Aranya

Yes, if you are looking at any significant volume, you might find bigger tanks more useful. You can get black IBC tanks that keep the light out, but I don't know how well they perform at low temperatures. Freezing water can of course shatter rocks...

A lot of hedgerows have been ripped out in certain areas, especially the flatter landscapes, but many hedges still remain. The main issue is the way they are managed - often with a mechanical flail on the back of a tractor, which results in hedges with very dense growth at the top and big gaps at the bottom. So still useful for much wildlife, but not always as effective windbreaks or as stock-proof barriers.

Hi Rose,

Techniques only make sense if they are appropriate to local conditions and the desired outcomes (raised beds are useful in wet landscapes, but not in dry ones where pit planting makes more sense). How do we find this out? Well some things (like the example I just used) are obvious, but many other are identified by going through a design process. Without any truly sustainable techniques to choose from the design process isn't helpful, so one supports the other. I see them connected in this way (but imagine these as nested circles with ethics in the middle):

Ethics -> Principles -> Design -> Techniques

His story is told by Patrick Whitefield in his 'Permaculture in a nutshell' book, but I have no other references with any more detail.

So the one line of inquiry would be Patrick himself...

Found this on Wikipaedia:

"Trademark and copyright issues

There has been contention over who if anyone controls the legal rights to the word "Permaculture", meaning is it trademarked or copyrighted, and if so, who holds the legal rights to the use of the word. For a long time Bill Mollison claimed to have copyrighted the word permaculture, and his books reflected that on the copyright page, saying "The contents of this book and the word PERMACULTURE are copyright." These statements were largely accepted at face-value within the permaculture community. However, copyright law does not protect names, ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something; it only protects the expression or the description of an idea, not the idea itself. Eventually Mollison acknowledged that he was mistaken and that no copyright protection existed for the word "permaculture".[30]

In 2000 Mollison's US based Permaculture Institute sought a service mark (a form of trademark) for the word permaculture when used in educational services such as conducting classes, seminars, or workshops.[31] The service mark would have allowed Mollison and his two Permaculture Institutes (one in the US and one in Australia) to set enforceable guidelines as to how permaculture could be taught and who could teach it, particularly with relation to the PDC. The service mark failed and was abandoned in 2001. Also in 2001 Mollison applied for trademarks in Australia for the terms "Permaculture Design Course"[32] and "Permaculture Design".[33] These applications were both withdrawn in 2003. In 2009 he sought a trademark for "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual"[34] and "Introduction to Permaculture",[35] the names of two of his books. These applications were withdrawn in 2011. There has never been a trademark for the word Permaculture in Australia.[36]"

A disturbing thought, but likely true...

TV is unlikely to be very helpful, I think folks need to see it at the grassroots level, though You tube is helpful as there's some nice little videos up there now.

I've often wondered what Stonehenge would have looked like surrounded by trees - presumably it had avenues leading up to it. Imagine stepping out of the trees and seeing that at the end of a cleared space!

Nice idea James. I wonder if it's a bit isolated though to serve as a beacon of hope. Information flows in systems are really important and people tend to respond most to what they see most often - which I guess for many folks is what's on TV. No wonder we're in trouble! Local permaculture projects that people can visit easily seem in my experience to be the ones that create the most inspiration in people to try it for themselves. And the occasional online gem like Greening the Desert of course!

The principle of redundancy says do many things though, so maybe - I guess if people are already going there, then taking some seeds & plants wouldn't be much more to carry. That said, do we like the strange statues so much that we don't want to lose them in the trees?

As I understand it, Bill Mollison has the term 'permaculture' trademarked and says that only those who have done a design course can use the term to promote their services. Makes sense though really. And it doesn't stop anyone else doing it, just not selling their services under the name.

I'd definitely recommend keeping a journal, something the Diploma system here encourages apprentices to do anyway. Photograph everything too - especially easy now with digital cameras in everything. If you have one, use it, much quicker to photograph shade lines in a garden than try & sketch them onto a map.