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  • From: Gasper Family Farm <farmer1@gasperfarm.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] overly optimistic permaculture
  • Date: Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:30:21 -0600

Am I correct to gather you don't have any domestic livestock in your
system? There are a lot of ways to bring life back to the soil, but
livestock are a big one and they also bring fertility.

Pete

Rain Tenaqiya wrote:
> I don't deny that miracles can be made to happen on marginal land, and I've
> heard of many examples. I'm just saying that we need to be more specific
> in our recommendations and that we should warn people about the serious
> work and other inputs involved. I assumed that the land I live with would
> respond more quickly to my work as it seemed similar to a lot of the land
> in Australia, where permaculture was born: poor soil, erratic rainfall
> with hot and dry Summers, etc. I did position myself near trees and
> forest, so I have a lot of organic matter I can haul in, and I am currently
> doing this for the fifth year, one wheelbarrow of leaves at a time.
> However, the dry infertile soil has relatively little life in it and the
> leaves are taking a long time to decompose and integrate into the soil.
> All my new plantings will have forest soil mixed in first, to speed up the
> process, despite the permaculture preference for top dressing. If I had
> enough
> water to overhead irrigate like mad all Summer (or if I lived in a more
> humid climate), I bet I would have much quicker results. In any case, I am
> scaling back the amount of food I hope to grow (I'll have to bring in food
> for guests), and I often wonder if foraging or livestock production is
> really the appropriate lifestyle for this area in the long-term, especially
> if plastic pipe and pumps become unavailable.
>
> If I had to categorize myself, I would say I am more of the Holmgren school
> of permaculture, which I view as much more realistic than the Mollison
> school (uh oh, now the schism begins!). I secretly despise the itinerant,
> landless permaculture preachers, even though I know they are serving a
> purpose at this time, who preach pie in the sky with their glittering eyes.
> I also love to complain and criticize and moan about life, so there!
>
> Rain
>
>
>
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