[Lapg] What is Permaculture? Why is it nicknamed the quiet, peaceful rebellion? Ryan Rudolph

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

Ryan Rudolph
July 7, 2005
http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=1019

"We need to get these competent gardeners of the Third World to rich 
countries to teach people how to grow food." Bill Mollsion 1989

What is Permaculture? Why is it nicknamed the quiet, peaceful rebellion? To 
quote David Holmgren, Permaculture is a design system for sustainable 
living and land use. The ethics of Permaculture are fairly simple: 1. Care 
of the Earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply, 2. 
Care of People: Provision for people to access the resources necessary for 
their existence 3. Share our Resources: By governing our own needs, we can 
set resources aside to further our ethics

Now how Is America, and the rest of the western developed world breaking 
these ethical principles?

I think we need to first begin with the western attitude towards 
agriculture. Many industrial Commercial farmers see nature as a crude 
imbalanced force, that is in desperate need of conquering by the technology 
of man, and the other school of thought is that of a Permaculture farmer 
who can clearly see that Nature grows her own plants with no or little help 
of man, she is intelligent, and when man interferes with his technology, he 
only makes it seem that nature is imperfect because he doesn't understand 
the consequences of his own meddling.

So the wisdom of Permaculture is rooted in techniques that we are not 
doing, however there are also simple rules of things that we need to be 
doing in our gardens.

I will briefly go into both:

No tilling of the soil: The misconception of modern day industrial farmers 
is that the soil needs to be tilled in order to grow crops, this is dead 
wrong, it could not be further from the truth. Earthworms, microorganisms, 
moles, and other insects are constantly working the soil through natural 
processes. How does tilling the soil make it weaker? When you till the soil 
it actually exposes it to a constant bombardment from the sun, rain and 
wind which causes severe leeching, erosion and ultimately soil destruction. 
This is why when you observe soil in a natural setting; it is always 
covered by plant cover (weeds). So weeds are not a negative thing! They 
protect the soil from erosion; this is a new school of thought.

But weeds do need to be controlled to a certain extent, and the answer is 
mulching. Mulching has many useful functions in the garden. It protects 
soil, and when it decomposes back into the earth, nutrients are restored, 
and it controls weeds. So there are three important functions that this one 
simple technique provides. When we are mulching, tilling is a silly thing 
to do, tilling is much more destructive, while mulching is regenerative, 
and wise.

What is a good mulch to use: grasses, weeds, hay, straw, partially 
decomposed compost.



Another technique to avoid: No chemical fertilizers. Petroleum products 
rule the world; this is a shame because they are not a sustainable, clean 
form of energy. The problem with chemical fertilizers is that they disrupt 
and interfere with the natural processes that need to happen within the 
soil in order to keep it fertile and healthy. Chemical fertilizers destroy 
bacteria, microorganisms, microbes, and other insects and small creatures 
that are vitally necessary to the soil's fragile balance.

In America, more desertification has happened in the late fifty years then 
in any area of the world, it is a similar tragedy as what has taken place 
in Africa. The government keeps calling for more soil scientists, but they 
do not have the power and are not willing to challenge the current system 
because the entire economic system is dependent of the selling of machinery 
(for tilling) and chemical fertilizers to farmers. Again, we have people in 
power that are not fully educated, that are selling products/services that 
humanity does not need, and in actuality are causing more harm than good.

Another problem with Industrial farming is that you have a small percentage 
of farmers trying to grow food for the masses; this is not how farming is 
supposed to happen. Everyone needs to be growing a portion of his or her 
own food. Growing one crop in one large area is an ignorant/dumb thing to 
do. Nature needs a diversity of many different species of plants to occupy 
an area in order to keep the soil healthy and fertile, this is another 
reason why soil destruction is at an all time high, not enough diversity in 
the farmer's field, and if you are trying to grow large cash crops which is 
the template of industrial design, the principle of diversity is thrown out 
the window.

This is why small vegetable gardens are much more sustainable, eco-friendly 
than any industrial operation.

Diversity is the key in implementing a Permaculture design on your own 
property. I have berry plants, fruit trees, vegetables, and soon grains 
will be added. This makes so much more sense when considering the 
possibility of crop death. If you are growing a large diversity of crops, 
and one is whipped out from disease, insects, etc, it is not a big problem 
because you didn't put all your eggs in one basket if I can bother that 
expression.

Another key factor in Permaculture design is nothing is wasted, for example 
organic leftovers from your meal are put into a compost and the compost is 
used to treat the soil, and when I say treat the soil all you are doing is 
dumping the compost on top of the soil and letting nature do the rest, very 
simple. Farming is actually very little work if you are doing it correctly; 
there is no reason for tilling, using a hoe, weeding and all that nonsense.

Also it is important to have water barrels to collect rainwater, which can 
be used for irrigation.

Permaculture is basically the design system for the garden of Eden, in 
which humanity will have to work very little, it is the promised land in 
the bible where man will not have to work and toil endlessly eight hours a 
day. Permaculture is the future, and we can see evidence of his growing 
emergence and popularity as energy becomes harder to extract from the 
earth, we can see how desperate the governments have become in order to 
have control over the energy reserves in the world. Just look at the war in 
Iraq, it is quite pathetic that we can stoop this low.

But there are intelligent human beings who are working together to 
transform this planet into a diverse haven of edible foods; it is really 
the most exciting time to be alive. Even though we are surrounded by war, 
violence, chaos, and havoc, great order can emerge as humans are pushed 
towards their creative potential.

Comments: Ryan575 at hotmail.com