permaculture

[Sean Maley <semaley@yahoo.com>]

--- Forest Garden <forestgarden@gvtc.com> wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
> 
> We are organizing a group of neighbors who are interested in creating local
> businesses.  We plan on having a brainstorming session, networking for
> additional resources, and creating an action list for community support.
> 
> We were wondering if there was a speaker or video available that had a
> presentation on examples of what has been done in other areas.  Something
> inspiring, and showcasing businesses that can exist after fossil feuls.  An
> emphasis on human-scale agriculture would be ideal....
> 
> Please let me know if you are aware of such a resource.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Marjory

I saw the Ishmael email on the To: list and thought you may be attempting the 
same thing as us
here in NYC.  You may have seen some of my prior posts to the permaculture 
community regarding
this.  Here in NYC, I'm pushing for doing audits of what a given group eats 
and uses, then
creating businesses that addresses these major needs.  I suspect that real 
estate and taxes will
comprise the majority of expenses.  Taxes can be reduced by creating 
businesses, as you are doing.
 However, be careful to not underestimate real estate and subsequent banking. 
 Even businesses go
under keeping up with "lease" and "rent" payments that always trend up (See 
"Progress and Poverty"
by Henry George for how this happens).

Therefore, businesses focusing on keeping the home green when renovating, 
cleaning, and dealing
with "pest" issues should be able to leverage real estate opportunities and 
lead to a more stable
tribe (more stable, due to owning their own land and homes, which weren't 
constructed to require
high maintenance).  Also, the things that make having a business doable would 
make sense. 
Services for taxes, accounting, and marketing will help launch successful 
businesses.  Beyond
business and real estate, a CSA can be extended to include things like 
resources for making
clothes, shoes, transporting members between the city/"farm", and other major 
items in our daily
lives.  We have more than 36 CSAs in NYC alone (not sure of the tally this 
year).

Some things like wine and vinegar production are so simple, that these things 
may be easier to
keep "do-it-yourself".  The CO2 generated would be better left indoors for 
house plants to take
up.  However, things like aquaponics would take up too much space in a city 
apartment, so alcohol
production/microbrewery business could stack well with fish and herb 
production.  Like the CSA,
this may only be possible for urban dwellers when they partner with rural 
groups.  What rural
groups get out of a partnership is the simple fact that there would be too 
much work on their own.
 Even if foraging became the norm, there would still be a need for culture, 
durable goods,
protection, etc.

So far, what we are doing here in NYC would be teaching each other foraging 
skills (good foraging
in the mega-city, believe it or not), identifying the best neighborhoods to 
infiltrate, and
starting our own businesses at the individual level.  When facing $8k/month 
rent for a tiny 2BR
apartment, the idea of leaving the day job becomes a threat at the family 
level.  In response to
the nightmarish real estate pyramid, we have started a charity to help people 
make the transition
(Green Phoenix Permaculture, which is Ishmael inspired).  I imagine many 
Ishmael groups are having
the same discussions.

The NYC_Ishmael yahoo group is most recently discussing the formation of a 
church.  Although
jarring at first, we have come to realize that corporations, churches, and 
other business
constructs have been created to maintain an unfair advantage over any 
competing culture, as well
as the people these constructs purport to serve.  Therefore, we need to 
consider the creation of a
church to protect our efforts to form tribes and create the tribal land 
trusts which make rhizome
(anti-hierarchy) living possible.  We are also discussing a play based upon 
having a "B" contest
with a staged assassination of the winning "B" at the end.  We would market 
this idea by taking a
page from "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, using a whisper campaign of the 
phrase "Who is 'B'?" 
Being the home of Broadway, we figure this to be appropriate to our location.

Any way, hope there is something useful here.  Feel free to invite people 
into your discussion
from NYC_Ishmael or GreenPhoenixPermaculture yahoo groups.  The best track 
record for me so far
has been Ishmael groups and PDC courses with folks like Geoff Lawton.


-Sean.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com