[Scpg] virtual permaculture slide show

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

Hi everyone
surprising what you can find on the web, take a look at one person search 
to understand and show how Permaculture works for him. this is his site 
specific observations, trials and growth , a catalogue of picture
                                         each of us has a learning to share 
and mistakes to learn by
                                                 wes

http://www.csi-net.net/tomar/slidshow/slidshow.htm


Virtual Permaculture Slide Show

This is hopefully the beginning of a continuing effort to communicate some 
basic knowledge about a new approach to sustainable living on our planet 
with its diminishing resources and increasing population. I tend to think 
that nearly everyone has this dilemma and seemingly insurmountable problem 
in the back of their mind to maul over and become depressed about. It may 
certainly contribute to the overwhelming problems of self-destructive and 
sociopathic behaviors rampant in our society and world.

Permaculture is a way of life, a "think globally, act locally" philosophy 
that optimistically states that we all have resources we need to live 
productive and fullfilling lives if we look around us at what nature and 
the creator has provided. These include inexhaustible and nonpolluting 
solar energy and millions of species of plants which have untold and 
unknown uses many of which are known in traditional cultures and by modern 
science, and the ability of plants and animals species to function in an 
ecosystem synergistically such that the whole is greater than the sum of 
its parts. This concept is pretty much ignored today by science, which 
seeks to isolate in order to study-something which isn't realistic in the 
real world. The relatively new science of ecology is the most notable 
exception. Finally, Permaculture places our species homo sapiens back into 
the ecosystem from whence we came and to where we belong.

The word "permaculture", a contraction of permanent agriculture was 
originally coined by Bill Mollison of Australia who developed its core 
principles. Its highly recommended if not essential to read any of his 
books. Since he and others first described permaculture in the late 1970's 
the movement has spread world wide with literally thousands of individuals 
and groups practicing it. There is a strong presence on the internet of 
permaculture groups world wide.

In ecology and its practical application, permaculture, the 
interconnectedness of components can be graphically approximated.

Which ecosystems in nature are most productive? One answer you hear most 
often is rain forests. Very little time and money has been used for the 
development of the rain forest model to become food producing. You can bet 
the benefits to the planet and especially to the inhabitants of those areas 
would be enormous. A lesser known fact is that temperate wetlands can be 
equally productive, in terms of photsynthesis and CO2 fixation(remember 
that decadent rock band: CO2 and the greenhouse effect). Two components of 
ecosystems that are areas of increased productivity is edge where interface 
occurs such as forest edge and water edge. The other area of interest is 
using the 3rd and 4th dimension, so to speak, when we speak of the 
multistory aspect of forests both above and below the ground that can 
utilize all energy, nutrient and water imputs most effectively, and the 
ability of plants to succeed other plants in succession where certain 
species produce optimal conditions for more specialized species.

In most places in Michigan, any area if let alone will develop into a 
stable climax forest, such as a beech-maple-yellow birch, or oak-hickory 
depending on moisture availability and location. Nature can do the job of 
reforestation well but doesn't use varieties and species that we can use 
and it takes too long-probably several lifetimes(it would be interesting to 
conjecture about a planet where the intelligent lifeform lived longer than 
trees-they wouldn't be wasting their time messing with weed species like 
corn, wheat, tomatoes, etc, when they can use plants who don't have to grow 
a new supporting structure every year.)

So permaculture needs to start with nurseries. Anyone can grow trees from 
seed. Usually you just stick the acorn or whatever in the ground and voila.

This is one of my first attempts at tree propagation back in 1983. Many of 
these honeylocusts(an animal forage producer), american 
persimmons(generally hardy here) and bur oaks(produces quantities of large 
acorns) are presently growing on my farm. I can't say that they are 
producing bumper crops(basically nothing yet) but the potential is there.

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