Subject: Re: [permaculture] Content of posts from an old Permaculture forum - some may be interested in this - goes way back
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2025 23:32:50 -0400
Back to grass roots:
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PC Novice here so really just getting started in this field.. This > person has hit the nail on the head for me.. I found this to be the > case here on the web too. > Another thing I find is that there is a ton of stuff for folks living > in places they can do this year around and almost zilch for a cold > climate newbie permie like myself.. > Not being critical, just a plea for some help and maybe a nudge from > you big brothers and sisters who have been doing this for years now.. > <my 2 cents> smitty > > but when you get involved around the 'net and try to do any research > all you get is certificates, diplomas, institutes and the call for it > to be a uni degree and a senior school curriculum. and it all spells > money and they are not promoting pc as something everyone can do to > some degree you along with pete and others i hope we can count > ourselves in as well are out there doing it and untill all that > factional garbage this group was full of help and ideas going back and > forth but now that the only thrust is from those chardinay yuppies > looking for an easy buck.
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Permaculture can be as hard or easy as you want it to be. It's more than just planting food, it's how each element within the whole system interacts with each other to benefit not only you or me but benefits the system itself to make it work better and more efficiently.
Some simple examples are using space within or around a chicken coop to grow not only food for the chickens but food for you which directly benefits from the chicken "outputs" manure, body warmth, pest control (careful thought needed there though) etc ... of course the chickens could be rabbits with a worm farm underneath to use the manure and convert it to vermicompost or ducks for more reliable snail control (and slightly safer veggies), but the point is the "system" is built up with a wholistic plan that integrates any and all those different elements so that they compliment each other.
The climate of a particular area can be a major factor in deciding what you can grow or what species of livestock you can keep but its not really a factor as far as the principles of PC go .... you can create your own system wherever you live ... each system uses what is available within the constraints of that climate ... it's a matter of honing the system to work best for your situation and location.
*The grass is always greener section* I came from the UK to Australia thinking I could grow anything here .... not so ... the climatic differences whilst helping some things stop me from growing things I used to take for granted in the UK, here its as dry as England was wet, as hot as England was cold .. where I stayed indoors in England because of the knee deep snow ... now I stay indoors because its 40 deg C outside and the effect on any plants trying to stay alive is just as dramatic, here is crunchy dry grass where there was wet soggy or frozen grass, here is furnace hot drying Northerly winds where there was freezing 'cutting you to the bone' North winds .... its a tricky old world * end of grass is greener section*
Point is ... it will never be wet enough/dry enough/sunny enough/cool enough wherever we live to do what we all want to do when we want to do it, the good news is that as far as PC is concerned it really doesn't matter ...... cos what ya got is exactly what your PC system can use, how its used depends on how you plan it and that determines how well each element works within the whole system.
Not sure how many of the regulars are left on the NG, but there used to be a wealth of experience on here ...prolly still is ... the main thing to remember is we are all learning all the time ... no matter how long someone has been using PC, theres always another point of view to consider or another problem/solution that can be of interest to others.
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don't know if this will help but i am writting an essay on how i see and do perma-c. itis open ended and not finished but there may be some tips that you could use?
Like most people people think aquaponics is hydroponics. It is not.
Aquaponics is a sustainable method of growing food by using waste from fish to produce a cycle of production.
Benefits :
Uses 10% of the water used for conventional gardening No need for fertilisers or pesticides, No soil used Organic Food can be produced in abundance
If you are interested then we are trying to expand the knowledge in the UK and have a website called 'Aquaponics Advice and Products in the UKadmin' (http://www.aquaponicworld.com). This will give you plenty of information.
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English earthworms:
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I've read that a common worm species found in North America and Europe (?Lumbricus sp?) has been observed in the UK to practise a curious and seemingly ecologically beneficial instinct. They pull leaves from atop forest litter down into their burrows and eat them. I've never seen this in North America.
"The leaves which are dragged into the burrows as food, after being torn into the finest shreds, partially digested, and saturated with the intestinal and urinary secretions, are commingled with much earth." Charles Darwin: http://www.webmesh.co.uk/darwinworms7.htm
Is this observed in other worms? Wouldn't this speed soil building, and arise in worm:worm competition, so be ecosystemically stable, once present?
I've also heard that the speed of found earthworm movement correlates inversely with a soil's heavy metal and organophosphate/organohalide pollutant levels, after a temperature scaling.
I've read also of the Gippsland worm, from near Canberra. I wonder if such a large worm has greater or lesser benefit or even detriment on soil health. I guess there are earthworms which eat other earthworms, as does a planarian accidentally introduced into the Carolina shore region some dacades ago, which has left soil life desolate in its unrecognized wake as it colonizes out from its introduction site.
An author friend writing a chapter on earthworm culture served, at a surprise party, baked worms, which were rather crunchy, and worm/liver pate, which was earthy in taste, and not unappealing.