permaculture

[1Earth Permaculture <permaculture@start.com.au>]

The indisputable King of PC Earthworks is Geoff Lawton who took over
the reigns at the Permaculture Research Institute from Bill Mollison -
Geoff can be reached at http://www.permaculture.org.au if he isn't off
saving Kosovo or Africa at the moment.  

Geoff does regular courses is PC Earthworks - ask him how he got the
overflow from his dam to run back up into it again!!

Which reminds me - he should be on this list!

Regards,
Marcus


Original message from: Mikal Jakubal <mjakubal@asis.com>
>
>In a previous post I wrote:
>
>>The Cat operator was really good, but not at all familiar with this
kind of
>>work....The problem was that he just couldn't
>>visualize what it was that I wanted... He just couldn't read my
mind, and
>I just couldn't draw
>>him a clear enough picture.
>
>To which Rick responded:
>
>>Try modeling the project in sand; 3-D conceptual skills are by no
means
>>linked with verbal abilities.
>>Pegging the contours out ahead of time, drawing, surveying, are all
useful
>>but take longer.
>
>The problem with doing something like this is that even I didn't have
a
>perfect *picture* of the finished product in my head. What I had was
a set
>of "patterns" (in the sense used in the book "A Pattern Language"),
desired
>relationships between various landscape and built elements, and a
list of
>functions (such as sizing a swale to accommodate all the roof water
or
>making sure that this area drained this way, and that area drained to
over
>there). In other words, I would know it when it was done, but not
really
>before. 
>
>Since the operator was only familiar with the traditional "language"
of
>earth moving and construction, it was difficult to explain or even
model
>what I wanted. What occurred to me was how much easier it would be to
work
>with someone who was well-versed in the language of Pc, patterns and
>ecological restoration. It would've saved me so much Bobcat and
wheelbarrow
>work if I'd just been able to say "I'm going to try keyhole beds
around
>these existing raised beds so leave some piles of dirt spread out
around
>the edge." (I couldn't get him to leave piles of dirt! He just
wanted--from
>habit and usual practice, I assume--to smooth everything out.)  
>
>I know of one person around here who does exactly this kind of work
with a
>small excavator, but he was too busy to do my project. Since I'm
>desperately bored with saw milling, and I'm good with running
equipment,
>I've been wondering about the possibility of getting a piece of
equipment
>(small back hoe/loader or something) and specializing in "conscious"
>earthworking. (Guess I'd have to take a Design Course to call it
Pc...) The
>nice thing about this--compared to, say, edible landscape design and
>nursery--is that there's plenty of regular ol' construction and road
>maintenance work to do if the neighbors aren't yet sold on
permaculture or
>pattern languages. The nice thing about it is that, having the
equipment
>and being able to do the work, it would be much easier to show people
the
>value of the concepts and convince them to give it a try. Sorta like
how
>you may be able to convince mainstream people that edible landscaping
is a
>good idea, but it's only going to really work if they don't have to
go out
>and try and find the plants themselves.
>
>So, does anyone have any experience with pc-type earthworking as a
>business? Has there been any past discussion or articles about it
that I
>could be directed to? I wonder how much demand there is already and
how
>much could be created through education. (The one guy I know of is
way
>busy.) I would imagine that established pc designers would love to
have an
>equipment operator with whom to work who already speaks their
language and
>doesn't have to be told not to hack up the trees. For me, one nice
thing
>about running a tractor is that while it is still hard work, it is
not as
>physically destructive to my body as running the mill. 
>
>Any thoughts? 
>
>Mikal     
>
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