permaculture

[Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>]

> Permaculture needs to be open and honest about its successes and failures 
> if it's going to be taken seriously and have a sustainable future.
> Robyn

The hardest part of PC to swallow for me is this notion of designs one just 
walks away from that are supposed to continue developing into some kind of 
paradise.  Given invasive species (exotic and native), wandering wild 
critters, diseases etc. etc. this seems a little far fetched in most 
situations.  Further it really limits what one may choose to place in a 
design.  Black Locust, for example, makes a nice addition to a grazing farm 
to provide the finest fence posts available, but would over run the place 
if one walked away.  I have seen far too much good farm land overrun with 
brush and garbage trees in the name of "preservation" to believe we just 
get to step back at some point.  Even the first people around here set the 
place on fire pretty regularly.  We are part of the package, like it or not.
Mark



Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM