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  • From: Alex McCausland <alex1mcc@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] How Much Land Does It Take To Become Food Self-Reliant
  • Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 11:31:12 -0700 (PDT)

I know plenty of people who grow all their own food... yes its a tough job!
But the point you guys are missing when you talk about specialisation is that
there better be someone out there who can grow a lot more than they can eat
or what are you going to trade your non-food products of your
non-food-producing labour for? More non food items... if that is the case
then there must be some people who can grow way more than they can eat!
 
perhaps it's not that an important a point, but I thought i would mention it.
 
BTW We are running a PDC in June in Ethiopia:
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/education/course/permaculture-rural-african-environment-2010-06-07
 
More info on our work here:
http://permaculture.org.au/2010/03/08/work-of-strawberry-fields-eco-lodge-begins-snowball-effect-for-entire-region/
 
alex
www.permalodge.org



>From chadcourtright@clearwire.net Thu May 13 14:33:35 2010
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From: Chad Courtright <chadcourtright@clearwire.net>
Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 12:32:57 -0600
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Subject: Re: [permaculture] How Much Land Does It Take To Become Food
Self-Reliant
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Hi all,

I've been lurking on this site with great interest since I heard about it
last year at a PDC course and would normally be content to stay in the
shadows to observe and learn from all you brilliant people but this topic is
an important issue for me right now (and to many others obviously) so I'm
compelled to add my two cents.

Firstly, the question "How much land...?" should be restated to be "How many
Planets..." so long as the word "Self Reliant" is used. In other words "How
can 700 Billion people hope to become self reliant on one planet?" From the
perspective of the entire human population on our planet the idea of self
reliance is, in my view, absurd and, quite frankly, very American. And I
become concerned when people banter the term about as if it's a good thing.

Secondly, I'm equally concerned when people use the word "independent" when
talking permaculture, or any other type of eco/socio solution. Or as Toby
calls it, the "must grow all my own food" mindset. Extrapolate that out to
"must make all my own clothes", "must forge my own steel", "must cut my own
hair without a mirror", etc and you can see that it's not tenable. I like to
think of it as the "life was better when" mindset. If you're in to that kind
of thing go for it. In fact, I'd like to come check out your operation some
time. I've alway been fascinated by old timey technologies. You could
probably make some money (and many do) by billing yourself as a living museum
and giving tours and holding classes on making your own horseshoes from your
own iron ore dug from your own ore mine but you may have to come to terms
with even that level of independency and the fact that there are no trees
left on your land. "Independent" is a good, strong word but it is best used
in the vocabulary of a teenager.

Sarcasms aside, I do understand this strong desire for independence and
self-reliance because we live in such a hyper-dependant culture, especially
here in America but increasingly around the globe as the Euro/American style
economy seeks more and more "dependents" to sustain itself. The temptation
by those of us who are repulsed by this economy is to move to the opposite
end of the spectrum and seek out our independence from it. (like the teenager
who is transitioning from a hyper-dependant childhood and seeks to strike out
on his/her own) But it's really just a pendulum swinging to the other side.
From dependance to in-dependence and ultimately back again (old age).

It is becoming evident to me as I learn more about permaculture (and biology,
ecology, chemistry, etc) that the solutions require inter-dependent, or
inter-reliant thinking and action. Nothing, repeat nothing, in nature is
independent and/or self-reliant and since permaculture seeks to learn from
and emulate nature those words should be stricken from the permaculture
lexicon. To be self-reliant, self-sufficient or independent would be to
become isolated from everyone and everything and then we'd still have the sun
and that pesky photosynthesis to deal with. To seek inter-dependency we can
stay right were we are and simply look for and create connections. Or we
could seek out the places that need us and go there to make connections. But
first we have to get off the pendulum.

So, with that said, when I restate the question "how much land does it take
to become food INTER-reliant?" I find the answer to be " Exactly the amount
of land that you are standing on. Just step back and plant a disease
resistant, area adapted, edible, perennial plant chosen in coordination with,
and with the cooperation of, the person or people standing next to you and in
consideration of the needs of the plants and animals already in the
ecosystem". Probably more that a little naive but what the heck.


Cheers. And thanks to all of you for all that you do.










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