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permaculture - [permaculture] Jean Pain and "forest thicket compost"

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  • From: John Fritz <johnfritz77@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Jean Pain and "forest thicket compost"
  • Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 09:30:27 -0800 (PST)

Hi. My name is John Fritz and I am new to the list. I have completed the
PDC twice, most recently in Occidental, CA in 1997. When I first became
aware of Permaculture in the Mother Earth News interview of Mollison back in
the early 80's, I was particularly taken by the work of Jean Pain and his
use of "forest thicket compost" for the heating of water, including that
which heated the floors of his residence by radiance through underfloor
tubing. I wrote Mollison for access to Pain's written work, but he only had
the title: Another Kind of Garden. This was before I was aware of the
inter-library loan system and so another interest of the Prince of Unfinished
Projects languished at the wayside. I have recently finished reading Another
Kind of Garden (through inter-library loan) and my interest is now even more
keen, given the nearing peak of natural gas production for North America and
stories already making the news of some people having to choose between heat
and and other
necessities.

So my immediate interest in posting here is to correspond with anyone who
has successfully employed Jean Pain's use of "forest thicket compost" in the
heating of water. As used by Pain, the "forest thicket compost" also yielded
nourishing compost for gardens and the thickets from which it was obtained;
and also methane gas. Given these yields it is incredible to me that his
methods have not become wildly popular, at least in Permaculture circles.
Yet, I have not heard of such. The only obstacle that I can think of (and it
is a doosy) is the need for 50 tons of such "forest thicket compost" for each
generating application, per Pain's use. Still I would like to determine if
the method could be modified for smaller applications.

Those who are interested but have not employed Pain's methods are also
encouraged to correspond.

John Fritz, NW Arkansas.




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