Libsyn Directory

Floating Wetland Gardens In Pantry Ponds For Resilience, Function and Yield Stacking ~Epi-079

Release Date: 04/29/2024

The Sovereign Homestead

If you're seeing this in your podcast feed it means our first child has either arrived or is very nearly earthside! Sammy and I greatly appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and good vibes in this time. The podcast will be on an indefinite (though hopefully relatively short) break, while we welcome our first child into the world and find our feet as new parents. Thank you all for listening and keep shining your light. -Casey & Sammy (and Tater) ____________________________________________________________________________ WHAT I DO: Create Resilient Habitats Where People And Ecology Thrive...

Floating Wetland Gardens In Pantry Ponds For Resilience, Function and Yield Stacking ~Epi-079

The Sovereign Homestead

Floating wetlands are a "new" old technology that is well worth looking into if you are doing aquaculture at just about any scale - from small backyard tanks a few hundred gallons in size, on up to multi-acre ponds and lakes. Floating wetlands take the essential functions provided by wetlands and concentrated them into a smaller and more mobile footprint. Wetlands are the kidneys of the landscape, and floating wetlands amplify many of those beneficial functions, such as: Integrated wetland (edge) functionality into an open water body = excess nutrient removal and water clarification Increased...

Opt In To Nature To Opt Out Of The System(s) ~Epi-078

The Sovereign Homestead

What do we mean when we say we want to "opt out" of the system? Firstly, it's the system(s) - the means of production, transport, communication, value transmission etc that we have to interface with to acquire the things we need to live in the modern world. In general, the further the distance a product or service must travel and the more technology involved means you will have less control over how to source it, how much you pay for it, when (and if) it is available etc. If it is produced or provided closer to home you have more agency in how you obtain that product or service and it is more...

Designing For LIGHT At Every Level - Patterns For Incorporating Natural Light Into The Built Environment ~Epi-077

The Sovereign Homestead

Light is an essential human nutrient. So much of our modern built environment is built without regard to orienting and integrating natural light, and our health - physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and communal - suffers for it. The good news is that you can design your structures (or retrofit them) to bring natural light back into them and create buildings and places within them that support human thriving because they are well integrated with natural light. Join me for a dive into the patterns of human habitation design that enhance our relationship with light from Christopher...

Zone 0 Pattern Language Fundamentals - Designing Your Permaculture Kitchen ~Epi-076

The Sovereign Homestead

Join me today as we discuss designing functional kitchen spaces that people want to be in. Lots of people are inheriting kitchens designed more for magazine covers than for function - and where there is a lack of function there is a concommitant increase in friction, which means more stress and less joy. Kitchens are the Zone 1 of Zone 0 - Zone 0 referring to the space inside the home. Kitchens are the heart of human life - communion over shared food, shared work, a space for being together, conversing, and generally connecting over the daily activities that make up life. Poorly designed...

Building Freedom And Community In The REAL Private Sector - Real World Applications For Private Membership Associations with Joshua Longbrook ~Epi-075

The Sovereign Homestead

Today I interview Joshua Longbrook on real world applications of Private Membership Associations for creating systems of support - i.e. the parallel society - outside the jurisdiction of the public (State dominated) sphere. We'll cover what PMAs are, what protections they do and do not offer, how they are best utilized as extensions of a larger unincorporated Church, and the types of voluntary interactions they enable within and between local communities. We'll also get into Josh's personal experience with running the Agora Food Club and how the structure has enabled many home-scale producers...

Sovereign Water - Spring Development Basics ~Epi-074

The Sovereign Homestead

Today's show is for those of you lucky enough to have a spring on your property. We will cover the basics of spring morphology and function - including the way I really think they work vs. what the textbooks say - and then we'll go over basic spring assessment criteria, and the main components of spring water collection and distribution systems. Show Resources Past Spring Projects YouTube - Technical Manuals Springs - Their Origin, Development And Protection, Taylor, G.H., U.S. Dept. Of Interior Geological Survey. [PDF]: Basic Ground Water Hydrology - Water Supply Paper...

Debt, Wealth & Counter-Economics As A Means To Create A World Worth Inheriting ~Epi-073

The Sovereign Homestead

How do we create a regenerative economy and all that entails when that work is arbitrarily outlawed, suppressed or actively disincentivized by the value systems that dominate our current culture? HINT: We have to step outside of the current imposed power structure - no permission required. My presupposition for this episode is this: Mainstream, state sponsored and enforced economic theory and practice has herded humanity as a whole onto a degenerative trajectory with respect to environmental integrity, social cohesion and individual well-being. We are living in a debt-driven world - stealing...

Grow Food, Fodder, Fences And Forts For Cheap With Livestaking ~Epi-072

The Sovereign Homestead

Today's episode is a short primer on live staking - what it is, how it works, what its good for, what types of species you can use to do it, and how to harvest, prepare and plant your live stakes. If you have perennially moist soils in need of stabilization, or are able to irrigate certain areas to ensure adequate soil moisture for establishment, you can plant hundreds of trees for pennies per stem and create living structures that provide many layers of function while getting stronger over time! Livestaking is a great way to establish living fences, plant and grow living structures, stabilize...

As Within So Without ~Epi-071

The Sovereign Homestead

As within so without. If we want to see changes in our external world (i.e. regenerating landscapes and ecosystems), we have to first address our internal state. The older I get and the more I learn, the less I can say I know for sure. This, though, is one of those things that I've arrived at as being one of those "indivisible kernels of truth" - something solid and constant upon which I can build a foundation for regeneration. The external state of our landscapes is a direct reflection of our own internal states. This has always been true in every consultancy I have ever done. This is...

More Episodes

Floating wetlands take the essential functions provided by wetlands and concentrated them into a smaller and more mobile footprint. Wetlands are the kidneys of the landscape, and floating wetlands amplify many of those beneficial functions, such as:

Integrated wetland (edge) functionality into an open water body = excess nutrient removal and water clarification
Increased biomass production = more habitat and more food for livestock, wildlife and humans
More "optimized edge" without reducing storage volumes in ponds
Shade - decreases water temps, reduces algal growth potential by reducing light in the water column
Shelter - fish shelter underneath and amongst the hanging roots
- some systems even have protected fish spawning beds hung underneath the island
Shoreline protection / floating breakwaters - if wave erosion is a thing in your pond, consider a chain of floating islands to reduce wave action and protect vulnerable edges while also creating a highly-valuable living filter element
Habitat Creation - floating islands contain so much edge in such a small space, they inevitably create habitat for many forms of life - from the micro (biofilms) to the macro (water fowl and fish) and everything in between.
Waste water treatment - floating rafts with nutrient-accumulating vegetation are utilized to clarify and treat sewage effluent

Floating gardens are great for the homesteader as well. They are self-watering (obvious, but worth mentioning), benefit from increased sunlight availability to crops (light reflected off the water's surface to crop plants on the island), pest protection (no burrowing or terrestrial garden pests are going to make it to your floating garden - unless you've got Navy SEAL gophers!). They make excellent floating hutches for water fowl. Some folks have experimented with adding solar lights, fans and wheedwhackers to create nocturnal fish feeders by attracting insects and knocking them into the water for the fish to eat.

There are many ways to make floating islands - from DIY to pre-made - this would make an amazing summer time home-school project - construction, design, aquatic ecology, observation, nature time...talk about stacking functions!

Show Resources