permaculture

[Benny H <makesensi@gmail.com>]

Is this an advertisement for BioIntensive?

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 8:54 PM, <lbsaltzman@aol.com> wrote:

> Put that way I couldn't agree more.
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marjory <forestgarden@gvtc.com>
> To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Tue, May 11, 2010 11:33 am
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] How Much Land Does It Take To Become Food
> Self-Reliant
>
>
> Larry,
> I totally agree about the need for strong community.  But communtiy
> ithout members having self-reliance is in serious trouble.  Uh, like
> he situation we are in now, for instance.  You have to start
> omewhere.  Why not your own backyard?.
> - Marjory
>
> LBSALTZMAN@aol.com wrote:
>  An interesting article but I see one thing missing and that is  community.
>  We should be thinking how communities whether neighborhoods,  villages, or
>  intentional communities become self-sufficient, not how individuals
>  become
>  self-sufficient.
>
>  Larry Saltzman
>
>
>  In a message dated 5/11/2010 6:33:40 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
>  forestgarden@gvtc.com writes:
>
>  How much  land does it take?
>
>  When thinking of becoming self-reliant, the  questiona risies "how much
>  land do I need to be able to sustainably grow  enough food for my
>  family?"  The exact answer to that question  depends on several factors,
>  but you can learn a lot, and make a pretty  good estimate, by looking at
>  some scenarios that span the various  alternatives.
>
>  Lets start first off with the almost magical dream of  the pure
>  hunter/gatherer.  I often hear this one from those concerned  about a
>  collapse of civilization.  The shit hits the fan and you take  your rifle
>  and a few supplies and head out to the wilderness to live off  the land.
>  Just how much land does it take to support you without  destroying all
>  the wildlife and plant populations?  How much area do  you need in order
>  live /sustainably/ as a hunter/gatherer?
>
>  Since  there are so few actual hunter/gathers left alive on the planet,
>  and the  few places where they do still exist tend to be jungles which
>  look nothing  like anything in North America, we will turn to
>  anthropological  data.  The quick and easy answer is that traditional
>  peoples used on  average, about 10 square miles per person.  10 square
>  miles is 6,400  acres - that is for one person.  There are numerous
>  studies and  authors that cite this number and one of the most accessible
>  is Jared  Diamond author of the popular title /Collapse: How Societies
>  Choose To  Fail or Succeed/.  Another excellent source is /Tending The
>  Wild:  Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's
>  Natural  Resources/ which is a wonderful book detailing how sustainable
>  wild-crafting is more about taking care of the land than simply taking
>  stuff.  California's lush and diverse landscapes were able to support
>  some of the highest native population densities known in North America
>  with the highest being almost 1.5 people per square mile living on the
>  coast of the Santa Barbara channel.  The plant and animal communities  in
>  the Santa Barbara area have been largely destroyed by modern peoples  and
>  that density is no longer possible today of course.  As another
>  comparison, desert regions of California had roughly 1 person per 12.5
>  square miles.
>
>  Before we head off into other more obtainable land  use scenarios, lets
>  pause for a moment to acknowledge that in addition to  having access to a
>  huge tract of land for living the hunter/gatherer  lifestyle, you also
>  need at least a decade to learn the many, many, skills  of living such as
>  tracking and hunting, trapping, botany, weather cycles,  fiber and
>  cordage, shelter, tool making, fire starting, tanning, and so  much more.
>
>  OK, so you won't be going that primitive.  What about  you growing your
>  own food in gardens, food plots, orchards, livestock, and  perhaps a bit
>  of hunting?  Agriculture has gotten us the these high  population levels
>  so far anyway, hasn't it?  Yes it has, and small  scale agriculture is
>  definitely the way to go for most people.  So  how much land are you
>  going to need for that?
>
>  The research to the  answer to that question was started back in the 70's
>  by a very forward  thinking man named John Jeavons.  The work has
>  continued since then  and a method developed into a system called
>  "Bio-Intensive  Gardening".  The Bio-Intensive method has been
>  implemented worldwide  to alleviate hunger and malnutrition.  There is a
>  wealth of detail in  the entire Bio-intensive method, but the short
>  answer to how much land you  need can be summarized as approximately
>  8,000 sq.ft. for a complete diet  for one person (you need 4,000 sq/ft.
>  of actual growing space and at least  4,000 sq.ft. for pathways and
>  access).  That is also assuming you  have four growing seasons per year.
>  So if you can only get two  growing seasons, then you need to double the
>  space needed per  person.  For reference, an acre is 43,560 sq.ft.  So in
>  a more  southern climate, you could theoretically support about 5 people
>  per acre.
>
>  The absolute best reference for the Bio-Intensive method is the book
>  /How To Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land
>  Than You Can Imagined /by John Jeavons.  And for another comparison,
>  with data taken from Jeavons book, the average U.S. diet with
>  conventional farming requires 15,000 to 30,0000 sq.ft. and is done in
>  such a way that it diminishes soil -- i.e. it is not sustainable.
>
>  So small scale agriculture is definitely going to be your best  bet.  My
>  personal experience is that 2 acres in a temperate region  will
>  completely wear you out and is enough room to comfortably support a
>  family of four with a variety of food sources such as gardens, orchards,
>  small livestock, and wild crafting.  You can still do a lot in less
>  area, and of course, everyone always wants more.  Some caveats I've  got
>  to throw in there is you definitely need about a decade of experience  to
>  homestead like this, and you also need enough water.  An excellent
>  source for seeing a what a diverse sustainable homestead on small
>  acreage looks like is the video tutorial package titled /Food Production
>  Systems for a Backyard or Small Farm./  The video they have created
>  shows in good detail the systems they've setup to generate a lot of
>  calories per year, how they did it, and why.  It is a good example by
>  folks who are actually living it.
>
>
>
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