permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <london@metalab.unc.edu>]

On Mon, 23 Aug 1999, John Schinnerer wrote:

> A number of years ago a small-scale dryland taro farmer I was briefly
> working for asked me if a home computer would be useful for his farming
> work.  I came up with all sorts of uses for one...but were I answering that
> question now, I'd say "I doubt it, except for keeping your books if they're
> complicated enough to warrant it."  What he had that was most valuable was
> his living, embodied knowledge of his soil, plants, weather and so on - a
> computer would only get in his way in that realm.

And other than what he taught you and others by word of mouth (did you
write it all down or tape record it?) that body of knowledge will pass on
with him when he dies. Had he a computer and an ISP he could have shared/
recorded/syntheszed that knowledgebase with the rest of the world. Quite a
difference. His asking if he needed a computer probably indicated that
he has the capability of learning to use one.