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Subject: permaculture
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- From: "Eugene F. Monaco" <efmonaco@comcast.net>
- To: 'permaculture' <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [permaculture] Cold Frames
- Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 15:23:54 -0500
Title: Message
-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of mike greene
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 3:53 PM
To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [permaculture] Research vs. Real WorldThis is impromptu writing and thinking and I do not expect replies or postings.
Permaculture is Research in my view, of the most valuable methods to
increase and maintain food production ecosystems with a minimum of
input.
Farming.
Farming today is either hugely commercial, 10,000 acre farms are common
in the USA or as in most of europe, much smaller but bound and
limited by tradition.
Permaculture is innovative research, constantly looking for new crops
and new methods.
Thus only a very small percentage of those connected with food production
put any value to permaculture and its research. A "radical" approach.
By research, I include all individual research on individually owned farms
and such postings here of results and methods.
Amateur Research
A part of permaculture certainly and yet, also condemned by most or
all of academia.
Agro Forestry or similar fields are somewhat similar, and accepted
within academia as long as the research is published in science
journals which allow only those directly connected to universities to
publish.
However, historically, the experiments of one person, some of the
great scientists of history, even subjective reactions of those early
researchers using only themselves as test cases, have produced
some of the great breakthroughs in human and scientific knowledge.
In addition, academic research is hopelessly slow as the world
turns toward crisis level depletions of water, food and overwhelming
problems of contamination and pollution.
Scientists will still be debating whether global warming exists, as
the continents become deserts and people become desperate for basic
life needs.
Governments will not act in time either, for the same bureaucratic
reasons.
That leaves a very few "amateurs" who realize that growing and
testing food crops on a small acreage is at least as valuable
research as all other methods in view of planetary urgency.
The Real World.
The real world issues relevent here are massive poverty and starvation
which can benefit directly from permaculture methods.
In those poor countries, barriers continue to obstruct actual distribution
of methods and sometimes supplies.
However, we in the modern Western countries are heading toward a
similar situation.
I travel and see empty office buildings everywhere, abandoned storefronts
in all the cities in the USA, everywhere.
It is very possible that a severe economic depression is coming in the
near future.
In that case, permaculture groups should consider that food preservation
and long term storage methods should be examined now, on these
farms and information on this second stage of food production
(i.e. the first stage being the growing and production of foods), the
storing of foods to maximize quality and food value, is at least as
important.
Marketing and selling foods as a source of income here in these
permaculture groups seems to take second place to workshops,
meetings and conferences. That probably means that many members
can afford to devote most of their time to research of permaculture
methods.
Demand for quality food products will continue to increase I believe,
even as the economy falters, since evidence of widespread pollution
and contamination of foods and environment can only increase,
the public will look for the safest foods, etc.
Selling permaculture food products should be emphasized more here.
and as well, the techniques of storage in the event of long term
economic downturn.
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-
[permaculture] Research vs. Real World,
mike greene, 03/22/2003
-
[permaculture] Cold Frames,
Eugene F. Monaco, 03/24/2003
- Re: [permaculture] Cold Frames, Rick Valley, 03/25/2003
-
[permaculture] Cold Frames,
Eugene F. Monaco, 03/24/2003
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