Thought on Harvest Extension with a Structure

I am having a great time with the art and integration of this structure to a garden design. Too bad I will have to fence it off as soon as it is planted. I have plans to cover it this fall for harvest extension and plant fall spinach to over winter and over cold tolerant crops. Even better would be to have the center dug down 3-4 feet for more thermal mass. It could even be sculpted or terraced from the North to face South.

Front loaded complexity takes the stress off the participants.

The more we use complex systems that are fully utilized and supported via resource partitioning and integrated ecological services, the less the participants be they plant, animal, or human, have to compensate with their own. Can a system be self managed? Integrated Diversity allows for each component to reduce stress on the others.

Like plants that are rooted, people needed to be assigned or accept a place to work/live that suits them. They also need to be surrounded by the efforts of others for moral and physical support. This increases fitness, the ability to cope with change, and builds shared resources. Proximity is key to all this, relative to the landscape. How many other competing systems do you have to cross to connect with your group? How much energy is used keeping the connections viable? Cooperating locally within a small area for physical needs reduces physical and environmental stress, while expanding intellectual resources beyond physical boundaries insures diverse and broader sources of intelligent information.

A plant's resources are localized except for new information which may come from afar in the form of pollen (keeping in mind some plants are self-fertile and rarely accept new information). Unlike plants we are instantly effected by the pollination of new information. It does not have to wait for the next generation seed to develop the traits and increased or decreased fitness. Our mind and bodies can instantly react to the acceptance of new information and improve our environment, nutrition, health, and fitness.

New information can change beliefs and create a physical response, but only for the receptive that can respond.

This April we will be installing 4 Mandala gardens. 132 opportunities to redefine gardening. This is totally new information to most all of them, but as you can see the human-centric design that incorporates beneficial habitat and partitioned resources will also create a new gardener and integrated garden community.

Pears, everyone needs a couple trees.

2011 Blizzard not that long ago

Windows as Heaters

With energy modeling tools now available to architects combined with the latest in window technology new homes for cold climates can now be designed to significantly reduce the energy needed to heat the home by leveraging freely available solar heat gains. In essence, while the sun is out windows can heat your home even when temperatures are well below zero.

The most advanced windows are being manufactured in Europe with some manufactures in Canada coming close in performance. These advanced windows combine an insulated frame, glazing that allows a high percentage of solar heat to enter the home - high Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC), and air tightness.

Single panes of clear glass allow around 85% of solar heat to pass through. However the early single pane windows were little better than a hole in the wall in preventing heat from escaping from the interior of the house. As factory production became more sophisticated and glass coating technologies were invented the capacity of windows to prevent heat from escaping was greatly improved. Sacrificed in this development though was the glass’ ability to allow solar heat to pass through reducing the SHGC to around 30%. This is still true for the majority of domestically manufactured windows.

Roughly speaking the European manufactured windows from countries like Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have twice the insulation value, allow twice the amount of solar heat gain, and maintain more air tight seals. All these qualities are particularly important for energy efficient buildings in cold climates. Installing the latest in window technology in new construction in cold climates should be considered a conservation measure and given higher priority over adding renewable energy systems.

The House the Land Built

The House the Land Built
2x2 No. 4 presents the journey of two high school sweethearts who, after 26 years of marriage, are transitioning from Minneapolis city life to 60 acres of restored prairie on bluffs overlooking the Whitewater River in Southeastern Minnesota. Locus Architecture clients Linda Nelson and Michael Larsen share their transformative experience navigating everything from material reclamation centers, composting toilet manuals, energy cost spreadsheets and meetings with off-the-grid gurus. They'll explain how a transcendent connection to their land inspired it all.

Saturday February 26, 2011, 7:30 pm
Locus Architecture Studio, 1500 Jackson St. NE, Suite 333, Minneapolis
Bring 2 guests to make your own 2X2! RSVP before Monday, February 21st to secure a spot adam.bradley.jonas@locusarchitecture.com

Planning Little Earth Keyhole Garden Plots

 Placement by size , harvest frequency, and compatibility.  Setting our life size plan out helps define spaces and previsions the summer feast.
Seen in these images is LEUT garden farmer Dawn Segura.  All plants are open pollinated from Seed Savers, High Mowing Seeds, or Native Harvests.