permaculture

["Paul Park" <parkplace@kootenay.com>]

>I find it very odd that these workshop people don't stress learning
permaculture by actually practicing it. PDCs, books, study groups, mentors,
internships, but forgetting learning by doing, by working with the garden
and the animals. You see, actually getting out and doing it just doesn't
come to mind, does it. <

On the course I went on, it was abundantly clear that working the land and
observation over time was key.

 >I suspect those who are sooo impressed by workshops
have never been introduced to the work of Elliot Coleman, the Nearings,
Ruth Stout, Joel Sallatin, Fukuoka, the Rodales, Jeavons, Steiner, and
many, many others. <

I'm not sure if you're including me in this group, but I was familiar with
all of these authors and many many others before going on the design course.
During the course, we discussed Fukuoka many times, we visited a farm
intensively grazing poultry a la Sallatin, we visited homesteaders who built
their own stone home, using forms like the Nearings, we discussed
Biodynamics, we double dug some beds, we sheet mulched, we discussed the
work of Emilia Hazelip, a personal friend of the instructor...  One or more
of the students in the group had experience with all of these
writers/teachers and was able to add insight and personal experience to the
teaching.

>Permaculture as envisioned by Mollison and Holmgren is a complete system.
It is an ecological system to LIVE IN, to nourish and be nourished by it.
It is not meant for the "supermarket shelf" approach, like I'll try some of
this and a little of that. If workshops don't even intend for participants
to set up and live in complete systems, then they are simply untrue to the
core permaculture vision. I ask those questions for a reason. I'm NOT
arguing that every workshop has to turn out 100% practicing
permaculturalists. I AM saying that if almost nobody comes out practicing
real permaculture, then it's frankly nothing but talk. Literally. All this
"ooooh it changed my life", when it changed absolutely nothing, is really
lame.<

 Not to be trite, but Rome wasn't built in a day.  When I took the course a
little over a year ago, I was living in a big city, with a tiny yard, no
vegetable garden and one lovely crab apple tree.  Today, I live on a small
farm, I have a beautiful no-till vegetable and flower garden, steps from my
kitchen door, my first pullets are debugging the garden and feasting on the
fallen fruit around the trees; they should start laying in a few weeks.
Once a week, we eat a chicken, we raised in a Sallatin style pen.  We're
drying cherries and prunes and waiting for the pears to ripen. My wife is
studying with a local herbalist, learning to use locally-grown plants to
keep us all healthy and happy.  Physically, my life has changed.....where I
live....where I get the majority of my food....how I spend my recreational
time......  My life has changed in other ways too.  While on the course, I
was reading a couple of books by Daniel Quinn, many others on the course had
read him too and we spent evenings sharing our thoughts and feelings on
that.  I'm much more conscious of how my choices affect the earth, others
around me, my children....

The Permaculture Design Course didn't create all this change.  I was on the
journey long before I took the course.  The course was a nice stop along the
road, and  for me, it was well worth the small cost .

>I want to hear about people doing permaculture and how they go about
it. <

Like I said in my earlier post, I'm still mainly observing.  The things we
have done this first year are beginnings....steps in our learning about
permaculture and sustainable living.  My next step is to fence my land so I
can add some cattle to my grazing system (following the work of Sallatin).
Does anyone have suggestions for fence posts options that won't poison the
earth?  I'm trying to restore some of the old buildings here and salvaging
as much as I can from those too far gone to restore.  I'm learning about
fruit trees and hope to incorporate the existing trees into a self
regenerating forest garden.  I have been observing the flow of runoff on the
land and I want to use swales or keyline plowing to keep more water on the
land and perhaps create a pond for water, ducks, fish, reeds.....

I was away from my computer for much of the summer, so maybe I missed some
of your questions.  Where there specific things you wanted to discuss?  I
don't have tons of practical experience, but I have done a few things and
I've read a ton.  I looked at your websites and I see you have amassed a
great deal of knowledge there.  I look forward to more browsing there.

Please share some of your experieces with us.

Peace,

Paul