Aurin (ki, ki, kis)May 25, 2025

some of my favourite permaculture techniques are STUN and chop-and-drop, because they're just lazy, erm I mean efficient and spoonie friendly!

STUN is tongue in cheek, it stands for "strategic total utter neglect" and basically just means that sometimes we don't do much (or anything) to help plants grow and survive — if they do, awesome! We get some harvest. If they don't, they might not have been the right plant for that spot, that climate, micro-climate or soil. Or just bad luck. It's ok, it happens.

But whatever survives STUN, will be well adapted here! So in the long term, STUN can be good to breed varieties that thrive in your conditions.

Chop-and-drop just means that when pruning plants, we just drop whatever we cut off there and then. It can mulch the plant and slowly return back to the soil, the nutrients remain where they came from. No need for transport or to shred everything. I like the wild chic it creates!

#gardentooting #permaculture #gardening #spoony #spoonie #spoonieFriendly #disability #disabled

Show thread Aurin (ki, ki, kis)May 25, 2025

these two are examples of how to put the principles "the problem is the solution" and "make the least change for maximum effect" into praxis.

my disabilities and poverty are problems — but turns out in a lot of ways, less really is more in the garden! Often, the less we interfere in nature, the better it thrives. Or rather, when we do some gentle, nudging caring and tending of the land and its nonhuman inhabitants as opposed to trying to dictate how everything has to go (like monocultures).

I also share my thoughts and experiences so that the people who need it most (poor and disabled) can have at least the resource of knowledge. Which I can only do by actually living it and not by trying to give advice to people whose lives are just different from mine.

This is also "least change for maximum effect" because giving resources to the poor and disabled has a bigger effect on changing the world than just catering to the (mostly, temporarily) abled middle classes. Sure I wish I could give more, so much more! I will, at some point. But until then I do what I can.

(forest) gardening examples of "least change" are for example to observe what is already growing and to use that! there are very few (if any) plants that really have no uses. You'd be surprised how many "weeds" are edible and medicinal!

then plant something that wants to grow in that (micro-)climate and soil, instead of relying on lots of changes like fertilisets, irrigation, tilling etc.

work with the natural succession of ecosystems (most places want to grow forests, so let them!) instead of resetting the ecosystem back to bare earth all the time. sure there are exceptions but for me, forest gardens/food forests are an example of the "least change" principle, because after planting your trees, bushes and perennials, you won't have to do that much besides harvesting! (or so I hear, I haven't had the chance to try that out yet, but I'm actively planning to turn most of this garden into a food forest)

#permaculture #spoony #spoonie #spoonieFriendly #disability #disabled

Show thread Aurin (ki, ki, kis)

another good one to just kinda shift the composition of plants is to just intentionally step on the plants you want less of when you walk around. it might not get rid of them, but hey, it's low effort so why not! this is the kind of nudging one can often do without any planning or equipment or even without allocating extra.time for it. it can become a habit.

(though my problem here is that the only plants I really want to deter or get rid of are the ones that are painful to step on barefoot 😂)

#permaculture #spoony #spoonie #spoonieFriendly #disability #disabled

May 26, 2025 at 11:25amWeb
Show thread Aurin (ki, ki, kis)May 26, 2025

I wanna add: while these methods have been given names in the permaculture world, they have been invented and used by indigenous peoples before the word permaculture existed!

Unfortunately I don't yet know much about the indigenous cultures that have inspired permaculture, and what techniques they use and how and why, or what they call them.

My guess is though that the basic principles and these really easy and versatile methods have been and are used in many places by many people. There are more specialised methods and variants though, which can be super interesting for special ecological niches or crops or for difficult conditions. Credit should be given to those who developed them and keep them alive!

#permaculture #indigenous

Show thread Aurin (ki, ki, kis)May 26, 2025

a thing I try to do when I can is instead of actual work sessions, to just improve random small things every time I'm outside (which I try to do every day that the weather isn't too bad), whatever I happen to stumble upon.

In this case, literally stumble upon. There are stones which once upon a time probably marked the edge of a garden bed, but now seem random and are overgrown with grass. So I kicked the grass off from the stone and cleared some of it, so that now the stone is visible and less of a tripping hazard.

Plus it might be nice for lizards to sunbathe :)

#lazyGardening #gardentooting #disability #spoonie