permaculture

[scakya@lobo.net]

Dear Lee,
   I have to agree on the spiritual comments made here on the list.  
Much of what has been done on my farm here in central NM has come from  
ideas and nudgings while working with many materials often not used.  
All things are connected, and when practicing permaculture it is  
important to never forget that.
    Feeding tumbleweed to my dairy goats to help offset the acidosis  
that occurs with a high alfalfa diet to using the same left overs as  
soil builders came from long observation and nudgings. The leftovers  
were then placed where I've been nudged to do so are now after several  
years building soil and as a result grass is growing on what once was  
a bare rock.
    For the last three years I've done German style raised beds. They  
came also as a nudging and until this year I didn't know who was doing  
them elsewhere. Mine are made from the leavings of hay that fall  
outside the main feeding pen, weeds, a mixture of blow sand and manure  
that builds up along the fence to the occasional dosing of fine  
shredded wood from the baby's pens.
   Spirituality, at least in my mind and on my farm play a heavy part  
in what is getting achieved here. I've never been able to go to a real  
PDC course and have only been able to read and observe. It is that  
connectedness that allows me to do what is needed here and one day in  
the next few years what began as a bare piece of land will be a  
beautiful and green oasis in my part of NM.
   There are so many instances of being shown how to deal with issues  
and how to bring balance, that it would be difficult to relay them  
all, nor would I try. I truly doubt I will ever be able to grasp just  
how connected everything is, but do know the learning process/the  
doing here will never stop until my last breath.

Thank you,
Pat Maas


--- On Sun, 12/13/09, Lee Flier <leeflier@comcast.net> wrote:


From: Lee Flier <leeflier@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] the gardener's shadow falls both ways
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Sunday, December 13, 2009, 5:04 AM


fdnokes@hotmail.com wrote:
Conversations with plants. I'd rather steer clear of any courses than  
lose such a precious connection.???Not that they need by mutually  
exclusive, however.
No, and that's the point.? The point is not that we shouldn't have  
spiritual dimensions, it's that no one's particular religious or
spiritual leanings should be forced on students (or teachers) at a PDC.?
Someone else may have a different leaning and it might be offensive to
them at best.? At worst, it can be dangerous to base one's actions and
decisions on superstition.? As far as I can tell, talking to plants
never hurt anybody - I do it too. :)? But some things people do aren't
so innocuous.

I think permaculture is inherently spiritual as it is, given that it
stresses the interconnectedness between all things, and the aliveness
and abundance of all things.? But it's also inherently practical, in
that it focuses on the here and now, and the beauty of what we can
observe right in front of us.
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