permaculture

["Marsha Hanzi" <hanzibra@svn.com.br>]

An interesting example of urban market farming from Belo Horizonte, Brazil:

A program was developed whereby unemployed and landless farmers plant vacant
lots.  The owner provides the land and the fence, the farmer the seeds and
the work.  The owner receives a third of the produce.  The farmer two-thirds
, which feeds his family or gives a small income selloing in local markets.
This has been a win-win situation which , according to reports, has given
satisfaction to all, as the owner no longer has to worry that his lot will
be invaded, covered with garbage, etc...

Marsha Hanzi
Instituto de Permacultura da Bahia
http://www.geocities.com/oliarte



----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence F. London, Jr. <lflondon@mindspring.com>
Newsgroups: permaculture,market-farming
To: permaculture <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: Using permaculture in market farming and homestead


> 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
>
>
>
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