For those that don't know what PermaCulture is...
It is "lazy farming"...you basically plant a forest of food, integrate beneficial plants and animals who produce food for each other. A minimal amount of work produces a surplus.
The whole concept pretty much turns our current paradigm of petro-based monoculture on it's head. This method works anywhere in the world, including the desert, as the designs are created specifically for climate zones/landscapes.
This guy Geoff Lawton built a food forest on his property back in the late 90's...acres of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, fish ponds, etc. He walked away from it for 7 years and let it "grow up" without any maintenance at all. When he returned after 7 years, he found that the ecosystem he created had perpetuated unhindered the entire time. He said 2 people with sharp machetes could work the forest for one or two days and return in to it's original level of accessibility (it was growing rampant) and productivity (meaning you would have space to walk through and reap your harvest without wasting energy).
I find it reassuring that regular people can relatively easily become self reliant, productive, and to a certain extent truly free from market conditions/commodity prices and other external factors. I think our current petro-based system is doomed for failure...it's all propped up by subsidies and pollutes on massive scale.
Here's a video that shows 7 different food forests after each stage of growth in years 1-7.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG_vRG66wkA
Here's a 80 or so minutes long in-depth look at the processes and concepts behind it all (in 9 parts).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMQ8eSm92xQ
I'm on it.
It is "lazy farming"...you basically plant a forest of food, integrate beneficial plants and animals who produce food for each other. A minimal amount of work produces a surplus.
The whole concept pretty much turns our current paradigm of petro-based monoculture on it's head. This method works anywhere in the world, including the desert, as the designs are created specifically for climate zones/landscapes.
This guy Geoff Lawton built a food forest on his property back in the late 90's...acres of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, fish ponds, etc. He walked away from it for 7 years and let it "grow up" without any maintenance at all. When he returned after 7 years, he found that the ecosystem he created had perpetuated unhindered the entire time. He said 2 people with sharp machetes could work the forest for one or two days and return in to it's original level of accessibility (it was growing rampant) and productivity (meaning you would have space to walk through and reap your harvest without wasting energy).
I find it reassuring that regular people can relatively easily become self reliant, productive, and to a certain extent truly free from market conditions/commodity prices and other external factors. I think our current petro-based system is doomed for failure...it's all propped up by subsidies and pollutes on massive scale.
Here's a video that shows 7 different food forests after each stage of growth in years 1-7.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG_vRG66wkA
Here's a 80 or so minutes long in-depth look at the processes and concepts behind it all (in 9 parts).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMQ8eSm92xQ
I'm on it.
