permaculture

[Gasper Family Farm <farmer1@gasperfarm.com>]

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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