permaculture

["April Sampson-Kelly" <askpv@ozemail.com.au>]

Milo, well said.  I am currently passing through a new phase in our
implementation.
The first phase seemed so busy, designing and laying out beds and planting
trees and
herbs and foodstuffs, then we ate as we sowed now,  I am in a bit of a
comfort stop.
I could lie in the hammock or I could really look at the patterns again,
what works and what doesn't.
I am currently struggling with the notions of allowing plants to set seed
and
yet mulching out those seeds ('weeds')   I don't want to germinate.  I've
got different mulches
for different functions now.  Not all mulches are equal.  I have really
enjoyed the discussion on
living mulch's capacity to absorb or rob infra-red light from the floor
below, and resulting in suppressing germination
of unwanted plants.  And living mulch doesn't need renewing as does the dead
stuff, although more leaves are
falling because there is more canopy now (4 years on in implementation)
It is all a big whirlwind of patterns and dynamics and needs and
opportunities.
April
-----Original Message-----
From: Milogic <Milogic@aol.com>
To: permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu <permaculture@listserv.oit.unc.edu>
Cc: bd-l@biodynamics.com <bd-l@biodynamics.com>
Date: Tuesday, 3 March 1998 5:00
Subject: Pattern and difference


>To echo Scott  on the permaculture list and Bea on the biodynamics list (to
a
>degree): core elements, for me, within the permaculture vision and
Mollison's
>crazy wisdom* are what Bateson called 'the patterns which connect" and
>differences that make a difference. (*substitute Steiner and Biodynamics
>freely)
>
>Polyculturing is patterning in ways that create differences which make
>differences--and doing so within manageable microcosms.
>
>Permaculture is dynamics in systems. People outside permaculture like
Theodor
>Schwenk and Hans Jenny or Ralph Abraham are working within patterning ideas
>and finding pragmatic links between cosmos and soil particles.
>
>Some of the precursors in people like Rudolph Steiner, Edmund Bordeaux
>Szekeley, Wilhelm Reich et al, worked earlier in time and under conditions
no
>longer available. In a remarkable way, in terms of human experience on this
>planet, we are totally connected and totally alone together.
>
>New ways of linking, such as this, may be creating the webs of
relationship,
>community, through which we can abandon reason as we have been taught and
find
>actualities in tune with now. I suspect permaculture is one of those
linking
>ways.
>
>As we try to cope with conditions presenting themselves from soil
imbalances
>in my back yard to firestorms in South East Asia, we are dealing with
dynamic
>systems overburdened with positive feedback, thereby increasing entropic
>tendencies at exponential rates. Reason, as we have been given to
understand
>it, is proving irrational and failing us.
>
>Permaculture offers pattterns, which if explored with open mind, may allow
us
>to grok differences needed which, in place, will make key differences in
>species survival for humankind. Permaculture, by encouraging people to take
>action in place, with awareness of universal sentience, provides essential
>anchors for turbulent times.
>
>Crazy wisdom is in short supply. Treasure every bit that falls upon you.
>
>For those inclined to Eastern spiritual practices and thought, permaculture
>may be understood as a grounding of bliss to find grace, one way of ending
>suffering through finding out who we are. For those who follow such paths,
it
>is clear, at least to me, that east and west are converging into sets of
>understandings more like parallel and converging paths.
>
>The works which flowed through a Western mind who integrated Eastern
patterns,
>Lama Anagarika Govinda, are particularly cogent in adapting and adopting
these
>sets. And also, an Eastern Mind who groks Western mind, Tarthang Tulku,
>continues to expand his Time, Space and Knowledge series. A Western
scientist
>who groks well is Ralph Abraham (see his Chaos, Gaia, Eros).
>
>Perhaps the better path is simply to meld your being with the soil on which
>you walk (if any is available to you).
>
>Milo Clark
>Berkeley CA USA
>