permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <london@calypso-2.oit.unc.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 1995 22:00:10 -0800 (PST)
>From: Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup) <sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu>
To: Principles of Sustainable Agriculture <sustag-l@listproc.wsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Three Legs (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 07 May 1995 11:25:46 WST
>From: Warwick Rowell <warwick@bettong.eepo.dialix.oz.au>
To: sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu
Subject: Re: Three Legs (fwd)

In Western Australia we have two groups who are working hard 
on this focus on soil. 

One is the Land Management Society, which has published a book 
called "The Farm Monitoring Handbook". Much of the content is about 
monitoring the soil, and your management of it.  Mainly physical, 
but there are also biological measures. The compilation of the book 
was supervised by Prof Bob Gilkes, who won the 1991 Australian soil 
science award. To encourage a systematic approach to whole farm planning, 
the LMS has been publishing newsletters over the last four years with the
interacting elements of climate, soils, water, flora, fauna, and people. 

The Permaculture movement is very much focussed on earth care. Caring 
for the top 40 cms of the soil by managing the 40 cms of microclimate 
above it will allow nature to do the incedibly complex biochemical 
things it does, which will elad to the results outlined in the previous
post.

I like the focus this article gives - Keeping soil healthy is tangible, 
direct, and actionable, but still intricate enough to be challenging, and 
full of learning and humbling feedback. Half the problem with concepts like 
sustainability is that we can keep discussing them forever. Growing food
for our family in our own backyard, or our community greenhouse, or on
the street verges is a challenge. Building city-farm links, and directly 
supporting the low input farmers in our area is also very important.

 __________________________________________________________
|                warwick.rowell@eepo.com.au                |
|                                                          |
|   Management Consultant     Permaculture Designer        |
|_"Helping Managers Learn"___"Helping Land Managers Learn"_|