Welcome Dana...

Dear Dana,
I'm new to this forum also. Permaculture is a favorite topic of mine along with wildlife & Butterfly garden.

ALberto1444

I am also new. I found a copy of Permaculture 2 at a used book store and I'm slowly reading it (lots of concepts to wrap my mind around). I got interested in energy-wise house design 20 yrs. ago so this is familiar. Also- just lost a tree in my yard and had to replace it for shade as summers here are very hot. Luckily I had an idea to plant something that will feed my family and pets so I am putting in a tiny fruit orchard along with taller trees to shade more of the roof and keep the house cooler. Once I get the bareroot trees in, I'll put in herbs, some veggies and strawberries as groundcover. My son keeps fancy rats which provide us with plenty of manure/bedding for the compost pile along with green waste from the kitchen. My goal for now is fewer ornamentals and more edibles from my garden, hopefully so I can spend less money on food (and get better quality). It's on a small lot in a suburb of Los Angeles so chickens, and livestock are out of the question; riding stables are close by for more manure though. I'm having a good time with this so far and I'm looking forward to learning more from others experiences.