I'm back reading this list after several months absence. Here are a
few thoughts and references...
* Quite the verbiage surrounding the cost/pay of a PDC...seems the
key is no dogma- no absolutes-- what works with one region/person
will not in another.
* I appreciate reading about the life of Meg in Kansas--we need
examples of how these whole integrated systems work... beautiful--
thanks, Meg.
* References for Anne:
* Water For Every Farm. P. A and Ken Yeomans.
* Earth Ponds. Matson, Tim. Countryman. in McClarney
* Response to Sandra regarding the question: Who was the seed
Keeper? (Sandra Beerman)
Below is an excerpt of an article I wrote for Oregon Tilth's In Good
Tilth 2004 summer publication.
Women on the Land
"..... My curiosity of what roles women played in agriculture have
led me to this research....
In developing tribes and nations the cultivation of soil was
primarily in women's hands. Many ancient religious myths credit the
invention of agriculture to the goddess. For example, in Egyptian
records the goddess Isis is referred to as the inventor of
agriculture and in Mesopotamian the goddess Ninlil was revered for
teaching people to farm. The ancient Greeks called Gaea the Earth
goddess and "Great Mother," and the Romans called her "Terra Mater,"
the earth mother.
As you see, many names represent women's connection to the land.
Scientist Nancy Tanner wrote that in earliest civilization, "Women
were the gatherers," which played a critical role in the evolution of
the species. The children of these women shared food and improved
gathering techniques. Women planted seeds in their encampments and
began to tame young animals as they did their children.
This evolutionary period represents the birth of agrarian culture. As
food gatherers, inventions attributed to women include the digging
stick, carrying sling, sickle and other knives. Other discoveries
connected to food processing and preservation were the mortar and
pestle, drying, roasting, grinding and fermenting technologies, and
the storage of food in baskets or clay-lined storage pits. Women also
discovered propagation by shoots and cuttings, seed selection and the
construction of seedling beds. Cultivation methods credited to women
include the use of ash as fertilizer, work tools such as the hoe,
spade, shovel and simple plough, fallowing and crop rotation,
mulching, terracing, contour planting, irrigation and land
restoration through tree planting. Women are known for domesticating
the eight most important grains: rice, maize, barley, oats, sorghum,
millet, rye and wheat.
According to Murdock's ethnographic atlas, in one half of the 142
advanced horticultural societies, farming was the exclusive domain of
women. Women have tended the soil, garden and farm since the earliest
societies."......
A few resources:
With These Hands: Women Working on the Land by Joan Jensen, 1987
The Chalice and the Blade Our History Our Future Riane Eisler
'Standard cross-Cultural Sample', Ethnology, Vol. 8 No.
4,pp.329-369, 1969 G.P. Murdock & D.C. White.
'Daughters of Isis, Daughters of Demeter: When Women Sowed and
Reaped, A. Stanley, in J . Rothschild (ed.)
Women, Technology and Innovation, New York: Pergamon, 1982
Staying Alive Women, Ecology and Development Vandana Shiva
)The Farm Bureau through Three Decades O.M. Kile The Waverly Press
* Also: I recently was asked to do a Permaculture Design in Western
Kentucky-- I'd rather refer them on to someone who lives in that
area... any recommendations?
In hopes of Peace and a sane outcome for the U.S. election,
Please VOTE!