From: Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe@silcom.com>
To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [permaculture] Keyline Plow Open House Sat April 28, 2pm -4pm Santa Barbara CA
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 05:51:26 -0700
hi everyone
there will be Open House to come talk to
Darren Doherty and the Graduating Class of the
Keyline Design Course on Sat April 28, 2pm-4pm
Santa Barbara CA, to see the Yeoman's Keyline Plow working on a Keyline Design
DIRECTIONS:
Orella Ranch is located 15 miles north bound
(actually west) of Goleta, 20 miles northbound of
Santa Barbara. From either of the above take US
101 north to Refugio Road. Exit and take a right
and then an immediate right. Take this unmarked
frontage road approx. 1.5 miles until you see
signage for our workshop. It will be a gravel
drive way on your left hand side. These
directions will suffice when coming from either
Santa Barbara airport and LAX (which is about 2-
2.5 hours from us to the south). If coming from
the north take Refugio Road exit and follow the
road under the freeway and take your first
possible right onto the un marked frontage
road. As above go approx. 1.5 miles and look for signage.
KEYLINE
What is biological wealth? Healthy forests,
fertile soils, abundant waterways and seas---has
any great nation been built without these? As we
degrade and treat them as throw-aways can we
expect a prosperous future for our families and
children? Is a sustainable system for
agriculture possible that enhances rather than
depletes our natural environment?
Join Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
for a special equipment demonstration (plow on
display) as we explore the concept of Keyline
Design, a design system that restores and
regenerates landscapes, with Darren Doherty from Australia.
Keyline Design is a complete design
system for landscapes. It is applicable to both
rural and urban designs. It is a unique
combination of water conservation and soil
building, with great appeal to both farmers and
ranchers, as it has the ability to build and
regenerate degraded soils rapidly, and sees the
use of grazing animals as beneficial to this process.
Keyline systems were developed in
Australia during the 1950s by P.A Yeomans
(www.yeomansplow.com.au) as a response to
increasing desertification and erosion he
observed on the Australian landscape as it
related to agriculture. His book Water For Every
Farm, A Keyline Plan is an important work
describing a set of principles and techniques
based on a holistic approach that works with
natural patterns to restore and increase the
depth and fertility of the soil, while increasing
its water holding capabilities. Yeomans realized
that conventional agriculture totally ignored the
biological aspects of the soil. He created a
sustainable agriculture system before the term
was coined, and for the first time in human
history, methods were developed that could
produce rich fertile soils in relatively short
periods. A permanent and lasting agriculture
Yeomans believed, must materially and financially
benefit the farmer, and benefit the land and soil.
Keyline Design integrates terraces,
ponds, tree plantings on contour, and a special
cultivation technique using the Keyline plow, to
infiltrate water into the soil efficiently and
hold it on the land as long as possible. Water
harvesting strategies employed by Keyline Design
provide drought-proofing for farms with very low
maintenance using gravity fed irrigation systems,
with a huge reduction in water lost to
evaporation. In contrast, up to 80% of water is
lost to evaporation using conventional overhead
sprinklers. Farms using Keyline Design have
amazing records of deepening the topsoil by 3-6
in 3 years, in contrast to natures process,
which can take hundreds or thousands of years.
The term Keyline comes from the
reference to a keypoint on the watershed, which
is the interface between collection and
distribution of water on the landscape, where
ridge meets the valley. Keyline is a philosophy
and technique that doesnt pit the needs of
farmers against environmentalists trying to
protect wildlife and fish habitat, and with
carbon sequestering techniques used, helps to
address aspects of global warming and climate change.
Darren Doherty is an Australian Keyline
Designer, Developer & Manager and Australian
Approved Keyline Design Farm Planning
Consultant, and recipient of Whole Farm Planning
Certificate ~ Train the Trainer(University of
Melbourne 1995). He has designed and developed
over 1100 properties across four continents
working most recently in Vietnam, on land
projects for Mars Inc, owners of Seeds of Change.
His remaining time is spent managing a working
research & demonstration farm in Southern Victoria, Australia.
The event is free, no reservations are
required. Event sponsors are Santa Barbara
Permaculture Network, Yeomans Plow Company,
Nutiva Foods, Quail Springs Permaculture Farm,
Orella Ranch, Earthflow Design Works & Island
Seed & Feed Nursery. For more information, visit
Upcoming Events at www.sbpermaculture.org, or
email margie@sbpermaculture.org, phone, (805) 962-2571.