permaculture

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

Toby Hemenway wrote:
> I did a little thinking along these lines in a piece called "The Myth
> of Self Reliance"
> http://www.patternliteracy.com/selfreliancemyth.html

> I don't know anyone who is growing all their own food. Or even most
> of it. Veggies, yes, but that's only about 20% of your calories. 

Tell that to Sylvan Hart, who lived in the same "real world" that we do.
Its been done, growing ALL your own food, making ALL your own tools, 
clothes, hunting, trapping and fishing equipment, and made them in the 
wild with minimal external inputs. The paleo lifestyle is permaculture 
too. The armchair permaculturists (and there's nothing wrong with being 
one of them) need to wake up to the reality of the diversity of 
lifestyles and needs of people in all the cultures of the world.

Sylvan Hart
The Last of the Mountain Men
by Harold Peterson
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Mountain-Men-Harold-Peterson/dp/0960356665
One of the reviews:
"Sylvan hart lived as remote and pure a life as any man in the last half 
of this century. He was supremely skilled in survival, yet his skills 
were art. Perhaps his knowledge of natures resources and techniques of 
self sufficiency encouraged his retreat from society, but he must have 
also have been drawn by ancestral voices. This book delivers the reader 
to pristine, soon to be rediscovered Salmon River wilderness in Idaho. 
Looking over the shoulder of this man's calm, deliberate and happy 
practices of early skills may be your only insight to the price you are 
paying for societal safety."

the other reviews are mostly misleading

> So I
> think the "how much land" question for an individual is mostly
> fantasy, or an academic exercise. Interesting, but not put into
> practice. It's not how we're going to solve food security.

"How we're going to solve food security", does this mean how much am I 
or some other farmer going to have to grow so you can eat or is it about 
how much of your food needs will be met by you in your own garden.
If it is about what each of us will do to meet both our food needs
then add a few more words to the phrase: How we're going to solve food 
security by convincing people that they need to be involved with the 
foodsheds that are part of their communities for reasons of personal and 
community survival, sustainability and self-sufficiency.