Here is an article about the Video we will be showing called Farming with Nature about 30 years of Permaculture at "Krameterhof" his farm
                        wes

               Permaculture in Austria http://www.gaia.org/services/Articles/permaculture/detail_1332.asp
 Description:
               FEATURE - Alpine Garden of Eden proves Mother
               Nature knows best
               AUSTRIA: August 28, 2001
               RAMINGSTEIN, Austria - In the coldest part of  Austria, a farmer is turning
               conventional wisdom on its head by growing a veritable Garden of Eden full
               of tropical plants in the open on his steep Alpine pastures.
Check out his webpage for pictures http://www.krameterhof.at/anzeige.htm

               Amid average annual temperatures of a mere 4.2
               degrees Celsius (39.5 Fahrenheit), Sepp Holzer grows everything from
               apricots to eucalyptus, figs  to kiwi fruit, peaches to wheat at an altitude of between
               1,000 and 1,500  metres (3,300 and 4,900 feet).

               Once branded a fool, fined and threatened with
               imprisonment for defying Austrian regulations that dictate what is planted where,
               he is now feted worldwide for creating the only functioning
               "permaculture" farm in Europe. Permaculture, an abbreviation of permanent culture, is
               the development of agricultural ecosystems which are complete and  self-sustaining.

               "Once planted, I do absolutely nothing," Holzer told
               Reuters. "It really is just nature working for itself - no weeding, no pruning,
               no watering, no fertiliser, no pesticides."

               His 45 hectares (110 acres) of land in the mountainous
               Lungau region in the province of Salzburg are classed by European
               Union directives as unfit r agricultural cultivation due to the steep gradient and
               poor soil.

               When Holzer inherited the farm - then 18 hectares 44.5 acres) - 39 years
               ago, it was only used for the grazing of the family's ows and sheep. He
               carved terraces out of the steep inclines - like the ancient Incas and Maya
               of South and Central America - to stop erosion and  trap rainfall.

               He rejected the use of pesticides and fertilisers, which he considered
               poisonous, and the concept of monoculture - the cultivation of just one
               plant type over an expanse of land - because he believed it sapped the soil
               of all nutrients.

               Instead he began growing a host of timber and fruit trees, shrubs and
               grasses all mixed up together.

               "Everyone said I was mad and I had to pay numerous
               fines because the authorities said that it was illegal to plant such a
               combination," Holzer said.
               "When I bought this patch of land off a farmer, it was
               not fit for the cows and sheep grazing on it. People scoffed that I was
               neglecting my land - but  now they come to harvest cherries from June to
               October."

               "This is the worst type of soil, which just goes to prove
               that there is no bad soil, just bad farmers," he added.

               PROOF IS IN EATING OF PUDDING

               Most of the plants Holzer and his wife Vroni grow at
               his "Krameterhof" holding are not meant to flourish in Alpine conditions,
               according to experts.
               In winter, the temperature can fall to below minus 30 degrees Celsius
               (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) and a blanket of snow lingers into May.
               Snow can even fall in the height of summer.

               Holzer said he found agricultural textbooks and his own
               years at agricultural college virtually useless.

               "I followed their advice initially, but my trees started
               dying off. I then realised that I had to eradicate from my memory all that
               I'd learnt at college," he said.

               Enlightenment came one winter during one of Holzer's
               routine moonlight strolls, when he noticed that the only apricot tree faring
               well in the harsh winter conditions was one he had forgotten to cut back
               according to ministerial regulations.

               Unlike the pruned trees whose main lower branches
               snapped off under the weight of snow, the "neglected" tree's branches were
               intact.

               Their unrestricted length had allowed them to droop
               with the tips touching the ground for support while the snow slid off, Holzer
               found. Allowing natural vegetation to grow around the trunk provided further
               support and nourishment for the tree.

               "If people would only realise that if one leads a life in
               cooperation with nature and not against it, then nobody in the world need
               die of starvation,"  he said.

               LET NATURE TAKE ITS OWN COURSE

               Holzer's philosophy is that nature knows best and
               needs negligible interference from Man.

               "We're born into paradise, but are destroying its
               foundation, the soil. The soil can look after itself, there's no need for Man to
               tamper with it." Giant stone slabs pepper the landscape and serve as
               incubators be absorbing the sunlight and giving off warmth. The trees
               do their part as well in keeping the ground warm. Fallen foliage helps keep
               frost from reaching the roots.

               Tree stumps dot the plantations to regulate irrigation.
               Like a sponge they soak up water and later distribute it.

               Animals too have a role in the Holzer ecosystem.
               Scavenging pigs till the soil in place of a tractor, while grass snakes were
               reintroduced to keep voracious slugs and mice in check.

               Holzer is modest about his achievement which has led
               to projects in more  than 40 countries and lectures on "the elimination of
               poverty in agriculture".
               He has rejected suggestions that he should have his
               method of permaculture patented.

               "I would consider that as theft from nature. It's not my
               possession, I got it from nature and have an obligation to pass this
               knowledge on," the bearded 59-year-old said.

               INSPIRATIONAL, BUT ECONOMICALLY
               VIABLE?

               Holzer says his method of organic farming produces a
               much higher quality of crops than conventional farming, and at a fraction of
               the cost and effort.

               He says his rare strain of grain contains 12 times the
               goodness of conventionally grown grain and as a result fetches a
               price 100 times higher.  His success means that he no longer lives directly off
               the crops in his  sprawling garden, or the rare fish in his Alpine ponds
               and lakes.

               People pay to pick their own fruit from his land, experts
               visit to study "Holzer Permaculture", and the man himself regularly
               holds seminars when not in a far-off country such as Colombia solving
               chronic problems of the soil.

               And only one thing has so far stumped the man with
               green fingers.

               "Bananas," he said with a shrug of his burly frame.
               "They froze. It's no surprise as they need an average temperature of 30
               degrees. But I'm still working on it."

               Story by Julia Ferguson
 Author:
               Julia Ferguson
 Published Date:
               10-01-01
 Category:
               Permaculture