Permaculture

Occam's Grazer provides an introduction to Holistic Management and holistic grazing as well as many powerful insights, philosophies, and useful ideas from pe...

"... http://permies.com http://watershedconsulting.com Mark Vander Meer gives a presentation on soil science as it relates to forestry. Mark is a soil scientist who works as a wild restoration ecologist in Montana. His presentation focuses on soil restoration and is very much question driven ..."

"...Got raised beds with a path in between? Use curved steel mesh with each side in the closest sides of two beds to act as a trellis for vine plants, like beans and make a tunel over the path. Beans are ideal to grow in the garden as they are leguminous, which means they fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, which directly benefit neighbouring, nitrogen-hungry plants like cabbages and other leafy plants...."

The very interesting thing is that almost everywhere you go around the world where they still use small cutting hand tools (sickles), you will find tools that are almost the same — with a very similar size and similar curved shape.

This is by far the best and most cost effective method for water retention. The method you will use may vary depending on where you live. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. I’ll mention some good...

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk.

"...With chapters like ‘Crap Happens’, ‘Deep Shit’ and ‘A Day in the Life of a Turd’, this is sure to be an interesting book, albeit possibly not one to read over lunch?

With this wonderful substance piling up in all the wrong places (after all, we’re running out of clean water, and yet we’re crapping in it…), this taboo topic deserves a lot more attention than it gets. The book is now into its 3rd Edition...."

The Berkley Method.

"...an e-publication made possible by the Saville Foundation here in South Africa, written by Melveen Jackson. Their partnership is an example of what is possible when certain individuals are backed by opportunity and funds. To me it emphasizes the well-talked-of potential that permaculture has to flow out of our backyards and influence mainstream development. South Africa (and in this particular case, the province of KwaZulu-Natal), without doubt provides a great canvas on which to show these dynamics at work, so we get excited to see it happening in reality..."

Part of an amazing video series about Permaculture in practice with visits to real projects... In this 35 min video Geoff Lawton explains how productive a Permaculture Micro Urban garden can be... truly inspiring..

"...The creatures living in the soil are critical to soil health. They affect soil structure and therefore soil erosion and water availability. They can protect crops from pests and diseases. They are central to decomposition and nutrient cycling and therefore affect plant growth and amounts of pollutants in the environment. Finally, the soil is home to a large proportion of the world's genetic diversity...."

The home of permaculture news and information - collaborating to spread permaculture design systems internationally.

In 2009 we built standard key hole beds and then overlayed that design with drip line with preinstalled emitters on 12" centers rated at a flow of .6 gallons per hour.  According to the literature, each emitter will water a hemisphere approximately 18" in radius depending on how long the water is on and the type of soil.  We had no problem with lack of water in any of our sheet mulched beds but the configuration of the bed in relation to the drip line meant that we were watering areas between beds that were not intended for planting in the original design.

The Olla (pronounced  (Oy-ya) irrigation system is an ancient practice, and very simple in concept. Ollas are made of unglazed terracotta and filled with water, which seeps through the walls.The olla is buried in the ground next to the roots of the plant to be irrigated, with the neck of the olla extending above the soil.

http://www.permacultureplanet.com Bill Mollison Father of Permaculture Shares his Wisdom on Dryland Systems, to find out more about Bill and his work please ...

Watch the Full Video for FREE http://www.geofflawton.net/crisis/?10004 Clip from the new "Surviving Collapse - Designing your way to Abundance" is a story on...

For 4,000 years, human excrements and urine were considered extremely valuable trade products in China, Korea and Japan.

"....beneficial partnerships are the way of nature. In particular, some microbes (Frankia and Rhizobium) form associations with certain plants allowing them to fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use. These symbiotic partners can help us to rehabilitate damaged landscapes, preparing the soil for a succession of more long-term plants...."

The Summer School was organised by the Technological Educational Institute of Lamia and took place July 4-15, at Pallas Athena building, in Kefalari, Athens. Co-organisers were the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Universities of Florence, Italy, and Extremadura, Spain. It was attended by 34 postgraduate students, PhD students and young scientists, who attended the lectures of 27 lecturers on agroforestry. Apart from the lectures, the program included also a two-day field trip to Ileia Prefecture.

The course Introduction to Sustainability by Jonathan Tomkin from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be offered free of charge to everyone on th...