PERMACULTURE - feed the people & be in harmony with Gaia

[Seva]

DEFINITION:

The word permaculture, coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren during the 1970s, is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture as well as permanent culture. Through a series of publications, Mollison, Holmgren and their associates documented an approach to designing human settlements, in particular the development of perennial agricultural systems that mimic the structure and interrelationship found in natural ecologies.

Permaculture design principles extend from the position that "The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children" (Mollison, 1990). The intent was that, by rapidly training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals could design their own environments and build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements — ones that reduce society's reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying the Earth's ecosystems.

While originating as an agro-ecological design theory, permaculture has developed a large international following of individuals who have received training through intensive two week long 'permaculture design courses'. This 'permaculture community' continues to expand on the original teachings of Mollison and his associates, integrating a range of ideas of alternative culture, through a network of training, publications, permaculture gardens, and internet forums. In this way permaculture has become both a design system and a loosely defined philosophy or lifestyle ethic.



Great free manual i have found i must share. D/L it

http://www.permaculture.org/nm/image...cert_book_.pdf

http://www.permacultureactivist.net/


Any gardeners/farmers out there using any of these techniques?

some books im getting now

Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series) by Steve Solomon


The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for Changing Times (Paperback)
by Albert Bates (Author)

Love the title of the next one!

Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community (Paperback)
by Heather Coburn Flores (Author)

The Self-sufficient Life and How to Live It (Hardcover)
by John Seymour (Author), Deirdre Headon (Editor)

How to Make a Forest Garden (Paperback)
by Patrick Whitefield (Author)

The Permaculture Way: Practical Steps To Create A Self-Sustaining World (Practical Steps) (Paperback)
by Graham Bell (Author), Bill Mollison (Foreword), David Bellamy (Contributor), Brick (Illustrator)

Where do people think are the best areas of farmland with water? some rural areas are very inexpensive.

mmmmmmmmmmB!

Seva

[mikey]

Great post...thanks for sharing

peace

bananaman

This topic seems so important - Thanks for all of the links and book titles - I'm going to have a lot of reading on my plate!

[Seva]

Thanks im glad you like it. This will do multiple things, feed us, nuture the earth, and provide alot of good energy. gardening is what keeps me sane now a days, its like the earth can feel my stress and soothes me, showing me how all things pass and are newnewed, singing songs to me in the breeze. I always feel sp grounded after.

HUGS!

[Morgan]

Originally Posted by Seva

Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community (Paperback)
by Heather Coburn Flores (Author)

Another great thread! And this book is amazing! I was so thoroughly impressed with this one, the author has some truly radical, mind-expanding ideas and I could not echo your recommendation enough! This book alone has inspired me to get a garden going, and since it goes beyond just gardening I've already made changes in other aspects of my life to reflect being more conscientious.

GREAT book.

[Genevieve]

Hey Seva - great post !!!!

Putting my hand up as another Grass Roots Permie Princess. lol

I have been gardening along Permaculture principles for the past 10 years - although having only been at my current home for 2 years - this garden hasn't "popped" yet - but the groundwork is done and in the meantime we have a steady supply of annual veggies and herbs before the fruit trees start yielding.

This last month i have felt a rising sense of urgency and will be bringing in the girl's (the chooks) ASAP!

I have included a couple of websites below which are an invaluable source of information for anyone wanting to explore the idea of taking back control of your own food. Explore the forums.

Enjoy!!

http://permaculture.org.au/what-is-permaculture/

http://www.aussieslivingsimply.com.au/news.php

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/

[sunflower]

[BUrban Farming
April 20, 2008, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/ma...?pagewanted=3]
[/B]

(Peers: Want to Know.info)


Jules Dervaes and three of his adult children live on one-fifth of an acre in Pasadena, Calif., a block away from a multilane highway. On this tiny sliver of land, they manage to be mostly self-sufficient. “This is our form of protest,” says Dervaes, who is 60, “and this is our form of survival.” The family harvests 6,000 pounds and more than 350 separate varieties of fruits, vegetables and edible flowers annually. They brew the biodiesel fuel that powers the family car. Solar panels on their roof reduce energy bills to as little as $12 a month. Goats, chickens, ducks and two rescued cats are in residence. Red wiggler worms turn the kitchen and garden waste into compost, which is then recycled back into the garden. Dervaes’s father worked for Standard Oil, but his son took a markedly different path. Dervaes moved into his current Pasadena home in 1985 — temporarily, he thought. As the years passed and his hopes of relocating to the country were delayed, he “decided that he wanted to see how much we could grow here,” says his 33-year-old daughter, Anais. The family generates cash for their limited expenses by selling produce to local restaurants. Though Dervaes and his children are accustomed to the neighbors’ strange looks at their crowded lot, the local chefs don’t seem to share the skepticism. “They’ll call me in the morning and pick the amount that I need for that night,” says Jim McCardy, who owns Marstons, a restaurant in Pasadena. “The flavor is just incredible.”

Note: A full-length documentary is being made of this wonderful family. To watch an engaging two-minute trailer: http://www.homegrown-film.com/trailer.html

See their highly popular website at http://www.pathtofreedom.com.

[Seva]

Great info sunflower

[Frank Samuel]

Great thread Miki Thanx!!!

[Seva]

[msv]

Maybe someone posted this, somewhere, but I get lost in so many threads.
This movie will be out in the fall...seems too far away, but here is the trailer:
http://www.ediblecitymovie.com/
http://vimeo.com/1814818