Arthur Wierzchos

It has been announced that Master Cho, the creator of the Korean Natural Farming "KNF" methods, has passed away at the age of 93.



https://naturalfarminghawaii.net/learn-natural-farming/cgnf-materials/

Master Chos was a visionary and innovator in the world of natural farming, where he was able to create an entire movement going by the name of "Korean Natural Farming - KNF."

Born in 1935 in a rural farming community in South Korea, Cho grew up immersed in the traditional agricultural practices of his ancestors.  However, with rapid industrialization and introduction of chemical-intensive farming methods in Korea during his early adulthood deeply concerned him, as these methods led to soil degradation, environmental harm, and increased dependency on external inputs. Motivated to find a better way, Cho dedicated his life to studying Natural Farming principles, drawing inspiration from Korean traditions, indigenous knowledge, and cutting edge agricultural science. In the late 1960's and into the 1970's he traveled extensively across Asia, learning from master farmers and observing natural ecosystems. His goal was to develop a system of farming that worked in harmony with nature, reduced costs for farmers, and restore the health of the soil, plants, and environment.  

Master Cho key contributions in the KNF methods include inputs, such as FPJ (Fermented Plant Juice), LAB (Lactic Acid Bacteria), and IMO (Indigenous Micro-Organisms). The methods and principles are rooted in being low cost and sustainable, making them more accessible worldwide, regardless of economic status. It is a system that encourages self reliance.

Philosophically Master Cho's approach was deeply spiritual and grounded in his respect of nature as a living entity.  He emphasized working with, rather than against it, and viewed farming as a partnership between humans and earth.

Long Live the Natural Farmer, for in their hands lies the seed of true harmony - reminding us that Natural Farming is not just about growing food, but about cultivating life itself.

Rest in Love Master Cho.

Ok, ill play. Maybe these will help get some more creative juices flowing:

FOOD - Feed Ourselves On Dirt

FOODIE - Feeding Ourselves On Dirt Is Easy

CROPS. - Calorie Riches On Poor Soils

"Project Plot Twist" - Growing food isn't as hard or expensive as you think.  

Welcome to Permies Kim!  This is very exciting! Your enthusiasm is infectious haha. Im in a very similar boat to you, so will be following along with what others are sharing.

I also just acquired my own land in a temperate climate (zone 7), which is undeveloped, has no existing water sources aside from rain and snow melt, and has deer regularly visiting. Ive gone all in and have invested everything into the land. Now I am also very much focusing on potential "perennial income" sources, although for now its only been seasonal with low paying odd jobs here and there helping within my own community.  Building local relationships is also foundational, and is a form of currency that is more resilient than anything else.  

I'll be using the search feature so forgive me if I accidentally reply or ask a question on a 10yr old thread, LOL!

This is encouraged here!  We love to see older threads brought back to life that are relevant.  It is great to see what information has stayed true, and what has evolved.  

Any advice on planning is appreciated. Goal #1 = Now, from NJ in the cold, I want to make maps of the land. There are a number of wonderful features & possibilities to consider.
Goal #2 = I'll be there in early spring, and I want to walk through the wooded areas and map those separately, noting what I can identify, for considering forest food options, then map again when I go back in summer and can recognize everything that will be fully grown.

Which possibilities have you considered?  

Have you already received a PDC?  (This helps us to see what basic  knowledge you may already have in regards to ecological design)

One of my own great inspirations lately has been the Agrarians platform, where scales of permanence provide a sequence for evaluating and developing land, with a focus on aspects like climate, landform, and water - before moving into the more flexible elements like infrastructure, plantings, and animals.  

Creating the base maps is a great place to begin, and for a lot of designers is a prerequisite.  

Do you have a certain budget available for this?

How big is the land that you are working with?

Im in the process of doing this myself at the moment, but with a limited budget cannot afford to pay for the high definition maps with tight contour lines of around 0.5 meters created by surveyors, or other tech savvy permaculture designers who use drones and computer programs like GIS  For now I am just taking older surveys of my property to find boundaries, and soon will be going out with a compass, a 100m surveyors measuring tape, some stick poles, and an A-frame or Bunyip water level.  Ill be making sketches onto some graph paper and marking points based on measurements taken.  My goal is to identify any potential "key points", which then can determine where to create "key-lines", and then eventually a "Master Pattern Line".  This should help determine how to proceed with identification of all future element locations, as well as help to follow the permaculture principles of least effort for greatest effect, stacking functions, designing from patterns to details, and using edges and valuing the marginal.

Give me more things I can do NOW, from afar! So far I'm just brainstorming.

How well do you know the local ecosystem?  

Are you able to identify native, endemic, or indigenous plants/animals? Or "weed" species, which might actually be useful in some way?  

Have you taken soil samples yet, or explored government web pages that offer existing maps of historical date and geology in the area?

One of the counterintuitive insights I just had recently came from a government website where we can find maps of the types of soil in our area, as well as LIDAR.  The soil maps helped to reveal the the lowest spot on my property where I want to eventually build a pond is a type of soil that has almost no clay content, while the highest point on the property actually has a different type of soil that is prone to water logging and compaction.  I have taken a few soil samples from the lowest area and put them into glass jars to determine the sand-silt-clay percentage, and confirmed there to be almost zero clay in the spot that intuitively would have been the best spot for a pond!  

Its great that you are not rushing into making any decisions and drastic changes with your place.  Observing and Interacting really can make a huge difference.  Your future self will be very thankful!  

Some other clarifying questions are coming to mind that might help direct this conversation:  

Do you have any existing water resources on the property?

How many acres are you working with, and what are you envisioning for it?

What does "perennial Income" look like for you? Food production, value added products, eco-tourism, social media content creation, or something else?

Are there any local permaculture or farming groups that you can connect with?

Im looking forward to seeing how your journey unfolds, and hope you will continue sharing.  Please keep us updated with your progress, struggles/challenges, and wins!  We are all learning from each others experiences.

Thanks for bringing up this important topic Leah!  

My approach to dealing with plastics has been to:

1- avoid using it or buying it

2. When it cant be avoided, I separate it into bins and throw it "away".

Of course, we know there is no 'away".  I am guilty of passing on the problem further down the line, but would love to find some better solutions that are practical in a permaculture full loop system, where we could take this problem and turn it into a solution, and capture this overly abundant resource to turn into something beneficial.

This stuff has become ubiquitous, and from what I have seen so far there is no getting rid of it, as the particles just get smaller and smaller, and as they do break down they actually release toxic gick, which might make us feel better momentarily because we cant see it anymore, but just means it is becoming more bio-available, which puts it deeper into our internal organs, tissues,....brains!  

Hormonal imbalances and Endocrine Disruption, Inflammation and Gastrointestinal lining damage, Oxidative Stress, Reduced Nutrient Absorption, Thyroid Dysfunction, Cancers, Respiratory Issues and Lung Tissue damage (asthma and COPD), Cardiovascular problems, Impaired Cognitive Function,....the list goes on and on.  Its the nanoplastics that worry me, and the unknown synergistic effects, where the plastics combine with other toxins and environmental stressors to create an even worse outcome.

When our bodies are already being bombarded with an increase of various pollutants it becomes more and more difficult for our livers and kidneys to keep up, and from what I understand the micro and nano plastics are especially difficult to remove from the body.  

So, with that said, I have concerns about putting any plastics into composting systems, and eventually into the food chain.  

So far the best solutions I can see are to reduce exposure, and  filter contaminants and isolate.  

By concentrating the plastics, rather than mixing, it might actually make it easier to deal with them. For example the 'Blest Machine". There was once a video I saw of a person who was able to convert plastic waste back into oil/fuel through a pyrolysis process:



This is now, supposedly, being done on a larger scale, however it is energy intensive, is not fully clean with emissions, and has yet to become more economical than using virgin oil.  

My big questions at the moment are...

How to filter the micro/nano plastics out of our environment without having them enter the food chain?
Biochar?

How to detoxify our bodies?  

What I'm asking for, is more information (and in my wildest dreams, case studies) about practical setups for taking advantage of some of these amazing organisms' ability to break down petrochemicals.

Have you ever heard of "Biological Transmutations"?  Maybe there are some answers found in there somewhere. I really hope we can solve this problem sooner than later.  

There isa book written on the topic: https://www.google.pl/books/edition/Biological_Transmutation/Q8zFnA6qScwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Lets bring our permaculture dreams closer to reality!

Lately I've been reflecting on what I truly want in life, and how I want it to look in the next few years.  Part of the process that can make this enjoyable is to make a Vision Board, and naturally I want to include as much Permaculture imagery and inspirations as possible in mine.

A Vision Board can help clarify goals and keep them alive in our daily lives.  

Wanna join the fun?  

HOW TO CREATE A PERMIES VISION BOARD

1. Pick Your Themes
What areas of your life light you up? Some permaculture related themes might include:

WOFATI, Earth Sheltered, Cob, Straw-bale, Roundwood, or other Natural Building designs

Rockets Mass/Masonry Heaters, Stoves, Ovens, Saunas, or other heating elements

Ponds, Streams, Natural Swimming Pools, Springs, Wells, or other water elements

Hugelkultur beds, raised beds, syntropic rows, polyculture guilds, or privacy berms.

Zero waste and waste to resource ideas

Community connections, which can include people, animals, and other creatures that form ecosystem relationships.

Personal visions of abundance, health, and well being

2. Collect Images and Ideas
Find pictures, quotes, or symbols that capture your dreams.  (Ive been using Pinterest.com, but my hope is that with this post we can help each other find and create imagery that might not be found there). Things that you might consider thinking about while searching can include:

Abundant beyond organic food forests.

Your dream home, workshop space, or community.

Inspirational quotes and sayings that resonate deeply with you.

Maps and drawings of your dream designs

3. Create Goals and 'Mini Quests"
A big dream might seem too overwhelming, but breaking a monumental task down into bite size pieces can make the grand vision more achievable. It is also helpful to separate goals/quests between"Work" and "Life".  

Set a few quarterly goals/quests, but no more than 4

Look at and review these goals/quests a minimum of every week

Consider creating "Focus Logs", which are very powerful in actually helping to get stuff done.  

Here is a great youtube video that can help with this, which comes from a content creator that helped inspire me to make this post:



4. Share and Stay Inspired
Place your vision board somewhere visible where you will see it often.  Even better, share it here in this thread!  Or, if you aren't comfortable sharing the whole thing, as sometimes some elements can be more private...

... please share images, quotes, or other inspirations here!.

"Syntropic Permaculture"

That sounds even better!  

I just came across an article written by Mike Hoag from 2018, and thought that it is worth adding to this thread:

https://transformativeadventures.org/2018/11/06/syntropic-permaculture-in-temperate-climates/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHWhX1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHRZm3uGlRykPlvYB6A9rr_-sXKYypaTKeVL4GuahoVS7XOahhYHP350u9Q_aem_6grEhgzg9k_UZnjxY_iVSQ

Mike offers a great comparison between Syntropic Ag and Permaculture - helping to explain the similarities in terminology and key differences between the two very compatible approaches.  

By the way, there is finally a book out in English about "Syntropic Agriculture according to Ernst Gotsch"!  Here is an amazon link if anybody is curious about reading the description or wanting to buy it: https://a.co/d/5pC7FMQ

If I had to choose only one movie it would be this one.

"La Belle Verte"

It is in French, but well worth reading the subtitles to watch.  Anybody with longing for, and a vision of, a better world will surely find this film to be simultaneously hilarious and inspirational.  One of my own personal favorites, and I hate having to read subtitles.  

It touches on Harmony with Nature, critique of modern society, and community.

Here is a trailer:



And a full description of the film here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Verte

Im not sold on any of the names yet, either.  But It feels like this is getting closer to finally coming up with something that will stick.

Here is what ill add to possible names:

- S.T.E.A.M Heater (Sustainable Thermal Energy and Masonry)

- Smart Thermal Energy Accumulation Masonry (S.T.E.A.M.)

- EcoThermal Masonry Heater

- EcoMasonry Heat System

- Masonry Heat Vault

- Masonry Thermal Exchange Unit

- Thermal Masonry Heat System

- Practical Energy Redistribution Masonry (P.E.R.M)

- Performance-Enhanced Radiant Masonry (P.E.R.M.)

- Precision Engineered Radiant Masonry (P.E.R.M)

- Performance/Practical/Precision Radiant Masonry (PRM)

- Green Energy Masonry System (GEMS)

Rather than going out and trying to look through research papers on the topic, I thought i would stop by here and see what you all might have to share.  

Recently I joined a conversation about raising trees from seed.  I had commented that my own preference is to direct seed if at all possible, as this minimizes damage to the very important tap-root, which ultimately helps the plant to become more resilient and able to get established more quickly.  

The response I got was:

Nurseries routinely prune tap roots and mainstream woody plant physiology describe tap roots as juvenile root structures, i.e. the plant gets rid of it anyway as it grows out lateral shoots. I know a lot of specialist plant sources on the internet say all kinds of things about how fragile tap roots are and pawpaw communities seem to be part of that myth making. I just haven’t seen the evidence and it doesn’t fit well with existing science. Bottom line for me is don’t worry about tap roots.

I know how Paul Wheaton feels about this after listening to so many of the podcasts, but I do not recall him providing any information on where we can dig deeper.

Im sure that the answer, as usual, will likely be "It Depends".  Such as which species, what the intentions are, etc  

Which perennial species would the tap root be more susceptible?  Which would we more likely not need to worry about it?