What's your most memorable permaculture "Aha!" moment? Milestones on the learning journey

Lots of abstract, vague concepts ahead.
I tend to think about things at length in order to make sense of my understanding of them. Sometimes I have to write or talk about them (also at length, sigh) to discover what I think. This post is about that.
Links to two of Paul's podcasts and a thread about system-thinking books included.

I have a web of learning going on. It’s not linear. It’s not even parallel. Some bits are briefly parallel, and some very short bits are linear, but most of it is a big tangle. Even "web" gives an oversized sense of organization that doesn't actually exist.
I think/hope I am very much not alone in this experience. I think you all will get it.

I don’t yet know exactly what I’m trying to say here, except that I enjoy the process. And I enjoy observing the process. I enjoy both things: experiencing and watching.

Just this morning, I had another tiny "click" in my learning, the kind that leaves you in a minor state of awe.

The setting for this “click” is that I am in the middle of a practical experiment/experience while continuing to learn about various topics. This morning, I started watching a video lecture on a mostly-unrelated subject.

And I realized – what I am doing is connected to what I am learning. What I am learning about today is leaps and bounds beyond what I am doing. But, at the same time, I am doing essentially the exact same thing as what is being discussed in the video I am watching. So in my learning, I have “discovered” a principle. And that principle has a massively wide application range.

Part of this is under the file of things that I already knew, but now the insight is that much deeper. Or perhaps I already knew it, but I don’t recognize it 100% of the times I encounter it. Maybe it’s more accurate to call it “recognition” instead of “insight” or “discovery”.
I think that’s what I needed to say. In the process of learning, I had a recognition event. It confirmed things I already believed, and it left me feeling awed and insignificant in the face of how simultaneously simple and complex our world is.

The principle has to do with balance, and understanding that even minor inputs can (will?) move the balance. That there’s a difference between tweaking bits here and there in line with what a system already does versus forcing a system to act outside of its design. That systems can be nudged to produce positive outcomes – favorable for the system, favorable for the nudger – and having the wisdom to scale those nudges in a way that the unforeseen unfavorable consequences are more manageable and not catastrophic. (← Maybe that’s idealistic?)

Basically: Nurture the system’s design, and the system will respond.
That sounds a lot more mundane and a lot less shiny than it felt when it “clicked” this morning, but isn’t it foundational to so many things we’re trying to do?

Maybe there are systems out there we can’t or “shouldn’t” or just don’t want to tweak. That’s okay – the principle can even be taken down a level to: Accept there is a system present and learn how it works in order to navigate it.  

Systems exist probably in every facet of our lives. It’s fascinating to me to think how this concept can be applied or adapted in each scenario.

I'd love to read about other people's epiphanies - the every-day, the deep, the inconsequential, the abstract, the practical... something that lead to the next step for you, or opened your mind to possibilities you thought were closed off before.
What are the most memorable milestones in your learning journey?

More concretely, my "Aha!" moment this morning had to do with
1) culturing specific bacteria in various ferments by giving them the food only they love, and
2) building soil fertility by encouraging increased life at the microscopic level.

The connection just kind of blew open into a fresh realization of how "everything" is connected, and very small inputs or changes can push systems one way or another, and how responsive the systems can be. Also how my human tendencies play into this. For instance: impatience, or thinking I know exactly what a situation needs or how best to "help," rather than respecting the autonomy of the system - not really just talking about plants anymore, ha!

My 'aha' moment was on reading 'the one straw revolution', on a similar line. Havin come from a science and engineering background I am used to trying to understand the rules/natural laws, work out what will work and apply them. Trying to apply laws to nature and the natural world is not so easy (I would say impossible) - the systems are so complex that I would never be able to get my head around all the rules. Even for something apparently simple like - how far apart to sow my seeds. There are just so many variables!
I'm still trying to let it go (see my natural farming and polycultures threads) but haven't made that jump into freedom of "not doing" yet that I'm sure will get me the other side of the hump into natural abundance. Maybe I'm still fighting too much, but without achieving seeds I can't get very far!

My aha moment was when I realized the drip from the stainless steel water tank attached to my woodstove could be utilized for distilled water! Previously i thought the drip was just annoying, and would put things under it to catch the drip. Then it occurred to me, this is distilled water! Wow! Now i have distilled water when I need it!

When I first discovered permaculture, I took "obtain a yield" to mean I should only grow food plants in my garden. As I found out more, I realised that not all yields are measurable. How can you quantify the pleasure of looking at your favourite flowers or the delight in the scents of the garden? These are still yields. Flowers attract beneficial insects (and pests, unfortunately but they are part of the ecosystem too) and some, like nasturtiums, one of my favourites, are also edible. Nowadays I have a mixture of food plants and ornamental plants, often next to each other. Looking out of the window I can see peas, brussels sprouts, pumpkins, courgettes (zucchini), cardoons, marjoram, tiny bay trees and lemon balm mixed in with nasturtiums (of course), roses, rose of Sharon, aubretia, Corsican mint and primulas. I hope it helps to confuse the pests as well as being pleasing to the eye. (Well, mine anyway.) My "aha" moment was when I expanded my view instead of thinking of a yield in such a narrow way.

Nancy Reading wrote:My 'aha' moment was on reading 'the one straw revolution', on a similar line. Havin come from a science and engineering background I am used to trying to understand the rules/natural laws, work out what will work and apply them. Trying to apply laws to nature and the natural world is not so easy (I would say impossible) - the systems are so complex that I would never be able to get my head around all the rules. Even for something apparently simple like - how far apart to sow my seeds. There are just so many variables!
I'm still trying to let it go (see my natural farming and polycultures threads) but haven't made that jump into freedom of "not doing" yet that I'm sure will get me the other side of the hump into natural abundance. Maybe I'm still fighting too much, but without achieving seeds I can't get very far!

That complexity can be mind-boggling to me... overwhelming at times. I, too, ponder where the balance is between understanding what I'm doing (and its many effects) so I can nudge it a bit more, versus just doing then accepting/working with what I get! It seems a constantly-shifting target. (And I'm doing so little right now.)
I do think it probably depends on me a lot less than I fret about, though.... Isn't all this process humbling? (In a healthy way.)

One Straw Revolution is on my (long) future reading list. I look forward to that one!

Meli Mot wrote:My aha moment was when I realized the drip from the stainless steel water tank attached to my woodstove could be utilized for distilled water! Previously i thought the drip was just annoying, and would put things under it to catch the drip. Then it occurred to me, this is distilled water! Wow! Now i have distilled water when I need it!

Oh, what a cool, handy "aha"! I love it.

Ara Murray wrote:I realised that not all yields are measurable.

That is a massive, thought-provoking aha! moment, wow. That has far-reaching applications to other aspects of life and invites reflection on how we measure value of all sorts of things, and why (where we learned our value system).

Ara Murray wrote:My "aha" moment was when I expanded my view instead of thinking of a yield in such a narrow way.

I'm enjoying the "expansion" theme of the replies - we thought there was a boundary or a limit, but it turned out there wasn't, and something new was possible where it wasn't before, or new possibilities existed where we weren't considering them before.

Your garden sounds wonderfully diverse.

Sara, your comment about my garden being wonderfully diverse made me look at it differently as I had never considered that before. I have never been a "straight lines" gardener and have always mixed my veg and flowers. I suppose I am just following the traditions of cottage gardens or the French potager. I don't always think before I plant, however, and sometimes mix plants which are not good companions but it's all a learning experience.

Can’t just pick one so here are a few:

Water is the most important nutrient.
Plants with sufficient water just grow, even in what seems to be low fertility.
Water supports microbes which convert fertility.

Organic matter holds water and feeds microbes.

Organic matter oxidizes quickly in my warm humid climate.

Biochar oxidizes much slower than organic matter.

Flora in my climate WANTS to be a forest, not a garden of dwarf fruit trees, but a huge 70+ ft tall canopy.

Full size, native trees produce a lot of organic matter (ruminant food which becomes soil food and fuel)

Plant what WANTS to grow then adapt myself to what grows.  Not the other way around.  

Ruminants can easily subsist on native trees and other plants PERFECTLY adapted to the local conditions.  

Sadly, I am not a ruminant.

It is easier to grow a simple diet vs the diversity in foods we have become accustomed to.

Self preserving foods save a LOT of effort.  Potatoes, winter squash/pumpkins, nuts.

So for now, I am focusing on growing ruminants on native vegetation, including trees, using surplus woody material from said trees to make lots of biochar, and planting self storing crops in the resulting soil.  

So I have had a couple of “aha” moments, but I will relate my first.

Many years ago I mowed my lawn in the spring but did so late enough after the previous mowing that I had to rake grass clippings—as in a huge amount of grass clippings.  I didn’t know what to do with the huge pile of clippings so I moved it all out to a small orchard that I had recently planted.  There I just let it sit.  It got hot—very, very hot and eventually broke down to a pile about 6 inches high and six feet around (this pile had been 5 feet tall).  

The real magic happened over the next year.  Turns out that pile was positioned directly up a VERY slight (as in invisible to the naked eye) incline from a peach tree, one of six of the same variety in that row.  A dark elipse of lush, green grass stretched from the base of that pile and just encased the base of that one peach tree.  That tree grew twice as fast and as tall as the others in the row.  People would walk by and ask “What kind of tree is that?” That tree vastly out produced the others.  And now that the row is dying back, that one tree still hangs on, looking pretty healthy.  All of this from the world’s worst compost setup—all greens, no browns and no turning.  And it wasn’t even placed around the tree itself.

The moral of the story is twofold.  Firstly, decomposing material on the surface is greatly beneficial to the soil beneath and by extension to anything growing in that soil.

Secondly, don’t get too worked up about getting compost perfect.  Haphazardly made compost is better than nothing at all.  And even just piles of organic matter left to rot can work wonders

Eric