Permaculture and Passive solar greenhouses in Ulaanbaatar (Day 21)

Note: All photos on this post are Copyright Pierre Thiriet 2010 and appear with permission of Pierre Thiriet.

Met with Anne Randall today, Agronomist/Technical Advisor at the French NGO Group for the Environment, Renewable Energy and Solidarity (GERES - pronounced 'jheh-rehz', not 'Gee-reez' - it's French after all!) to compare notes and share information between projects.

It's one of the simplest, most important things an NGO can do - share information with other NGOs working in the same area - so that learning curves can be accelerated (mistakes don't have to be made twice if shared), and projects can grow to flourish and complement each other.  Based upon our meeting today and the information shared from both sides, the potential for this to occur between the GERES and ADRA projects is significant.

Photo: GERES Research & Development Center in Ulaanbaatar.

GERES are the good folks that brought us the Passive Solar Greenhouse design in Ladakh which have achieved year-round vegetable production down to minus 25C at approximately 3,000 meters above sea level (and which we modeled during the Permaculture Design Training for the classes on passive solar greenhouse design).

Anne picked up on theGreenBackpack doing further research for her current project, which is to develop & implement a passive solar greenhouse design which can achieve year-round production in Mongolian conditions (illustrating, by the way, another permaculture principle: Multifunction, in which this daily log also functions as an informational resource, a networking tool, and a historical record for future volunteers and aid/development workers to build upon in Mongolia).

Since operating in Mongolian conditions from only August of last year, GERES has already achieved a 3-seasons greenhouse design, using a double-layered, concrete block / brick clad walls insulated with polystyrene (floor must be insulated too), single-sheet polyurethane plastic sheeting (imported from Korea, expected 2-year lifespan), a reflective 'solar blanket' type insulative layer for nighttime, and specially calculated steep-angled 'glass' (plastic) wall to maximize solar gain for Mongolia's latitude.

Photo: GERES 3-Season Greenhouse in Ulaanbaatar.

We shared and discussed challenges, mistakes, and lessons learned about our respective projects, and spent the next two hours brainstorming possible solutions for achieving year-round production within the greenhouse in Monoglian conditions.  Here's a quick list of some of the solutions we came up with:

• Build coldframes within greenhouses to create an even warmer microclimate within the coldframe.
• Use repurposed waste plastic bottles as inexpensive, readily available and durable cloches within the greenhouse to protect seedlings.
• Explore plastic bottle wall construction options for 'glass' wall to create 'double-glazing' effect with air tapped inside bottles.
• Re-using plastic bottles could help keep plastic out of waste stream (and prevent them from being burnt as winter fuel).
• Improved ger stove design will decrease pressure on fuel requirements and the family budget.
• Build root cellar under ger/house to maximize heating/cooling efficiency and security (root cellar must be dug deep enough to perform effectively).
• Household heating system could potentially be extended to heat root cellar and/or greenhouse.
• Establish windbreak/suntrap behind north wall using  fast-growing Populus laurifolia (Laurel-leafed poplar)  + Caragana (Siberian peashrub) species (keeping harsh Mongolian winds off greenhouse could help increase heat retention).
• Organic matter dropped from living windbreak can then be used to build soils within the greenhouse and hasha.
• Organic matter dropped from living windbreak can be used as cover material for pit latrines, for potential future use as 'humanure' (not currently culturally appropriate) .
• Build hot compost heaps (using dungs (such as chicken or goat) which are not used for fuel) inside the greenhouse to add heat biologically and relieve potential conflicts on precious 'fuel'-dungs.
• Chickens could be a valuable addition to a small-scale-intensive, passive solar greenhouse system, conditioning and building soil during winter season in a 3 or 4-season greenhouse, providing nutritionally and financially valuable eggs from March - October, plus meat and/or more chickens when needed.
• Drip-irrigation systems maximize water efficiency and increase thermal mass within greenhouse.
• Human urine from households can be diluted into drip-irrigation system to be used as a free and safe liquid fertilizer (provided all members of household are healthy).
• Raised beds within greenhouse make management and harvesting easier; line paths with dark rocks to increase thermal mass.
• Use planting guilds to maximize production from small-scale-intensively farmed space.
• Plant potatoes in stacks to maximize production and create more space for other crops.
• Cucumbers, squash, and other climbing/rambling crops can be trained up walls or across roofs to maximize growing space for other crops. 
• Alfalpha, oats, or a native 'green manure' species (such as vetch) can be planted around hasha perimeter to help build soils within hasha walls (and provide backup animal fodder).
• Local varieties of seabuckthorn and currants can be planted within windbreak of hasha walls to boost family nutrition. 
• Research cold-climate species native to comparable climates to maximize productivity (eg Lonicera caerulea edulis, or Blue honeysuckle is a highly nutritious, climbing berry native to Siberia that will tolerate minus 40C and produce down to minus 7C).
• Low-grade animal furs not suitable for commercial use may be a locally and readily available insulative material for floor that will break down and build soil over time.
• Coal ash may be a locally and readily available insulative material that could be substituted for polystyrene within the walls, though further research into how safe this material is must be conducted before being implemented.

Ideas were flying so fast & furious that I am sure there are a few things I've missed; the point is that when like minds collaborate towards a common goal,  

1 + 1 can = 3.

In other words:

None of us
Is as smart
As ALL of us.

Best wishes to Anne and the rest of the team at GERES-Mongolia, we hope to continue to support and collaborate with them towards achieving their project goal of building 180 passive solar greenhouse for family beneficiaries throughout Mongolia over the next two years.

A bientôt!

Photo: Inside GERES' research greenhouse.

 

List of useful web resources from Anne Randall (merci beaucoup!) to help you with your passive solar greenhouse design:

• *Sunchart: University of Oregon, Sunchart Program - http://solardat.uoregon.edu/SunChartProgram.html
• *To find easily the longitude and latitude of a point: http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html
• *To find the declination of a location: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomagmodels/Declination.jsp
• *Good source of general info on solar greenhouses: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/solar-gh.html

 

 

Final Design Presentations: 'Gugan' hasha (Day 18)

Photos: Tilyeubek's design team (L to R: Janibek, Ardakh, Tilyeubek, and Khulanbyek)

Students demonstrated a solid understanding and integration of permaculture principles and concepts (especially in the small-scale-intensive designs), good creative thinking in attempting to design for a large-scale site, and made a strong attempt at integrating a 4-year succession plan into their design.

However, this group struggled somewhat with the larger-scale application that this design brief required, due in part to the focus of the Permaculture Design Training course on the small-scale-intensive application of permaculture (to more closely match the project beneficiaries' needs), and in part to students' lack of experience in working on a large scale.

We were satisfied with the competence demonstrated in the small-scale-intensive systems they presented, and based on the level of improvements from the first design task to the second design task, are quietly confident that the lessons learned from mistakes made in this design exercise will contribute to a much stronger design the next time they are required to apply their knowledge to large-scale design.

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Highlights from the design:

•     Brilliant passive composting toilet design which found a use for coal ash (insulation) and dung ash (cover material).  We hope to see this design implemented on a Bayan Ulgii demonstration site soon.
•     Net-and-pan water catchment & distribution system.
•     Beehive nestled in keyhole flower garden.
•     Mobile chicken tractor design which self-waters.
•     Summer shower attached to greenhouse for greywater catchment.
•     Clustered animal shelter design to maximize heating efficiency.
•     Swale system to catch and store water on-site.
•     Summer ger (yurt) pad surrounded by insectary/bee fodder flowerbeds.
•     Succession plan to establish windbreak for apple/berry tree orchard.
•     Grain plot for winter animal fodder.
•     Efficient and user-friendly root cellar design.
•     Recycled car tyre potato stack garden.
•     Creative attempt at using dam retaining wall as thermal mass (and rear wall) for passive solar greenhouse design.
•     Creative attempt at utilizing electricity pole into garden design.
•     Creative attempt at re-using plastic water bottles as irrigation system.

 

Improvements suggested by Instructors: 

•     Digging well not immediate option for client with limited resources (water table is 18m deep!).
•     Precautionary principle: greenhouse built against retaining wall in dam is creative but risky (no team member has experience of knowledge necessary to implement this idea), so we must proceed with precautionary principles and opt for a simpler design instead.  Safety first.
  
•     Trees in retaining wall of dam are unsafe and will compromise structural integrity of the wall.
•     Earthen block wall around site would be too costly and energy-intensive for this site, instead look to biological resources such as planting a living fence.
  
•     Electric pole garden: water and electricity do not mix, so precautionary principle applies here too.  Also, electro-magnetic fields can negatively impact plant health.
•     Succession planning: address immediate needs (such as establishing windbreaks) and areas closest to house first to use energy most efficiently.
•     Design succession plan in time for entire site (intead of drawing a line down the middle to separate years 1-2 from 3-4).
  

 

Final Design Presentations: 'Tilyeubek' hasha (Day 18)

Photo: Mereut's design team (L to R: Altangerrel, Janargul, Mereut, Bakhitgul, and Makhabbat)

This design demonstrated a solid understanding and integration of premaculture principles and concepts, with some creative flair thrown in for good measure!

 

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Highlights from the design:

•     Vegetable garden beds in shape of Eagle and traditional Kazakh dombrah design, to increase edge & beautify space during winter (when gardenbeds are bare).
•     Greenhouse attached to house to create warm airlock to home entry, and utilize household heating system to potentially extend growing season year-round.
•     Basic preliminary composting toilet design separating liquids and solids; liquids are diluted and used in drip irrigation system as fertilizer.
•     Rainwater catchment tanks from rooftop.
•     Clustered animal shelter design to maximize heating efficiency and manure collection, including baffled-wall-and-stove backup heating system.
•     Composting area next to animal shelters to provide additional biological heating.
•     Manures stored on animal shelter rooftops for easy access & insulation (this is common in Kazakh family compounds).
•     Chicken run opens to mini food-forest and mini apple orchard.
•     Flowerbeds surrounding shopfront entrance to entice customers and differentiate from competitor's shop across the street.
•     Greywater mulch pit system in 'dead space' behind house.
•     Super-efficient rootcellar layout and design including portable worm farm which can remain active during winter.
•     Summer greenhouse / coldframe attached to summer ger (yurt).

  

Improvements suggested by Instructors:

•     Triple-check with client before deciding that old buildings on-site can be replaced with gardenbeds! (we found out that it was an option he was considering)
•     Build Eagle-gardenbed on mound to eliminate parallax error and create additional microclimate for apple orchard.
•     Use appropriate design conventions to convey information effectively (3-D view is appropriate for only certain scenarios).
•     Umbrella shading wormfarm is cute, however a stronger design is needed to prevent your worms from taking an unplanned Around-the-world-in-80-days type journey with the next gust of wind.
•     Improve chicken shelter design with deep mulch self-composting system, and do not place food and water under roost!
  

 

Final Design Presentations: Bastama School (Day 18)

 

Superintendent Bolathan was so pleased with the design that Dr. Beket's team presented, that he asked if he could take the plans back to Bastama School with him.  Of course we said yes!

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Highlights from the design:

•     Flower beds planted along school entry to attract beneficial insects and prospective parents.
•     Experimental summer veggie garden plots for all grade levels, including outdoor learning areas.
•     Stone pathways laid along major energy flows to beautify, and increase thermal mass on-site.
•     Greenhouse built onto south-facing wall of school gym to tap into existing heating system for possible year-round production.
•     Chicken house (complete w/ incubator) installed adjacent to gymnasium furnace room.
•     Winter chicken run opening into heated greenhouse.
•     Ideas to integrate learning from classroom to greenhouse, including ecology, maths, science, biology, geography and social studies.
•     Mini-food-forest windbreak long sheltered western perimeter.
•     Rooftop water catchment to feed flowerbeds, tree crops, veggie beds, and greenhouse.
•     Detailed, 3-year rotation composting toilet system designed.

 

Improvements suggested by Instructors:

•     Flowerbeds extended to any available edge to increase insect diversity and visual appeal.
•     Summer vegge gardens planted with IPM species around perimeter.
•     Consolidate composting area and root cellar into heated greenhouse to maximize efficiency.
•     Create mobile chicken tractor using rope netting to weed & fertilize tree plantations and summer growbeds.
•     Extend food forest into northwest corner, which is empty if composting area & root cellar are consolidated into greenhouse.   
•     Composting toilet system simplified to better match local culture.

 

Plant guilds and food forest (Day 16)

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Students were assigned the task of creating plant guilds (in their design teams) of at least three mutually beneficial species, for three separate applications: tree-cropping / food-forest, broad-acre wheat / animal fodder production, and small-scale-intensive cropping system.  The teams presented their guilds to each other, and explained why individual species were selected to be planted together.

Each group came up with far more than they were asked to - here's what they came up with:

Photo: Small-scale intensive intercropping garden design including multiple potato stacks using old car tyres.

1. Small-scale-intensive -

          I)  Potatoes + Peas/Beans + Dill:  Peas/beans fix nitrogen, which feed potatoes (heavy feeders), while dill is grown as predatory insect attractor / strong-scented mask from potatoes' pest insects, and as an additional crop.  This design is experimenting with various potato stack configurations, to see if peas & dill can be grown successfully  in a potato stack, and to figure out which mulching material is most effective for potatoes to grow in within the stack.

          II)  Onions + daisy flowers + dill + potatoes + cabbages + turnips + cabbages:  Planted together in design shown (cabbages, shown in orange colour, surrounding central keyhole) as integrated pest management intercropping system for use in family hasha.  Time and further experimentation will tell which plants work best next to each other, and if any companion plantings are antagonistic.

Photo:Preliminary design concept for broadacre wheat cropping guild.

2. Wheat cropping guild for broadacre production -

          I)  "Fast White" Laurel-leafed poplar (Populus laurifolia, known locally as 'Fast White') + Siberian peashrub (Caragana arborescens) + local apple Variety + wheat + oats + alfalpha: students came up with this guild in an attempt to protect the wheatcrop from the constant cold winds. 

This preliminary design was extended to improve the windbreak design by adding Siberian peashrub, a vigorously growing, very hardy, nitrogen-fixing legume, and the small nitrogen-fixing shrub we observed on the hillsides (species yet to be identified by our team) on the outside of the windbreak to form a layered edge that is more wind-resistant.  Furthermore, the wheat plot itself could be intercropped with rows of alfalpha or oats (or both), which provide human and animal fodder, in addition to making a beautiful green manure to support the wheat crop.

 

Photo: Detail from extensive food-forest guild system created by Dr Beket's design team.

3. Tree-cropping guild for Bastama School Gardens -

          I)  This was a multi-layered design, which we are still unwravelling!  Dr Beket has an extensive knowledge and body of research informing his design team, and the tree-cropping guild they came up with was loaded with the following species (which we continue to research). 

Species included:

•           Ulmus pumila (Siberian Elm) 
•           Caragana aboroscens (Siberian peashrub)
•           Caragana spinosa (English name not yet known)
•           Rosa acicularis (Arctic rose)
•           Salix caspica (Willow)
•           Populus laurifolia (Laurel-leaf poplar)
•           Populus pilosa (English name not yet known)
•           Larix siberica (Siberian larch)
•           Picea obovata (Siberian spruce)
•           Pinus sylvestris (Scots Pine)
•           Haloxylon ammodredion (Sauxal)
•           Ribes nigrum (Blackcurrant)
•           Ribes altissimum (Mountain blackcurrant)
•           Amygdalus pedunculata (English name not yet known)
•           Malus asiatica (Central asian apple). 

 

You could build quite a food forest with that list of species!

Chickens in Bayan Ulgii (Day 14)

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[Excerpt from SEAL 2011 Permaculture Design Training Report, by Matthew Lynch]

Mongolian chickens are very cold hardy breed that lay one egg every 1-2 days from March until October.  There are successful breeders currently raising chickens in Ulgii City; ADRA staff brought us to one family hasha during our pre-course resource inventory to meet with a breeder and view her system.

Photo: Heavily insulated chicken house design with warm-weather chicken run attached to entryway.

A small, well-designed and  fully insulated (including the floor) earthen shelter is sufficient to keep the chickens warm throughout the winter without active heating.  The site we visited had a small earthen chicken house (approximately 2 x 1 x 1 meters) nestled in a corner between the outer hasha wall and an earthen block storage shed, with a south-facing aspect.  A small caged chicken house of similar dimensions was built over the entryway for use in warmer months. 

The compact size and strong insulation (layers of felt insulation were also installed over the floor) of the winter shelter helps to conserve the chickens' precious body heat, which was sufficient to heat the chicken house throughout the winter.  Household food scraps and grain bought from the local market provide their feed, and they are let out during the day to forage and scratch in the hasha courtyard.  The children bring the chickens water from the house, and the shelter is cleaned out once every couple of weeks.

 Photo: The Rooster watches over his hens.

Photo: The flock huddles together against the cold.

Photo: The owner demonstrates how she calls the chickens to feed.

This flock of 10-12 chickens has been thriving for the last 10 years in this design, laying 5-10 eggs per day from March - October, providing eggs, meat, and baby chickens when need, as well as an additional family income of 300MNT per egg (360,000 - 720,000MNT annually)(i).  A strong demand for fresh eggs exists, and this family is easily able to sell all their surplus eggs to the neighbours. 

Successfully introducing chickens into a permaculture system for Ulgii City will have multiple benefits: increasing food security, boosting nutrition, building soil fertility, and creating additional income sources from microenterprises based upon chicken products (eggs, meat, baby chickens, perhaps even baking).

The existing design, while effective, could be modified to become more productive, functional, and resilient by integrating the chickens into a permacultural food production system. 

For example, a passive solar greenhouse would make an excellent winter run for the chickens, keeping the birds out of the wind and in the warmth of the sun during the day, while providing fertility and preparing the soils for a jump-start on the short Mongolian growing season.  Locating the heavily insulated winter shelter next to the greenhouse (so that it can be entered from the courtyard or from the greenhouse) could make it easier to clean; a larger door could be installed on the greenhouse side of the shelter (since it opens into a warm still-air chamber), and the dropping simply swept out into the greenhouse to be used as fertilizer.

Fruit trees such as seabuckthorn and blackcurrant could be grown along the hasha walls, to take advantage of the chicken manure during warmer months when the birds can be let out of the greenhouse.  Grasses and 'weeds' such as fat hen and plantain, could be cultivated and encouraged within the hasha walls and fed to the chickens to boost the quality of the eggs (layers who are fed greens will produce eggs with healthy, bright yellow yolks).

Photo: These chickens' hasha courtyard is bare.

Photo: Outer entrance.

Photo: Inner entrance.

Photo: Family watchdog doubles as chickens' bodyguard.

Photo: Chicken's bodyguard warns us off.

____________________

(i) 1,500 MNT per month would be considered a strong salary in Bayan Ulgii.

'Guguan' hasha, Final Design Site 3. (Day 12)

Students were given final design tasks today, 3 different client profiles at 3 separate sites:

 

Client profile 3, 'Gugan' (fictitious but realistic):

•  Single female, head of household (40something years old)
•  3 children, ages 16, 12, 8
•  Works as school cleaner, makes enough money to feed family but nothing left over (food secure)
•  Keeps 1 cow for milking
•  Passive solar greenhouse beneficiary
•  Good relationships with neighbours, especially other female heads of households
•  Looking for ways to earn more income

 

Design brief:

• Design a hasha garden design that is highly functional, productive, cost-effective, energy-efficient and can be maintained & developed by the client and her children. 
  
• Incorporate chickens & a passive solar greenhouse into your design.  
• Create a viable microenterprise for Gugan to earn extra income from her home compound. 
  
• Use succession planning to present your design in four phases, to be implemented over four years.

 

Photo: Final Design Site 3, located on outskirts of Ulgii City, approximately 3,000 square meters, water table is 20m below surface.

Photo: Two of three existing houses on-site.

Photo: Drainage ditch leading up to third house on-site, currently used as wintering residence for nomadic herder family.

Photo: 3rd house, traditional Kazakh construction.  Ger frame can be seen in storage to the right.

Photo: Mereut, aka 'Gugan' in front of her home.

'Tilyeubek' hasha, Final Design Site 2. (Day 12)

Students were given final design tasks today, 3 different client profiles at 3 separate sites:

 

Client profile 2, 'Tilyeubek' (semi-fictitious):

•  Married, head of household (43 years old)
•  Wife + 3 children ages 21, 19, and 1 (older children are studying away from home)
•  Job takes him away 2 weeks /month
•  Makes good money, but is paying & saving for children's education - not much left over.
•  Wife enjoys baking, especially apple-cakes.
•  Wants to invest in cost-effective, energy-efficient greenhouse.
•  Is a smart man, and wants to beautify hasha for his wife.
•  Plans to open a shop in streetfront, and wants to differentiate from competition across the street.
•  Owns veggie plot with family in countryside; has root cellar under shop for storage.

 

Design brief:

• Design a hasha garden design that is functional, productive, beautiful, low-maintenance, cost-effective and energy-efficient, and meets all of Tilyeubek's stated needs. 
  
• Create a microclimate for growing the region's apple variety, and beautify the entrances to the family compound and shopfront. 
  
• Incorporate chickens & a greenhouse into your design.

 

 

Photo: Inside front entrance to family compound.

Photo: Tilyuebek's youngest daughter and friend greet us in the hasha courtyard.

Photo: Future site for streetfront shop.  Walls will be rebuilt so that door is accessible from street.

Photo: Entrance to root cellar from inside shop.

Photo: Tilyeubek Kapu, youngest daughter, and neighbourhood child.

Student Designs, take 1 (Day 11)

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This preliminary design task is a review mechanism for the instructors to check in with students, and monitor their understanding of key concepts we have been teaching for the last 5 days (and how effective we have been as teachers). 

In this case, the strongest group was assigned the client with the least resources, and the weakest group was assigned the client with the most resources, so that we could most accurately gague individuals' progress (Design Task 1 (Day 10) for client profiles).  Adjustments can be made mid-course to teaching methodologies, content, and team groupings (matching stronger students with weaker students to facilitate mutual learning) as needed.

Photos: Student designs for small-scale intensive farming systems in the family compound. 

Highlights from designs presented today:

• Summer shower attached to a greenhouse to direct greywater for plant irrigation.
• Intensive animal shelter design w/ backup heating stove that can be used to heat 2 animal shelters, plus winter coldframes / greenhouse on extreme cold days.
• Root cellar located under goatshed for security, insulation, and biological heating (from the animals' body heat & hot compost piles made from their manure.
• Stones from root cellar excavation re-used on-site to create attractive and functional pathways throughout family compound.
• Greenhouse attached to house, and plumbed with hot water from the house to provide heat for potential year-round vegetable production.
• Water system (well) backed up with multiple tanks centrally located to distribute water via drip-irrigation systems to every growbed.
• Multifunctional concrete summer ger-pad / winter ice-skating rink surrounded by beautiful (and beneficial-insect-attracting) flowerbeds (my personal favourite).

Well done to all students for demonstrating such a quick uptake, understanding, and integration of the many principles, concepts, and ideas your instructors have thrown at you for the last nine days!