Introduction to Permaculture - 40 hours of Free video lectures Permaculture means 'permanent culture,' (or 'permanent agriculture') and ...'is the conscious design and maintenance of cultivated ecosystems that have the diversity, stability, and resilience of a natural ecosystem.' (Bill Mollison) This course will explore, through lectures, discussions, field trips, and required projects, a design/thinking methodology that seeks to profide for our physical needs, food, water, shelter, energy, etc., while doing so in an environmentally friendly, sustainable manner. Download all lectures for Free here: Watch online all lectures for Free here: See also: Introduction to Permaculture - 18 part webinar with Bill Wilson of Midwest Permaculture - This is an 18 part 90 minute intro to permaculture webinar with Bill Wilson of Midwest Permaculture in Illinois. Documentary Films - Permaculture / Organic FarmingEbooks - Permaculture & Forest Gardening Free Documentary Films ArchiveFree Full Ebooks Archive
Free eBooks Archive - Permaculture Media Blog See also: On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau - Civil Disobedience is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. It argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War. Plants For A Future: Survey and Research Project on 'The Field' - A report is now available of the recently completed survey and research project on the 'The Field', the experimental site of Ken and Addy Fern ( Plants For A Future founders) in Cornwall, where they carried out research and provided information on edible and otherwise useful plants suitable for growing outdoors in a temperate climate. Best of the Permaculture Drylands Magazine - Now Online!
Small Farms’ Large Benefits As drought becomes increasingly common, farmers worldwide are struggling to maintain crop yields. In the United States, farmers are experiencing the most severe drought in more than a half-century. As a result, global corn, wheat, and soybean prices rose in July and August, and remain high. But the severe dry spell parching croplands across the US is only the latest in a global cycle of increasingly frequent and damaging droughts. In Africa’s Sahel region, millions of people are facing hunger for the third time since 2005. Lack of rain in the region and volatile global food prices have made a bad situation worse. Follow Project Syndicate on Facebook or Twitter. This does not bode well for our future. The International Fund for Agricultural Development sees enormous potential in Africa’s agricultural sector, which experienced 4.8% growth in 2009, compared to 3.8% in the Asia-Pacific region and only 1.4% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Africa can feed itself.
Index of /Permaculture Index of /Permaculture/ .. Introduction to Permaculture - 18 part webinar with Bill Wilson of Midwest Permaculture Interplanting and Beyond, An Excerpt from Gaia’s Garden // May 1st, 2012 // No Comments » // Uncategorized This coming Sunday, May 6, is International Permaculture Day! Permaculture is more than just a way to garden, it applies systems-thinking to every facet of our relationship to the earth and each other. Using different veggies’ strengths and weaknesses to avoid competition and maybe even get them to help each other out is called interplanting. The following is an excerpt from Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway. Vegetable gardeners have some experience in creating plant communities. Monocultures deplete the soil, provide a sumptuous feast for pests, and dull the senses. One simple interplanting scheme mixes onions, carrots, and lettuce in the same garden bed. Though interplanting saves space, it doesn’t go far enough for me. A second technique, companion planting, takes advantage of some of these mutual benefits. See also:
Common Buckwheat Introduction | Description | Adaptation | Properties and uses | Agronomy | Pest Management | Marketing Introduction Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is thought to have originated in central and western China from a wild Asian species Fagropyrum cymosum. The Scots coined the word "buckwheat" from two Anglo-Saxon terms, boc(beech) and whoet(wheat). World acreage of buckwheat has been as high as 5 million acres (2 million hectares). In Canada, buckwheat production was approximately 150,000 acres (60,700 hectares) in the late 1970's and early 1980's but has since declined to 30,000 to 40,000 acres (12,000 - 16,000 hectares) annually. Description Buckwheat is an annual, characterised by large heart-shaped leaves. Figure 1. The fruiting structure of buckwheat is on axillary or terminal racemes with densely clustered flowers (Figure 2). Figure 2. Buckwheat has an indeterminate growth habit, so the crop does not mature uniformly. Adaptation Buckwheat thrives in cool, moist climates.
Permaculture Magazine - practical solutions for self-reliance Establishing a Permaculture Food Forest | Fractal Enlightenment Permaculture is a design system that is based on understanding ecosystems, it takes a look at the interactions between the trees, plants, fungi, bacteria, birds, animals and all other natural elements to create a sustainable ecosystem. In the first video we go through a slideshow with Josh Robinson a permaculturist gives us a detailed insight into Permaculture, the functioning and how it works as a sustainable solution in creating a food forest. He talks about the flaws in the tradition orchard system, where the same trees are planted together, thus making the soil deficient of the same nutrients, the need for fertilization and also susceptible to diseases. The alternative to this method is a permaculture food forest, a perennial polyculture of multi-purposed plants. Food forests are designed to be highly productive with the least amount of labor, this video will explain how to create a sustainable orchard that is patterned after nature.
Healthy News and Information by ANDREW MARTIN “The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.” Observe and Interact Over forty years ago, Bill Mollison, with the help of David Holmgren, helped develop a blueprint for sustainable living. Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share Apart from the design principles, permaculture promotes three main ethics which many native cultures once practiced: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. Permaculture Works with Nature and is Regenerative Most of us are all-too-familiar with the ill effect the industrial food system has had on our planet. The difference between permaculture and modern industrial agriculture is that permaculture works with nature as opposed to against nature. Share: Comments
The Most Beautiful Green Home Building Construction Project Ever? Design Published on April 9th, 2009 | by ziggy April 9th, 2009 by ziggy My jaw dropped when I first watched this video tour of a beautiful owner-built green building construction project in Oregon. This particular green building is made entirely out of cob, a mixture of clay, sand, and straw. Meka Bunch of Wolf Creek, Oregon built this stunning cob house over a four year period. Check out the video and photos of Meka’s cob cottage for yourself: [youtube= This couch is made of cob and features wood storage tucked underneath, right next to the stove. The kitchen features many shelves and nooks built directly into the cob walls, and also includes a small compost chute. The wood stove is surrounded by cob for thermal mass, and includes a warm nook with shelf to culture yogurt. Gorgeous custom-made cob staircase. The north porch of Meka’s cob cottage. I must say that Meka’s cob house design is one of my favorite projects that I’ve seen. About the Author