Swale and Garden Improvements
Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Land, Swales — by Zaia Kendall June 20, 2012
A swale dry rock wall built by WWOOFers and revamping some garden beds.
To further improve our kitchen garden swales, we have rock-walled a number of them. This stops erosion of the garden beds, since soil falls or is washed down into the swales. It also creates a beautiful frog and lizard habitat, and levels the garden bed, instead of having it on a slope.
By using the combined resources of WWOOFers and our creek rock, and PDC student Andrew’s experience in rock walling (he showed the WWOOFers how to build the dry rock wall), the swale rock wall took only three days to build. This included getting rock from our creek bed, sorting the rock and laying it. It has made the garden bed more functional and more productive, and as we build the soil and raise the garden beds we can add more rocks to the rock wall to keep all the beautiful soil where it belongs — in the garden bed.
Comments (0)PRI Networking, the Value of Collaboration, and the Development of More PRI Education/Demonstration Projects
Aid Projects, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Consumerism, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Networking Sites, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor June 12, 2012
Do we segregate…?
Photos © Craig Mackintosh
Most of us are by now wholly cognizant of the fact that the global response to long-brewing trouble has been well short of timely or appropriate. The world as a whole, if I were to be brutally honest, is taking three steps backwards for every few inches it moves forwards. Wonderful moves towards sustainability are daily dwarfed by industrial and individualistic efforts in the opposite direction. There are, indeed, wondrous examples and tantalisingly positive suggestions and ambitions shining like little beacons of hope from various quarters worldwide, but most of the world’s population experience these as mere pleasant, but out of reach, distractions from their daily quest to survive. Whether it’s ’survival’ in the very real sense, scratching for food, water and firewood, or in the modernist sense of retaining some degree of sanity after too many hours at an unsatisfying and unnatural job (that’s only endured due to previous purchases ‘the system’ has pressured us into), either way there are too few people either willing or able to venture out of their very real personal worlds to run with concepts far removed from their daily lives.
In the permaculture camp, however, a great deal of positive work is being trialled and actioned, often independently, and, as such, painfully unnoticed.
Getting it noticed is a central part of the PRI’s work….
Comments (12)Julious Piti from the Hugely Successful Chikukwa Project (Zimbabwe, Africa) to Give Talk in Santa Barbara (July 1, 2012)
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Presentations/Demonstrations — by Margie Bushman June 11, 2012
When: Sunday July 1, 6:30-9pm, 2012
Where: Fe Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College, West Campus
Cost: $10-$5 SBCC Students
Please join the Santa Barbara City College Center for Sustainability on Sunday, July 1, as we host Julious Piti, founding member of the Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust (CELUCT) in Zimbabwe, whose ecological design work in Tanzania has recently been featured in the award winning film From the Mara Soil.
Comments (0)Geoff Lawton’s Zaytuna Farm Video Tour (Apr/May 2012) – Ten Years of (R)Evolutionary Design
Animal Housing, Biodiversity, Biological Cleaning, Bird Life, Building, Commercial Farm Projects, Compost, Conservation, Consumerism, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education, Education Centres, Energy Systems, Fencing, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Irrigation, Land, Livestock, Nurseries & Propogation, Plant Systems, Potable Water, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Conservation, Structure, Trees, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor June 1, 2012
Paradise Dam, April 2012, from the now-climaxing food forest
Photos © Craig Mackintosh (unless otherwise indicated)
Zaytuna Farm Video Tour, duration 41 minutes
Note: Switch YouTube player to HD if your internet connection allows
Having spent the last few years seeking to establish and assist projects worldwide, and hearing some readers requesting more info on our own permaculture base site, I thought it high time I take a moment away from promoting other projects to shine a little light on our own work!
It had been a long time since I last visited Zaytuna Farm. Arriving in April 2012, more than two and a half years after my September 2009 visit, I was somewhat taken aback…. Back in 2009 the farm could somewhat be described as an unruly child — full of energy and enthusiasm, and flush with life, but not at all mature. Now, as I see Geoff Lawton’s vision for the property being played out more fully, we could compare the farm to more of a blossoming and beautiful teenager, still fresh in youth, but demonstrating a clearer sense of direction.
Geoff’s long term strategies are becoming evident, and it really is a sight, and site, to behold!
Comments (22)John D. Liu’s Green Gold Documentary – How the West (and East, North and South!) Could Be Won
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Conservation, Consumerism, Dams, Deforestation, Demonstration Sites, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Irrigation, Land, Plant Systems, Population, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Society, Soil Biology, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Swales, Terraces, Trees, Village Development, Water Contaminaton & Loss, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 24, 2012
As most of our readers will know, John D. Liu caught a vision years ago, and, thankfully, he ran with it. We’ve shared John’s excellent media work before (see here and here), and today have the pleasure of doing so again….
This new video, Green Gold, was first aired last month on Dutch TV, and will be shared at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (to a captive audience of influential representative delegates during their dinner!), which is being held next month in Brazil (20-22 June 2012).
The video takes you to China, Jordan (more background on the PRI Jordan project here), Ethiopia, Rwanda and Bolivia, and features the PRI’s own Geoff Lawton (and a cameo appearance from Nadia!), who adds impetus and technical know-how to John’s impressive toolbox, as well as the ‘Permaculture Princess‘ (Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan), and others.
It’s the story of healing landscapes at scale, and, with it, restoring life, livelihoods, security and a future.
Comments (6)The Need for Data and Documentation to Move Permaculture Forward
Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education — by Richard Perkins May 23, 2012
Bec Helouin, France.
Photos and article by Richard Perkins
A month into our epic family global film trip and we arrive at the beautiful and incredible La Ferme biologique du Bec Hellouin, an experimental organic farm being adapted according to permaculture principles.
Bec Hellouin is home to Charles and Perrine Herve-Gruyer. Farmyard buildings are mostly newly built, however with such sympathy for the traditional styles and materials that you might never guess. The original house is mimicked with its timber framing and cob wall infills, and thatched roofs are elegantly planted along the top. It is an incredibly beautiful farm and a lot of care has gone into the details of the infrastructure. Walking out through the yard down into the growing spaces I can see this is a very efficient place, with water carefully and magically carried through the landscape, creating productive islands and growing spaces where I can see immediately how multiple and diverse microclimates have been created. It’s breathtaking here.
Comments (4)Living Freely – Valuing the Marginal and Recycling Energy
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Village Development — by Richard Perkins May 22, 2012
Plukrijp Community, Belgium
Photos and article by Richard Perkins
Wheat
We are now a month into our epic global family film journey documenting active and replicable solutions in all areas of permaculture design. Our recent trip to the Plukrijp community has left a strong impression on us, an account we feel moved to share. Situated in Schriek, Belgium, this small farm has developed into a thriving community hub over the last few years, and offers solutions in various aspects of permaculture design, but most notable is the way this community lives at vertically no cost. Around 4000 people pass through here a year in addition to a 15-strong community, and the whole thing is run on a simple magic hat. The running costs have been reduced to gas for cooking and water rates!
Comments (0)International Permaculture (May)Day
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Economics, Education Centres, Presentations/Demonstrations, Social Gatherings, Society — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 6, 2012
Terania Creek, next to PRI Australia’s Zaytuna Farm
Photos © Craig Mackintosh
The inaugural International Permaculture Day — today — appropriately falls on the first Sunday of May, often known as ‘Mayday’. Permaculture, and its appropriate and holistic design science, is a powerful response to the world’s distress signals. Thankfully, more and more are coming to realise this, and this new peg on the annual calendar is a great opportunity for the uninitiated to get familiar with, and find some hope and security in, our transformative work.
Comments (7)Calling for Before/After Site Photographs for Important John D. Liu Documentary
Aid Projects, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor March 28, 2012
Many of you know of the excellent work of the filmmaker, John D. Liu. Amongst other projects, John documented, over many years, the amazing transformation of China’s massive Loess Plateau from being a significantly degraded, and dangerous land (the vegetation-free landscape made for seriously destructive — even deadly — floods and soil erosion) to the much-improved state it’s in today (see here and here). John has also been turning his visionary eye to Africa and beyond…. For a little background on John and his work, this interview will help.
Well, John is now working on an important new documentary that will showcase the importance and potential of investing in natural capital and working with natural laws to restore invaluable ecosystem services — and at very large scale, as is needed at this historical juncture! Part of this documentary will be devoted to the work of Geoff and Nadia Lawton in Jordan, covering projects — and aspirations for their rollout on a larger scale — there.
Comments (5)Reflections on Bringing Permaculture to the White House and Meeting President Obama
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Ryan Harb March 24, 2012
Editor’s Note: I want to congratulate Ryan and the UMass team on this significant milestone, and also wish to thank all of our readers who took a moment to vote to help ensure it came to pass. Onwards!
The White House honors five young leaders as Champions of Change for outstanding leadership on their college campuses, chosen by the public for their projects that embody the President’s goal to win the future.
The past few weeks have been life changing for me, and for many others who are part of the permaculture community at UMass Amherst. Possibly others from around the world, too. Together, we successfully brought permaculture to the national stage, and by we I mean the entire global network of permaculturists who live by the ethics “Earth Care”, “People Care”, “Share of Surplus”.
Comments (6)Update on Progress on the Permaculture in Konso Schools Project and Our Last PDC at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge, Konso, Ethiopia
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Village Development — by Alex McCausland March 22, 2012
An international student simultaneously gains permaculture knowledge and
experience, whilst supporting much-needed permaculture aid work
and project establishment — aka: The Permaculture Master Plan.
The latest PDC at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge was a good step forward for us, as we managed to combine and integrate several objectives and deliver satisfactory results on all of them through the course of the program:
- Training a group of folks from various parts of the world to be permaculture designers
- Giving new impetus to, and gaining quality feedback on, our school’s permaculture outreach program
- Developing a plan for the next stage of that program.
The Permaculture Neighborhood Center, California
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Urban Projects — by Erik Ohlsen March 15, 2012
Three years ago, here in California, we bought an asphalt/gravel lot with a satisfactory house and decided to call it home. We had hoped to purchase a property in the country, but that was too expensive and felt too isolated for our young family. The first place we looked at in town was a 1/3 acre lot right next door my best friend’s house. The property was covered with 50% asphalt and cement and 50% gravel. Aah, a permaculturists dream come true!
Comments (8)Worldwide Permaculture Network Helps Projects Network and Prosper
Aid Projects, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Networking Sites, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor March 14, 2012
Get yourself (and your project) onto the permaculture map!
I just wanted to share one of many expressions of gratitude we’ve received for our building and making the Worldwide Permaculture Network, launched a year ago, available to the world’s permaculturists.
Comments (1)Dear Geoff and team,
I am writing to advise you about an ambitious new permaculture project we are starting up in Bali this year. I have already posted a full Project Profile on www.permacultureglobal.com, under the heading Bukit Peninsula Sustainability Project. We have already attracted quite a bit of interest directly from that site, and have volunteers from around the world making their way to Bali to assist us at the end of this month.
I’d like to thank you for making the above website available to projects like ours for free — it has proven an excellent way of publicizing it and attracting interest.
White House Event to Be Live Streamed – Watch Permaculture on the U.S. National Stage!
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Presentations/Demonstrations, Society, Urban Projects — by Ryan Harb March 13, 2012
Hi All. We’re heading to Washington, DC in less than 48 hours and just found out the following: The White House Campus Champions of Change event will be live streamed on Thursday, March 15 from 2:50pm — 4:20pm (EST)! This means anyone can watch permaculture being talked about at The White House by tuning in here during that time.
I just wanted to share the good news!
Comments (1)A Permaculture Farm in Wales – Zoning 101 (Videos)
Demonstration Sites, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Land, Medicinal Plants, Plant Systems, Trees — by Sunny Soleil March 12, 2012
If you are new to permaculture, these three videos provide a delightful living introduction to the topic. As Angie takes you through the different zones on her farm in Wales, UK, you can try to spot how many concepts are integrated into her enthusiastic, holistic descriptions of how permaculture works.
Permaculture is not Organic Farming
In this first video we meet Angie and her family and visit some areas of her farm as we hear explanations of the difference between permaculture and organic farming and why permaculture is important.
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