Permaculture Aid Worker’s Best Friend
Aid Projects, Tools — by eric seider
field tested
Now I will begin by saying I have no affiliation with Leatherman so don’t go thinking I’m getting any sort of kickback by writing this. I just happen to think they make a very useful tool. Of course if they want to send me some free samples to test I wouldn’t say no.
I was given my current leatherman as a gift and didn’t realize how usefult a gift it was until I was in Jordan working on the Jordan Valley Permaculture Project. Living in the 1st world aka the OD world (over developed) one might not realize how useful a tool like this can be. When you have a myriad of tools at your disposal, or a fully stocked hardware store around the corner it might remain a bit of a novelty. But when you’re on a project or out in the field with little to no resources this little trooper might make the difference in getting the job done at all.
Click for more…
Posted on: March 16, 2010
Permaculture and the Western Syndrome
Aid Projects, Deforestation, Food Forests, General, Insects, Plant Systems, Society, Trees — by Warren Brush
For tens of thousands of years intact peoples from around the world have been intricately woven into the fabric of the landscape that nourishes them. Culture itself has sprung from the land through the people’s relationship with all that sustains them. This is not as esoteric as it sounds… Imagine a group of people who live in a particular watershed with a distinct mix and availability of flora and fauna, weather patterns, sun angles, sound resonance, distance to other bio-regions, etc. Everyday necessity would be provided for by these and other more subtle structures and influences that would provide unique implements for survival, foods, hunting practices, shelters, musical instruments, honoring practices, ceremonies and stories. These peoples have known the origins stories of all that give them life, this in turn became the foundation of true, intact culture where the land would express itself very tangibly through the people
Posted on: January 29, 2010
Permaculture Examined by SBS
General, News — by Craig Mackintosh
Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) recently visited the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia to check out the work of Geoff Lawton at Zaytuna Farm.
Those who watched Greening the Desert II will recognise some of my footage from Jordan as well.
Having the mainstream media peek at our work is getting to be a habit. Now we just need to move them from looking at this as a ‘novel idea’ to regarding it as an urgent necessity.
Comments (0)Posted on: January 11, 2010
The Buffalo Commons
Biodiversity, General, Land, Rehabilitation — by Rhamis Kent
Here’s an idea that should be embraced and championed by all earth repair advocates: The Buffalo Commons.
The Buffalo Commons is a conceptual proposal to create a vast nature preserve by returning 139,000 square miles (360,000 km2) of the drier portion of the Great Plains to native prairie, and by reintroducing the buffalo, or American Bison, that once grazed the short grass prairie.
Comments (0)Posted on: January 2, 2010
The Tricks of the Human Mind
General, Global Warming/Climate Change, Society — by Thomas Fischbacher
Editor’s Note: Thomas Fischbacher has been a valued commenter on this site for a while now. Today Thomas makes his PRI post debut, with a great piece on why sometimes logic and facts are neither logical nor factual in the context of our cherished beliefs. Others that would like to contribute articles are very welcome to do so.
When studying the human mind, one of the most fascinating – and at times startling – insights is that there is sometimes a serious discrepancy between the tale the human mind spins to itself, and actual reality.
One especially striking demonstration of the extent of the distortions introduced by the brain’s data pre-processing was given by Edward Adelson, MIT professor of vision science, with the "checkershadow illusion":
The squares marked A and B are the same shade of gray
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This innocent illusion is so extremely appealing because it conveys its profound message in the most direct, most immediate, most rapid way possible: Your eyes lie, and much more than you actually might ever have imagined.
Comments (0)Posted on: December 19, 2009
The Art of Scything
General — by Trish Allen
by Trish Allen of Rainbow Valley Farm
A modern take on an ancient farming method is becoming a new movement sweeping the lush pastures of New Zealand.
The art of scything has seen a recent resurgence with permaculturalists and Ecoshow directors Joanna Pearsall and Bryan Innes holding a series of workshops around the country starting at Rainbow Valley Farm under the expert eye of visiting Austrian scything teacher Christoff Schneider.
A scythe can be used for many things: mowing the lawn, cutting long grass, harvesting grain or cutting scrub, tasks normally done using a mower, brushcutter or weedeater. New and lighter ergonomically designed tools with specialist razor-sharp blades are able to be wielded with an almost effortless effectiveness that would put the average weedeater to shame.
Comments (0)Posted on: December 18, 2009
Permaculture Miracles in the Austrian Mountains
Demonstration Sites, General, Rehabilitation — by Craig Mackintosh
 Photo credit: Keith Johnson |
I’d like to introduce you to Sepp Holzer, a man who not only produces food in a very unlikely location, at a high and frigid altitude in Austria, but is also growing very unlikely crops there as well — and all without the use of chemicals, and with minimal input of human labour.
I guess you could call him a European counterpart of people like Bill Mollison and Masanobu Fukuoka — as all three independently discovered ways of working with nature that save money and labour and that don’t degrade the environment, but actually improve it. In Holzer’s case, he was effectively running a permaculture farm for more than two decades before he even realised his unconventional approach could be termed ‘permaculture’.
Comments (0)Posted on: May 20, 2009
The Key to Management is Trust
General — by John Wilson
PIJ #40, June – Aug 1991
Very often ‘management’ is mistaken for control. And control usually leads to friction and so is inefficient – there is wasted energy. Control also stifles creativity, our best management tool. True management then, is a far more subtle relationship in which trust, communication and control intermingle towards common goals. And the key to it all is trust.
Possibly the only way to lasting peace and harmony, whether between states or within communities or even families is the gradual dissolution of the hierarchical approach and the building up of trust.
And so too with the Earth. We try to control the earth as we do people. We call it management. But true management of the earth and its resources is about understanding and trust. If we do not trust the millions of years of development that has brought the earth to today, if we do not trust the ability of the earth and its ecosystems to provide what we need when we manage it (instead of trying to control it) we are doomed to fail.
Comments (0)Posted on: February 9, 2009
Rejoining Gaia – Restore Our Ecosystem Symbiosis
General — by Chuck Burr
The first step to solving a problem is admitting to it. To change, use different thinking than what created it. How do we get from “our lifestyle is not negotiable” to “living a mutually beneficial lifestyle for us and our ecosystem?”
The mother of all long-term problems is that our culture has become an “anti-ecosystem.” Humans lived in symbiosis with all life for three million years before the agricultural revolution. Humanity fixed nitrogen, created carbon dioxide, and compost for plants in exchange for food, shelter, water, and air/oxygen.
Comments (0)Posted on: January 26, 2009
What is ‘Zone Zero’?
Building, Energy Systems, General, Land — by PIJ
Zone planning in permaculture design means placing elements according to how often we need to visit them. Areas that need to be visited every day (e.g. the glasshouse, chicken pen, herb garden) are located nearby, while places visited less frequently (grazing area, orchard, woodlot) are located further away.
In Bill Mollison’s book ‘Introduction to Permaculture’, zone zero is defined as being the centre of activity in a design. This may be the house, or in the case of a large scale design may be a village centre.
However some permaculturists have used the term ‘zone zero’ to describe the human element in permaculture design, claiming that the most important part of a design, the people, often receive little attention during the design process.
So how do we define zone zero in permaculture design?
Four experienced designers gave their opinion…
Comments (0)Posted on: November 8, 2008
Bill Mollison Interview from 1991
General — by Craig Mackintosh
Editor’s Note: Here’s a great Bill Mollison interview to throw into the mix. The interviewer is Alan AtKisson, who caught Bill in Seattle in ‘91, and interviewed him in a downtown hotel to the ironic accompaniment of traffic noise.
Alan: Permaculture is a slippery idea to me. But from what I read, it seems that not even those who actually do permaculture really know what it is.
Bill: I’m certain I don’t know what permaculture is. That’s what I like about it – it’s not dogmatic. But you’ve got to say it’s about the only organized system of design that ever was. And that makes it extremely eerie.
Alan: Why "eerie"?
Comments (0)Posted on: October 7, 2008
A Pattern Revolution
Eco-Villages, Ethical Investment, General, Health & Disease, People Systems, Society, Trees — by Warren Brush
by Warren Brush, Quail Springs
All over the world, an ancient way of being has combined its elemental forces with the truths gained in the modern age to spark the fires of a new and imperative revolution. It is a subtle revolution of knowing the story of where all that sustains us comes from, and of honoring those things deeply. This revolution’s power draws from an ancient well of knowing that we as humans, with our opposing thumbs, expansive brains, and the capacity for empathy, are destined to draw from as we become stewards and caretakers of the land, and one another. Weaving our story with that of which sustains us not only empowers us to be revolutionaries in an age of rampant capitalism and its resource and culture eating syndromes, but also allows us to take true responsibility for the impacts of our lives. In its sheer humility, this revolution may be the very humus that is formed under the footsteps of the soldiers of capitalism and imperialism. As they pass unaware of us, our way of being becomes the nutrient from which new life will grow in a time beyond our own.
Posted on: September 30, 2008
Convergence of Issues Leads to Southern California Permaculture Convergence, August 29-31, 2008
Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, General, Insects, News, Peak Oil, Presentations/Demonstrations, Social Gatherings, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contamination — by Craig Mackintosh
Cooling off after the first day of the Southern California Permaculture Convergence,
hosted by the Quail Springs Learning Oasis and Permaculture Farm
Yesterday the Southern California Permaculture Convergence got underway. The word ‘convergence’ is the operative word here, and, ironically, to me at least, has a double meaning. Over the last couple of weeks, being here at Quail Springs just reminds me of the convergence of issues we face as a race, just as we ‘converge’ to network, share instruction and ideas, and find new ways to work together to face those same issues.
Let me explain, using an example very close to where we are today.
Comments (2)Posted on: August 31, 2008
Developed?
General — by Craig Mackintosh
Okay class – hands up all who live in a developing nation. Hmm… not so many. Now, hands up those that live in a developed nation. Aah… quite a few.
Developing. Developed. International media of every kind use these words constantly. They seem to be globally understood, at least if the frequency of their usage is anything to go by, but despite using these terms myself I must confess that I’m struggling with their meaning. I get the context okay; I’m pretty sure I’m placing the words in the correct place, using them in appropriate contexts – but when I stop to consider the base definition, that’s when the proverbial spanner is thrown into the whirring cogs and gears of my mind.
Posted on: August 18, 2008
Hypocrites Unite!
General — by George Monbiot
At least we have some ideals to fall short of.
by George Monbiot – journalist, author, academic and environmental and political activist
In her new book, Not In My Name, Julie Burchill reserves her grandest fury about hypocrites for environmentalists. We are, she says, pious, sexless and contemptuous of humankind. All of us are posh and rich, and have found in environmentalism a new excuse for lecturing the poor. We tell other people to live by rules we don’t apply to ourselves.
Like all stereotypes, these claims are lazy, familiar and sometimes true. Burchill knows nothing about environmentalism and, almost as a point of pride, hasn’t bothered to find out, but when you use grapeshot you are bound to hit someone. Yes, many prominent greens are posh gits like me. The same can be said of journalists, politicians, artists, academics, business leaders: in fact of just about anyone in public life. But it is always the greens who are singled out. In truth, while the upper middle classes are, as always, over-represented in the media, the movement cuts across the classes. A recent ICM poll found that more people in social classes D and E thought the government should prioritise the environment over the economy (56%) than in classes A and B (47%)(1).
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