Permaculture Miracles in the Austrian Mountains
Demonstration Sites, General, Rehabilitation — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 21, 2009
 Photo credit: Keith Johnson |
I’d like to introduce you to Sepp Holzer, a man who not only produces food in a very unlikely location, at a high and frigid altitude in Austria, but is also growing very unlikely crops there as well — and all without the use of chemicals, and with minimal input of human labour.
I guess you could call him a European counterpart of people like Bill Mollison and Masanobu Fukuoka — as all three independently discovered ways of working with nature that save money and labour and that don’t degrade the environment, but actually improve it. In Holzer’s case, he was effectively running a permaculture farm for more than two decades before he even realised his unconventional approach could be termed ‘permaculture’.
Comments (0)Compost & Compost Tea Workshop
Compost, Courses/Workshops, Rehabilitation — by Kym Kruse May 15, 2009
A workshop in the utilization of local “waste” in providing all the required nutrients for productive systems, with Paul Taylor.
FarmReady Approved Course ID# FRTC0185
July 18th – July 19th 2009. 09:00-17:00 with lunch break
Malanda • Atherton Tablelands • Far North Queensland
$265 for 2 Days Incl. Morning & Afternoon Tea & Lunch
Topics include:
- Making “backyard compost”
- The principles of compost tea
- Compost tea brewers
- Creating beneficial soil biology
- Making commercial amounts of high-value compost from dairy and feedlot waste, using a tractor driven compost turner
- and much more….
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn the benefits of a management system based in beneficial soil biology from compost. Use less water and reduce your need of fertilizer!
Click here for a PDF with full details on the course.
Comments (2)Organic Waste Matters
Compost, Rehabilitation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Kym Kruse May 14, 2009
by Kym Kruse, of Free Range Permaculture
Next time you go to throw that banana peel in the bin, stop and think about the environmental impact that action has. As with most things these days, we are quickly running out of landfill space. More than 50% of all household waste, from vegetable scraps to garden waste, can be recycled or composted. By doing this you can not only help your own bank account, but also help the environment by reducing landfill contamination and greenhouse gases.
When organic matter in landfill breaks down it does so anaerobically, meaning without oxygen. This occurs because landfill is compressed, which squeezes out all the oxygen. Anaerobic decomposition produces acids which when mixed with items such as plastic creates a toxic mix called leachate. This poison then leaches into the ground water and from there it’s a short trip to our waterways. Harmful greenhouse gasses such as methane and carbon dioxide are also produced, which contribute to our climate change problems. All of that, just for throwing a banana peel in the bin? The answer is yes, but the other question is “What do we do about it?” The answer to that is simple.
Comments (1)Each Step is the Way – Part I
Biological Cleaning, Compost, Conservation, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Land, Rehabilitation, Swales, Trees, Waste Systems & Recycling, Waste Water, Water Harvesting — by David Perkins May 1, 2009
Editor’s Note: David Perkins recently sat his PDC with Geoff Lawton and Darren Doherty, and has been very busy since….
Recent developments at Kailash-Akhara, Adi Yoga Retreat Center, Phu Rua, Loei, Thailand.
By David Perkins (Dharmadeva) – Farm Manager and resident permaculture designer and educator at Kailash-Akhara.
This report provides an overview of many aspects of creating a retreat center and living sustainably using the principles of permaculture. Short monthly updates will be given to keep our wider community informed.
Training Hall & Papaya
Wonder Weeds
Animal Forage, Compost, Food Forests, Food Plants - Perennial, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology — by PIJ April 13, 2009
PIJ #63, June-Aug 1997
by Linda Woodrow
How to harvest weeds for their best nutrients
Sometimes gardening seems to me like alchemy. Organic material that is of no value to us is converted into organic material of high value, and, like alchemy, the process seems almost magic.
Soil micro-organisms and plants do the converting, but they can’t do it without something to convert. The role of humans is to set up the system, supply the raw materials, and harvest the product.
The first law of gardening is the law of conservation of matter
There are very many sources of organic matter, but the kinds I look for are rich in a wide range of nutrient elements, concentrated, easily collected, and easily converted. One source that beautifully satisfies all these requirements is weeds.
Comments (10)Community-Based Rainforest Restoration Work is Huge Success in Borneo
Aid Projects, Biodiversity, Community Projects, Deforestation, Demonstration Sites, Food Forests, Global Warming/Climate Change, Plant Systems, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Trees, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor March 30, 2009
In his twenty minute talk, Willie Smits (a Dutch forestry scientist who emigrated to Indonesia 20 years ago to help the country grow trees) explains how a chance encounter with a dying baby Orangutan changed the direction of his work – culminating not only in his creating the biggest orangutan rehabilitation center in the world, but also in restoring large tracts of rainforest in a community-based endeavour that is bringing work and prosperity to the people too.
The word ‘Permaculture’ is never mentioned in the following TED presentation, but the project that is the subject of this talk certainly contains many elements of Permaculture design. Among the spectacular results of the project is a documented cooling in local climate, increased cloud cover and rainfall, and a rapid increase in biodiversity of flora and fauna.
Keyline Design – Mark IV
Biological Cleaning, Conservation, Dams, Earth Banks, Gabions, Land, Limonia, Rehabilitation, Roads, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Surveying, Swales, Terraces, Water Harvesting — by Darren Doherty March 16, 2009
‘Soil, Water & Carbon for Every Farm’ – Building Soils, Harvesting Rainwater, Storing Carbon
by Abe Collins & Darren Doherty
Introduction
Keyline Design was first developed by the great Australian, P.A. Yeomans (1904-1984), in the late 1940s & 50s initially as a practical response to the unpredictable rainfall regime he found on his new property, ‘Nevallan’, to the west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Soil Conservation, as developed by the US Army Corp of Engineers was the predominant practice of the time and for a time Yeomans was influenced by this, though soon found some deficiencies with the pattern of water flow its application expressed. Yeomans went on to devote the rest of his life to the promotion, research and development of Keyline Design and in doing so was labelled by Permaculture co-originator Bill Mollison as "…one of Australia’s greatest patriots… ".
Influenced by the likes of prominent organic agriculture figures in Andre Voison, Friend Sykes, Newman Turner & Louis Bromfield (among many others!) Yeomans has been attributed with being the 1st person to accelerate soil formation through the stacking of methods, overturning the myth that it took 1,000 years to create an inch of topsoil. Yeomans proclaimed that "…the landman’s job is not so much to conserve soil as it is to develop soil, to improve his soil and to make it more fertile than it ever was…".
Comments (0)Report on our Iranian Consultancy Trip of December 2008
Aid Projects, Compost, Conservation, Courses/Workshops, Dams, Developments, Earth Banks, Gabions, Land, News, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Swales, Trees, Water Harvesting — by Geoff Lawton February 24, 2009
Editor’s Note: Iran has been making headlines in the media a great deal over the last few years. Here’s a side to the story you don’t normally get to hear, as experienced by our own Geoff Lawton.
We are applying Permaculture techniques to restore the landscape
in the hottest place on the planet
In December 2008 it was our great pleasure and honour to be invited to Iran to work for the Forest Rangeland Watershed Management Organisation, originally formed in 1928 (see Word doc on their work here). We were working with different departments of the organisation, like the Sand Dune Fixation Department that was formed in 1958 for the Bureau of Desert Affairs. All of this falls under the central government’s main organisation of Jihad Agriculture Ministry. We were invited to teach a 10-day Permaculture course focusing mainly on desert rehabilitation.
Comments (9)Greening the Desert Project Outcomes Profiled
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Conservation, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Land, News, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Swales, Water Harvesting — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor January 29, 2009
Most readers will be familiar with the awesome, seemingly miraculous work Geoff and Nadia Lawton accomplished with the ‘Greening the Desert‘ project in Jordan (not to be confused with the new Jordan Valley Permaculture Project, where completely new miracles are under way).
Well, this work has now been well profiled in the ProAct Network’s recent release:
The Role of Environmental Management in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, Annex I, Case Studies (4.69mb PDF). Jump to page #59 in Acrobat Reader, or #98 if you’re scrolling by page numbers.
If you’re looking for more practical details on what happened, and is happening, there on the ground – this document should hit the spot, as it were.
Thanks to Andrew Jones for bringing this to my attention.
Comments (3)Street Orchards for Community Security
Biological Cleaning, Community Projects, Conservation, Food Forests, Food Plants - Perennial, Land, Potable Water, Regional Water Cycle, Rehabilitation, Roads, Soil Conservation, Storm Water, Trees, Urban Projects, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling, Waste Water, Water Contaminaton & Loss, Water Harvesting — by Brad Lancaster January 19, 2009
© Brad Lancaster, www.HarvestingRainwater.com
 Fig. 24.The heat island effect. An excessively wide, exposed, solar-oven-like residential street in Tucson, Arizona absorbs the sun’s heat during the day like a battery, then radiates it out at night. This local warming effect has raised summer temperatures in Tucson by 6°F (3°C) since the 1940s, which contributes to global warming since the higher temperatures result in people using air conditioners more, which are powered by electricity generated through the burning of coal. Note that no shade trees are planted in the public right-of-way along the street, leaving street and sidewalk baked. All runoff is drained off site leaving the development dehydrated. Reproduced with permission from “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1" |
My view of public streets was radically changed when I heard ecovillage designer Max Lindigger tell a story of an insightful walk he took with his grandfather. “Look there,” said his grandfather, pointing to condominiums being built on the once forested slopes above his village in the Swiss Alps. “That’s where we grew and gathered food during the war. The forests were common land, a reserve of community resources. What commons remain? Where will we grow and gather our food in the next catastrophe?”
I then looked at my Sonoran desert city of Tucson, Arizona and asked myself, “Where are my community’s forests, our commons? Where would we get our food in times of need?”
Comments (5)Vetiver Grass – A Hedge Against Erosion
Food Plants - Perennial, Land, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Terraces — by Richard Webb
PIJ #54, March – May 1995
Soil erosion is perhaps the world’s most chronic environmental problem that is literally costing the earth. The soil it carries off now totals 20 billion tons a year and this loss is not only severely degrading the environment, it is eroding the economic viability of countries. Despite enormous effort, standard soil conservation methods have been largely unsuccessful. However, a remarkable tropical grass may hold the key to a cheap, practical solution for controlling soil erosion on a huge scale in tropical and semi-arid regions. It also has many attributes that make it useful to farmers.
Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanoides) is a densely tufted, perennial clump grass with stiff leaf bases which overlap.
Planting Trees and Managing Soils to Sequester Carbon
Deforestation, Global Warming/Climate Change, Rehabilitation, Trees — by Earth Policy Institute January 2, 2009
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
As of 2007, the shrinking forests in the tropical regions were releasing 2.2 billion tons of carbon per year. Meanwhile, expanding forests in the temperate regions were absorbing 0.7 billion tons of carbon annually. On balance, a net of some 1.5 billion tons of carbon were being released into the atmosphere each year, contributing to global warming.
Comments (2)Adaptable Acacias
Animal Forage, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Trees — by Leza Bennetts October 23, 2008
by Leza Bennetts and Erika Birmingham
Acacias are evergreen, nitrogen-fixing plants ranging in form from ground covers to tall trees. There are more than 1200 species worldwide.
There are many roles for acacias in permaculture design such as increasing soil fertility through nitrogen fixation, rehabilitation of degraded soils and in reforestation. They are useful for erosion control due to their rapid growth and effective seed dispersal, and many species sucker readily.
Most species are extremely hardy and drought tolerant and some are salt tolerant, making acacias particularly valuable in arid regions as timber, firewood, food and fodder for stock during drought.
Comments (2)Trees Giving Up Battle, But Sustainable Farming Offers Hope
Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Global Warming/Climate Change, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Trees — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor October 1, 2008
The silver bullet solution to climate change in many people’s book is to simply ‘plant a tree’. A recent study indicates that it might not be quite that simple…
Comments (2)The ability of forests to soak up man-made carbon dioxide is weakening, according to an analysis of two decades of data from more than 30 sites in the frozen north.
The finding published today is crucial, because it means that more of the CO2 we release will end up affecting the climate in the atmosphere rather than being safely locked away in trees or soil.
The results may partly explain recent studies suggesting that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected. If higher temperatures mean less carbon is soaked up by plants and microbes, global warming will accelerate.
Nitrogen Fixing Trees – The Multipurpose Pioneers
Animal Forage, Food Forests, Food Plants - Perennial, Fungi, Plant Systems, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Trees — by Craig Elevitch September 29, 2008
The myths about the wonders of nitrogen fixing trees are many. Craig Elevitch (see bio at bottom) and Kim Wilkinson explain how to use them effectively.
Nitrogen Fixing Trees for Permaculture
 Flowers of the leguminous tree, Kowhai, the national flower of New Zealand |
Nitrogen fixation is a pattern of nutrient cycling which has successfully been used in perennial agriculture for millennia. This article focuses on legumes, which are nitrogen fixers of particular importance in agriculture. Specifically, three legumes (nitrogen fixing trees, hereafter called NFTs) are especially valuable in subtropical and tropical permaculture. They can be integrated in a permaculture system to restore nutrient cycling and fertility self-reliance.
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