Rachel Lindsay

I give this book 8 out of 10 acorns.

Really nice little book. It's a pleasant and encouraging quick read, with stories of the authors' experiences, absolutely overflowing with joy and optimism from what they have seen in their combined decades of Permaculture experience. Both came to Permaculture as adults, in a quest for finding a better way to live than the standard American grocery-store-and-fast-food kind of way. After persistent trial and error, and becoming experts in networking for resources and leveraging their creativity, after a few years they found themselves in situations where they could give back lots of surplus to their communities from their farms and gardens as well as from their knowledge and skill sets: they began to train people to do what they did. And then they wrote this book for the global English-speaking community as well. Pointers on how to resourcefully obtain farmstead necessities from the waste stream are the main content of the book, but it sings throughout with the joy of how wonderful a way it is to live on what you can do and then how you can share it all.  

Congratulations to all of you wonderful folks! Excited to begin a new month with a top-notch crew at the helm. Thanks again!

Josh Hoffman wrote: Does the cat hair hang around on your clothes after washing or just lint?

I only notice the lint after washing the clothes.  (The cat hair is just everywhere all the time!)

I guess I should definitely start sorting my laundry by color. I haven't been because there are only three of us in the house and only I wear dark clothes, but it's annoying enough to me now to make that change.

I am so grateful for these many insights and perspectives, as always!

Here is a PDF of a summary of the books by the author (first in the list after you click this link): New Concepts in Complexity Theory arising from studies in the field of architecture an overview of the four books of the nature of order  This will have to do until my inter-library loan gets here!

We have no dryer, we use drying racks. (I rarely used the dryer after becoming Permaculture-minded in 2020, but had to totally get it out of the house when we got a cat a year ago. And that is because the dryer spot was the ONLY place in the house to put a cat box.) I am happy with this, doing the laundry before I go to bed and letting everything dry all night, but...there is lint all over my dark shirts. Blech.  

I have read A Pattern Language and Timeless Way of Building. But I found out there's more.

I am particularly interested in reading these very pricey rare titles:

The Nature of Order Book 1: The Phenomenon of Life (2002)

The Nature of Order Book 2: The Process of Creating Life (2002)

The Nature of Order Book 3: A Vision of a Living World (2005)

The Nature of Order Book 4: The Luminous Ground (2004)

The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth: A Struggle between Two World-Systems, with Hans Joachim Neis and Maggie More Alexander (2012)

PatternLanguage.com Bookstore

Has anyone else read any and can recommend?

POSIWID= the Purpose of a System is What It Does

I keep finding this to be true. I may complain about something not working right, and then I apply this lens. (I am referring both to such small things as housekeeping at our house, and such large things as national issues.) Looking at all things under the POSIWID microscope leads me to examine the idea that in fact, what I see a system producing is exactly what it would--given the kind of system it actually is.

Not the kind that I wish it to be. Not the kind that I intended it to be. But what it actually is. So, where it is under my control to any extent, if I want a different result, I need to be using a different system. Housekeeping at my house looks like it is the result of just trying to keep a step ahead of complete chaos. Unconsciously I designed a "spend as little time as possible cleaning" system, and...it shows.  I loathe housework, but I want to enjoy my living space. POSIWID is the chance to design a system for my family that actually results in an enjoyable space. (I will definitely factor my personality into the consciously-designed system.)

If you've read Hemenway's Gaia's Garden, you might remember the story of the Bullock Brothers' Washington State island farmstead, which had an explosion of muskrats destroying their gardens. After a few seasons though, otters, eagles, hawks and owls arrived and took the muskrat population down to non-threatening levels. I really hope that happens for you, with the squirrel population. My garden has been dug up some by rodents this winter, because my raised rows are the only place to easily bury their acorns in a neighborhood of brick-like clay soil. We have lots of hawk activity here, though, so I do not despair.

Best wishes for you garden in 2025--I hope something good happens to change your situation.    

K Kaba wrote:Depending on her vocabulary and interest in history, the National Archives are always looking for more people to transcribe old cursive documents to print.

https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/missions

That is very very neat. Wow, thanks for posting this!

I have been teaching my daughter via the program "Cursive First" and am so pleased with her progress. An in-law never learned to write cursive, and I have always felt sorry about that. I can't imagine not scribbling away in cursive as well as print, so I always knew I would teach Miss G cursive. She hated it at first--then got good at it, and doesn't fuss about her practice any more.

She'll be able to read old recipes and letters, and besides that, it's good for the brain. (Top 10 Reasons to Learn Cursive--Memoria Press) At least one state education system has reintroduced cursive into the public school curriculum after having dropped it, and good job, I say!

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