Zach Moreau

Hello permaculture goofballs,

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a free online tool that I could use to draft a permaculture base map? It would be particularly helpful to have access to a feature where I could type in precisely how long the lines need to be, just so everything is to scale.

The foot paths on my site in Central Virginia have become quite muddy and waterlogged recently from all of the summer storms. They are currently covered with a few grass species, clover, and plantain (none of which were planted intentionally). Are there any species that function well as a groundcover while also having deep roots that allow water to penetrate more?

If not, what would be the best way to manage the water on the paths? My thought is to create a swale that borders the paths and use the excavated earth to raise the level of the paths.

I believe that all gardens should welcome in some fruit trees. They can produce bumper crops year after year once established. The best one for winter harvesting is definitely persimmon.

Cooking many foods improves their taste and texture in the opinions of most people, and it can make some difficult-to-eat foods - the kinds you have to chew for five minutes just to eat them raw - more easily palatable.  But the primary benefit of cooking food is to increase energy available to the body.  This has always been the primary benefit, whether primitive humans first adopting the habit of cooking consciously realized it or not.

In your own words, you are describing foods that are not "easily palatable" in their raw state. This is a clue that they are not the ideal foods for humans. Every animal on Earth eats a raw diet and humans aren't designed any differently. The foods that are most palatable to us in their raw state, mainly fruits, some vegetables, and nuts/seeds, are the foods that human bodies are designed to digest and assimilate.

Certainly, we can survive on many other foods, we have been doing so for millennia. As humans moved away from the tropics and into harsher climates, cooking became very helpful. No one wants to chew on raw beef for five minutes. It's neither efficient nor tasty. That said, surviving is not the same as thriving

I eat a raw vegan diet that is as simple as it gets in terms of food groups. I consume a lot of fruits, a good amount of vegetables, and a small amount of nuts and seeds. Sometimes I'll have a more intricate meal like a salad bowl with a homemade dressing, other times my meals can be as simple as consuming one fruit until I reach satiety.

Eating a simple diet is very important for maintaining good health. Our bodies digest whole foods much better than processed foods with a paragraph-long ingredient list. Digestion is the most metabolically expensive process our bodies undergo, so the less energy we expend on digestion, the more we have for other important functions like growth and repair.

Jay, I just submitted the form, though I forgot to include my parter's resume. I can send it to you if you need.

I'm interested! However, the typeform link doesn't seem to be working for me.