my beloved medieval stockings. It took me several days to put this posting / tutorial together but when I took a second look at this posting I set higher goals for myself for the final posting. 😀 My first major goal was to make sure to cover every single step of the fitting process and to add as many useful descriptions and additional information as possible. My second major goal was to make sure that everyone who is following my detailed instructions in this posting is able to make his/her own basic pattern for fitted medieval stockings. Well, I don’t want to praise myself but I think I can say that I did a really great job and hit my target goals – but please decide yourself. The posting got very long and I hope that everyone of you, who wants to fit their first own 14th century inspired medieval stockings, will find the helpful information in the following posting you are looking for. 🙂 Ohhhh… btw. – “Medieval stockings” or “women’s hose”? …that is the question, isn’t it! 😉 Some of you might know the fitted medieval stockings also under the term “women’s hose”. Well, everyone who knows me, can tell that I don’t really care about names as long as it is not a name of one of my favorite embroidery techniques. However, I never really liked the term “women’s hose” and always preferred to call them my (hand sewn) medieval stockings. I really think that “medieval stockings” sounds much more charming and comfortable than “women’s hose”. And that’s what they are – absolutely comfy! 😀 …and if you think that the pictures look familiar to you, it is definitely possible. There are various “pins” of my photos showing my legs wearing my fitted & hand sewn medieval stockings “pinned” all over pinterest. *lol* And now let’s get to the point which probably interests you the most: How I constructed my comfy and closely fitted 14th century inspired medieval stockings. Well, I admit it, this project was indeed not an easy task. And my very first try to fit a stocking pattern was an epic fail but it inspired me even more to not give up and to find a way that works… I am glad to say that I finally came up with a great fitting method and also a great medieval stockings pattern for myself. And since I developed my very first medieval stockings sewing pattern for myself, I also helped several of my friends who needed fitted medieval stockings. Once you know how to do it, the basic sewing pattern for medieval stockings can be easily fitted. 🙂 …ok, I know, you want to read more about the fitting method and my pattern now. So here we are – my revisited, updated and expanded posting for you – enjoy! 😀 How I fitted my very first 14th century inspired medieval stockings sewing pattern Already some years ago I decided to make a “women’s hose” for myself. I found several medieval patterns in some of my books as well as a pattern and instruction in the book “The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant”. Because the patterns which I found in this book and already used before were quite useful, I decided to give it a chance and to try the pattern and the instructions of the book “The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant”. Therefore I started following the instructions of the book “The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant” for the “women’s hose” on page 106. From my previous experience with the patterns from the book “The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant”, I already knew that most of its patterns needed at least a little bit of tuning and brain work to fit or work right. Therefore I first followed the instructions of the book and then did my best to adjust the pattern. But whatever I did, the pattern didn’t work or fit at all. *sigh* Well, after several tries to make the pattern work and the nagging bad feeling of a rising frustration level, I decided that I reached a dead end. Sometimes you reach a point where nothing seems to work and you just lean back, frustrated and angry, take a break and think about your next step. At this point I was quite sure that the pattern from the book “The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant”, which I used for my very first try, was the source for all of my problems. Therefore I hit the imaginary reverse button and went back to the start. Sometimes a new approach to a problem brings new luck and success. I knew that I had to reconsider the whole matter. I concluded that if the “modern” pattern from the “The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant” doesn’t work, it might bring better results to work with the extant medieval finds. Well, at least they were actually worn by real people and that implied to me that the survived “patterns” – actually the remains of real stockings – must work. …at least in principle! *lol* Therefore I decided to go back to the roots and to take a look at the medieval sources again. I knew that I had seen some great pictures of extant medieval finds of medieval stockings in my books before – I just needed to find them again. 🙂 After a short search I found several extant patterns of medieval stockings in one of my favorite source books about medieval clothing: “Textiles and Clothing, C.1150-C.1450: Finds from Medieval Excavations in London“. Btw. this book is an awesome source of inspiration for everyone who wants to know more about real medieval clothing. It has a great and very detailed section about medieval “sewing techniques and tailoring”. Furthermore it also contains valuable information about wool textiles, goathair textiles, linen textiles and more… If you have some free time and would like to read a good book about medieval textiles and clothing… You can find this book here: Amazon.com: Textiles and Clothing, c.1150-1450 (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London) Amazon.de: Textiles and Clothing, C.1150-C.1450: Finds from Medieval Excavations in London (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London) While I was relating this drawings from the book “Textiles and Clothing, c.1150-1450” of actual extant stockings to the “modern” (and not working) pattern from the book “The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant”, I found especially the picture Fig 167 – “C” on page 188 (above) and the picture Fig 168 – “D” on page 189 (underneath) very interesting and inspiring. 🙂 I could discover several major differences between the extant pieces and the not working “modern” pattern from the book “The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant”. It seemed to me like I just found the final clue to solve my whole stocking pattern mystery. 🙂 While looking at the drawings of extant stocking pieces, I realized that I had to try to fit a pattern myself. This was quite a big challenge for me at this time, I just had started experimenting with fitted dresses shortly before. But well, what is the life without a personal challenge from time to time? Without a small challenge like this I would have never tried out embroidery… But this is another story, therefore back to the stockings! *lol* Ok, I knew now that I had to fit a stockings pattern. But at least I had more hope and an extant inspiration of how a finished pattern which actually works might look like. 🙂 The fitting of the basic stocking pattern After taking a look through my fabric stash, I decided to use some rather cheap but also sturdy (IKEA) cotton fabric which didn’t stretch for my new and final stocking pattern approach. The next important questions at this point were now: What do I want? How do I get it? The answer for the first question was rather easily answered: I wanted fitted stockings, which are a little bit higher than my knee. And after some consideration, the answer for the second question was: Wrapppppppping! Yes, I had to literally wrap my leg in fabric.*lol* And because I wanted the seam to be at the backside, I had to place also the pins at the backside… So far so good – I had a goal. *lol* Therefore I took my fabric, “wrapped” it over my leg and started with the pinning. Whoever tried to fit a dress very closely, can imagine that this next step – pinning the fabric by myself – was quite tricky; or should I say pointy? 😉 However, in the meantime since I fitted my very first stocking pattern for myself, I fitted several basic stocking patterns for friends and figured out that the best way to do the pinning for the lower leg is to do it in two steps: Fitting/Pinning – Step 1 For the fitting process I recommend to get a nice amount of cheap but not too thin fabric which doesn’t stretch. Take the fabric at one of its straight and long borders. Place your hands about your thigh range apart and wrap the fabric around your leg. I highly recommend that you start your first wrapping in a little bit higher position on your leg than the point to which you want your stocking to reach. Make sure that both borders of your fabric meet at the same height at the backside of your leg, then pull the fabric backwards with your fingers and carefully place your first pin at this point. This pin should be placed as close to your skin/leg as possible – this also applies to all other pins you have to place during the fitting. The fabric should be rather tight at this place but please take care that it doesn’t restrain the blood flow in your leg. The pin and the pinned fabric – which will later become your back seam – should be located in the middle of the backside of your thigh/leg (you can control this by taking a look at the back side of your leg via a mirror). Work your fingers downwards from this first pin – always stretching the fabric from the front of your leg to the back side, placing the pins at the back while you proceed. For this work it can be helpful to imagine a line at the front of the leg. This imaginary line is starting at the middle of your highest stocking point at the front of your leg and goes down over the middle of your knee to the middle of the front part of your ankle. Always try to pull the fabric rather smooth from this imaginary line over both sides of your leg to the back, placing a pin about every 2 inch (4cm). You should also place a pin where the hollow of your knee is – it will prevent the fabric from slipping further down while you are pinning the rest of your fabric… Whatever you do after this point – please don’t bend your leg when you sit down! Been there – done it – it hurts! This is a mistake you only make once and will forever remember! 😉 Proceed with this pinning process until you get to your ankle… 🙂 As soon as you reached your ankle, we can start with the second round of pinning: Fitting/Pinning – Step 2 In this second round of fitting you need control if your back-seam is centered. All big gaps or folds at the front, back or at the sides need to be removed now. During this step you can re-pin your pins for a better fit where needed and place more pins in between the already placed pins. Try to stretch the fabric as smooth as possible over your leg. Fitting/Pinning – Step 3 Now, that your leg is nicely wrapped in fabric, we need to assure that you can get in and out of your stocking. Carefully move the pins in the hollow of your knee further to the outside until you are able to shift the pinned fabric over your knee and also over the lower leg. As soon as you can move the fabric over your lower leg, you can start with re-pinning the pins at the height of your ankle. Also here you need to place the pins a little bit further to the outside until you are able to get your heel out. When you are able to move your heel out, you can proceed with the next step. Put the fabric up on your leg again and place one extra pin back...

The Lutterloh Patterns have always used a symbols page to mark their sewing instructions and pattern pieces. We get lots of questions from users of these patterns that I hope to explain here. Here is a photo of a symbols page from a 2014 supplement of Lutterloh patterns. The most recent addition to the chart is the bottom symbol that looks like an outline of a dress form which indicates these patterns are for very slim figures. You might wonder, how slim are we talking about? I wanted to be sure so I e-mailed Frank Lutterloh of Fashion Unlimited and asked for clarification. I was told that for these patterns to be the most effective they should be used for ladies with a bust measurement of no more than 90cm. The fuller figure symbol of the dark dress form will appear on patterns that are most suitable for ladies with a bust or hip measurement of at least 110cm. The XXL system, which is a completely different system with it's own unique measuring scale, should only be used by those with a bust or hip measurement of at least 130cm. Many have found though that if they are close to the lower limit of the XXL set that the full figure patterns can work just fine with perhaps some more generous seam allowances. I am mentioning these measurements in centimeters because we should all be using the scale to draw the patterns so it's just easier to start with the number we will use on the scale. Just remember that both design ease and wearing ease are built into all the Lutterloh Patterns. I have heard that some feel the full figure patterns have less defined curves overall (more ease). This would explain why many of the FF patterns will still work for the XXL size woman yet some who fit into the XXL size range find the XXL patterns too loose. I've also noticed that the slim figure patterns have less pronounced hip curves. However, they are also narrower all over leaving less room (or ease) for much bust or hip curve. With more distinct pattern size ranges for different figure types we will find some overlap into the patterns designed for each figure type but of course the average size pattern range will fit the greater number of people. Now I'd like to address some of the FAQs that are posted as comments to our blog. Many of these can be answered with a better understanding of the symbols page. The photo above shows both a one piece and two piece sleeve. In red I have marked a notch that you could mark to indicate the top of the sleeve where it will meet the shoulder seam. For the sleeve on the right, even though there is only one cross mark to place your pin, you will cut these apart on the bold, solid lines to create two sleeve pieces. The red line I have drawn in indicates where you would mark across the two pieces, and mark notches if you like to be sure they match, before you cut them apart. Before you cut them apart you'll also want to mark the grain-line to get them the same for both pieces. If needed, to get a straight line to guide you in marking the grainline, you can draw a line across the pattern pieces at the corners where the armhole seam matches up. This line should run perpendicular to the grainline. Here is a link to a visual for this technique: http://fashion-incubator.com/how-to-find-the-grainline-on-a-sleeve/ Make sure to mark the little "v" for the front of the sleeve and add seam allowances on any Lutterloh pattern. This next photo demonstrates a fairly new symbol, added in this century, to the Lutterloh System. The red box is drawn around the straight of grain symbol sitting next to the 90° angle symbol on top of the dashed line at the waist. All these symbols grouped together tells us we should draw the grain-line perpendicular to the waist. Normally the grain-line should run parallel to the center back or center front. Frequently these pieces are placed on a fold so the grain-line is obvious. When there is no fold we need to look for other indicators to find our straight of grain. In the case of the bodice above, the green box is drawn around another example of the grain-line at a 90° angle to the waist because the side seam is not straight. On the bias cut skirt the 90° is replaced with a 45° to indicate the front and back pieces should both be placed with the straight of grain at a 45° angle to the fold or on the true bias. The bodice photo is also a good example of multiple pieces drawn from one cross mark. The front (A), the front side (AC), the front yoke (AL) and the front button placket (LL) are all drawn as one piece and then cut apart at the bold, solid lines. You would want to mark the grain-line and any notches you desire, indicated by the red lines at the princess seams, before cutting these apart. The placket has the center front marked on its outermost left line. The front yoke, placket and front bodice would all need their grain-lines marked before cutting these apart. The front side grain-line would be at a right angle to the waist. Again, be sure to add seam allowance to each piece separately. Finally, in this last photo there is no waist line to mark a 90° angle, and the center back is not placed on a fold. For these patterns you would align your straight of grain perpendicular to the bottom hem just below the arrow. There are no other symbols to indicate otherwise and the hem just below the arrow is a roughly straight line. In the case of the pants you can see the center front is marked on the fold for the fly so that could be one more line to follow along with a straight line for the crease going from the top dot to the bottom and at a right angle to the hem. As you can see there's lots of pattern information packed into those little symbols scattered all over your Lutterloh System patterns and these don't even scratch the surface of the issue of fitting. Those issues are far more personal to each user and need to be handled on a case by case basis. If there are any other symbols that are perplexing you please don't hesitate to post a comment and we'll try to explain them a little further. However, I have to say, there really is no substitute for a good, solid understanding of sewing terms and how to apply them. To that end I'll include a short list of my favorite sewing reference books. Everyone should have at least a couple of these in their library. General Sewing and Construction: Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing Vogue Sewing Bonfit - Fashion Sewing Instructions Fitting and Alterations Fitting and Pattern Alteration by Liechty, Rasband and Pottberg-Steineckert The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting by Sarah Veblen Fit For Real People by Pati Palmer and Marta Alto Fast Fit by Sandra Betzina I sure hope you've found this post useful. Keep those questions coming and happy sewing! Ann in Calif.

Timeless, comfortable, 100% linen, made in Canada, size inclusive, low maintenance, and versatile enough for any closet. That my friends, is The Philosopher ...

Pull a punto nido d'ape in 100% ecocashmere con manica raglan e girocollo scostato.I bordi a larghe coste piatte presentano spacchetti sia sul fondo che sui polsi. Maglia molto versatile, soffice e accogliente, rappresenta il nostro basico rivisitato.  Vestibilità La vestibilità è regolare e non aderente. MADE IN ITALY

The basic leggings pattern revisited and updated! With ingenious seaming (no center front seam) and a gusset and option for a contoured waistband. View A has a wide contoured waistband with hidden elastic to keep your leggings in place. View B is finished with an elastic at the waist. There are three length options: mid-thigh shorts, capri, ankle. Because it has no front seam and no side seam, it is the perfect sewing pattern for asymmetrical spandex prints. Recommended fabric: Stretch knit with stretch in the width and length and a nice recovery such as cotton spandex, nylon/spandex. Format + sizes: This is a printed paper pattern available in adult sizes US 2-22 and children's sizes US 2-13 *Note - this pattern is oversized. It may be delivered folded

Pull a punto nido d'ape in 100% ecocashmere con manica raglan e girocollo scostato.I bordi a larghe coste piatte presentano spacchetti sia sul fondo che sui polsi. Maglia molto versatile, soffice e accogliente, rappresenta il nostro basico rivisitato.  Vestibilità La vestibilità è regolare e non aderente. MADE IN ITALY

October 29, 2018 She enjoys peace and quiet. Solitude. A chance to curl up and read, or go for a long walk… When she went to the resort in January, everybody thought she was crazy. But she knew that it would be beautifully deserted and melancholy, in the best possible way! She enjoyed that trip […]