permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

paul wheaton wrote:

> Got a link or two for us to get started?
>
> I've done a bit of reading in the past and most of what stuck in my
> head was something to keep water distributed (as opposed to puddling
> in the low spots)

You're talking production farming systems (Ex. rice/wheat/corn/millet terraces) and permaculture/conservation/soil 
building/plant community building (Keyline system). The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I need to absorb 
more of Keyline technology. I can probably produce pix of rice terraces that are parallel and on the contour but most 
are probably not laid out that way. Thousands of years ago the terrace builders may have on occasion made mistakes in 
layout, from top down, and its too late to change them. Back then they surely could have conceived of Keyline technology 
and used crude tools to lay out their fields using that system. A segment of bamboo with top side between nodes cut 
away, filled with water, calibrated on known level surface with marks on each end, could be mounted on a long sighting 
stick laid on a stand. Marks on a storey pole on an opposing ridge could be aligned with the levelling stick and a stake 
put in the ground to establish all points along a countour. Crude but effective. Maybe they even used this method before 
glass vial bubble levels were available. Getting water to move where you want it then establishing permanent, 
maintainable plantings affording acceptable production levels there is one thing. Moving water to make revegetation and 
soil building possible is another. I expect most rice terraces were built on the fly, somewhat arbitrarily with regard 
to contour and abiding by the standards of Keyline layout.

--
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
Venaura Farm
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://market-farming.com/venaurafarm
http://venaurafarm.blogspot.com/
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech