Raphael St James

It's basically becoming illegal to do any form of Permaculture in southern california. Grandfathered property with orchards and shrubs growing within 100' of a house will eventually lose their insurance and be decimated. CALFIRE wants a void landscape within your house. They say they don't, but the technical jargon in their code means permaculture is not viable in CA any longer.

Su Ba wrote: Growing year around is true. But cycles of diseases and pests comes with that. There is no cold winter to help keep the problems down for you. But that being said, by adopting many old Hawaiian growing methods and tweaking them with Western methods, we manage to produce almost all our own food here year around without resorting to chemical bombardment.

Diseases, and pests, are virtually eliminated, over time, as 'dirt' becomes 'soil'.  The bounty goes to the generation that implements that knowledge collectively.

Ann Torrence wrote:I don't know where nirvana is, but it would have abundant water, 6.8 pH soil of a reasonable depth, low taxes and minimal nanny state regulations (raw milk being one example that excludes a number of states). Once I overlaid those on a map, then I'd refine it by practical needs, like proximity to airports, medical care, cultural preferences, etc. And fire ants would be another disqualifier!

So I'd start with a soil map of the country.

Hello Ann.  Jut re-read your message after stumbling back on this site after several years.  Finally registered, and said, let me respond to someone today.  Yay, it's you.  lol.

Soil maps are cool.  But, let's look at the word soil, for a second.

If you're familiar with Dr. Elaine Ingham's work, a soil map is a good first step, depending on your needs, preferences, and budget.  

Since any land can be nurtured, and most permaculture principles breed abundance, most* pieces of land available for sale in the United States, bear potential.  

In nature, microscopic organisms (bacteria, nematodes, protozoa's, fungi, etc.) create a symbiance with vegetation (Trees, Shrubs, Vines, Flowers, Cover Crop, etc).  The exchange of gases between these living organisms is the backbone from which all other life on a planet is created.

We can throw pesticides, pollution, excess nutrients, etc., into our soils, waterways, oceans, bay, ozone, outer space.

We have so much potential, but we mess it all up as a collective.

We are torn by design.  Our ambitions tunnel vision potential via the cane of excess governance.  We are one with not the governments of allies and foes, but of the citizens of those allies and foes.  People.  Humanity. Currently Homo Sapiens.  Hopefully evolving in thoughts, patterns, and actions.