permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflondon@mindspring.com>]

On Tue, 08 Feb 2000 07:26:45 -0500, georg parlow <georg@amidanet.com>
wrote:

>
>At 03:07 AM 02/08/2000 -0500, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
>>I am thinking of mandala-shaped raised bed gardens linked to one another
>>in a design similar, visually, to a fractal. This suggests a flow of some
>>sort, perhaps imitating nature. The energy flows in adjoining, connected
>>mandala gardens allow throughput of 
>>nutrients, microorganisms, earthworms and insects, some beneficial.
>
>ok, yes, but i call this matket gardening, how do you apply that to farming
>(growing crops like grain or oilseeds or industrial raw materials)?

Let me readjust the path of this discussion. I didn't say so but meant
by market farming, _small scale_ market farming. 1/100 of an acre to
20-30 acres. The kind of commercial operation that an urban/suburban
or rural homesteader involved in developing his property using
permaculture [rinciples might be involved in. See a back issue of
Taunton's "Kitchen Gardener" to read about a retired man in San
Francisco growing all sorts of produce in raised beds in his small
back yard for sale to upscale gourmet restaurants in SF.
Inspirational. Lots of little market farmers like this person make up
a lot of production on a national or worldwide scale, potentially.

Large scale operations _could_ make use of some of the principles
I suggest for small operations. Self-sufficient home food growing
should use the same methods that a small commercial grower would.
It is a matter of scale - tractors, implements and grading equipment
could be employed to imitate some of these methods on a much larger
scale. That is a different discussion altogether but one I would also
enjoy. For example large equipment could, on large market farms, 
be use to install permaculture systems as well as prepare areas
for food production.

>>Cycling of nutrients and water occurs. So it would seem that we may
>>have accomplished in some part what you are proposing above in
>>this simple garden. Enter grassways, cover crops, perennials, shrubs,
>>trees of all sorts and the system becomes much more complex and 
>>more capable of capturing and recycling nutrients, water and energy.
>
>as the research of the 'synergistic farming' people in france has

Tell me more about synergistic farming.

>scientifically proven, nutrients are never the problem if we keep our soil
>covered with living mulch (emphasis is on 'living' as this keeps the

Do they plant crops in living mulch?
I would like to see a list of cover crops and feed crops that are
compatible when grown in the same location.

>oxygen-ethylene cycles going). i feel sustainability is much more a matter

Can you explain this?

>of the resources we need to produce our crops (hi tech? how much labour?),
>and if we master that - if it is also financially sustainable.

I agree with this. I lean toward maximizing the use of labor intensive
methods and equipment and minimizing the use of gas-powered
equipment. 

Lawrence F. London, Jr. Venaura Farm
metalab.unc.edu/intergarden InterGarden       
metalab.unc.edu/permaculture PermaSphere       
metalab.unc.edu/intergarden/orgfarm AGINFO
metalab.unc.edu/market-farming Market Farming
lflondon@mindspring.com  london@metalab.unc.edu