Geoff Lawton might be most famous for the “Greening the Dessert” video on YouTube:
It’s a remarkable story of how a flat, salt-ridden dessert was transformed into a food-producing area using permaculture principles and some fantastic (and unexpected?) mycoremediation.
I’ve always wanted to get to know draft horses better, and maybe learn how to work with them. After a lot of searching, I found a farm just down the road from us in Sebastopol where one can actually take lessons in driving draft horses. I got up the nerve to contact them and see if I could come for a visit — and they said yes!
Stone Horse Far, is a beautiful place, and I’m grateful to Stuart Schroeder and Rosalie for showing me around. Not only did I enjoy seeing the horses and hearing about how they were trained and used, but I really enjoyed meeting some like-hearted folks who share many of our interests and enthusiasm for a life in harmony with nature. And the idea of working with this enormous, friendly, sweet-smelling critters is really appealing. Here’s some photos from my visit (or jump to the set on Flickr):
Justin might ask, “Where is it all leading?”, and I still don’t know. But I’m certainly enjoying the trip there! I have a couple more permaculture-type field trips planned for this week, and the big Convergence this weekend — fun stuff! Oh, and this week we’re going to celebrate Fridaday, too!
On Saturday we took a tour organized by the great folks at Daily Acts. The tour was called “Water-Savvy Stars” and featured sites with interesting and smart water usage, as well as a stop at our beloved Laguna. Update: Steve also has a good post related to the day.
The day started at the lovely Catchtail Gardens, where Djubaya and Deborah Grace showed us the amazing transformation of their property, which was just a grassy field and buildings six years ago. Today, with the smart application of swales and catchments, they put and estimated 12,000 gallons of water back into the aquifier AND harvest about fifty cubic feet of topsoil that’s run off from properties up-slope, keeping it out of critical salmon habitat. It was fascinating to see all that they’ve done here.
From there, we had a lunch break and then a walk in the Laguna preserve with a great discussion of the watershed lead by one of our favorite bipedal sacks of saline and member of the Junior Darwin Over-achiever’s club, Brock Dolman.
We finished the day at the Energy Farm of the Post Carbon Institute, also the home of Julian Darley and Celine Rich Darley. There we saw examples of a lovely urban graywater system that is almost finished (pending permits to turn it on). They’re growing both food and energy crops in this garden, and it was great to see examples of both, as well as honest discussion over what works and doesn’t work. This is an amazing resource to have here in Sebastopol!
Speaking of Sebastopol, the day made me feel really fortunate, again, to be living here. The permaculture work happening in our town amazing. And, as residents of the city, Steve and I got to take this tour for free, courtesy of the city government. If this keeps up, I may have to trade in my Point-Reyes-wannabe hat for one that’s embroidered with “Sebastopol” instead!
Here’s some photos from the day; browse them here or view the set on Flickr:
Here’s another group of notes from the permaculture course I took. These notes concentrate on the concepts, rationale and philosophy I picked up; we got lots of practical and how-to information, too.
Fun fact: the composting toilets at RDI don’t stink. The reason for this is that the urine is separated from solid waste…there are two seats in each outhouse; you pee in one and defecate in the other. Mixing the two causes the anaerobic reaction that causes the foul odor. (Personal note: I really liked the outhouse system in practice; I would personally rather dump a shit or pee bucket every so often rather than constantly trying to keep a porcelain throne clean in my house. A composting toilet never clogs. A well-placed outhouse is quite private and pleasant to use. And the more I know about living systems, the more absurd it seems to flush our waste into our water supply.)
The Arcata Marsh and wastewater treatment facility rocks. I need to get up there to visit this; this constructed wetland is a well-known birding destination.
Flow form fountains - allow the water to meander in a natural way; can help with water cleaning. These are beautiful; I’ve since seen one in action at OAEC and it’s mesmerizing.
There is a pattern of civilization collapse related to topsoil depletion. Deforestation leading to desertification is also very typical in civilization collapse. The 1955 book Topsoil and Civilization by Vernon Gill Carter and Tom Dale laid this out in detail.
Soil: Starhawk gave us an amazing introduction to this rich topic. Highly recommended for further reading: Elaine Ingham. The Klebsiella planticola controversy is scary and hard for me to understand completely; This page seems to give both sides a voice.
Starhawk: We inoculate children with reading, writing, arithmetic, but they grow up not understanding ecology. Bill Mollison: “Evil is stupidity rigorously applied.”
Water: 70% of the surface area of the earth is water. By volume, only 3% is fresh water. Less than 1% of the earths water is available to us and not locked up in ice in the poles and glaciers, or in extremely deep groundwatner. Half of that 1% is currently polluted. There is a finite quantity of water, but you might say infinitely available because it’s cyclical.
What is a desert? If evaporation is greater than precipitation, it’s a desert. (If these two are equal, it’s a Mediterranean climate.) If we use water in a way that evaporates it (or manage soil with the same result), we create deserts.
California is the most hydrologically engineered place in the world.
Ogallala Aquifer - underlies the Great Plains; filled by the Pleistocene glaciers (last ice age; studies of water samples have indicated that some of the water has been here for 20,000 years). Being depleted at an alarming rate.
The Green Revolution could only happen with a corresponding and silent “Blue Revolution” — we’re mining our fossil water. At current rates, we’ll be asking for twice as much water as we do now.
Desalination methods are typically petroleum-fueled. We must think in terms of Appropriate Technology.
Andy Lipkin, Tree People, and Los Angeles: there’s enough rainfall to provide 50% of their water needs.
Water testing: there is no overall test for everything. When you pay for a water test, you have to specify what you’re testing for.
Usually get about 600 gallons of water on 1000 square feet with 1″ of rainfall.
When you cache water off your roof, the materials of the roof will contribute to what’s present in your water supply. Vinyl or plastics? Wood shingles with fire retardants. Heavy metals like cadmium? Baked enamel on steel very good; expensive but long-lasting; glass also very good (cache off greenhouse?)
Water tanks might be used as thermal mass to hold heat. Ferro-cement tank has very high embodied energy (every pound of portland cement requires three pounds of carbon emission to produce), but might be a very high use of this material.
Adapting demand. How much do you need? 50 gallons per person per day?
20% of the electricity we use in this state is used to pump water. 30% of all natural gas is used to heat it. “Watergy”
Strategy for caching water on the land: Slow it, Spread it, Sink it. If you want to save a watershed, start at the ridge line. Swales can help put water into the well. Ponds for short-term water storage, swales for long-term.
We have the theory, we have the technologies. What we lack is the political power, the will, the cultural support, the supportive economics. So to say at this point that it’s impossible to avoid a crash is factually wrong, and it really only is saying that we are whipped politically and can never win, or that people are too stupid and selfish, greedy or fearful, ever to do things right. That’s a view that feeds into the power of the few over the many, that obstructs progress, that also, given the various hard-won successes of past history and politics, is factually wrong and cheaply cynical. Too easy, even cowardly. Well, I don’t need to be saying this to a permaculture audience. The optimism I advocate as policy (and temperament if you’re lucky!) is inherent in the philosophy and practice of permaculture.
It was also interesting to learn that Robinson and his family are residents of the famous (in permie circles) Village Homes. Robinson cites this sustainable planned community as an influence on his work.
On the morning, when we received our certificates in completion of thePermaculture Design Certification Intensive, Penny asked us to go around the circle and say one word or phrase that best described what we thought we’d take away from the class into our immediate future. I struggled to find just the right phrase with my rational mind, but only one thing came out of me: “live the truth.” In many ways, this class helped me understand truths that I believe I’ve recognized in my heart, maybe for my entire life. And I feel that in many ways, our current mainstream culture requires us to lie to ourselves about the consequences of how we live.
I’ve debated how much of my notes to rewrite into my blog. There’s an immense amount of material to digest. I’ve decided to make a first pass through my notes, picking out the concepts or ideas that impressed me the most, and that might best serve to convey the kind of experience I had, and not write up the notes right now that relate to specific design techniques and practices. It’s difficult to describe to people, and I sense a sort of suspicion surrounding it. Maybe doing some of this will help; organizing the info might at least help me be a little more articulate about it.
The Iroquois Confederacy has striking parallels to how the founding fathers of the US Constitution set up the US government. (Though there is debate on this issue, the evidence suggested here looks pretty good to me.) One significant difference is that the Iroquois clan mothers held enormous power, being the ones to appoint the council members from each tribe. The Iroquois handled issues brought before the council with a policy of consensus, or “one heart, one mind, one law.” If consensus could not be reached on an issue, each individual tribe was free to determine their own course of action, as long as it did not affect the other tribes.
I’m ashamed to admit to the realization that I didn’t even really know what was meant by “consensus” before coming here. I’d thought it was a something like a majority, but probably much more than 51/49 split. The idea of consensus…that the entire group agrees to something…and that I hadn’t previously understood it…blew my mind. Obviously not something commonly experienced in my culture.
Penny Livingston-Stark on permaculture: “This isn’t rocket science. It’s a lot more complicated.” (Fortunately, it’s a lot more interesting, too.)
The practice of permaculture as taught by Bill Mollison has well-defined ethics:
Care of the Earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply.
Care of People: Provision for people to access those resources necessary to their existence.
Setting Limits to Population and Consumption: By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles.
The last point is often described as giving away or reinvesting the surplus. The mnemonic you’ll often see is “Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share”
The most important design tool for permaculture is a hammock. Good design is rooted in good observation.
Penny: “Permaculture is on the cutting edge of a 10,000 year old idea.”
“Pollution is an unused resource” — Bill Mollison (or: “Waste = Food”)
Here at RDI they believe in “sustainable hedonism”…for example, you can’t buy the food we’ll be eating. (This was absolutely true.)
You’ve heard “you are what you eat.” Brock Dolman puts another spin on it: “You are what you don’t shit.”
“Some people are more limited by what they know than by what they don’t know.” (Penny or Brock)
We don’t plan for the future the way we used to. Examples from the past: The Beams of New College, Oxford; food storage of the Incas.
Embodied Energy — this is a hugely important concept. We tend to think of objects in terms of their financial cost. But consider all of the resources used to create an object: raw material, labor, environmental impact, social impact, etc. All of this together is the embodied energy of the object. A stainless steel water bottle from REI might appear to cost $18.95, but when you consider the embodied energy, you’ll find that the cost is much, much higher.
Permaculturists aren’t “plant fascists”…native plants are preferred when they serve the function required, but proven exotics are also fine and testing of unproven exotics, with proper monitoring, is encouraged. Even Scotch Broom, a hated invasive, serves a purpose…it, like many other exotic invasives, is a nitrogen fixer. These kinds of species make their homes in soil that’s been disturbed, damaged. The need is to bring the soil back to life, not the futility of killing the exotics. If the sheer logic of this doesn’t get you, consider that a large donor to native plant societies and others working against exotics is (drum roll, please)…Monsanto. “Monsanto Company has been a long-term sponsor of Cal-IPC with more than 15 years of consecutive sponsorship donations. As a company we are committed to supporting and assisting the invasive species control efforts of the members of Cal-IPC.” [ref]
Another bon mot, either from Brock or Penny: “I’m so broke I can’t even pay attention.”
Jon Young: I may write up my notes from his wonderful talk, but a couple of things need to be included here: We form new brain patterns from only two sources: our focus (what we long for) and what our senses take in. More information makes people mentally ill. Connection is what makes culture…connecting to the world around us via our senses, rather than constant information gathering with the brain. What is more important than information? How happy are people? How strong is their heart? This is more important.
Phytoremediation: plants can be used to clean up toxins in the environment and treat water. For example, water hyacinths can be planted in water soaking with old photographic materials…they hyacinths will take up the silver in the water. You can then burn the hyacinths to recover the silver. Note that this also means you have to be careful about what plants you eat, with respect to what’s in the environment and what they migth be taking up. Note that we do the same sort of thing, taking up chemicals that cause us health problems. (Penny believes that a lot of us are walking around with a form of organophosphate poisoning from pesticides, and that it’s manifested as depression and inability to concentrate).
Water treatment folks have to deal with “PPCP” — pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Many of the pharmaceuticals are endocrine disruptors and estrogen mimics (they pointed out that, given this, it should come as no surprise that viagra sales are up and fertility is down).
What is “Away”? Our waste water, trash, etc. all goes “away”. Where is this “away” place? One “away” might be The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
That’s about a third of the way through my notebook. More to come!
Here’s some photos from photos from the first week of the two-week course I’m taking at Regenerative Design Institute. No time to write more; I need to get back to class! Browse the photos below or directly on flickr.
As I get ready to leave for a two-week permaculture design intensive, I thought I’d try to provide answers to at least one of the questions I get about it…”What’s Permaculture?”
Permaculture is notoriously hard to define in a sound-bite. Here’s one way to describe it: If you think of natural building, sustainable agriculture, solar energy, graywater recycling, consensus process, and the like as tools, then permaculture is the toolbox that helps organize those tools and suggests how and when to use them.
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 become designers of their own environments and able to 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 alternative cultural ideas, through a network of training, publications, permaculture gardens, and internet forums. In this way permaculture has become both a design system as well as a loosely defined philosophy or lifestyle ethic.
And I like this video introduction by Penny Livingston-Stark, who is one of the primary instructors for the class I’m taking:
For more, there’s series of videos on YouTube on “The Permaculture Concept”, with Bill Mollison. The editing and background music on these is rather dramatic…though the issues are important, this production lends a stink of new age fantasy or peak oil hysteria to the content which I dislike. That said, the content is good and you get to hear about it directly from Mollison, so here are links to it:
I think that all gives a pretty good answer to the “what is it” question. The other question…that of what I’m going to do with this training once I complete it…isn’t something I can answer yet. So far I’ve found out this about what I want:
A lifestyle that’s in tune with and a part of the natural world
To have a life full of animals, both wild and domesticated
To live in a way that’s congruent with my deepest beliefs, even if it means being an outsider
To be as close to life as possible. My greatest satisfaction in work comes from things that are directly related to living and life itself…food production and cooking, building and making, observing nature. I’m not happy with a life once removed, simply to earn money to buy all of the materials and labor that supports my life. As someone pointed out to me when I used that term, there is no such thing as “spare” time.
To honor my need for an environment that offers contemplation and self expression. A big hurdle for me, but absolutely vital.
Permaculture is obviously related to some of these, and perhaps more indirectly related to others. But the truth is, I have no idea what I’m doing, and as I set out to camp with a group of strangers for two weeks and fill my head, hands and spirit with all sorts of new ideas and skills, I’m both enthusiastically excited and scared shitless. If nothing else, maybe I’m doing a better job of being in touch with my feelings.
My project for the past few days (on and off): a compost bin with two sections for our back yard. I needed something that would keep the dog and other critters out of the garbage (although I probably won’t put a top on it except maybe a tarp during the height of the rainy season). You can browse the photos here or jump directly to the photo set on flickr:
I wanted to try a two section structure so I could have one side full, yet go in and turn it over regularly to keep it composting. Then the other section can serve as a collection area for the next batch of compost. I’m hoping that one section will be completely done around the time the other one gets full.
I want to make good use of our chicken coop bedding and manure!
I don’t really know what I’m doing, so this is an experiment. The design is loosely based on a single bin shown in the book Organic Gardening The lumber is reclaimed fence boards and 2×4’s from the dump, with some 1×2’s I had in the garage. I started by drawing, measuring out and building the three sides of the “shell”, and then figuring out the front after I had that done.
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As I get ready to leave for a 
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The lumber is reclaimed fence boards and 2×4’s from the dump, with some 1×2’s I had in the garage. I started by drawing, measuring out and building the three sides of the “shell”, and then figuring out the front after I had that done.
