permaculture

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

Sridharan D V wrote:
> thanks lawrence...
> you have gathered some great people here. i feel honoured to have been
> let in. there are two young volunteers at pR. i am glad they are
> benefiting by these discussions too. we make many course corrections
> based on what we find compelling. the self sufficiency debate got us
> talking too. our consensus? "total self-sufficiency, like perfection,
> may be unattainable but the road to it is the right one to take"

I really like seeing it put this way. "Holding out the carrot" 
motivational guidance is at work then, staying on the path,
rewards for the faithful on the horizon; and getting there is half the 
fun, eh? Keeps us focused on priorities.

> i noticed your india connection. when's the next trip?

I have never been to India. I got interested in sitar music in the 60's
and also in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. I have retained an 
interest in him over the years. Pictures of the cave paintings at Ajanta 
and Ellora left an indelible impression on me. I was briefly involved 
with the Meher Baba group and have friends who are lifetime devotees
and visit India frequently.

Recently I got interested in the origins of Buddhism and the Vedas. 
Ramakrishna was a Vedic scholar and was well-grounded in that 
literature. You can spend a lot of time on that subject! and maybe for 
good reason.

The water impoundment pictured in your website is very interesting.
Serpentine, a form of crenelation, it will become a fascinating part of 
your site. I created three small ponds on my land to catch as much as 
possible of the runoff from my gardens, which dominate the farm. I 
purchased a medium sized skid loader to use to build my raised garden 
beds and prepare the soil in them. I basically terraformed my property;
pond creation was a necessary part of the process. I will photograph 
them and post URLs for you to see. They are so valuable for wildlife. I 
have a huge frog population, birds and dragonflies, duckweed and 
cattails and all sorts of life in, on and around the water.
You can hear the frogs here:
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/venaurafarm/frogs-in-ponds/
This is the latest recording:
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/venaurafarm/frogs-in-ponds/5-27-010-Frogs.WAV
And lots of pictures of my land here:
- these are early pictures taken with a cellphone and show lots of 
raised beds under construction and my attempts to deal with varying 
terrain, water retention and soil erosion -
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/venaurafarm/
LL...

> :)
> dv
>
> On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 12:33 PM, Lawrence F. London, Jr.
> <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > Sridharan D V wrote:
> >
> > > here's my post on ringo:
> > > http://goodnewsindia.com/pointreturn/online/home/2009/09/paul-ringo-kean-the-gentle-bikie/
> > > lovin' the company of you all,
> > Grateful for your presence in this forum DV!
> > When you subscribed I looked at your website and meant to
> > tell folks in this list about it. Looks like you are doing lots of great
> > work.
> >
> > ...:LL
> > interested in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna
> > classical Indian sitar music enthusiast
> > 60's beatnik
> > 21st century permaculture/agro/eco/homesteader
> > http://venaurafarm.blogspot.com
> > Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA