Lazy Locavores

With the help of you all, I was able to find Mr. Jacobson's website and links.  There are a couple of seminars coming up on his calendar that I'm definitely going to try to attend.  For those who don't have his info, here are the links I found:

http://www.arthurleej.com/

http://www.arthurleej.com/May09.html

Dave - Where do you keep all this knowledge?  LOL  Once again… thanks for the info!

Excellent!  Thanks!

Thanks for the book references.  We'll definitely check those out.  We've looked through both of those books before by checking them out from the library.  My only concern is that photos are tough sometimes when you're worried about picking up something poisonous and eating it.  LOL

What I really need is a mentor to walk me through for a season then I could probably use the book as a better reference from there?  Whattaya think?

I can appreciate the merits of drip hoses and drip tape in a larger space.  We're planning on using the drip tape in our larger plots and recommend it in our classes.  However, for a lot of our urban folks (including ourselves) container gardening is the only option we have.  We're basically looking for inventive ways to get water to those plants without wasting resources.

Is there anyone out there who is teaching foraging courses?  I'm not even sure if I'm calling it the right thing but I would like to be more well versed in the wild edibles here in our area.  Any referrals would be of great help.  Thanks!

Found another creative irrigation technique this week.  We are planting our squash in hills with the center of the hill being a white bucket buried partially in the top of the hill.  There will be a hole in the bottom of the bucket as well as a few small holes (maybe four) around the sides of the bucket below the soil line.

We've been told by a rural farming friend of ours this keeps squash and other water-needy crops watered at the root level for several days at a time.  Freakin' brilliant!  We were planning on doing this with those 2-liter soda bottles we rescued from our neighbors.  We are turning them upside down in our pots we are planting this year.  Waters slowly and efficiently.

Any other creative ways to water?  We are here to learn!

ajmot - it is wonderful that you know all you feel you need to know about permaculture and the practices thereof.  It is too bad those of us who are looking into this further aggravate you so.  Not all of us are so far along the path as you are.

Hopefully, the permaculture design process gives you an overarching plan for how everything works together.

This is my ultimate goal.  As we progress into our business development, we will strive to make it a sustainable on every level as possible.  Using this concept of "permaculture as design system" will really help focus us on this goal.

Thank you again for being patient enough to field my questions in this forum that must seem tediously basic and ordinary to you.  You really are giving us a lot of inspiration and focus.  Also, thank you to the moderators of this forum for doing the same.

Dave, I think you have just given me the best definition of permaculture I could have ever asked for.

My issue with the idea of permaculture has been that most who profess to use the principles of permaculture can't really give me a direct answer that sums up what "it" really is.  This has been frustrating as I read articles on the topic because it all seems so broad and encompassing that it is difficult to understand our place in the realm of permaculture.

Thus my explorations into this forum the past week or so have been all about just that: exploring what permaculture really is and how does one exercise best practices.  While I thought I had a vague idea as to the definition and the implementation of permaculture, I promptly found out that I didn't have a clue.  Then, as you answered my question on urban farming in another thread, I thought "hey… maybe I'm not so far off."  Wrong again…  When I actually spoke to a couple of self-professed, hard-core permaculture folks, they let me know in no uncertain terms that I was wrong on all counts of permaculture.  In fact, they informed me, I was doing more harm than good by creating these urban farming spaces rather than doing (insert barrage of information I stopped listening to because of their condescending attitude).

Do you get my drift here?  I'm not a stupid man… really… I can dress myself just fine and I can even tie my own shoe laces.  I think I can identify when someone is posturing rather than telling me a real definition or representing a true principle in action.  I don't think I would start drooling nor would my brains liquify and run out my ears if someone were to give me a descent definition of permaculture.  However, it still eludes me.

Your explanation, if I am reading correctly, is that permaculture is a broad discipline that encompasses a number of practices.  A guideline, if you will, for various practices to follow.  Yes?  Further, that guideline states that all practices and sub-disciplines (as they become identified when working within said guidelines) should operate taking every other practice and sub-discipline into consideration in regards to the impact on the environment as a whole.  Am I even close(er)?

Honestly, there have been times when I felt like the original poster in this thread.  It has seemed like permaculture was some vague, undefined construct that drew people in via the promise of some enlightened path that only a select few were able to follow.  However, if I am reading your answers both here and in response to my post on urban farming, there are many attainable levels that we can all reach without eating entirely from a forest garden or living in a straw house.  There are degrees and steps that can be taken to reach those standards, but those standards being reached or not do not include or exclude those who are on the path to understand the greater concept.  In other words: there ain't a decoder ring or a secret handshake.  Everyone can join the club.  LOL

The more I explore what I thought I knew about this, the more I find I know less than I thought… and the more I find out I have to learn.  Maybe I'm a step closer to understanding what I don't know yet?? *head explodes*