permaculture

["Louis G. Laframboise" <esiobmarfal@gmail.com>]

How Biogas is Weaved into an Argentinian Landscape


by Louis Laframboise



Dedicated to the efforts, inspiration and gifts Masanobu Fukuoka has given
to the world. Mr. Fukuoka left us this past month at the tender age of 95,
in his home country of Japan. As gardener, philosopher and writer, Fukuoka
developed the philosophy of "do-nothing" farming. It suggests a less
intrusive relationship with people, the land and ourselves. Going with the
flow of nature's patterns, we work together such as by avoiding to weed,
fertilize, till or use pesticides. Masanobu Fukuoka also leaves us the
legacy of seedballs and the plant irrigation method(1). I have called this
form of irrigation "Fukuoka ladders" and will develop it in an upcoming
communique.


"Having distanced himself from nature, man finds it almost impossible to
return to the world
he formerly knew. However, the recuperative powers of nature are more potent
and rapid than
most of us suspect. The restoration of an arid desert to a rich land of
flourishing vegetation
might seem inconceivable to the human mind, but at the core of the 'green
philosophy' is the
principle that nature always returns to its former state."
--Masanobu Fukuoka



This article will examine the patterns in nature and some principles of
permaculture as represented by a biogas system at a dorm school in Santiago
del Estero province, Argentina, where I lived from 2001 to 2006. The biogas
system is located within the gardens of Chiñi Tarku, an outdoor permaculture
demonstration site and refuge I developed during that time.  The same
natural patterns observed in this biogas story can be found throughout the
world, whether in natural or created systems, although they will manifest
the particularities of the site. Through the practice of permaculture, these
same patterns can be applied or adapted to designs in our own climates,
cultures and lives.


Cattle are a stable pillar of Argentinian culture, including in this
subtropical dryland Chaco bioregion. The cattle forage in particular
space-time tableaus, weaving through a wild to cultivated landscape
continuum. This pasturing allows for a rich and robust diet, as well as
ample physical exercise. As the cows go about doing their thing--wandering,
eating, drinking, ruminating, flatulating--they freely, or maybe
instinctively, collect, filter and concentrate the eco-jewels encountered in
the biogeographic ranges in which they roamed. At the close of each day,
when the cattle return to spend the night in their corral, some of these
retrieved eco-jewels are deposited as dung. The original water and plants
ingested by the cow becomes transformed. Let's not forget the vital role
symbiotic bacteria in the cow's digestive play in this metamorphosis. The
permaculture principle which suggests we use biological (renewable)
resources whenever possible can be seen here. The cows 'freely' gather, move
and transform what could become future energy, human food, chicken and/or
worm forage, fertilizer, building material and soil amendment. Taking
advantage of these activities and flows can minimize or obviate the need for
human, mechanical and/or fossil fuel-derived work while providing palpable
and much-appreciated yields.


The dung is gathered for the next stage of the process, the actual 'firing'
of the biogas digester. This now becomes yet another of the cascading uses
in this flow of abundance. Cattle manure is mixed with water (and
periodically with fibrous-carbonaceous material as well). The resultant
slurry becomes the feedstock for the biogas system and provides the optimum
conditions for the digester's microbiologic ecosystem to break down the
organic matter and produce methane. There are many other manures (including
human) and organic materials which can be used as a feedstock for these
biodigesters. As a form of current solar energy, we can see how
biogas-derived energy and the associated lifestyle, approaches much more
closely to a sustainable culture than many of our other options. This energy
can be used for cooking, lighting, generating electricity, heating,,
mechanical power,... In my colder, northern temperate climate of now, one of
the challenges in running the biogas system would be to maintain an adequate
ambient temperature. This would allow the slow burn of this biological
furnace to occur in any and all seasons.


Aquatic plants grow in the biogas effluent pond, a cement pool into which
the 'spent' biogas sludge overflows into. Some of these plants are: Pistia
stratiotes (Repollito de Agua), Eichenoa crasspies (Water Hyacinth,
Camalote), Lemna spp.(Duckweed, Lentejita), Cyperus spp. (Papyrus, Papirus)
and Typha dominguensis (Cattail, Totora, Doctora). These aquatics are the
living net which catch the flows of energy, nutrients and water found here
in over-abundance. The permaculture principle of catching and storing energy
is important because it values and uses the gifts and resources flowing
through a site before they are spent, unapreciated or lost to entropy. This
is yet another stage of harvest or generation of use. The following are just
some of the functions which can be stacked at this stage of the biogas tale:
bioremediation, mulch, flowers, ecopsychology and outdoor learning. As the
content of the effluent pond in turn overflows onto the land, or is somehow
removed or used, we continue to share in its abundance. Fertilizer 'bricks'
can be made. Compost teas or other liquid fertilizers can be developed. The
sludge can also become the substrate for vermicomposting systems where worms
further digest and metamorphose it into soil-amending fertilizer. It can
generally be shaped, mixed with other ingredients or otherwise altered for
use in surrounding gardens, fields, nurseries or landscapes. This same
manured mud can also be integrated into natural building techniques.


Imagine a blooming current solar economy based around the use of the
finished manure as a 'mud' for natural building, such as in finishing limes
or plasters. Remember that this mud has passed through the multi-step biogas
chain and also through the worms' guts and so is extremely fine and worked
and can be used to great benefit for specific seals or 'skins'. Considering
that this part of the Chaco is not always abundant in rocks and, possibly,
clays and that saline conditions also present their own challenge, using
this mud might have value in extending the available toolkit. This technique
is probably already being used, or maybe was in earlier times.


The quality and robustness of the final soil-amending fertilizer is in part
due to the diversity of eating and drinking the nomadic cows partook in.
Just as important is the refinement and improvement at each step of the way,
where a metamorphosis occurs in distinct microbiological 'vats' or
ecosystems. The permaculture concept of stacking, both  in time & space, is
also present here. It is of value because it provides for: multiple
functions, resilience and greatest results from the least effort. Also try
to imagine this whole process on a fermentation continuum. The first stage
might occur at the biome~landscape level where the catlle eat and drink
(plants, microorganisms, waters, minerals, nutrients,...) from diverse
places and times, which themselves are a creation and continuation by
microorganisms and other soil life. The fodder is worked and transformed by
bacteria within the cow--essentially mammal gut ecology. The resultant dung
deposits are then used as the biogas feedstock. The biodigester is a
human-created ecosystem which is further worked by anaerobic bacteria
(especially the methanogens) who "burp" up methane, thereby providing folk
with usable energy. Sludge from the finished biogas process feeds aquatic
plants. The plants themselves work with microorganisms, which colonize their
roots and other underwater edges with their biofilm, in order feed while
purifying the water, amoung others. Once the sludge has dried enough, it
becomes appropriate for colonization by manure worms.  The worms, once again
working with their associated intestinal bacterial "compadres", further
digest, transform and refine the sludge into an excellent, highly refined,
soil amender and fertilizer. Alternatively, this manure could go directly to
a soil-agricultural arrangement, such as: manure tea, compost feedstock or
fertilizer bricks where it once again enters its own, new, microorgasmic
dance. As you can see, there are many paths to humus.


These lands are tortured and generously sprinkled with saline parcels. They
are old soils--where ancient seas, lakes or rivers once lay--part of a
lacustric and fluvial bio-geological continuum. Having spent much time out
of doors while there, I was able to partake in some spectacular rains,
infernos, winds and dust storms. The dust "tourbillons" were beautiful and
arose suddenly. These had similar patterns to the snow 'twisters' I later
saw while on the frozen Ottawa River and also the same ones which would pick
up leaves and other organics in our down sloping driveway and spread them
around again. I remember seeing how the salts would appear on the walls,
especially when it rained, and how the salted bricks would disintegrate.
Running in particular sands was like running through talcum powder. The
intensity of this place was shown by the way things grow, burn, blow and
heat up here.  All this seemed to be even more the case to the temperate
climate gringo. I could really feel place here. It was like a cross between
having stepped back in time, being in a warm climate and living in a little
Quebec summer cottage town while all those around you spoke a Spanish which
felt foreign but beautifully warm and familial at the same time.


Let us summarize the generations of uses and harvest stages in this biogas
ensemble:

1. Cows gather and concentrate diverse mosaics of plants, microorganisms,
waters from roamed biogeographies.
2. Digestion, fermentation, takes place in cow's digestive.
3. Biogas digester concentrates and further ferments manure.
4. Energy is produced for heating, cooking, lighting, mechanical power,
electricity,...
4. Aquatic plants in effluent pool catch energy, water and nutrients
contained in 'spent' manure.
5. Biologically active effluent overflows into surrounding cultivated
landscapes for use in/as: building material, compost, fertilizer, mycelium
innoculum,...


How many of these same kinds of eco-jewels are flowing through our cities,
landscapes and lives now--untapped, forgotten and undervalued? In the
context of our fragile, energy-rich, modern civilization, we might do well
to consider the value of these resources, these unique cosmological gifts,
and re-weave them into our own designs and life practice.  By recognizing
their importance, we might neutralize their ill-effects and harvest this
passing energy. As we move further along on the path of fossil energy
decent, we will increasingly value these flows and become proficient at
capturing them. Holmgren suggests we use these flows because they are
"...diverse, small, dispersed, easily used and not rich or portable enough
to attract much attention from thieves and those seeking to monopolise
wealth."(2)



Puyus Nomadicos,
Lakeway Creek Sands station.
Ottawa, Canada.
September 13, 2008, late Holocene.
www.lakewaycreeksands.blogspot.com


Bibliography


1. The Natural Way of Farming:The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy.
Masanobu Fukuoka. (Appendix). 1985.
2. Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. David
Holmgren. 2002.