permaculture

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

Biodynamics and Permaculture « Biodynamics Blog
https://biodynamicsbda.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/biodynamics-
and-permaculture/

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Biodynamics and Permaculture
August 11, 2010
tags: biodynamic, permaculture
by biodynamicsbda

We’ve been getting some questions recently about the relationship 
between biodynamics and permaculture and how they may overlap. Mark 
Shepard, who will be talking about these synergies during one of our 
National Conference workshops, gave us a brief overview…with caveats, of 
course, that this is a complex topic not easily boiled down into a 
soundbite!

The 2010 Biodynamic National Conference is less than two months away and 
momentum is growing! Check out all the details on our conference page. 
We hope to see you there!

     "According to Rudolf Steiner, one of the stated goals for farmers 
to create is an independent farm individuality — a self-reliant farm 
organism. Steiner gave several exercises for people to undertake so that 
they would be able to perceive invisible forces and begin to work with 
them. He also stated that each farm entity had to discover and design 
into the farm, the proper proportions of meadows and forests, thickets, 
brush, streams, and ponds, and to discover the proper kinds and 
quantities of livestock to have on the farm. When this goal is 
accomplished, the farm will become a closed-loop, self-sustaining 
individual entity. In my workshop we will go over all this with 
footnotes, exercises, and references etc.

    Permaculture (Permanent Agriculture/Permanent Culture) is a design 
methodology whereby human beings consciously create their own 
self-sustaining habitat that, (according to Bill Mollison, the 
movement’s founder) is ecologically sound and economically profitable. 
Permaculture relies heavily on observation of nature. Everywhere in the 
universe there are observable patterns. The patterns of nature reveal 
functions and invisible forces that are at work. Understanding the 
invisible forces is done via the patterns that they leave in the 
material world. These patterns can then be imitated in our farm and 
garden design in order to manifest those forces and functions naturally 
without expensive, external inputs.

    My opinion is that all biodynamic farmers, if they stick with it 
and really dive deep to understand Steiner’s Agriculture Lectures and 
really (not just on paper, workshops, or blogs) strive to create a 
self-sustaining farm individuality in reality on planet earth, they will 
eventually find themselves farming in what can be called a Permaculture 
system — an ecologically sound, economically profitable farm 
individuality with the proper proportions of meadows and woods, 
thickets, streams, forests, and livestock.

    This little statement is hardly a definition either of Biodynamics 
or Permaculture, but it indicates what we’ll be discussing in my 
presentation."