permaculture

[Stephen Figgins <fig@monitor.net>]

I joined the list a week ago or so.  I have been aware of permaculture 
for about 10 years or so, and have occasionally read the archives of 
this group..  I haven't taken a Permaculture design course yet, but have 
read Mollison's books on the subject.   As a renter in town, I feel 
somewhat limited in applying what I learn, but I am experimenting some.  
My wife is an avid gardener, and we have a small garden outside our 
current apartment and another one in the community garden.   We gave up 
on them some in this summer heat however, and both are fairly well dried 
up. 

We live in Eastern Kansas, not far from Kansas City, in Lawrence, 
between the Kaw and Wakarusa rivers in the lower Kansas watershed.  We 
had a bad drought last year, and this recent spell of heat hasn't helped 
much this year, with temperatures for the last few weeks exceeding 100 
degrees.  We have had a little drizzle, but not much.  I worry that it 
might be part of an overall shift in climate, and that the trend could 
continue in future years.  That has me thinking about how best to 
capture and retain water.  I have been examining natural swales to see 
what happens in them. 

While my wife's passion is gardening, mine lies more in the outer 
zones.  I am an amateur naturalist and I am learning tracking and 
wilderness survival skills.  I am especially interested in wild foods 
and medicines.  I am following a naturalist training program produced by 
the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, Washington.  This is giving 
me more insights into how things work together forests and prairies and 
even waste places and yards.

I am also interested in bioregionalism, and got to attend the 
bioregional congress last year in Kansas. It was nice to gather together 
with people that seemed to share my passion for the land.  I long for a 
tribe, for closer community.  Though as a parent I don't get out as much 
as I would like.  I spend much of my spare time with my kids.  My wife 
and I are unschooling the kids.  While that lacks the structure of 
school, it still takes plenty of time helping them get the experiences 
they want to learn and grow. 

I make my living as a writer on technical topics, and as a computer 
consultant.  I would like to shift to more general science writing and 
nature writing.  I haven't figured out how to make the same amount of 
money doing that though. 

There is much more I am interested in.  I am what you might call a 
glorious generalist.  I know a little about a lot of things.

Think I'll leave it at that.  Hi, y'all!

-Stephen