As it all really winds down here, I’m looking forward to 2009, which kicks off with a bang for me. In January the Center for Sustainable Living holds its quarterly board meeting (of which I am a member). Then two weeks later, NOFA-NY holds its conference Meals Without Wheels here in Rochester. A bunch of my permie cohorts have threatened to descend on the area and my living room floor for the event.

Beyond that, I’ll be starting up a business using the Greenerminds brand, so expect a bit of a redesign in the next few weeks. The blog will keep on keeping on, but may be off to the side a bit. I plan to offer ecological design services such as edible landscaping, rainwater systems, farm redesign consulting, learning materials, permaculture training and workshops.

I’m also starting to talk up the idea of doing a Transition Town project in Honeoye Falls. I saw the handbook at the local Barnes and Noble, and asked for it for XMas, but I’ll be a proud owner, one way or the other, by the time the new year hits.

The greenhouse still stands, although a little worse for wear as we had a few inches of heavy snow last week, which popped one of the PVC pipes out of the ridge pole. Nevertheless, it still stands, and I patched it up this morning with a little duct tape. Inside, I’ve got a cold frame set up, giving me theoretically 2-3 extra hardiness zones. On Sunday I planted early purple garlic, so I’m still gardening well into December. I ordered some hardy cold-season greens which I hope to start indoors middle of next month and get set out in the cold frame by March 1. That would essentially create an 11 month growing season for me, rather than the usual 7-8 months.

I wanted to summarize some of the accomplishments for the year as it’s getting to be that time.

• Got my Permaculture certificate
• Started teaching Permaculture
• Sheet mulched and swaled half my garden
• Started seriously composting kitchen scraps
• Set up seed starter area in the basement
• Taught an herb spiral workshop at SWAN
• Pulled out all the heinous yews around the house
• Put in a stone wall around part of the front of the house
• Planned the fence for next year
• Grew decent amounts of lettuce, tomatillos, brocolli and carrots and had tiny, first time successes with apples, strawberries and melons
• Attended the Northeast Permaculture Convergence in July
• Read a lot
• Put up a Moodle with Permaculture course materials
• Cleared out the herb bed to revitalize it next year
• Installed several trees, shrubs, bamboo and added lots of new perennials

So that, I would say, was a pretty good and productive gardening year! Next year: fences, greenhouse, rainwater system, pond or two and CHICKENS!

Another goal is to start up the business side of things, so look for a facelift here at Greenerminds in the next couple of months. And don’t forget about the NOFA-NY conference right here in Rochester, January 23-25.

[UPDATE 12/24]: The greenhouse didn’t last much beyond this date. We’ve had two feet plus of snow since then and the thing collapsed into a plastic, duct tape and PVC heap. So I think I’ve come to the end of the PVC pipe-dream and will be building with wood going forward. I’ll post my designs here once I have something that actually makes it through a season!