permaculture

[Alex McCausland <alex1mcc@yahoo.com>]

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.