Dear Fellow Farmers, Micro or Macro

I have a question for you to ask yourself about your farm, no matter what kind you have to think about this winter, while you have time for design for spring. Can you say this about your property...

"Over its lifetime, it produces, enough energy to maintain and duplicate itself."

That's the definition of sustainable agriculture, that's the goal for this property. Why isn't it yours?

Scary world news about Food

Go take out 4 quarters from your pocket, or wallet. Put them down in front of you, this will represent the world as you know it.

Now remove 1 quarter, put it off to the side, that represents how much of your world is degraded and can no longer supply food to you. Scary huh? It's the truth according to a new UN report.

ROME -- The United Nations has completed the first-ever global assessment of the state of the planet's land resources, finding in a report Monday that a quarter of all land is highly degraded and warning the trend must be reversed if the world's growing population is to be fed.

Scary to say the least. Here is the rest of the article.

If you are wondering how we got here, I suggest reading M. Fukuoka's book called, "One Straw Revolution" however to make it short, and to the point. The New Age practice of tossing chemicals on everything to help make it grow is what is destroying the human ability to grow healthy food.

Each time you buy a pesticide, herbicide, or chemical fertilizer, you personally make a choice to support the destruction of the planet, and remove just a little bit more food from your children's children.

Food for thought isn't it?

A Permaculture Poem

As a surfer, I fully well know the climate has changed from the tropics to the polar caps. The animals & waves have shown it to me.
As an artist, I fully well know the climate has changed from the Tundras and glaciers I have seen, to the sea life bleached & dying underwater.
As a gardener, I fully well know the climate has changed, because each year, I see the changes.
As a human being, I fully well know things have changed in my life time, and not for the better.
As someone who practices Permaculture, I have hope.

Permaculture, Consumerism, and Occupy Wall Street

Warning - If you are sensitive, you might not like what I have to say below.

As part of what has quickly become a world wide protest against the incredible bull shit of my life time, I, and the people who are currently here at the Farm this Friday all have refused to shop today, "Black Friday".

As I logged into the internet I saw photos of people rushing Macy's in NYC, and elsewhere in order to save a sawbuck or three. While I commend saving money in any form, I do not, and cannot in good conscious any more participate in Black Friday, and as such, I join the Occupy movement today by NOT SHOPPING.

I would rather do what people used to do on Holidays, visit with friends and family and share good times. I have nothing but sorrow for the sheeple drones that went into work at midnight, or earlier for the sake of the rich, thinking they could lose their job, or its better then being at work later today.

However all you drones that keep allowing these corporations run your life and take away your time off with friends and family are no longer free. You are a slave to your job, and the lifestyle you have picked as a result of it. When I was growing up no one worked yesterday, we didn't have to be into work because the store opened at midnight.

Scale down, stop sending you money overseas like a junky & learn to do for yourself, and your family instead. Take back your life and stop being a sheeple drone.

Thinking out problems with Permaculture Design

I am currently working all be it painfully slowly on design for the property in its complete form, and I start to wonder about the time factor. How do I take into account for people who visit & impacts on grey water and so on. So many factors to consider when working from zone 1 outwards.

One moment a grey water wetland has to generally handle say 180 gallons, but someone suddenly visits and aren't very respectful you could be looking at over 250, or more, for a week, a month, 6 months, 1.5 years. It could happen.

Another threat to design is myself. What if I can hold classes here in the future, it could happen, unlikely, but it could. Impact of visitors to grey and black water change impact overall systems of the property. My point is, a person can plan and think of variables all the time to plan against, but if you go this route you stop living. There needs to be a point to plan for, go with, and then maintain or keep in balance.

To that end, time to get sketching and planning.

Apple Research

Currently researching suppliers for "Kaiser Wilhelm" & "Landsberger Reinette" varieties of Apple trees. Both are suited to harsh climates such as high winds which is very much needed here.

Finding American suppliers for either of these has not been fruitful, so if anyone out there knows of any suppliers, world-wide, please let me know.

Permaculture community gets go-ahead in NZ

A new settlement is being established near Auckland for a community of people interested in living sustainably using the principles of permaculture.

Here is the link, rejoice in sustainable living as I am.

We need more permaculture communities in America to teach farmers badly and remove our countries farmers from their new age chemical tendencies on the farms. For over 10,000 years our world was organic, & now we have all this new age chemicals made by oil and chemical companies that in the end do nothing but harm our planet, soil, and water supply.

How Not to Maintain an Internet Permaculture Forum

Some close people know I do not put up with curtailing my Freedom of Speech. Today, I was not only subject of it again on... http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums

The owner has a pension for committing libel without a care. There is no Terms of Service for public forums, & the owner / moderator changes & / or deletes posts without permission, and without letting the public know that a moderator or the owner changed the text.

As such, often, what is written by someone may or may not be what was accurately written. This fosters a negative community and is not something to be admired, but rather something to be concerned about. This is not Permaculture in action by any means. As such, here is a direct quote from the Permaculture Designers Manual over the ethics of Permaculture.

Principal of Cooperation (Chapter 1.1)
Cooperation, not competition, is the very basis of existing life systems.

The Ethical Basis of Permaculture (Chapter 1.2)
1. CARE OF EARTH: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply.

2. CARE OF PEOPLE: Provision for people to access those resources necessary to their existence.

3. SETTINGS LIMITS TO POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION: By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles.

Last, there is even a Prime Directive a la Star Trek

Page 1, Chapter 1
The Prime Directive of Permaculture
The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence & that of our children.


As such, I will not be participating in the below forums until libel is no longer committed at that site.




li·bel/ˈlībəl/
Noun:
A published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation.
Verb:
Defame (someone) by publishing a libel.
Synonyms:
noun. slander - defamation - calumny - aspersion - scandal
verb. slander - defame - calumniate - malign - traduce - vilify