In no particular order (a separate project will be assembling this into something). And maybe there's alreayd a permaculture glossary on the web somewhere, someone less lazy than I may even google and find it!

This is a rough draft. I'm a newby, some of my definitions may actually be wrong. Others may have the brilliance of beginner's luck, who knows? Please add your clarification.



hugelkultur--a pile of rotting wood with earth heaped on it to form a hill; the wood soaks and releases moisture, and fertilizes. originates in Austrian Alps (?) and doable in any climate, desert through cold cold mountains.

permacutlure -- permanent culture, agriculture, human culture. Earth care, people care, and fair share/return of surplus to all are three ethics of permaculture.

RMH--rocket mass heater

rocket mass heater -- a wood- or solid fuel-burning heater that burns off all the smoke, burns very hot, and can greatly reduce the amount of fuel needed

WDG -- world domination gardening -- Paul Wheaton's gardening video series. He's not really trying to dominate the world, as I understand it, just to get everyone to consider him awesome.

swale-- a ditch; in permaculture context, it's a ditch to slow the flow of water off of any piece of land, and make it soak in as much as possible, rubbing up against as much organic or other matter as possible. Permaculturists try to swale on contour (on the contours of the land, like those maps with the curvy lines on them that show elevation) as this is the slowest path for water.

natural farming -- Masanobu Fukuoka's approach to farming, which is permacultural in many respects. First articulated in _One-straw Revolution_

daikon radish -- a deep (1' or more) -rooted radish that can help prepare soil for planting and is used in natural farming. Planting these to loosen soil has advantages over tilling.

Masanobu Fukuoka -- an independent "inventor" of permaculture before the term existed, he was working in reaction to adopting of modern chemical-based agriculture practices in Japan, and found ways to farm by doing less, not tilling, working more with nature's design.

No-till agrilculture -- most permaculture approaches to horticulture/agriculture avoid tilling,

financial permaculture -- applying the permaculture principles to one's finances personally or on a social or global level.

homesteading -- producing what one needs to live oneself, or moving in that direction

pioneer plants -- hardy growers or plants commonly known as "weeds," these are the first plants that reclaim bare or damaged soil from being bare and damaged. they are your friends and when they break down and compost on the soil they add to it.

zone X (1a, 1b, 2a, 2b. 3)-- where your land is located latitude-wise or vis-a-vis climate: hardiness zones are defined by the US Department of Agriculture and in theroy tell you what plants will grow where and which plants will die from too much hot/cold for that laltitude. You can look up your zone by googling that or someone could edit this to put a link _____.

zone X (1, 2, 3) -- can refer to the areas on your own property (see zone above) that are, in ascending order, farther from where you live. Zone 0 is your house, zone 1 is your kitchen garden (right outside the kitchen door so you can conveniently pluck herbs and stuff for cooking), zone 2 is outside that, etc.

sepp holzer--an austrian farmer who is up in the Alps, 5000 feet above sea level, and raises cattle, crops, trees, and stuff and has innovated many things aligned with permaculture principles. He thinks outsie the box. He independently "invented" permaculture before it was a word. There's a whole section on this site for discussion of his stuff.

paw paw -- every North American permaculturist's favorite fruit tree, arguably, its fruit does not last on the supermarket shelf so you basically need to grow it yourself. Native to North America. Similar-ish to a mango. Fairly disease- and pest- resistant

bone salve -- some concoction that sepp holzer came up with that repels deer, lasts for decades (he states), and is all "natural" .

bone char -- burnt bones, a slightly more convenient and sanitary (and neighbor-friendly) way of putting bone amendment into your soil

bioremediation -- using plants or other living organisms to clean up toxic gick from your soil, such as lead or arsenic. Sunflowers, barley, brassicas (brocolli, kale), and trees have all been accused of being lead remediators. Research for yourself. Bones are also supposed to bind lead in a non-bio-available form (pyromorphite, or "lead chlorophosphate")

pyromorphite -- lead chlorophosphate, a form of lead that is "inert" according to some research, in other words an animal or other organism that ingests it will not be able to digest it so it will just pass through

trace minerals -- micro-nutrients in soil, minerals that plants need to survive or thrive but only need in minute quantities (as compared to Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus)

Nitrogen-fixer -- a plant that adds nitrogen to the soil, an element planst need a lot of.

micro-climate--the climate of a very specific area (say one particular cubic foot of space even), which could be different from the next cubic foot over because of things like rainfall, shading, sunlight, soil composition, proximity to a warm house in winter, proximity to a dryer vent, presence of standing water, rotting compost, proclivity of an animal to always poop or pee there, or any number of other factors.




Words I don't know or don't really know:

gappers -- ??

cob -- some mud-like thing you can build out of that can be really hot without cracking

edge effect -- interaction between two elements of your design

nematodes -- little critters that live in the ground







OK, well it's gotta be helpful to take a shot at this even if there are mistakes, it's the first step toward clarity! Thanks in advance for your help.

This is awesome Joshua! I am really excited for this project to develop. Here are a few I didn't really understand when I first came along. I am sure there are tons more I just can't think of them right now. I will try to come up with more later.

berm

bone yard

straw bale house

earth bag

earth ship

Great plan, Joshua!

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Nitrogen-fixer

I'd add the common shorthand here on the forums, "N-Fixer", especially since Google will help you with the full one but not the shortened one.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Words I don't know or don't really know:
cob -- some mud-like thing you can build out of that can be really hot without cracking
edge effect -- interaction between two elements of your design

Cob is a mix of clay, sand, and straw. You pile it up lump-by-lump to build things- most often walls and benches. ("Cob" is an old English word for a lump, and is also the origin for corn "cobs".)
Here are some related ones:
Rammed earth is a method of building where relatively dry (not dry, but drier than cob) earth is loaded into formworks (usually wooden ones) and rammed tight. When you pack it hard enough, it will stay that way nigh forever.
CEB or Compressed Earth Blocks are similar to rammed earth insofar as you're packing earth tightly so that it holds it shape. But instead of formworks, the compression happens inside a machine, resulting in a block. The block is then used for building just like any other masonry unit.
Adobe is similar to CEB insofar as you're making blocks of earth, but they're not compressed. They're mixed wet, put into molds, and they hold their shape by virtue of drying that way.

The edge effect is the phenomenon where the most interesting and useful things on your land tend to happen at the intersection between one type of environment and another- like blackberries only at the edge of the woods or cattails only at the edge of the water.

cool, thanks guys! those are great , and bolding is helpful. I'm learning so much from this page already!

walapini -- a greenhouse you dug pretty deep into the earth so that it's getting geothermal heat and stays warmer longer.

geothermal --- the heat that naturally comes out of the Earth and stays about 55 degrees year-round. It's 4' down from the surface generally, though that may vary by elevation or latitude or climate, I don't know. Geothermal heating is using this heat to heat a home, greenhouse, or something.

Gappers are goofy about permaculture and help out at the Wheaton Laboratory. The gapper program is explained in more detail in the linked thread.

Edge effect is a term derived from ecology to describe how between/on the border of two or more communities, there are species from both communities inside the ecotone. There is almost always more biodiversity on the edges of a community(s) than within the individual communities themselves. This is one of the reasons why edge is optimized in permaculture.

Ecotones are simply the transitional space between two or more ecosystems or communities.

Thanks, been wondering about gappers for ages!

DE - diatomaceous earth.

diatomaceous earth ... ? some kind of clay-like soil thingy that is very fine and kills bugs and microbes but not larger animals like humans? can be used in filtering water

Berkey -- a kind of water filter that's really cool, takes out of the water a lot of unwanted minerals like lead and mercury (?), and kills 99.99+% of viruses, bacteria, and other mini-nasties.

nasties-- pretty self-explanatory, things like microbes or bugs that make you sad

department of making you sad -- a government regulatory bureau that may have regulations that are hard to comply with, impede progress, or, arguably, attempt to protect ecosystems at the expense of actually protecting them (for example, a law says you can't make a pond more than 4' deep on your land, but if you do you could turn a barren field into a supply of local food, thus decreasing your carbon footprint. the regulations run counter to the larger intent of the law, and so you feel sad that you are fined for or prevented from doing what serves the greatest good)

Here are some more that I didn't know when I first joined:

HUSP

Slinging nettles

Mullein

comfrey

rumford fireplace

greywater

black locust

tefa

wofati

sunchokes

sickle

sickle so you didn't read Asterix and Obelix where Getafix the druid always had his sickle in his belt. There are so many terms we take for granted and this thread is great how i wish I had found it months ago.

Cassie Langstraat wrote:Here are some more that I didn't know when I first joined:
HUSP
Slinging nettles
Mullein
comfrey
rumford fireplace
greywater
black locust
tefa
wofati
sunchokes

Sunchokes also known as Jerusalem artichokes
Hugely productive plants; tubers and tops eaten by humans and stock.
Suitable for diabetics due to the indigestible carbohydrate inulin.
This also explains another name for them: fartichokes

I love this thread. I want more people to come out and post terms they were confused about or still are. I am thinking we could maybe create a nice PDF with all of these terms and give it away as incentive for people to sign up for daily-ish email? I haven't run the idea by paul yet but am going to soon.

excavator -- a big back hoe or diggy-type thing for moving large pieces of earth. Not to be confused with the taxanomic clade "excavata"

"pig bucket problem" -- a community problem that can easily be solved by putting labels on things and by having community members who have been there for a long enough time to carry on knowledge. It came from the fact that people were supposed to take the food scraps up to the pigs but NOT feed them to the pigs themselves, and then it became a big problem, and so they finally put labels on the bucket that said "if it's at the pigpen and it's empty, take it back to base camp, if it's got food in it, leave it here for the people in charge of feeding the pigs, if it's at base camp and it's empty then put food scraps in it, and if it's full bring it to the pigpen but DON'T feed it to them." Something like that. see Paul's podcast that's an update on the lab, part 3.

podcast-- an "iPod broadcast" --basically a recorded interview or something that can be played on your computer. (a technology term but not permaculture term, but there may be people who don't know a podcast from a peapod, so there, now you know.) Unlike a radio broadcast, you can play it any time you want by clicking a button on your screen.

Thanks Leila!

I would change something here a bit, to give Sunchokes a better reputation, they can be added to one's diet gradually so as to avoid discomfort or gas, and they are digestible, just not as much as other carbohydrates (so they're better for diabetics).


here's wikipedia:

Inulin is increasingly used in processed foods because it has unusually adaptable characteristics. Its flavour ranges from bland to subtly sweet (approx. 10% sweetness of sugar/sucrose). It can be used to replace sugar, fat, and flour. This is advantageous because inulin contains 25-35% of the food energy of carbohydrates (starch, sugar).[12] In addition to being a versatile ingredient, inulin has many health benefits. Inulin increases calcium absorption[13] and possibly magnesium absorption,[14] while promoting the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria. Chicory inulin is reported to increase absorption of calcium in girls with lower calcium absorption[15] and in young men.[16] In terms of nutrition, it is considered a form of soluble fiber and is sometimes categorized as a prebiotic. Conversely, it is also considered a FODMAP, a class of carbohydrates which are problematic for some individuals through causing overgrowth of intestinal methanogenic bacteria. The consumption of large quantities (in particular, by sensitive or unaccustomed individuals) can lead to gas and bloating, and products that contain inulin will sometimes include a warning to add it gradually to one's diet.

Due to the body's limited ability to process fructans, inulin has minimal increasing impact on blood sugar. It is considered suitable for diabetics and potentially helpful in managing blood sugar-related illnesses.

Leila Rich wrote:

Cassie Langstraat wrote:Here are some more that I didn't know when I first joined:
HUSP
Slinging nettles
Mullein
comfrey
rumford fireplace
greywater
black locust
tefa
wofati
sunchokes

Sunchokes also known as Jerusalem artichokes
Hugely productive plants; tubers and tops eaten by humans and stock.
Suitable for diabetics due to the indigestible carbohydrate inulin.
This also explains another name for them: fartichokes

Joshua,
DE is fossil sea shell flour. It's a microscopic razor that cuts an insects exoskeleton and kills via dehydration.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:to give Sunchokes a better reputation, they can be added to one's diet gradually so as to avoid discomfort or gas, and they are digestible, just not as much as other carbohydrates (so they're better for diabetics)

I was doing my sweeping generalisation thing again
As for the gas, my observation of fartyness is based on occasional eating;
I don't know anyone who eats them all the time.

They definitely affect some people way more than others-
I eat them rarely and I'm fine, but I know people who...aren't...

Maybe more: Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes.
A perennial, yellow-flowered member of the sunflower family.
Hugely productive, multipurpose plants:
tubers for human and stock food, tops for forage and compost.
Suitable for diabetics, as the carbohydrate inulin has little effect on blood sugar levels.
In addition, inulin has many other health benefits.
Sunchokes should be added to one's diet gradually to avoid the risk of discomfort or gas.

Brown Permaculture / Purple Permaculture - why brown, why purple? Please explain that to me.

TEOTWAWKI - "The end of the world as we know it". A term used often online by members of preppers/survivalist groups.

Root to Stem Ratio : The tendency of plants to maintain the size of the root ball in ratio to the stem . When the stems of plants such as grasses and comfrey are cut or grazed the root ball sheds part of itself to maintain ratio in size to the stem . This adds fertility to the soil .

Soil : The mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids and a myriad of organisms that can support plant life

S.O.M. : Soil Organic Matter

Bioremediation : A treatment that uses naturally occurring organisms to break down hazardous substances into less toxic or non toxic substances

Dynamic Accumulator : Plants that gather certain micronutrients, macronutrients, or minerals and store them in their leaves. These plants can be used either for detoxifying soil or for gathering a certain nutrient or mineral from an area.

"The Big Black Book" : "Permaculture : A Designers Manual" by Bill Mollison

Type 1 error: A massive mistake. Like when I'm driving in Vermont and I see someone has put a garage on the southern side of their house blocking precious sun which could be heating their house. A type 1 error.

It's not the same as the scientific useage.

Wow! I am really learning so much from this glossary!

One more I'd really like to have defined/redefined from a permaculture perspective:

meadow

what is a meadow really? what causes a naturally-occurring meadow (assuming they really do occur in nature)? is it the regrowth of a forest-fire-affected area, or is it a dynamic thing? how can there be plants that grow at the edges of forest and meadow if there aren't naturally-occurring meadows? what causes a naturally-occurring forest fire, if nature's amazing balance supposedly covers teh soil and keeps it so moist and fertile and trees are such a great slower-downer of storms and capturers of rain? OK, this kind of extended beyond the term itself, but I'd love to know what a permaculturist's definition of things are, what a permaculturist sees that an ecologist or other natural scientist may have missed seeing. May or may not be appropriate to the glossary, I guess at least a basic definition will work for people: a meadow's a big open space that has grassy-type things instead of trees growing in it.

ok, i finally transcended some of my laziness and googled "permaculture glossary" -- didn't find exactly what I wanted but here's one thing that's news to me:


from "My Permaculture Diploma" (http://permaculture-diploma.weebly.com/glossary-of-design-terms.html)

SADIM(ET):
SADIMET has its roots in landscape architecture.
Survey
Assess (or Analyze)
Design
Implement
Maintain (or Manage)
Evaluate
Tweak

OBREDIM(ET):
Observe } or Survey
Boundaries/ limiting factors }
Resources } or Assess
Evaluate (or Examine) }
Design
Implement
Maintain (or Manage)
Evaluate
Tweak

OBREDIMET is adopted from industrial engineering. There are great similarities with SADIMET
Observe can be linked with Survey.
Boundaries, Resources and Evaluate can all be put together as Assess. I prefer Assess to Evaluate.
One assesses the information you’ve gathered and evaluates the implementation of the design. You see what works and what doesn’t.
The rest of the process, DIMET, is the same.

CEAP
Collect site information
Evaluate the information
Apply permaculture principles
Plan a schedule of implementation, maintenance, evaluation and tweaking

CEAP is a permaculture term. Again, it’s just a different way of saying the same thing.
Collect site information is the same as Survey.
Evaluate…see above.
‘Apply permaculture principles’ I actually like better than ‘Design’. It’s more precise.
Plan a schedule of implementation, maintenance, evaluation and tweaking is obviously just grouping the remaining four steps into one.

SWOC analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Constraints (or Challenges)

SWOC analysis is closely related to SWOT analysis, most commonly used in business. In fact, the first three letters are the same, while the last is Constraints instead of Threats.
SWOC analysis is what you can use in the ‘Assess’ part of SADIMET process.

PASTE
Plants
Animals
Structures
Tools
Events

PASTE sheet helps you give an overview of the ‘Design’ part of SADIMET process.




>>>>>>I don't know if these terms are ones that have been used on Permies.com a lot. It points to the validity of using a site-specific solution. A generic glossary may have lots of other info not as pertinent, a glossary we come up with ourselves, a sort of interior wikipedia, decentralizeda nd ever-evolving, could be more useful than an encarta-type of glossary, even with all of a wikipedia's pitfalls.

yeah I like the idea that this will be made by the permies, for the permies.

but if we do not get enough contribution on this thread, then we will have to access outside sources.

Let's stick to 'Jargon busting' shall we? Moderator, can you please edit discussions like that above about diabetes and sugar / innulin etc?

BERM a term not used on Ireland, is a mound built with the soil dug from a Swale or ditch ... As I understand it.

Robert Curris wrote:Let's stick to 'Jargon busting' shall we? Moderator, can you please edit discussions like that above about diabetes and sugar / innulin etc?

I think it's fine as it is so long as the original poster is happy and it's contributing to the general theme of the thread and doesn't warrant being split off into its own thread.

Meadows - I understood that meadows were cut for hay, while pasture was just grazed. But that might just be my own interpretation, or a UK thing...

Not to be a wet blanket, but for this to be effective we need a simple system like posting the Alphabet. Click on the 1st letter of the word, and then advance
to an alphabetized listing for posting or word comprehension !

To avoid a problem like Wikipedia had you need to have a '' your post is waiting on a moderators approval " possibly with a '' moderator has marked
this resolved '' function !

Literally , what good is a clear definition of WWOLF if it is located between asexual reproduction and Pollarding definitions ?

Basically I think Paul W.s coders are pretty busy now ! -Just saying is all ! Big AL

allen lumley wrote:Not to be a wet blanket, but for this to be effective we need a simple system like posting the Alphabet. Click on the 1st letter of the word, and then advance
to an alphabetized listing for posting or word comprehension !

Do you mean like in a web page?

This thread is just a thread to get words thrown out there that people have been confused about in the past or are still confused about.

Ideally this will eventually be a PDF of all of the terms (with their definitions) that we come up with. It could definitely be alphabetized, but that is something for much later down the road. We are still in the brainstorming process.

Am I way off from what you were talking about? I was a bit confused by your post. Not sure what problem wikipedia had..

RMH or rocket mass heater is already 'out there'. The Germans have what they call a Kacheloffen which is a small wood fired thingy that burns very efficiently AND heats a solid bench for 24 hours or more.

So why all the research? Is there a difference ... Apart from price?

Cassie : Way to make me feel my age ! , a whole generation of hackers got their early creds spoofing Wikipedia, Changing articles like ''Richard
Simmons started Chevrolet and was our 44th Vice Pres''. ( that honor went to Dan Quayle- you remember him, he tough potato had an E on the end )

So -- just pile on! and solve the redundancies down the road ? A.L.

O. K., I had another brain drizzle here I want o post something about why Steel or iron pipe cannot survive exposed within the Combustion Zone !

So I type up

High Temp hydrogen Attack to explain exactly how steel gets brittle when exposed to these conditions Question Because a non-Rocketeer

permies type coming upon that listing will surely wonder what a Metallurgical term is doing in a listing of Permaculture terms should there be a Simple
explanation directly after that term - - - - Perhaps to different colors or in brackets like this

High Temp Hydrogen Attack (Rocket/wood Stoves)

At article describing nematode might be under soil or flea controls is that clear enough ?!

Hydrogen embrittlement (Rocket/Wood Stoves) needs some background molecular Hydrogen is so small and slippery it can seep out though the pores in
regular glass. Atomic Hydrogen Produced within the high temps of the rocket stoves burning plasma field is that much smaller and can slip into voids
within most steels there the atomic H combines with another single H atom and stresses the metals grain structure this is hydrogen embrittlement

High Temperature Hydrogen Attack (Rocket/Wood Stoves) IF Steel exposed to Atomic Hydrogen at high temps the H will defuse into the voids in the metal,
combine with Carbon present as a hardener, form tiny pockets of Methane at voids and grain boundaries this selective leaching of the carbon initiates cracks,
decarburization and further loss of strength . This is high Temp Hydrogen attack !

Related Steam Embrittlement ( Rocket/Wood stoves ) with increased failures of steel exposed to conditions listed above, during cool down oxygen attaches
to the steel and during reheating hydrogen can defuse through the grain boundaries and combine with oxygen which then forms pressurized bubbles that can
further tear the steel, this is called Steam embrittlement because steam is formed not because of exposure to steam causing the problem !

_______________________________________________________________________

Engineers Toolbox ( . . . . . . ) probably a 100 150 words

Specific heat ( . . . . ) ?

Latent heat of Vaporization ( . . . ) ?

Lateral Flow ( . . ) ?
________________________________

Fire clay

Fire Bricks by weight

Alternative Fire Brick ( . . . ) OLD Red clay dead-soft 100 yr old House brick Testing old Brick - - - -?

_____________________________________

3 rock fire ( . ) ?

rocket stove ( . )?

Pocket Rocket ( . ) ?

rocket mass heater

J - Tube Feed tube, burn tunnel, and heat riser ( rocket mass heaters ) ?

-----------------------------------------------------

I"ll get back to these !




Does this give you a slightly better idea !?

Big AL

Opps ! I had thought that the 24 hour window that iI had to make corrections in my posts was re-set if I re-posted!

-----------------------------------------------

Lateral flow should be Laminar Flow ( . . . ) about 50 words !

---------------------------------------

MY Bad ! Big AL

____________________________________________________________

Laminar flow ( rocket /wood stoves ) generally we can consider ether liquids or gases as similarly acted upon when measuring a similar volume moving thru a given space
volume Xs time = rate of flow acted on by density or just Flow Laminar flow is usually smooth at slow flow rates and pressures Turbulent Flow is chaotic and occurs do to
obstructions and high flow rates. Turbulent flow in a pie creates Heat and noise the roar we hear in a Running RMH !

WE also see the importance of laminar flow when we properly site a chimney on the lee side of a structure where there is an area of low pressure similar to the area above
the edge of a wings upperside producing a low pressure area and lift !

Laminar flow within the horizontal chimney of a Rockets thermal mass flows fastest and moves the hottest gases through the center of the piping with decreasing rate of flow
and temperatures until at the inner side of the pipings shell there is an area of No-Flow

Turbulent flow ( . . ) turbulent flow occurs at higher flow rates and pressures, and creates heat and noise it is directly useful within the plasma conditions of the combustion
zone of the rocket mass heater, here Time temperature and Turbulence allow the thorough mixing and combustion of the wood gases at high temperatures creating our high
efficient burn with no smoke and little combustion products, mostly inert fly ash!

---------------------------

ok, this is interesting, i'll play =) it took me a bit to figure out some abbrevations here, and some i dont know, but none come to mind right now. heres the ones that were mentioned already but not yet defined.

Slinging nettles
a typo? slinging nettles could be a not very fun game =)
but think this is meant to be *stinging nettles* = an abundant wild plant with excellent nutrition and little spikes that sting when you touch them.

Mullein = another abundant wild plant that grows all over with healing properties

comfrey = ditto, see above, good biomass plant for chop and drop.

greywater = water that is piped out of a house or structure containing dish water, shower, laundry water and other household use waste water, without the addition of "black water" coming from a toilet. it is possible to re use this water if it is kept separate from the black water.

black locust = a tree = robinia pseudoacacia

straw bale house = a house made of straw bales covered in plaster

earth bag = recycled or new bags made of plastic that are filled with earthen materials and then stacked with barbed wires in between to form a structure or wall.

earth ship = ah this one is a bit fuzzy, may refer to the original buildings by michael starr who i believe coined the term, using all recycled materials... may refer to the general design which is very long and thin passive solar design with U-shaped rooms as modeled by the starr community...or can be used imprecisely to refer to just about any alternative construction method.

i have no idea what a "bone yard" is, but it brings to mind an interesting image.

"natural farming -- Masanobu Fukuoka's approach to farming, which is permacultural in many respects. First articulated in _One-straw Revolution_ "

there are two meanings of this term, one is what Fukuoka was talking about, the other is from "korean natural farming" also practiced a lot in the hawaii islands and elsewhere. it is much more precise and technical, contrary to Fukuoka methods, though perhaps loosely modelled on similar ideas.

http://www.kalapanaorganics.com/natural-farming-with-indigenous-microorganisms/natural-farming/
http://hawaiianparadisecoop.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/the-basics-of-korean-natural-farming-methods/

which brings us to these natural farming terms:
IMO =indigenous microorganisms
FPJ = fermented plant juice
bokashi = a ferment used in natural farming
OM = organic matter

these next terms are permies forum specific

HUSP = an acronym for Horticulture of the United States of Pocahontas =)
thread which explains HUSP
husp

a couple of meanings = a fictional timeline where pocahontas was a kick ass warrior and this country took off in a very different direction from the get go, aligned with animistic ideals and respect for the earth.
the other meaning is that it refers to an ideal of community living with little to no input from industralized civilization, or a segment of a greater community that is aligned with these ideals.

tefa Textured Earth something something. i get the general gist of this, but not well enough to explain it. a paul ism.

wofati = paul's design for low cost earth friendly shelters, using whole logs and surrounded by earth berms back filled for insulation

"Brown Permaculture / Purple Permaculture - why brown, why purple? Please explain that to me. "

this is a tricky one but i will explain it as i see it

purple permaculture = permaculture with a metaphysical/spiritual/philosophical or less practical slant. often used here in a somewhat derogatory manner, though i personally am into exploring the depths of the deep purple shade of permaculture that i enjoy =)

brown permaculture = more of a nuts and bolts permaculture, methods and practical considerations, with specific techniques, without philosophical considerations
more here:
purple permaculture vs brown permaculture
http://www.permies.com/t/11370/permaculture/purple-permaculture-brown-permaculture#104101

Oh my gosh! Thanks Leila!

leila hamaya wrote:this is a tricky one but i will explain it as i see it

purple permaculture = permaculture with a metaphysical/spiritual/philosophical or less practical slant. often used here in a somewhat derogatory manner, though i personally am into exploring the depths of the deep purple shade of permaculture that i enjoy =)

brown permaculture = more of a nuts and bolts permaculture, methods and practical considerations, with specific techniques, without philosophical considerations
more here:
purple permaculture vs brown permaculture
http://www.permies.com/t/11370/permaculture/purple-permaculture-brown-permaculture#104101

Many thanks Leila, I was rather curious why these particular colors have been assigned to these forms of permaculture, are there any associations with anything specific?

Richard Gorny wrote:
http://www.permies.com/t/11370/permaculture/purple-permaculture-brown-permaculture#104101

Many thanks Leila, I was rather curious why these particular colors have been assigned to these forms of permaculture, are there any associations with anything specific?

Based on the post leila referenced, it seems like paul heard the more spiritual, fairy dust permaculture people being called "purple breathers" so he jumped off of that. I don't think the colors mean anything other than that. Not 100% sure though.

O. K., this is how I am doing this one
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Heat capacity- ( Rocket/wood stoves ) - - www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specif-heat-solids-d 154.html

Thermal conductivity (R. / W. S. ) - - - - www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal conductivity-d 429.html

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From Dale H.s thread extension Jan 15 2014 fake fire brick Thanks Dale, I will steal a little more from here too ! Big AL

Richard Gorny wrote:
http://www.permies.com/t/11370/permaculture/purple-permaculture-brown-permaculture#104101

Many thanks Leila, I was rather curious why these particular colors have been assigned to these forms of permaculture, are there any associations with anything specific?

Cassie Langstraat wrote:
Based on the post leila referenced, it seems like paul heard the more spiritual, fairy dust permaculture people being called "purple breathers" so he jumped off of that. I don't think the colors mean anything other than that. Not 100% sure though.

yeah i think its just random, not neccessarily based on the color. more of a metaphor to talk about the issues around this.

though brown is sort of earthy and seems so.......BROWN =) and purple is...well...so purple ! ha ok that made sense to me.
all shades of purple and dark blue are definitely my favorite colors, and purple is actually associated with spirituality in other contexts, so perhaps theres some synchronicity in the subtle logic there.

purple has come to be substituted for "woo woo", at least here in the permies section of internetsland. like i was getting at, i generally disagree with the ideas that many have shared here about this, but then again i can see some of the issues, and why it could be a problem. without trying to get too off topic i will say i think that among the "purples" theres some more superficial and ineffective people, just as there are among the so called "browns". but i am not down with purple bashing, defining "hippies" and "spiritual" people as a derogatory thing.
and i think there is a spiritual/philosophical componant to permaculture which if its not allowed or included, makes permaculture a lot less effective and misses the heart of the matter. futher it seems clear to me that permaculture has some of its roots in animism, paganism, and all the nature reverence religions and spiritual paths. i think i have decided to wear the purple shirt, shamelessly =).

theres been a lot of different discussions about this, maybe later i will have some time and try to dig up some older threads about this.
/end off topicness

Big tahnks Leila, wonderful explanation

Perhaps not a permaculture term, but what is Brix value of food please?
I hear permies & gardeners talking about "nutrient dense" food and I find the term offensive. Fresh home-grown food is good food. It's ALL good. We'll be healthy if our diet is diverse: lots of different foods taken in moderation. "There's no good or bad food, only good or bad diets!"

Brix is a measure of sugar contents in plant juices. This is off the top of my head, not Webster's. As for nutrient dense foods I have to strongly disagree. In the early 50's Dr. Charles Walters, founder of Acres USA, conducted the following study. By overlaying WWII US Navy dental records of service men from MO, and soil type maps, their dental health matched the quality of the soil types EXACTLY. Your not what you eat, but the soil where what you eat grew. As a pro farmer and foodie quality soil is eveything.

A few suggestions that I didn't see:

mycorhizal
mycoremidiation
gabions (and other earthworks structures)
functions and elements (stacking functions) (for beginners)
aspect (of land)
apiculture
aquaculture vs. hydroponics vs. aquaponics

The thing about permaculture language is that it's a science that brings together dozens of fields of study and expertise. That creates a lot of edge, and makes for diversity of language. Paul is a wildman, and he's worked like a Cossack to create a habitat for permacultivators (or permaculturalists) to cross-pollinate ideas, experiences and so forth. In linguistics and biology isolation cause stronger expression of traits (or terminology) that specializes to fit the context. The permies context has bred it's own language that could be considered a dialect of world permaculture language. I'm pretty sure that terms like toxic gick, boom-squish, gapper, etc. are relatively specific to this permies context, and won't necessarily be understood in other permaculture circles (in one interview I listened to, one of Paul's or Scott Mann's, geoff lawton, who is likely one of the most internationally well-connected permadudes, didn't understand a word from Paulic Permaculture -- I think it was boom-squish). They are, however, extremely useful terms for this context because they communicate ideas and values from this community extremely efficiently (ex. toxic gick - communicates aversion to synthetic or potentially harmful substances, typically that can't be included in natural cycles without doing harm to humans.)

to build a really good glossary it could be useful to take certain terms from:

botanical, mycological, forestry, lanscape design, gardening, zoological terminology, etc.

The great Ben "Vermont Rice" Falk has had a very professional glossary on his site for years that would be a great resource:

http://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/design-vocabulary

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A last thought. If this were taken seriously it could contribute largely to creating a global basic permaculture vocabulary. I'm passionate about language and would eventually like to do a published project like this, potentially illustrated to better communicate forms from earthworks, botany, hydrology, fluid dynamics, and natural building.