The One Duck Revolution
Animal Forage, Animal Housing, Bird Life, Breeds, Food Plants - Annual, Plant Systems, Working Animals — by Bill Mollison
PIJ #58, Mar – May 1996
 Aigamo ducks in rice paddy |
Mr. Takao Furuno’s modest business card reveals that he is a farmer in a world where “one duck creates boundless treasure”.
He farms rice very successfully in Japan and is a private aid volunteer, working in Vietnam when I met him. He had a message for all rice farmers, perhaps all wet paddy farmers, and gave me his book (all in Japanese) on the duck-rice paddy design he has perfected. Luckily I also have a condensed translation.
Comments (0)Posted on: March 6, 2009
Phases of Abundance
Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Plant Systems, Trees — by Bill Mollison
PIJ #40, June – Aug 1991
Year One: Abundance of Species
When we set out to make a garden on at least 2-5 acres, in the Permaculture mode, we also set out to trial dozens of species, and to select those that thrive in our soil, under the conditions we impose, and in association with each other. Thus, in the beginning, even with generous help from our friends, we have relatively few plants of any species growing, but the basic garden assembly would have at least 300 plants representing some 240 species and 70 or so varieties. It takes a year and about $800 to put together such an assembly, and when we do so we feel the first sense of abundance, which we could call the rich abundance of species and forms. The yield is modest, more of a contribution to diet than a full diet, but many tree species will later come into production by years 3-6.
Posted on: February 9, 2009
Desert Ways
Gabions, Plant Systems, Trees — by Bill Mollison
 Mongongo Tree |
Whether it is an issue of conserving water of using suitable plant species, thriving in a desert environment is a masterful act of management. Permaculture co-founder Bill Mollison has spent time in many of the world’s arid regions and here shares his observations on surviving in some of them.
Building Abundance into Sandy Deserts
Why should we garden, when there are so many mongongo trees in the world? – !Kung tribesman
The mongongo tree (Ricinidendrin rautenii) grows in great groves on the crests of sand dunes in Africa’s Kalahari desert. It is a deciduous tree with two sexes. One in every 12 trees in a grove must be male to pollinate the females.
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