permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

Toby Hemenway wrote:
> The operative word I'm focusing on in "grow all your own food" here
> is "all." That's the part I think is unnecessary and a distraction.
> Grow food. Yes. Work toward self reliance. Yes. All that stuff. But
> the goal of growing ALL your own food is not something that any
> permaculture principle would suggest or encourage, will distract
> people from more important and relevant goals, and I'd like to see it
> stricken from the vocabulary of permaculturists.  I don't know how
> that idea crept into our lexicon. That's all I'm sayin' here.

There should be a statement in the permaculture lexicon that includes 
endorsement of a multiplicity of advanced concepts that are generally 
accepted as possible, such as a "paleo" one (remember the "paleo" 
diet?), a spartan lifestyle wherein one actually survives only on
food he grows or wild-harvests, a limited but nourishing and healthy 
diet but one that may be far too difficult for most people.

State that one could strive to grow all of one's food but that range of 
foodstuffs might be limited but nutritionally complete and in some cases 
possibly lacking in one or more special components important to those 
with special dietary needs.

Grow ALL of your own food if possible and obtain those elements of your 
diet that you cannot produce on your land from sources as local and as 
sustainably-grown as possible; keep money in the local economy, support 
local businesses so that they in turn can support your lifestyle and/or 
business so as to keep your immediate and extended community together,
well organized and highly functional, with an eye to streamlining the 
system over time.

Some people into ultimate frugality might very easily grow all their own 
food. Some diets are an acquired taste. Others:
less salt
no dessert
plain rice w/o condiment or salt
raw foods in general
raw salads w/o dressing containing oil, salt, vinegar
fasting

> We were pretty frickin' self reliant in our rural decade: cut
> firewood for all our heat, harvested 100% of our domestic water,
> recycled all our graywater, grew a large percentage of our fruit and
> veggies, traded with locals for things we needed, built much of the
> house myself, planted trees and built soil to heal the land, lived on
> next to no money. So I feel like I'm speaking from experience here.

Excellent. Do you have any advice on frugal living?

Frugality, locally and sustainably grown, permaculture, home food 
production, community gardens are individual movements sweeping the 
country. We need to help keep the momentum up.

...:LL