permaculture

[Paul Wheaton <paul@richsoil.com>]

--- J Hobbs <hobbsj@efn.org> wrote:

> 
> -- 
> 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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