permaculture

[mIEKAL aND <dtv@mwt.net>]

I'm working on the permaculture & landscape design to a new 40 acre 
campus being built by Organic Valley.  We're putting in employee 
gardens, 5 acres of prairie, edible landscaping in the parking lots, & 
hopefully a 20 acre demonstration farm in the future.  Also in the 
design is an iniative to keep the whole place certified organically 
since that's the benchmark of the industry we're in.  The biggest 
disappointment with the process so far is that they are having a 250 
car parking lot complete with the asphalt.  None of the alternatives 
that have been looked into so far will hold up to a lot of freezing & 
thawing & in some years a lot of snow plowing.  Anyone have any 
experience in a northern clime with something other than gravel, 
asphalt, & these permeable tiles which shift around & would make it 
hard for snow plowing?

mIEKAL