Harvest
Harvest
Thomas Lloyd
Thomas Lloyd
How do you think permaculture can be used to make harvesting more efficient?
How do you think permaculture can be used to make harvesting more efficient?
You already know how to design the right space according to the principles of permaculture. This reading material will discuss organizing harvesting and using the resulting products most effectively. Permaculture is not only about the environment but also about every element of the system. For example, a separate sustainable permaculture design can be developed for beehives. In this case, sustainable means not only made in an environmentally sustainable way and with materials but also easy to use and durable since permaculturists often have other occupations and cannot spare much time. If something is easy to use, people are more likely to buy it and use it for years.
Flow Hive is a wonderful example of a product developed with permaculture principles. The authors of the device are Australian father and son, Sidr and Stewart. It all started when Sidr became concerned that the current honey collection process was too time-consuming and inefficient. As a solution to the problem, they created Flow Hive. It was launched in 2015 and became Indigo's most funded project. In just 6 weeks, $16.9 million was raised, and in the first two months, they sold 51,000 hives in 130 countries.
The video below is a crowdfunding video made back in 2015.
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The advantages of Flow Hive are:
  • Honey collection is less disruptive to bees
  • There are no heavy parts, no sticky surfaces
  • Collecting honey does not make bees aggressive
  • It is possible to enjoy different flavors of honey because the different cells can be removed separately
  • There is no need to open the hive and risk the lives of the bees

The Flow Hive hives start at five hundred dollars.
Although The Flow Hive has been very active in fundraising, it is not necessary to have a lot of financial resources to develop technologies or inventions. Max Yegorov is a lawyer living in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He thought of an interesting way to upcycle plastic bottles, as a result of which comfortable beehives are obtained. Like the flow hive, Max's hive causes minimal interference to the life of the bees.
The Flow Hive hives start at five hundred dollars.
Although The Flow Hive has been very active in fundraising, it is not necessary to have a lot of financial resources to develop technologies or inventions. Max Yegorov is a lawyer living in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
He thought of an interesting way to upcycle plastic bottles, as a result of which comfortable beehives are obtained. Like the flow hive, Max's hive causes minimal interference to the life of the bees.
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It is remarkable that many plants that we consider weeds have medicinal properties. Following the permaculture, lifestyle is also about creating your own medicine when possible.

Robin Greenfield is an activist and philanthropist trying to lead sustainable development efforts. He carries out various sustainability challenges, trying to draw people's attention to important environmental issues.
One of the last challenges he organized was to find his own food and medicine from nature for a month. He wanted to teach people which weeds are beneficial and how to use them in the most sustainable way possible.
To start identifying the medicinal weeds growing in your area, download the google photos app to your phone. Whenever you come across a weed, take a picture of it and use the Google app to identify it. The adjacent video explains how to use the program for this purpose. Once you know the name of the plant, look for information on its medicinal and nutritional properties. Never taste a plant unless you are absolutely sure what it is.
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Some herbs grow only in a specific season. And what if you need it in the cold winter? Kaylee lives in Virginia, USA, and with her family, she created a permaculture pharmacy where all the necessary medicines are stored. In their pharmacy, for example, they store propolis medicine, which bees produce from tree resin and use to repair the hive. In the attached video, Kaylee explains how to store the medication and where it can be used.
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What methods of preserving food are you familiar with?
  • Food can be stored for 20+ years
  • No refrigeration or preservatives required

Since these devices are quite expensive, people in communities often buy them together and dry their permaculture crops together. The following video will introduce you to this method.



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The most common methods of preserving food are canning or freezing. Unfortunately, these methods have their drawbacks.
Food stored this way usually loses its nutritional value. Furthermore, various ingredients may contain sugar, salt, or artificial preservatives that can only be stored for a few months or years.
A lesser-known method is freeze drying, which is the best way to preserve permaculture crops. This is also how astronauts on the International Space Station keep food fresh.

The main advantages are:
  • No or little chemical change in the food
  • Minor physical changes
  • Food retains its nutritional value






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Another way to preserve food is to dry it:
  • you can dry it in the sun, on a gas stove or just hang it in the room
  • you can store dried food in glass containers
  • you can dry greens, flowers, seeds, berries, vegetables, even grilled vegetables, smoked and canned vegetables.


For example, you can dry berries, make a powder from them and use it all year round in desserts or as a spice.
Some important tips for food storage
Avoid getting air in the container
It is recommended to process the containers well in boiling water/gas cooker/dishwasher before canning.
Use glass containers because they are safe for health, easy to wash and reusable.
Use seasonal and local produce
Growing various plants also helps increase biodiversity, which in turn, makes the ecosystem more resilient. Even if pests destroy one species, only one crop will be available. The growing period of plants can also be extended by covering them and protecting them from frost or growing them in a greenhouse.
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Preserving crops is one way to have food all year round. It is also possible to extend the time during which the plants are able to grow. This is done by planting a variety of seeds. For example, some vegetables can survive under snow, which allows harvesting to be organized in winter.

Different varieties of the same plant may also have different harvest times. There are grades that arrive at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. If you plant all three types of cherries, you will get a harvest from May to September.
What did you learn, what permaculture methods are there to efficiently organize the harvest?
Discussion 5: preparatory task
Complete the task before discussion 5 and come ready for the discussion.

1. Identify the trees and plants in your school area by marking them on the map and including their names (use the Google Photos application to find out the names of unfamiliar plants). Send your map work to the trainer in chat at least 24 hours before the meeting.

Also, think about these questions:
1. What plants, vegetables, and fruits do you like to eat?
2. If you grow plants, vegetables, and fruits yourself, for what purpose will you grow them: economic/sales, nutritional value, and health, or landscaping/biodiversity?