Introduce ordinary people to Permaculture

Dec 30, 2015 16:25:14

I have written a pretty good (I think its good) introductory article to Permaculture.
The idea is to share it with people who do not know anything about Permaculture.

It purposefully does NOT include the following:
-anything about spirituality or religion, or souls, or "energy"
-anything not supported by pretty good evidence
-anything about the three ethics, or philosophy
-anything about capitalism, communism, racism, colonialism, decolonialism, feminism, misogyny, consumerism, etc.

Its pretty close to Paul's approach: Just give people the really cool and practical parts of Permaculture.
However I have included descriptions of aspects of Permaculture Design which I really like: "Edge Effect", "The Problem Is The Solution", "Zones", etc.

I have solved the difficult problem of answering "What Is Permaculture?" by dividing Permaculture into three parts and talking about them separately.
I have divided Permaculture into... Permaculture Design (the process to designing efficient and ecological farms), Permaculture Techniques (RMH, Swales, Food forests, polyculture, etc), and The Permaculture Movement (the collection of people and groups who associate themselves with Permaculture).

I have also included a big list of resources about Permaculture which I have personally found useful.

You can read the full article, and share it with your friends, here: http://sheldonfrith.com/2015/12/30/an-introduction-to-permaculture-for-the-uninitiated/

Dec 30, 2015 18:04:22

In compost heating:

Build a large, round compost pile (precise size depends on heat needs)

Made with wood chips + Manure

It would be perhaps better to also mention that shredded material (Jean Pain's technique) is vastly superior to regular wood chips, by providing thinner material it increases surface area ratio to the mass of the carbon debris. The moisture can penetrate, and the bacteria and fungi can grow on and in the entire carbon matrix much more efficiently. Check out: Mother Earth News article about Pain's technique
and the experimental process that Mother Earth News conducted:
Mother's Compost Heat Experiment's

In Hugulkultur:

if you are creating a row on a slope it should be oriented across the slope so that it catches water,

In a epic rain event (climate change), this might cause a catastrophic build up of moisture, resulting in a slurry of debris going downhill. Check out Jack Spirko's article and video at Geoff Lawton's site, here: hugul swale bad idea link

Other than that, I think your article is really well put together. Great resource list at the bottom, and also great choice of topics within your article.

Dec 30, 2015 20:09:19

Excellent points Roberto. I don't think I am going to worry about those two things in this particular article since this was just intended as an introduction, not an implementation guide.
Thanks though!

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