permaculture

["Graham Burnett" <grahamburnett@blueyonder.co.uk>]

Hi Cliff- the book is oriented towards the Temperate climate (Primarily UK)
so is certainly be suitable for some parts of the US. Permanent Publications
are distributing it the US, see www.permaculture.co.uk

Cheers Graham

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "cliff davis" <sustainableroots@yahoo.com>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2004 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Review; The Earth Care Manual by Patrick
Whitefield


> A question about the manual?  I would like to know if this info applies to
the US and the PC movement here?  I am a new comer and need all the info I
can get.
> Nature Provides
> Cliff
>
> Graham Burnett <grahamburnett@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> Here's my review of Patrick's new book, as submitted to 'Growing Green'
(the
> magazine of the Vegan Organic Network- hence the emphasis on the vegan or
> otherwise aspects of this work..)
>
> TITLE: THE EARTH CARE MANUAL
> A Permaculture Handbook For Britain
> & Other Temperate Countries
>
> AUTHOR: Patrick Whitefield
>
> PRICE: £34.95 + p&p
> PUBLISHER: Permanent Publications, The Sustainability Centre, East Meon,
> Hampshire GU32 1HR, UK
> ISBN: 1 85623 021 X
> PAGES: 480pp
>
> ILLUSTRATIONS: 206 black and white photos, 43 colour photos, 145 line
> diagrams & numerous tables.
>
> Some critics have said that permaculture is all very well and good for
> tropical or desert conditions, but isn't suitable for a cool temperate
> country such as the UK. Indeed, many of the major permaculture texts
> published up until now have been Australian in origin and thus contained
> large sections that have been at best irrelevant to us Brits. At worse
they
> have led to disillusionment when advice intended for climates far more hot
> or humid than ours has been slavishly followed and resulted in failure.
> However, all that is set to change with the publication of The Earth Care
> Manual, the first fully comprehensive permaculture designers handbook
> specifically written for British conditions.
>
> And what a phenomenal work it is. Seven years in the making, experienced
> permaculturalist Patrick Whitefield has assembled a truly encyclopaedic
work
> covering virtually every aspect of the physical design of the world around
> us.
> He leads in with two chapters defining permaculture and it's ethics
> (earthcare, peoplecare, fairshares) and principles before looking in depth
> at the elements of soil, water, microclimate, energy and materials. The
> second part of the book focuses on application- how working with nature
can
> provide all of our food, shelter and comfort needs in order to live
> abundantly and sustainably. In his very readable yet highly knowledgeable
> style he covers gardens (everything from the window box and conservatory
up
> to allotments and community gardens), buildings, woodland, orchards,
farms,
> local food links (box schemes, food co-ops, CSA, farmers markets, etc) and
> biodiversity. Using copious amounts of facts, figures, tables, diagrams,
> photos and case studies Whitefield illustrates solutions for every
situation
> whether urban or rural, looking at mulching, rainwater harvesting,
> windbreaks, perennial vegetables, pond construction, biotecture, forest
> gardening, coppicing and wildlife gardening to name but a few examples.
The
> last section of the book is devoted to design skills, providing a step by
> step guide to actually putting all this wonderful knowledge together in
our
> own homes, gardens and landscapes.
>
> One chapter I found pertinent was that on farming and food links.
Whitefield
> isn't vegan himself, but respects the vegan point of view. He acknowledges
> the inefficiency of the animal-based diet, pointing out that only around
10%
> of the food consumed by farm animals is available as edible meat when they
> are killed. He also highlights the untenability of the vegetarian stance,
> ie, that it is OK to eat milk and eggs but not meat: "What happens to the
> bull calf or male chick which cannot be used for milk or egg production,
or
> the cow or hen when they are too old to produce an economic yield? Of
> course, they are fattened up, killed and eaten. It's impossible to eat
> animal products without contributing to the death of animals". He does go
on
> to look at the keeping of livestock such as pigs or poultry within
> permaculture systems, but this is not a large part of the book and can
> easily be skipped by the vegan-organic reader. Or you could actually read
> it: I found it very interesting, and it clarified that animal husbandry
> within a permaculture context is a million light years away from the
> industrialised factory pharms that currently supply the sterile little
> packages on the supermarket shelves. Whitefield's own position is "What
> matters to me is how much the animal has suffered. Purely from an animal
> welfare point of view I'd rather eat an organic steak than drink a pint of
> conventional milk". He also looks at green manure based stockless systems,
> acknowledging the work of Elm Farm (although unfortunately doesn't mention
> VON), and explores the possibilities of leaf curd as a protein source for
> vegans that avoids importing pulses.
>
> Also of particular interest to Growing Green readers will be the section
on
> fruit and nuts. Along with vegan pioneer Kathleen Jannaway, Whitefield
> recognises that although nuts are not widely grown in the UK at the
present
> time, they have enormous potential as a staple food crop; ".there's no
> reason why tree crops should not replace annual field crops as our main
food
> source. That would revolutionise not just our agriculture but our
landscape
> too. Gone would be the open fields of cereals and grass replaced by
orchards
> and edible woodlands, with perhaps as many clearings as we now have woods.
> Our landscape would cease to be an imitation of the prairie or steppe, and
> become an imitation of what it was before we turned it upside down:
> woodland". A vision for the future maybe, but one backed up here with
> cutting edge research and practical details on pioneering crops such as
> hazels, walnuts, chestnuts as well as acorns (Whitefield advocates
selective
> breeding for edibility), beech, pine and monkey nuts. For my money the
book
> is worth the admission price for this chapter alone.
>
> Where the book is less strong is in the area of what in permaculture
circles
> are sometimes called the 'invisible structures'. In other words, the
fabric
> of social interactions and human connections that will need to be
redesigned
> if we are to create truly sustainable future societies. Whitefield does
> acknowledge that economics (the 'fairshares' ethic of permaculture) is not
> his forte, instead directing readers to Richard Douthwaite's excellent
> 'Short Circuit'. However, despite some valuable acknowledgement of the
> importance of developing real 'listening skills' and touching on inclusive
> community development techniques such as 'Planning For Real', I would also
> liked to have seen a section going into some more depth regarding
> 'peoplecare'- or how we are to look after both ourselves and each other
> properly. Producing sustainable food, water, medicines, buildings, forests
> and landscapes is only half of the battle for survival in the new
millenium.
> To my mind the real challenge for the 21st century permaculture movement
is
> how to create the 'social glues' that are needed to effectively bind
> together our communities. Not just the intentional communities of
> eco-villages and progressive land share projects, but also retro-fitting
the
> towns, cities and rural settlements that most of us inhabit today either
> through choice or circumstance. But I'm probably quibbling- the title of
> this book is after all the 'Earth Care Manual', and maybe as time goes on
we
> will see equally mature works addressing these other aspects of
permaculture
> design. In fact I should be grateful, for if this were any bigger than it
> already is it would only cause my bookshelf to collapse.
>
> Graham Burnett August 2004
>
>
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