J. Burkheimer

We have had pretty good success at our community garden by very gently girdling the base of the tree. (cutting the cambium layer of the bark) By doing it too fast, it sends the emergency message to the tree, to pop up new shoots. After doing this incrementally, it took just over two weeks before it was safe to cut the tree. Depending on you size and amount of water, your situation may vary. Or as mentioned above, you could use it for fast regenerating bio-mass. Good luck.

Larry, similar to using fire brick.... because I have an unused  fireplace,  couldn't I build a rocket cook stove,
or mini mass heater, with the exhaust firebrick built into the existing back corner of the chimney. Seems like
it would be lots of mass and safe venting.  Just pondering...

It seems like our Real Estate system needs a simple alternative "Escrow"
whereby people can pass along their properties to person's or groups with
similar interests. Aren't there 'land conservancies' that do basically this?

Removing the laws and codes that force turnover of vacant and/or neglected
properties would be a start. Rather than forcing a "Tax Sale" of abandoned
properties, these could be directed to groups that would care for the land
in good permaculture fashion. In essence, give the properties to folks that care.

Hi Saer and anyone else checking out introductory Permaculture classes,
I went through this same search a year ago and found a good class, free and online from North Carolina State University.
It gives you the basics and more than enough to start your own journey. Enjoy.
http://courses.ncsu.edu/hs432/common/podcasts/