Permaculture Database

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

Paul d'Aoust wrote:

> Sometimes, when I wake up in the morning, the first thought in my head
> will be 'PCDB!' and my mind will start racing about how to construct
> entity relationships that are flexible enough to model everything from
> actinomycetes to lakes to chickens to exotic hand tools, yet structured
> enough to have useful searches performed on them... it's tough work, as
> I think we all discovered. I don't know how many E-R diagrams I've
> scribbled out on pieces of paper that I've subsequently lost.

If you have it in your mind then it can also exist in a data storage and 
retrieval
online system. If you can think it up then it can also become an online 
database.
I can see the "eco" connection between hand tools and beneficial fungi, 
manure, raised beds,
good health and financial security. A search on "5 inch width eye hoe blade offset 
from handle by 18 degrees"
and "enhanced mycorrhizal fungal colonization in 44 inch raised garden beds with 
14" center height above
existing grade" could reference parts of each dataset.


> I've also been thinking -- is the database for PFAF publicly accessible?
> Because if they give permission to others to use the info, it might be a
> great starting point for making the database useful. Not their schema,
> specifically, but if we were to import their data into the 'plants'
> section of our own structure, it might make the PCDB useful enough to
> garner a lot of interest.

They made their dataset available at one time, not sure what the status is 
now.
The original project pcplantdb-->PIW--->permaculture.info was to incorporate 
the
PFAF dataset.
> Saves having to do a whole bunch of stuff from scratch, which strikes me
> as a very permaculture thing to do.

Very definitely. Build on what you have.

Sure glad this list is till active, i.e. the PCDB project likewise.
> I would love to start thinking about this again -- life is very busy
> right now (I got one of those dumb 'real jobs', which pulled me away
> from the outdoors, but also prevented me from defaulting on my
> mortgage). 

Glad that worked out.

LL