JOURNEY INTO REGENERATIVE DESIGN
PLACE
About The Petal
The intent of the Place Petal is to realign how people understand and relate to the natural environment that sustains us. The built environment must reconnect with the ecology of place and the unique characteristics found in every community so that story can be honored, protected and enhanced. The Place Petal clearly articulates where it is acceptable for people to build, how to protect and restore a place once it has been developed, and how to encourage the creation of communities that are once again based on the pedestrian rather than the automobile. In turn, these communities need to be supported by a web of local and regional agriculture that encourages the consumption of local, fresh and seasonal food.
Restoring the Land
This is a photo of the orchard and its only remaining fruit trees taken after we moved in September 2020. Historically, our parcel was used as a sheep ranch and prior to that, a dairy farm, likely using practices that degraded the grasses and topsoil. Currently our sandy loam soil is populated with annual grasses, lacks organic matter and is subject to erosion from wind and stormwater.
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In late 2020 we started trucking in compost and mulch - now well over 200 cubic yards and counting - to spread around the base of existing fruit trees and to support new trees, shrubs and flower beds. Jason has a Permaculture Design Certificate from Occidental Arts & Ecology Center and he is applying permaculture principles in order to build a food forest. Mulching increases soil organic matter and retains moisture. Trees, shrubs and perennial plants provide us with food while stabilizing the soil. Flowers attract pollinator insects. As of now we have nearly 100 fruit and nut trees and fruiting shrubs, most of them still young.
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With financial and technical support from Point Blue Conservation Science and the California Wildlife Conservation Board, we have accomplished several new ecological enhancements. In fall of 2024, we installed a native plant hedgerow totalling nearly 800 feet on the east and west sides of the property.
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Additionally, about one third of the property in the north is being restored to Oak Savanna which is the original pre-colonial ecosystem of our area: perennial grasslands dotted predominantly with a variety of oak species as well as pine, manzanita and various berry-producing shrubs. We planted more than 20 new oak seedlings representing 8 different native species, about half of which were donated by the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation nursery.
In May 2025, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation agreed to help us extend our pollinator-supporting native plant hedgerow on the property's north side border, which we will complete in Fall 2025.
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Currently, we are installing a drip irrigation system to support the new hedgerow, two dozen existing (and often drought-stressed) Redwood trees and our future raised bed vegetable gardens (made from reclaimed redwood decking).
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Permanent Preservation of Land
To comply with the LBC we must sponsor the permanent preservation of land equivalent to the size of our project area, using an approved land trust organization. Alternatively, project members can volunteer 100 hours in support of the mission of an organization that engages in ecological restoration and land management, We will be volunteering for a local, non-profit organization called Point Blue Conservation Science.
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Our "garden" in 2020
About three years later
Farming
In the future, 20% of our land will be dedicated to farming. We are extending the orchard by planting more fruit and nut trees across the south side of the property. Raised vegetable gardens will be put north of the house, close to the kitchen.
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In 2023 we partnered with the owners of a small and local meat producer called Fox Sparrow Farm to host their sheep for rotational grazing in our pasture (see photo).
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In 2025, we are constructing a chicken run to house our new coop which will host 4 egg-laying hens.
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Several horses will live on the property in paddocks. Very limited, rotational grazing will allow the horses to stretch out but keep the horses from degrading the grasslands.
Reduce Transportation Impact
In the beginning of 2021, we bought an electric car. We try to only use the electric car and minimize the use of a second gas-powered hybrid car. We are also working from home as much as possible to further reduce our transportation impact.