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  • From: Kathy Carter-White <kathycarterwhite@earthlink.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Large Scale Permaculture?
  • Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2003 23:22:01 -0600

Larry & Daniel both...
Dan, your query ("What is the point?") is good food for thought. Say, just for instance, there were 700 acres of land which could not be intensively farmed, but could be extensively farmed. Say, it were fenced (high-tensile electric) and had typical bottoms and wooded hills, even bluffs and a stream. The key element is that it must be very low inputs (labor AND money), and very sustainable so as to remain productive for a thousand years. Larry, your list is superb. It goes to the heart of sustainability as diverse, knowledge-rich, (and I can see how it could be integrated). I posed the question on SERA of whether anyone might be interested in collaborating on a RAMP CSREES (due out late December) project to explore large-scale permaculture as a practical pest management "living lab". The max is $600,000 or so, but a shortcoming is that it is only for 4 or 5 years. Steve Diver is interested in an alternative pest management database online of all studies out there. These could fit together as way to conform comparative studies and get baseline yields in extensive farming. The landowner (a monastery, actually), Larry I think I mentioned, has just applied for a SARE grant to zone the land into the terraces that were apparently there before the turn of the century, and also zoned by soil type, to study browse impact using hair sheep and determine carrying capacity (ie for Ozarks region). I'm sort of looking for collaborators who might extend the scope of this project to something that CSREES RAMP would be interested in: http://www.reeusda.gov/pestmgt/Ramp/ramp.htm
Does anyone have any pieces to this puzzle? Is there a nonprofit or university out there who might like to do the quantification and writing, and maybe some cutting edge comparisons of productivity using the best practice models that are known today? Since the land is here (and, by the way, I have not even discussed it with the monastery yet...) it would involve stationing someone here in northeastern Oklahoma. Or maybe there is another 700 acres out there which would be a good candidate for the location...

Kathy, Tahlequah, Oklahoma



Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

Kathy Carter-White wrote:

Hi all- I just joined. Is anyone doing large scale permaculture, ie 700 or more acres? If so, I'd be interested in hearing a description of your operation. Kathy in Tahlequah, Oklahoma


What budget is available for such a project & is it actually in the works?

A site plan for the whole 700 acres would be in order.

Are buffalo, bison, sheep, cattle, goats, chickens, turkeys or pigs to be raised?

Forest crops, timberland, muchrooms and fungi [medicinal and culinary] fruit and nut orchards?

Aquaculture, aquaponics, hydroponics waste management (constructed wetlands), compost making, compost tea making?

Greenhousing for seedlings and food production

habitat and plantings for wildlife
fencing to keep wildlife out and livestock in
housing, shops and barns

Plant nurseries for landscaping, farmscaping, fruit and nut orchard, native plant/wild/forest areas and permaculture?

Fiber crops (flax, cotton, hemp, kenaf)?

Grass, grain or bean crops for livestock feed?

Forage cropping for harvest or grazing (kudzu & other)?

Grain and bean crops for food, vegetables, fruits, orchards and integrated plantings?

Dairy: cow, sheep, goat (and processing building)
Kitchen with facility for canning, drying and freezing

Other considerations:
tractors and implements, hand tools
shop for maintenance & repair
metalworking, woodworking and welding shop
sawmill
habitat and plantings for wildlife
fencing to keep wildlife out and livestock in
housing, shops and barns

Media center (web development and inhouse-created educational resources) and library

Spiritual retreat and meditational area

Visior and ecotourism center

Facilities for apprentices

LL







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