Nick Tittle  gave this class on Saturday the 18th in the back room of the Charleston Horicultural Society (in the shopping center next to Earthfare). Nick was a good teacher, he covered a variety of information.
     This permaculture session included:
history and ethics
principles
sustainable design methodology
patterns in nature, culture, and society
food forests, plants guilds and polycultures

"Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." --Bill Mollison (co-founder of permaculture).

On the way to the Community Garden I stopped at a park to watch the geese and ducks because I was too early.

I drove back for the 0930 class, there were almost 20 people there. Only a few permies, a variety of Gardeners, teachers, and others. More people came then I was expecting. After the class, we transplanted some starters. I planted some basil but had to stay away from the peppers. We weeded and learned about the different plants and the history of the Community Garden. We moved around the water storage tanks
After the finishing the work, we had a potluck lunch at around 1230. It was good, as well as the companionship. They meet up every 2nd Saturday the work on the garden, I'll have to go back and help more often.

I'm continuing to work on my raised beds. I just added dirt to my compost in place beds (leaves, pine straw, pine cones and branches). So far I have two large beds, this box, 2 potato boxes and multiple containers.

I bought composted garden  soil from Bees Ferry Landfill, Home Depot and Lowes. On Wednesday there was a huge sale and I bought 40 dollars worth of composted garden soil to help cover the rest of my first and second raised beds and most of a flower bed along the front porch.

 This weekend I planted multiple store bought and home sprouted plants. Now I have a variety of flowers and vegetables and am starting more. This is my inventory so far: dwarf tomatoes, bush tomato, cherry tomato, avocado tree, lemon tree, celery leeks, green onions, white onions, carrots, curled parsley, asparagus, cabbages, lettuce, broccoli, heirloom yellow squash, cucumber, white potatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydew melons, american dock (plantain), mint, a variety of flowers, succulents, ground cover and ornamental grasses.

Yesterday me and a friend went to an Edible Plant Nature Walk. We walked around the West Ashley Demo Garden across from the U.S. VEGETABLE LABORATORY 2700 SAVANNAH HIGHWAY
Charleston SC 29414. Vaughn, the guide, talked about many of the plants growing at the Demo Garden and the wild spaces in the fields around them.
The funny thing was that the two guides were the only men there, everyone else was women or children. After the walk, we chatted for a while and age lunch. Everything we ate was from edibles gathered at the site as well as some deer sausage that Vaughn brought. The salad was great, especially the edition of the huge thistle stalk that we found on the way back.

I am currently watching a webinar about why you should buy, raise and save seeds as part of your survival preparedness. Last year I helped Kickstart a program for Fruition Seeds in Naples adn Branchport, New York. They grow and sell heirloom seeds, guaranteed GMO free.
I am preparing my garden right now to plant my first crop from these seeds. I would have started earlier, but we have been having crazy weather. This is a work in progress, I am  building raised beds in my backyard and they are constantly under improvement. Right now I need to get compost and dirt to cover them.

I went to a wonderful conference called Fruitmania at Cypress Gardens last Saturday.

I had a good time. There were many good speakers, presentations, as well as plants and books to buy.

Everyone got a chance at various door prizes and got to vote on the best jelly/jam presented for blind taste testing.

I will definitely go again next time. It was well worth the money and my time.

I so happy, I paid for this Kickstarter last year and the rewards finally came in. I was able to order 50 seed packets worth $200 for only $2.95  shipping. I will start planting these in the spring. I need to get another greenhouse and make more raised beds so I can start growing my crops. I can't wait until I have plants I've grown to can and add to my slowly building food storage.

I will finish my rain barrel tomorrow, so will have a supply of water for my plants without affecting my water bill. I will gradually get more barrels, but need to keep within my budget to build up my savings.

In other news, I just sold my first book on my Amazon store, The Lord of Greenwich, I'll mail it tomorrow. I also will start my new job with DAV Force as an auto mechanic on the Charleston Naval Weapon Station.

I am working on a variety of projects for Etsy and to bring to the Mace convention in NC, next month. I have been painting figures and designing numerous other objects for both venues listed above. 
I will post pictures when finished.
I am also clearing space for another raised bed by chopping down another azalea bush that is overrunning its bed. I have found an annoying ivy like vine that has killer thorns as a defense, on numerous bushes. They leave a wicked wound. I thought it looked  nice, until it bit me.

I'm watching a webinar by Marjory Wildcraft, she is talking about growing your own crops. She says to start small and then work up.

I just wish that the sound was better, her voice was a bit garbled. She talked about a book from the 70s, that is still in use today. 12 beds for food crops, 28 beds for compost crops, using a 40 bed 100' square garden.

Today we went to West Ashley because someone on Freecyle was giving away plants from her yard that she had too much of. I helped dig up: elephant ferns and canna lilies, liriope, and a few other types.

When I got home I was able to transplant most of them except the liriope and mondo grass. While preparing an area for the ferns, I found some bricks under the surface near the fence. I used it to fence off the canna lilies in a back corner of the yard.

While digging holes for the canna lilies, I was startled by a loud buzzing in front of me. I thought that it was a bee, but when I looked it was a female rainbow scarab beetle, I tried to get a picture but it flew away first. Too bad, I have one of the male that I saw last month, hopefully they'll breed in my yard.

I'll post pictures tomorrow.