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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] animals in food systems
  • Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 14:26:21 -0400

Tripp Tibbetts wrote:
Soybeans no
more want to be eaten than chickens. In practical terms, I'm
beginning to see plants as the "permanent" parts of the
consciously-developed human ecosystem, and animals as mere
passers-through. Animals seem more transient to me. They stop
through, eat something, and leave behind a little fertility in
exchange for dinner. They almost strike me as the real food part of
the system, with herbs and fruit as accompaniment.

Also, many plants depend on other creatures eating or carrying parts of them uneaten for seed dispersal and thus propagation and continued existence in ecosystems. Maybe some plants employ biomimicry to effect this in some cases.

Maybe this is what Bill Mollison was driving at when he said not to
sell anything that couldn't walk off the farm. Retain sessile

He is certainly against monocropping with that statement.
All types of market agriculture could become elements in large scale permaculture systems designed for sites (farms).

fertility onsite, eat the ambulatory passers-by. Maybe not, but
that's my take anyway.

Toby's article "Is Sustainable Agriculture an Oxymoron?" might even

I always thought of that term (SA) as primarily referring to the ability of a tract of land to support robust plant growth with sustainability of other lifeforms existing on that land following.

suggest that this meat-heavy arrangement is actually more sustainable
in the long run since it tends to produce fewer children than
pro-grain and hoarding agriculture.

The meat production is purely a human construct as is monocropping - therefore a polyculture permaculture system is a better model to follow for sustainable food production and unaltered (except for removing poison ivy and certain troublesome aggressive and dangerous critters) continued nourishment, sustenance of existing, onsite, ecosystems.




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