permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <llondon@bellsouth.net>]

Subject: New subscriber
Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 19:52:38 +0100
From: "mud" <mlomas@tinet.ie>
Organization: Natural Technology Systems
Newsgroups: alt.permaculture


We just got this ng available on our server, so I thought I'd say hello
and
support the new group - I've said on a couple of other groups 'wouldn't
it
be good if there was a pc newsgroup' - and here it is. Good work,
Christer,
and anyone else who took the trouble to set it up.
We can't get all the first postings, so I don't know what's been said,
or
what questions have been asked, but I hope no-one minds if I ramble a
bit :

We're in the West of Ireland and delved deep into
permaculture/self-sufficiency - managed to produce most of our own
organic
fruit & veg, milk, cheese, yoghurt, eggs, meat, heating fuel, transport
(driving horses and bikes), electricity (wind & solar). Of course the
hardest thing to produce is money, and so we had to step away from the
very
time-consuming 'knit your own yoghurt' lifestyle to earn a living. I'm a
carpenter/joiner by trade, and we now do green building work and design
reed
bed wastewater treatment systems. It's very hard to find a balance so as
to
be able to do both, but at least the business is satisfying and not
doing
too much damage to the planet.

There are a lot of people around us from many countries who are doing
permaculture - many without even realizing it. Over the past 4 or 5
years
we've been involved in a LETS system, a country produce market, a 'Hit
Squad' (4 or 5 friends work together one day per week at one person's
project, then next week it's someone else's turn), and there is always a
lot
of informal sharing of resources amongst friends.  Of course it all
sounds
wonderful, and it isn't always, but any project seems to run more
smoothly
with a supportive group to fall back on. That's where I think a
newsgroup
such as this is a really positive idea - it helps if you don't feel
alone in
a project.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough for now. I'm looking forward to seeing
the
group develop.

Good Luck
Mark

--
         Mark Lomas        :  mlomas@tinet.ie
      Web  :  http://surf.to/NaturalTechnology

    Natural Technology Systems, Co.Clare, Eire.
Reed Bed Wastewater Treatment. Eco-Construction