[permaculture] Desert or Paradise, Restoring Endangered Landscapes Using Water Management, Including Lake and Pond Construction, by Sepp Holzer - Chelsea Green
Subject: [permaculture] Desert or Paradise, Restoring Endangered Landscapes Using Water Management, Including Lake and Pond Construction, by Sepp Holzer - Chelsea Green
Sepp Holzer farms steep mountainsides in Austria 5,000 feet above sea
level. His farm is an intricate network of terraces, raised beds, ponds,
and waterways, well covered with productive fruit trees and other
vegetation, in dramatic contrast to his neighbors’ spruce monocultures.
Fans of Sepp Holzer have come from all over the world to see the
productivity of his farm, a veritable permaculture paradise. His first
book, Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture, offers a detailed guide to what Holzer
has achieved on his farm. Many readers might have wondered—but how can
we achieve this on a global scale? Luckily, his newest book, Desert or
Paradise, examines Holzer’s core philosophy for increasing food
production, earth health, and reconnecting mankind with nature, applied
to reforestation and water conservation across the world.
Through years of consultation with other countries, Holzer has developed
a core philosophy for reconnecting mankind with nature even in arid or
otherwise “lost-cause” regions. He details a process he calls
“Grundierung,” a term from painting meaning “base coat,” which goes into
great detail as to the importance of water, and Desert or Paradise
offers his concept and guide to construction of large water reservoirs
in arid, rainfall-dependent regions with examples from Greece, Turkey,
Spain, and Portugal. Holzer describes the ecological and economic
benefits of these changes, as well as the use of a variety of plant and
animal species for further integration and regeneration of the
surrounding areas, including reasons for reforestation and the cause and
use of forest fires.
Holzer also outlines his ten points of sustainable self-reliance and how
these methods can help feed the world, such as the need to regulate the
water budget, eliminate factory livestock farming, bring more fallow or
unused areas into production, enlarge crop areas by using terracing and
Holzer-style raised beds, regionalize instead of globalize, fight for
land reform and engage in community building, go back to the ancient
farming wisdom, and change the educational system. Also included are
Holzer’s ideas on beekeeping, humane slaughtering, nature spirits, the
loss of roots in our society in general, and in politics especially.
Sepp Holzer
Josef ("Sepp") Holzer was born in the Province of Salzburg, Austria. He
is a farmer, author and an international consultant for natural
agriculture. He took over his parents' mountain farm business in 1962
and pioneered the use of ecological farming, or permaculture, techniques
at high altitudes (1,100 to 1,500 meters above sea level) after being
unsuccessful with regular farming methods. Called the "rebel farmer"
because he persisted in these practices despite being fined and even
threatened with prison for practices such as not pruning his fruit trees
(unpruned fruit trees survive snow loads that will break pruned trees).
He has also created some of the worlds best examples of using ponds as
reflectors to increase solar gain for passive solar heating of
structures, and of using the microclimate created by rock outcrops to
effectively change the hardiness zone for nearby plants. He has also
done original work in the use of Hugelkultur and natural branch
development. He is conducting permaculture ("Holzer Permaculture")
seminars at his farm and worldwide, while continuing to work on his
alpine farm. His farm now spans over 45 hectares of forest gardens,
including 70 ponds, and is said to be the most consistent example of
permaculture worldwide. He is author of several books and the subject of
the film The Agricultural Rebel. He works nationally as
permaculture-activist in the established agricultural industry, and
works internationally as adviser for ecological agriculture.
Sepp's Upcoming Events
Sepp Holzer 5-Day Intensive in California
, Loma Mar California
March 21, 2013, 12:00 pm
Sepp Holzer will be traveling to the United States this spring to
instruct 3 AgroEcology workshops in California, Montana, and Minnesota.
This is the first Holzer certification program to be offered in the
United States. The 5-day intensive workshop in California will be held
March 21-25 in Loma Mar. For details on the curriculum and how to
register, visit: http://www.holzeragroecology.com/workshops.html
Sepp Holzer 5-Day Intensive in Montana
, Bozeman Montana
March 27, 2013, 12:00 pm
Sepp Holzer will be traveling to the United States this spring to
instruct 3 AgroEcology workshops in California, Montana, and Minnesota.
This is the first Holzer certification program to be offered in the
United States. The 5-day intensive workshop in Montana will be held
March 27-30 in Bozeman. For details on the curriculum and how to
register, visit: http://www.holzeragroecology.com/workshops.html
Sepp Holzer 5-Day Intensive in Minnesota
, Duluth Minnesota
April 6, 2013, 12:00 pm
Sepp Holzer will be traveling to the United States this spring to
instruct 3 AgroEcology workshops in California, Montana, and Minnesota.
This is the first Holzer certification program to be offered in the
United States. The 5-day intensive workshop in Minnesota will be held
April 6-10 in Duluth. For details on the curriculum and how to register,
visit: http://www.holzeragroecology.com/workshops.html
Sepp's Books
Sepp Holzer's Permaculture
A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening
In this book, Sepp Holzer shares the skill and knowledge acquired over
his lifetime. He covers every aspect of his farming methods, not just
how to create a holistic system on the farm itself, but how to make a
living from it. Holzer writes about everything from the overall
concepts, down to the practical details.
Desert or Paradise
Restoring Endangered Landscapes Using Water Management, Including Lake
and Pond Construction
Through years of consultation with other countries, Holzer has developed
a core philosophy for reconnecting mankind with nature even in arid or
otherwise "lost-cause" regions. Holzer's latest book is a guide to the
construction of large water reservoirs in arid, rainfall-dependent
regions, with examples from Greece, Turkey, Spain, and Portugal. Holzer
also outlines his ten points of sustainable self-reliance and how these
methods can help feed the world, such as the need to regulate the water
budget, eliminate factory livestock farming, and more.
Desert or Paradise
Restoring Endangered Landscapes Using Water Management, Including Lake
and Pond Construction
Through years of consultation with other countries, Holzer has developed
a core philosophy for reconnecting mankind with nature even in arid or
otherwise "lost-cause" regions. Holzer's latest book is a guide to the
construction of large water reservoirs in arid, rainfall-dependent
regions, with examples from Greece, Turkey, Spain, and Portugal. Holzer
also outlines his ten points of sustainable self-reliance and how these
methods can help feed the world, such as the need to regulate the water
budget, eliminate factory livestock farming, and more.
Posted on Monday, January 7th, 2013 at 9:00 am by jmccharen
Sepp Holzer was doing permaculture before he even knew what permaculture
was. He started playing around in his mother’s garden as a little boy,
learning how nature functioned and what helped plants thrive. When
permaculture practitioners visited Holzer’s homestead, they were
astonished to find the theories they learned from Bill Mollison and
David Holmgren applied to beautiful effect — and in a steep, northern,
high-altitude (read: really harsh) climate.
Since then, Holzer has been recognized as one of the premier
permaculturists on the planet, and has consulted on landscaping projects
around the world. Especially important to the success of Holzer’s
landscapes is his use of ponds and terraces to manage water, especially
in semi-arid climates. His latest book, Desert or Paradise, focuses on
these water control methods. This week only you can get it for 25% off.
In the excerpt below, read about Holzer’s understanding of how water
affects a landscape, and his attitude toward nature.
“My most important rule is to put myself in the position of the
other. I imagine that I am the tree…the same goes for the pig, the
earthworm, the ladybird, the nasturtium or the sunflower and of course
the other human being. Would I feel good in their place? If the answer
is ‘yes’, I am doing everything right. If the answer is ‘no’, I have to
find out what is wrong. When I am lacking sun or shade, when I realize
my feet are in the water or that my movements are limited I have to
change things. All beings need to feel good and then they function at
their best. I need to remember that, and so do you.”
Desert or Paradise is full of case studies from Holzer’s work around the
world, especially in the Mediterranean region, which suffers from
rampant desertification after millenia of agricultural overuse (and a
few especially bad centuries of industrial fertilizers and pesticides).
If you’re interested in learning from Holzer himself, check out his
upcoming US workshops, here. He will be holding three multi-day
intensives on agroecology in Loma Mar, California from March 21-25;
Bozeman, Montana from March 27-31; and Duluth, Minnesota April 6-10.
Through years of consultation with other countries, Holzer has developed
a core philosophy for reconnecting mankind with nature even in arid or
otherwise "lost-cause" regions. Holzer's latest book is a guide to the
construction of large water reservoirs in arid, rainfall-dependent
regions, with examples from Greece, Turkey, Spain, and Portugal. Holzer
also outlines his ten points of sustainable self-reliance and how these
methods can help feed the world, such as the need to regulate the water
budget, eliminate factory livestock farming, and more.
[permaculture] Desert or Paradise, Restoring Endangered Landscapes Using Water Management, Including Lake and Pond Construction, by Sepp Holzer - Chelsea Green,
venaurafarm, 01/07/2013