permaculture

["paul wheaton" <paul@richsoil.com>]

Steve,

Did you look at how water is moved around?  Do they use many of the
terraces for crops other than rice?  Are the terraces at the bottom
designed for greater water flow during the rains?  Did you get an idea
of how work intensive the terraces are?



On 5/19/07, Steve Diver <steved@ipa.net> wrote:
> Hey Larry -
>
> Thanks for plucking those beautiful images out of pbase
> and sharing terraced farmland pics with the Permaculture List.
>
> The associated pics of people, food, habitations, culture,
> art, plants, and water bring the real-world experience of
> the two-thirds world to life.
>
> In my travels to terraced farmland in the Himalayas,
> the history and work of terraced farms became more
> understandable.
>
> One of the terraced valleys we visited was said to
> have existed like that for one thousand years, while
> another was about one hundred years old.
>
> As population increases, more hillside lands are
> brought into cultivation.
>
> In India, they have these small indigenous mountain
> bullocks that work the terraces.  Their water buffalo
> cousins down in the lowlands are behometh monsters by
> comparison.  These small bullocks can turn a wooden
> plow on a dime.  Some of the narrow terraces are only
> 4-6 wide, with a three foot retaining wall stepping
> up to the next level.
>
> After reflecting on the situation in the Himalayas,
> I remaked to my agricultural host that I don't see
> machinery coming to these mountains and displacing
> the age-old methods... in one thousand years, it
> will still look much the same, a form of localized,
> sustainable agriculture.  My friend who works with
> the local farmers said yes, in one thousand years
> it will still look much the same.
>
> Check out Uttaranchal, India and related portions
> of the Himalayas on pBase; in some of these farmlands,
> the TransHimalayas loom in the background:
>
> step farming, ranikhet, uttaranchal india2484.jpg
> http://www.pbase.com/digitalfestival/image/55687472
>
> dharamshala greens200.jpg
> http://www.pbase.com/digitalfestival/image/55350652
>
> Best regards,
> Steve Diver
>
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