Cristian Chelariu

I agree. It is done outside of the US, and in the US it's only done in the wine industry, so it can be expanded to other products. The grocery store shelves are dominated in the US by large global corporations that push national or global brands and have little interest in regional branding. But it can be a solution for smaller permaculture farmers to differentiate from the big brands.

Meanwhile, there is a risk that these large corporations will co-opt the term "permaculture" and define it the way they see fit. For example, the German supermarket chain Real has begun using the brand "Permaculture" in its stores: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/news/0103167072/brand-permaculture-now-sold-european-supermarket-chain. Now, maybe they are doing this in good faith, but it is only a matter of time till the big corporations will start getting on the local/organic bandwagon. Walmart is doing it, so is Costco, and Whole Foods is about to open another chain 365, targeting a lower income segment. This could be a threat, or an opportunity.

But on Permies, people still debate who is doing real permaculture and who is not...

Cristian

Appellation d'origine contrôlée, "which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products"(Wikipedia). In US it is used as "Appellation of Wine Origin" to refer to a vintage location.

Now, if industrial agriculture produces a commodity, and permaculture farmers need to differentiate, wouldn't this be a solution? Suppose you have an association of local permaculture farmers, and all the members of the association agree to follow the same rules about not using chemicals, about animal breeds, animal feed and so on. If you are part of the association, and you follow these rules, then you get to use this local brand. Let's say, Missoula Chicken. Local farmers can easily monitor each other to make sure rules are followed, the promise of the brand is kept, and you don't have people "free riding' on the efforts of everybody else. Local buyers would be assured that they get a chicken that is a) high quality and b) local. Moreover, it allows for selling of the chickens further away from the location. People in Chicago could buy "Missoula Chicken" from certain permaculture friendly retail locations. And the product will come with some sort of story - about Missoula and why the chicken tastes better there - something to start a conversation around the table. And by sourcing from multiple local farmers, you minimize "out of stock" situations. Would this make sense?

Cristian

Rus and Becky,

thank you for the information. It will come in handy if I decide to do some interviews in the future. There is very little business research on farmer cooperatives. The more recent one is a paper from 2014 in the Academy of Management Journal (a very respected publication) trying to understand why Midwest farmers form ethanol plant cooperatives. Nothing on permaculture.

Cristian

I recently listened to a podcast done by Permaculture Voices that provided an interview with a member of a permaculture farmer cooperative in Arkansas (I believe it's Grass Roots). This gentleman told the story of his farm, how neighboring farmers had friendly relationships and were doing small errands for one another, and how little by little the relationship turned into a formal cooperative agreement. He explained how four farmers turned in their list of customers to the cooperative, thus making it financially viable from day one. They also had some initial support from Heifer International, and now the cooperative has grown attracting more farmers. They all agreed to grow pastured cattle and poultry following the same procedures and feed, to obtain consistent quality product.

This is the only story about permaculture cooperatives that I encountered. Is anybody aware of other similar examples? Are cooperatives a solution for the continuous growth of permaculture? I'm a backyard gardener and a business professor and I'm trying to understand what are the viable permaculture business models.

Cristian Chelariu

Has anybody tried to incorporate a dehumidifier in the design of a composting toilet? The resulting water should be relatively clean and could be pumped outside to water flowerbeds.

CC

Growing up in my native Romania, I remember people whitewashing the trunks of tress in the Spring with a lime solution. I looked for mason's lime at Home Depot or Lowe's but they don't have it, and in general it seems hard to find. The price is low, between $6-9 for a bag of 50 pounds (you can make a lot of whitewash with 50 pounds), but delivery is expensive. This practice has some advantages, it protects the bark of the tree from sun scalding, from insects, and I would imagine, from rabbits and deer. It is also used for sheds and barns. Why are people not doing this anymore? Why aren't manufacturers of lime promoting this use for their product?

Cristian

I live in the suburbs and a few years ago I decided that I will turn my kitchen waste into compost that I can use in my backyard garden rather than sending it to the landfill. I keep a small plastic bag in my sink and all the peelings, eggs shells, coffee grounds, and leftovers go into this bag. Every couple of days I empty the small bag into a larger bag outside (I bought some wood chips and saved the bags). I cover each deposit with a handful of shredded paper and egg cartons. When I’ve gathered enough, I close the bag and make holes in it on both sides. In November, I bury my May-October compost in the garden, together with some leaves and sticks. In May, I put the November –May compost on the pathways between the beds, and I cover it with leaves. It doesn’t smell bad, just a very faint smell of earth.

I collect the leaves in November and I put them in paper bags, only instead of putting them on the curb, I used them to cover my rose bushes, with a tarp on top, all winter long. The leaves are a bit wet when they go into the paper bags, so by Spring, they are covered in a white mold. I use them as mulch, to cover both the pathways and the beds in the garden. I put branches from the Christmas tree on top so the wind will not blow the leaves away. I have to renew the mulch several times, because it disappears rather quickly in the Spring-Summer, as an assortment of pillbugs, centipedes, ants, crickets, and earthworms feast on it.

I find that this routine requires minimal effort. Am I doing anything wrong? Can you suggest any improvements?

Cristian, zone 5b

I’ve been lurking around on Permies for a few years now. I grew up in an apartment building and I always wanted to have a backyard garden. When I was living in Toronto, Antonio, my old Italian neighbor, taught me a bit about gardening. Now I live in the Boston area and I have my backyard garden where I grow beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, salad, spinach, radishes, herbs, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, and flowers. I planted a few trees but I haven’t have a chance to taste fruit from them yet.
At any rate, a few years ago I was going through a difficult time in my life, and this forum helped me a lot. No matter what was going on, I knew that at the end of the day I would find myself in this peaceful realm of grass and trees, of pastured pigs and happy chicken… Now, my wife and I dream about retiring to southern New Hampshire, to grow poultry, Nigerian goats, and AGHs, to fish and to garden…

Thank you for everything I learned in the past few years and for giving me a place for daydreaming. I plan to contribute a bit a more from now on.

Cristian