permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

[What a find; I ran across this at Hacker News,
https://news.ycombinator.com/news, the best news aggregator I have seen;
following is the collection of articles on farming, the first page of many
pages containing links and sample copy]

Farming | NO TECH MAGAZINE | http://www.notechmagazine.com/
http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming

Water Johads: A Low-Tech Alternative to Mega-Dams in India
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2015/06/water-johads-a-low-tech-alternative-to-mega-dams-in-india.html>

[image: water johad india]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/water-johad-india.jpg>

When the British colonized India, they imposed their own system of water
management, which included the building of large-scale dams, sewers, and
irrigation channels. This high-tech approach continues today, as the World
Bank is urging India to build enormous dam projects to fight drought and
depleted aquifers. The Indian government has followed its advice. Its first
Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, called dams the “Temples of modern
India”. Since then, India has built over 5,000 dams and large reservoirs.
[1]

However, before the British arrived, people on the subcontinent used
traditional low-cost, low-tech engineering to collect rainwater for
thousands of years. This involved the placement of thousands of small
structures throughout rural areas which, in one way or another, catch
excess rainwater from the monsoon months and allow it to slowly percolate
into the groundwater during the dry season. To maintain and manage these
structures, community-based management schemes were necessary. However,
these were actively discouraged during British rule and following
independence. As a result, in the 20th century many of these small
reservoirs fell into disrepair.

[Read more…]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2015/06/water-johads-a-low-tech-alternative-to-mega-dams-in-india.html#more-2058>
June 17, 2015 Filed Under: Civil engineering
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/civil-engineering>, Desertification
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/desertification>, Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>, Food
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/food>, Irrigation
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/irrigation>, Low-tech solutions
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/low-tech-solutions>, Water
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/water>, Water management
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/water-management>
A Dining Table for the Neighbourhood
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2015/06/a-dining-table-for-the-neighbourhood.html>

[image: the landscape table]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/the-landscape-table.jpg>

The Landscape Table
<http://www.parckdesign.be/en/activities/landscape-table> is a platform for
cultivating, processing, cooking and sharing the food at the centre of the
FARMPARCK <http://www.parckdesign.be/en/content/farmparck> in Brussels,
Belgium. Thanks to the edible and medicinal plants inserted into the table
itself, the installation invites the public to meet and eat in direct
contact with a landscape that is a bounty for the senses – sight, smell,
touch and, above all, taste. The essence of this project is to involve the
visitor in the landscape, farming, nature and cooking through shared
moments.

FARMPARCK puts to the test a new model for a public space combining the
characteristics of a park and farmland, where food is grown, cooked and
eaten by the neighbours
<http://www.parckdesign.be/en/farmparck/installations>. There is a
vegetable garden, an animal farm, a kitchen, and a compost toilet which is
to transform the park’s organic waste into “terra-preta”  (black earth, a
rich and fertile soil) for the park and the surrounding area. FARMPARCK,
which happens in a multicultural neighbourhood, meets both social and
ecological needs. It was set up as a prototype from May to September 2014,
but continues to be active today. Picture: Eric Dil.
June 8, 2015 Filed Under: Cities
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/cities>, Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>, Food
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/food>
Turning the Soil with a Bicycle Handlebar
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2015/04/turning-the-soil-with-a-bicycle-handlebar.html>

The agricultural tool shown in this video
<https://www.facebook.com/vadim.yandraikin/videos/803890989704733/> is pure
genius. However, as some readers on our Facebook-page have noted, turning
the soil disrupts soil organisms and brings more weeds. Another
human-powered tool, the broadfork
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfa1h4T2UYc&hc_location=ufi>, loosens the
soil without turning it. Thanks to Jean Armstrong Nick and Austin Liu.
April 18, 2015 Filed Under: Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>, Hand tools
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/hand-tools>
The Hay Pusher <http://www.notechmagazine.com/2015/02/the-hay-pusher.html>

Who needs expensive baling machinery
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIVAlV8YVF0>?
February 6, 2015 Filed Under: Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>, Video
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/video>
Pedal Powered Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/11/pedal-powered-farming.html>

[image: culticycle pedal powered tractor 1]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/culticycle-pedal-powered-tractor-1.jpg>

The Culticycle is a pedal powered tractor that can cultivate, seed, spray,
or pull gear for most low horsepower tasks. We talked about the first
prototype
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2013/02/the-culticycle-a-pedal-powered-tractor.html>
almost two years ago. A new version has now been released, built around a
modular tractor frame. Tim Cooke explains us how it’s built and how it
works:  [Read more…]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/11/pedal-powered-farming.html#more-1640>
November 15, 2014 Filed Under: Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>, Pedal power
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/pedal-power>, Pedal powered machines
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/pedal-powered-machines>
The Beauty of Organic Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/09/the-beauty-of-organic-farming.html>

[image: the beauty of organic farming picture by Lloyd Kahn]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/the-beauty-of-organic-farming.jpg>

It’s not an advantage that’s often emphasized, but organic fields are much
more beautiful than monocultures. The picture above was shot north of Santa
Cruz, USA. Photographer is Lloyd Kahn
<http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com.es/2014/09/beautiful-organic-farming_4.html>,
author of the fascinating Shelter blog <http://www.theshelterblog.com/>.
September 18, 2014 Filed Under: Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>
Animals as the Answer to Recycling Food waste
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/07/animals-as-the-answer-to-recycling-food-waste.html>

Mountains of food scraps end up in landfills every day. While northern
countries glorify attempts to facilitate this trash-to-treasure process
using state-of-the-art technologies, Bobbili, a town in Northeast India,
adopts a tech-free solution – a park using animals for solid waste
management.
[image: animals recycling food waste]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/animals-recycling-food-waste.jpg>

Livestock at waste management park in Bobbili, India

[Read more…]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/07/animals-as-the-answer-to-recycling-food-waste.html#more-1473>
July 7, 2014 Filed Under: Animal power
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/animal-power>, Composting
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/composting>, Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>, Food
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/food>, Low-tech solutions
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/low-tech-solutions>, Meat
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/meat>, Recycling
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/recycling>, Trash
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/trash>
Lost Crops of Africa
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/05/lost-crops-of-africa.html>

[image: Lost crops of africa]
<http://krisdedecker.typepad.com/.a/6a00e0099229e88833019b0178f0ba970b-pi>“Like
Asia and the Americas, the continent of Africa is blessed with a rich
tropical flora. Many of the 50,000 or so plants that evolved within its
forests and savannas ripen fruits to tempt the myriad wild creatures into
spreading their seeds. Speaking generally, Africa has as many of these
tasty morsels as tropical Asia or America.

This fact, however, is something one would never guess by looking in
produce markets or college textbooks. Today, American and Asian species
dominate tropical fruit production worldwide, including within Africa
itself.

For this, there is good reason. Africa’s fruits have not, by and large,
been brought up to their potential in terms of quality, production, and
availability. Geographically speaking, few have moved beyond Africa’s
shores; horticulturally speaking, most remain poorly known. Thus, the vast
continental landmass lying between Mauritania and Mauritius contains a
cornucopia of horticultural, nutritional, and rural-development jewels
still waiting to be cut and polished.”

   - Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 1: Grains
   <http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=2305> (1996)
   - Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 2: Vegetables
   <http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11763> (2006)
   - Lost Crops of Africa: Volume 3: Fruits
   <http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11879> (2008)

The three volumes can be consulted online at The National Academic Press.
Previously: Lost crops of the Incas
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2013/11/lost-crops-of-the-incas.html>. Via
Avantgardens <https://www.facebook.com/Avantgardens.org>.
May 24, 2014 Filed Under: Books & Reference
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/books-reference>, Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>, Food
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/food>
Precolumbian Causeways and Canals
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/05/precolumbian-causeways-and-canals.html>
[image: precolombian causeways]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/precolombian-causeways.jpg>

Detail of an engineered landscape in the Bolivian Amazon. Artwork by Clark
Erickson.

“In contrast to the Western obsession to drain what are considered marginal
wetlands for agriculture, farmers in the Bolivian Amazon may have
intentionally expanded wetlands and wetland productivity through earthwork
construction, which impedes, rather than enhances, drainage. The
precolumbian farmers did not use causeways as dikes to prevent inundation
of fields and settlements, but rather to expand and enhance inundation for
agricultural production. At the same time, impounding water with
well-placed causeways and the creation of canals improved and extended the
season of transportation by canoe across the landscape. The grid-like
structure also permanently marked land tenure in a highly visible
manner.” [Read
more…]
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/05/precolumbian-causeways-and-canals.html#more-21>
May 21, 2014 Filed Under: Canals
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/canals>, Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>, History
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/history>, Water management
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/water-management>, Wetlands
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/wetlands>
Agricultural Heritage Systems
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/05/agricultural-heritage-systems.html>

[image: jasmine field china]Six traditional farming systems in China, Iran
and South Korea known for their unique characteristics and approaches to
sustainability have been designated Globally Important Agricultural
Heritage Systems <http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/230966/icode/>
(GIAHS) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO).

They include Iran’s Qanat Irrigation system, an ancient network of farms
that have survived for nearly three millennia; a 22-thousand-kilometer
system of black stone walls built from volcanic rock in Jeju, South Korea;
and the traditional Gudeuljang Irrigated rice terraces in Cheongsando,
South Korea.

Also on the list are a trio of sites in China: the unique Xinghua Duotian
Agrosystem, famous for its method of water-land utilization; the historic
Jasmine and Tea Culture System of Fuzhou City; and, the Jiaxian Traditional
Chinese Date Gardens. The sites were officially recognized during the 28-29
April meeting of the GIAHS Scientific and Steering Committee at FAO
headquarters in Rome.

These new designations bring the number of GIAHS
<http://www.fao.org/giahs/giahs-home/en/> systems to a total of 31 sites
located in 14 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia
<http://www.fao.org/giahs/giahs-sites/en/>. The sites are considered models
of innovation, sustainability and adaptability, delivering important
benefits to the ecosystem. The GHIAS website has extensive documentation
about most of these agricultural heritage systems. Picture: The Jasmine and
Tea Culture System of Fuzhou City, China.
May 7, 2014 Filed Under: Books & Reference
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/books-reference>, Farming
<http://www.notechmagazine.com/category/farming>

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