Jim Garlits

I'm working on an article about permaculture.

I did a deep dive into Mollison and Holmgren's principles and methods, even though they have some differences in opinions concerning their "baby."

I don't want to get into discussions about purpleculture or argue about where lines should be drawn. I simply drew up a list of bullet points that address how permies think and what they do. One of the things I had missed is function stacking, because Holmgren doesn't push it to the forefront in his body of work, at least not that I've seen. Seems  to be more of a Mollison thing. But to great effect! Here's my list. Opine as something strikes you as profound:

Observe before you interact.

Look at relative locations and how things interact and benefit each other to determine the best locations for them.

Work with nature, not against it.

Assist instead of impeding natural development.

Catch and store energy.

Plan energy expenditures by zone, sector, and slope.

Keep energy-intensive things close by.

Obtain a yield.

Use plant stacking and time stacking to increase yield.

Yield is only limited by the imagination and information of the designer.

Apply self-regulation and feedback.

The problem often contains the solution.

Don’t waste time, money or energy forcing something to be what it was never intended it to be.

Use and value renewable and biological resources and services.

Produce no waste.

Every output is an input for something else.

Everything works both ways, and is either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the context.

Find ways to use excesses and surpluses.

Energy, resource, and nutrient cycling: Keep flows and stores in the system instead of removing them.

Design from patterns to details.

Integrate rather than segregate.

Use small and slow solutions, small scale intensive systems.

However, accelerate succession where and when possible. Food forests. Lasagna gardening. Pioneer plants. Chop and drop.

Make small changes with the great effects with all resources: time, money, effort.

Use and value diversity, especially in polycultures and plant guilds and where there is water, light, and nutrient competition.

Use edges and value the marginal.

Many things happen where two or more environments meet.

Creatively use and respond to change

Function stacking recognizes that a single element can perform multiple functions.

Each function is supported by many different elements which support one another.

Permaculture is information and imagination intensive.

Use the collective experience and wisdom of those who have land-based knowledge, experience, and ideas. If it works, it works. Doesn’t matter where it came from.

Everything gardens or modifies its environment.

We are all gardeners.

Jim

And so it begins!

Welcome, Hal. Thanks for saying yes.

Jim

Here's a Midwest hack. Don't know how it goes in much colder or hotter zones. Plant broccoli wherever you can. It's a brassica. Loves cold weather. Plant it in the summer and it will sprout and almost immediately bolt. Go to seed. COLLECT THOSE SEEDS. Stratify them in the fridge for a couple of months. Then use them for sprouts. Broccoli sprouts are full of sulforaphane, which is one of the healthiest superfoods you can eat. It's an cancer fighting powerhouse. If you want broccoli crowns, plant it early in spring. If you want broccoli seeds, succession plant it from spring to fall, let the seedheads form and dry, stratify it for two months, and add the stratified seeds to your seed collection for sprouts all year long.

Jim

Goodness, I need more apples!

Jim

Like the dwarves in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, I've dug too greedily and too deep , but when it comes to writing, not mining. I was referring more specifically to a particular strain of philosophical thought which answers occupy a certain range...that the good life one lived in a community that values and defends human flourishing. Whew... ok. And as it relates to land, how much is ideal? For me, community translates more toward communication with something bigger than myself, with others around me, and with the natural environment. I want all three.

Your replies are excellent. Philosophy, even from a stoic like Marcus Aurelius, has a lot more to say about quality over quantity. Some argue that life outside the city, and they weren't speaking of modern multi-million population centers, rather the size of a city-state. Where the fine arts can develop, etc. So one answer is that it takes zero land to lead a good life. You used to be able to do that because the country came to your marketplace every day, and there was no concrete and no cars zipping up and down it.

But the city can't exist without the country, the farms and trades and (homesteading) that makes life there in the city possible.

With this post, I'm not suggesting there is one right answer. There are many. I just wanted to see what they were.

If I optimize Willow Acre for production instead of beauty and diversity, I could feed my family and part of my community. But that would defeat my current purpose. I'm experimenting with inputs to see what the results are and how they work together or at loggerheads, adjusting, and moving on.

Jim

It made church bells ring all across the Midwest and to the east of it. According to well-documented accounts from February 7, 1812, it also made the Mississippi River flow backwards for several minutes. Observers reported huge waves moving upstream and water temporarily flowing northward in places due to a combination of damming, seiches, and a massive ground uplift. Interesting stuff to me, at least, as I used to be a certified emergency manager, wrote comprehensive plans for a couple of organizations, and taught disaster response courses to National Guardsmen and tracked NG asset allocation during disasters.

My point is, New Madrid is pretty stable, but the geology and tremor depth are much much different than on the West Coast. The next earthquake there will decimate the area and its built environment including transportation, pipelines of all sorts and sewer systems, even ones using newer and stronger materials. I agree with the caveat to be careful how you build structures.

Jim

Rico Loma wrote:In brief, I don't believe a builder can look at a two year old structure and generalize on its merits.  When in doubt, prepare for the worst, that's my maxim.

For example, I am technically safe from earthquake damage in GA.  But what about the NewMadrid Fault? A shift near Memphis 120 years ago famously had church bells involuntarily ringing in Charleston SC.  Look at the distance here.  It is past due for another 6 plus temblor........add in climate change, and
Who knows what stresses await your diy structure?

Sherman promised 40 acres and a mule. We won't go into partisanship and failed promises here,

G. K. Chesterton said three acres and a cow and you'd be good.

The Melchiores say you can do it with a quarter of an acre in your backyard. That seems kind of tight to me, but it can be done because people have done it.

My question to you all is... Where's the sweet spot? And yes, I realize "a good life" can be interpreted broadly but I'm talking permaculture, homesteading, regenerative gardening and/or agriculture. I'm talking everything in the deck of permaculture playing cards.

I'm doing fine here at Willow Acre except for the poop part. My son has chickens and they're fertilizing the barren dirt at his new house. Building a foundation. I could have chooks if I wanted them because of a new city ordinance overturning decades of "no chickens inside the city limit. We get all the eggs we can eat from the boy and his wife's birds. But my wife has recently been oohing and ahhing over baby goats of all things. The city isn't going to allow that.

If it were plausible, I would take Chesterton's three acres and goats instead of a cow, thank you very much. I'm too old for 40, and already have more than a quarter acre. The only question for me is...could those other two acres be a shared venture not too far out into the county where several families work together on a sort of internal community supported agriculture venture? Close enough for me to ride my bicycle out there, with or without cargo? Such ventures require a lot of trust in others showing up consistently and doing their part and things like that periodically go wrong. But they always do and that isn't an excuse not to do a thing. You just temper the idealism with realism and keep showing up.

What do you think? Forty? Three? One-quarter?

Jim

You just unlocked the mystery of the universe.    Seriously, seeing those tiny sprouts full of hope for the fall harvest...that is true wealth. Savor it.

Jim

J Bentley wrote:

Yesterday I came home from work and experienced true joy as I talked with my wife and then eagerly went out into our garden to see Tennessee Valencia peanuts popping out of the soil for the very first time here.
Could that be a modern yet very old definition of wealth and prosperity?

This isn't a plug for a website though I 'm going to point you to one anyhow.

I wanted to tell you what a wonderful experience I have had so far hosting long-distance bicyclists through an app called Warmshowers. I won't link to it, it's very easy to find via phone or web browser. It connects cyclists with overnight hosts who are willing to let them take, obviously, a warm shower, to camp in your yard or sleep in a spare bedroom or on the couch. It saves them a lot of money that would have needlessly been spent on hotels, with very little sense of community.

So I think of Warmshowers as a little slice of portable intentional community. People traveling long distances under their own power, like on a bicycle, tend to be a lot like us here at permies. Gentle. Concerned about things that align very closely to permaculture and homesteading. So many of the people I"ve hosted have been "clean eaters" who are looking for better than organic, fresh veggies, grass fed/grass finished beef, ethically raised animals, and so on.

Last night, we hosted a couple from Ireland who are almost done circumnavigating the globe on bicycles. I won't give you their names but they played us a song on concertina and harmonica and their two part harmony. It was absolutely lovely, and I would not have had any of the dozen experiences like this I've had without hosting these cyclists.

We met once, shared a couple of meals, enjoyed live music, and they are now friends and welcome at our home any time.

They shared a beautiful rendition of Mike Hanrahan's "Beautiful Affair" during this gathering in Willow Acre's dining room. I thought the lyrics and spirit of the song fit well with our discussions of community and friendship. We recorded the song and while I'd love to share it with you, and as a content creator, I would want Mike Hanrahan to get paid because he created such a beautiful song and even when sung in an intimate setting, I think I would be exploiting the moment by blasting it out to the world.

Please look the song up and give it a listen, and you'll instantly know how heart touching the moment was for the four of us.

Jim

I would also recommend this. Welcome to permies!

Jim

Nancy Reading wrote:This is an old thread, so I don't suppose the seeds are still on offer. You could try going to seed - see the thread about it here