Small Things Grow
Plato’s Garden as a company believes that karma and beauty are of higher value than monetary accumulation. For that reason, much of our aim is to take the monetary gains from the sale of our products and services, and put them towards projects which we believe will make the world a better place.
The 7 (R&D)
Created with love for the masses - these will be the 7 herbal formulas of Plato's Garden. Named after the 7 words for love in the Greek language, the formulas will attempt to meet the most apt health needs of the global populace to the greatest effect. There are 3 herbal infusion (hot water) blends, 1 decoction blend (a root/bark blend that requires simmering), 2 tinctures, and a cream (pain/wounds) in R&D. Over the course of Plato's Garden's existence these formulas will be updated and refined indefinitely.
Discipline App (In development)
Update Nov 2023: Plato’s Garden has found a tech guy to work with! The app is currently in development and should be completed by the end of 2023.
Overview 2022: This is an application which helps users achieve their goals. It does this by helping the user build their discipline. Wish you could get yourself to paint, exercise, or write for 3 hours a day? The ancient Egyptians studied Nature in a different way than the scientists of today – they studied the stars, the plants, the animals, the patterns in Nature. And through their studies they discovered hidden geometric formulas which are the blueprints of many natural objects. What if we could apply those natural equations to building our discipline towards our goals and passions? Currently UI/UX is being developed – will be looking for an app developer soon.
Regenerative Permaculture (R&D)
Update 2023: This year we tore down the greenhouse (sadly it didn't get enough light due to towering spruces in the winter time, and winter growing was my original intention with it - in fact I had installed a geothermal system of pipes 5 feet under ground in the hopes of heating the greenhouse during the winter - but along with no light there were other issues (insulation..) but at the end of the day it didn't work too good so it got scrapped, it was all built with recycled materials though so wasn't too bad of a loss.) In its stead we planted huge amounts of tomato, a wild parsnip showed up, onions, pumpkin (delicious in soup), catnip, beans, etc (list is too long). The trees are getting bigger and surviving good (got some delicious plums, apples and cherries), the comfrey patch is getting huge, a massive harvest of turnips (damn they taste good), 5 huge sunflowers (took too long to plant, and Mr. Nutterton jacked the only one that ripened before frost), about 100 potatoes in the front yard (planted them where I'd dug the foot-deep contour ditch), more onions, lots of culinary herbs, raspberries, etc etc. Enough to say that it gets wilder and more enjoyable every year as we learn and enjoy delicious + medicinal organic plants.
Thinking of next year... would like to establish a kiln (built from hardened clay) for experimentation in base minerals and clay-works. Would like to establish more perennial herbs, my focus this year was more on vegetables (my rule during this 365-day fruit diet permits me to eat anything I grow myself, hence 100 potatoes).
Overview 2022: When I arrived at my home two years ago, there was a thirsty lawn and a metal shed. Since that time the shed has been repurposed into a greenhouse, and what used to be grass now homes: plum trees, apple trees, cherry trees, currants, gooseberries, comfrey, a raspberry patch, borage, catmint, hops, grapes, arctic kiwis, the Three Sisters seen above (corn, ground squash, beans), tomatoes, an herb spiral, silver buffalo berry, sea-buckthorn, nanking cherry, nettle, saskatoon berry, haskap berry, yarrow, etc. We've added swales for water retention, redirected drain-spouts, installed a water reservoir. This is a study in regenerative permaculture, where a diversity of plants creates an abundant and synergetic ecosystem that does not require synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, or excessive water use. If this type of farming can be mastered and scaled, it will be of enormous benefit to the planet's ecosystem.
Regenerative Permaculture (the next step)
Update Sep 2023: Our family has built a road on the property to give access to the greenhouse which will be built in the Summer of 2024. As well as the road we installed a well, with some irrigation lines leading to the top of the hill. We also planted 7 pioneer-species plants on the property (Sea Buckthorn - Hippophae rhamnoides). Sea Buckthorn is a fast growing, nitrogen-fixing plant which thrives in poor soil. These plants should not only help prepare the soil for next year when we begin planting our perennial and annual herbs (and some vegetables + fruit trees), but the females also produce a medicinal berry. Note that the juniper shrubs we planted last years did not survive! I believe that was because we did not sufficiently water them during their establishment, nor did we build trenches in the earth before them. This year, for the Sea Buckthorn, we dug trenches in front of the plants to catch and store water which otherwise drains quickly down the steep hill. It's been 2 months and they're still alive. 🙂
Thinking of next year... I see long trenches along the contour lines of the hill and comfrey in the future.
Overview 2022: This is a 6 acre patch of land south of Calgary. In the lower area is an aspen forest, and the rest is grassland slope for grazing horses. This year we planted juniper (pioneer species) along the less-developed hill; next spring we'll dig swales, and begin planting fruit trees and medicinal herbs.