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Summary
Paul’s permaculture smackdown continues into chapter three of
Sepp Holzer’s “
Desert or Paradise” with Mark, Opalyn, Kyle, and Katie.
Afforestation with nature – next steps in healing the landscape, understanding symbioses in the rainforest.
“The first step in healing the landscape and achieving a holistic cultivation is to restore the hydrological balance. This is followed by the introduction of
sustainable vegetation, consisting of mixed forest, fruit
trees, edible landscapes and gardens, and good agricultural practices. This chapter explains the importance and situation of our forests. I will explain my method of using polycultures and reforestation. Each landscape needs its own unique sustainable vegetation. When the forest dies, the whole damaging chain reaction starts with less rain, the earth heats up and changes the climate, new wind flows develop, and storms are the result. The “unique sustainable vegetation” part brings back vivid memories from Paul of people asking what to do with their
land, but not telling him anything about the climate, frost zones, or indeed anything else – as if permaculture was a one-size-fits-all package you could pick up from a
greenhouse.
“I am always against monoculture, whether it be in the forest or garden, in agriculture or with animals, we can
experience its devastating effects in Austria alpine reforestation being just one example. Some 50-60 years ago, it was recommended to plant 10 thousand spruces per hectare – that is 1 per 1 meter square, all in orderly rows. Pole
wood made good money at the time. The whole operation was heavily subsidized by the government and many farmers decided to give it a go. The existing mixed forest were stripped of undergrowth and then killed with poisons like (Paul isn’t even going to try to pronounce the names). This was called “good” forest management, and was also subsidized. The so-called experts taught us that this was modern forestry. Paul has some experience with the last part from his time in the software engineering. Publishers would put out any junk that they could get their hands on simply because they sold and by the time people could understand it well
enough to call it out, the industry had already moved on and the
books were due to be taken off the shelves anyway.
Relevant Threads
Ponds forum
Trees forum
Soil forum
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Eivind W. Bjørkavåg
Suleiman, Karrie, and Sasquatch
Kyle Neath
Bill Crim
anonymous
Kerry JustTooLazy
Jocelyn Campbell
Chris Sugg
Sasquatch
Bill Erickson
G Cooper
Dominic Crolius
havokeachday
Penny McLoughlin
Mehron Kugler
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Pasquale DeAngelis
Greg Martin
Mark
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Dana Martin
Candace Dahlk
Keith Kuhnsman
Eric Tolbert
Matthew Stone
Nuno Marta
Polly Jayne Smyth
Opalyn Brenger
ellen fisher
Eliot Mason
Katie Young
Ivar Vasara
JMBlackwater226R
Nathan Hale
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