permaculture

["Forest Garden" <forestgarden@austin.rr.com>]

This is a kid friendly event.  There is a playscape outside, and while we
will not have professional daycare available, there will be a teenager hired
to keep an eye on the kids.

Soil:  The Life Beneath Your Feet

At the Red Rock Elementary School
2401 FM 20  Red Rock, Texas 78662
(Red Rock is 35 miles SE of Austin)
Friday October 8, 2004  7-9 pm
(Light refreshments served after the talk)

Join us for an entertaining evening with Dr. Patricia Richardson.  Highly
productive gardens, crops, and livestock begins first with healthy soil.
You can dramatically reduce the amount of water, fertilizers, and pest
control your plants require if you focus on increasing the soil
biodiversity.  How does the life beneath your feet transform sand, silt, and
clay, into water absorbing, nutrient supplying soil?  Why is it that insects
don't bother strong plants growing in healthy soil?  Come explore the
microbiology of the soil, and the web of life that naturally feeds plants
and grows nourishing crops.

If you really want to be able to make good compost tea, it is essential to
know about the microbes of the soil.

Dr. Richardson is a gifted speaker and has developed entertaining methods
for teaching about the world of soil.  She received her PhD in Biological
Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin.  Along with her husband,
she has had a diverse career working with prairie and rangeland restoration,
researching insects in grain products, and the biochemistry of proteins.
She is sometimes referred to as "the dung beetle lady" for her work with
dung beetles.

Sponsored by the Red Rock Farmers Co-Op and the Texas Organic Growers and
Farmers Association.

Call Marjory Glowka at 512 442 7037 for more information.






----- Original Message -----
From: "J Hobbs" <hobbsj@efn.org>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 11:38 AM
Subject: [permaculture] thoughts and references


>
> --
> Hello All,
>
> I'm back reading this list after  several months absence. Here are a
> few thoughts and references...
>
> * Quite the verbiage surrounding the cost/pay of a PDC...seems  the
> key is no dogma- no absolutes-- what works with one region/person
> will not in another.
>
> * I appreciate reading about the life of Meg in Kansas--we need
> examples of how these whole integrated systems  work... beautiful--
> thanks, Meg.
>
> * References for Anne:
> * Water For Every Farm. P. A and Ken Yeomans.
> * Earth Ponds. Matson, Tim. Countryman. in McClarney
>
> * Response to Sandra regarding the question:  Who was the seed
> Keeper? (Sandra Beerman)
>
> Below is an excerpt of an article I wrote for  Oregon Tilth's In Good
> Tilth 2004 summer publication.
> Women on the Land
> "..... My curiosity of what roles women played in agriculture have
> led me to this research....
> In developing tribes and nations the cultivation of soil was
> primarily in women's hands. Many ancient religious myths credit the
> invention of agriculture to the goddess. For example, in Egyptian
> records the goddess Isis is referred to as the inventor of
> agriculture and in Mesopotamian the goddess Ninlil was revered for
> teaching people to farm. The ancient Greeks called Gaea the Earth
> goddess and "Great Mother," and the Romans called her "Terra Mater,"
> the earth mother.
> As you see, many names represent women's connection to the land.
> Scientist Nancy Tanner wrote that in earliest civilization, "Women
> were the gatherers," which played a critical role in the evolution of
> the species. The children of these women shared food and improved
> gathering techniques. Women planted seeds in their encampments and
> began to tame young animals as they did their children.
> This evolutionary period represents the birth of agrarian culture. As
> food gatherers, inventions attributed to women include the digging
> stick, carrying sling, sickle and other knives. Other discoveries
> connected to food processing and preservation were the mortar and
> pestle, drying, roasting, grinding and fermenting technologies, and
> the storage of food in baskets or clay-lined storage pits. Women also
> discovered propagation by shoots and cuttings, seed selection and the
> construction of seedling beds. Cultivation methods credited to women
> include the use of ash as fertilizer, work tools such as the hoe,
> spade, shovel and simple plough, fallowing and crop rotation,
> mulching, terracing, contour planting, irrigation and land
> restoration through tree planting. Women are known for domesticating
> the eight most important grains: rice, maize, barley, oats, sorghum,
> millet, rye and wheat.
> According to Murdock's ethnographic atlas, in one half of the 142
> advanced horticultural societies, farming was the exclusive domain of
> women. Women have tended the soil, garden and farm since the earliest
> societies."......
>
> A few resources:
> With These Hands: Women Working on the Land by Joan Jensen, 1987
> The Chalice and the Blade Our History Our Future   Riane Eisler
>   'Standard cross-Cultural Sample', Ethnology, Vol. 8 No.
> 4,pp.329-369, 1969 G.P. Murdock & D.C. White.
> 'Daughters of Isis, Daughters of Demeter: When Women Sowed and
> Reaped, A. Stanley,  in J . Rothschild (ed.)
> Women, Technology and Innovation, New York: Pergamon, 1982
> Staying Alive Women, Ecology and Development Vandana Shiva
> )The Farm Bureau through Three Decades   O.M. Kile  The Waverly Press
>
>
> * Also:  I recently was asked to do a Permaculture Design in Western
> Kentucky-- I'd rather refer them on to someone who lives in that
> area... any recommendations?
>
>
> In hopes of Peace and a sane outcome for the U.S. election,
> Please VOTE!
>
> Jude
> Agro-Ecology Northwest                                  Oregon
> www.cascadiapermaculture.com
>
>
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