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Regenerative Agriculture: Three Days with Darren Doherty

Harry Wykman — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:40:37 +0000

Recently, I had the privilege of attending a course in regenerative agriculture strategies with Darren Doherty. The course was structured by an interpretation of the Keyline Scale of Permanance with a couple of additional items:

Climate
Geography
Water
Access
Forestry
Buildings
Fencing
Soils
PolyMarketing
Energy

The Keyline framework was used to introduce a suite of regenerative strategies, including:

Holistic Management;
Pasture Cropping;
Biofertilisers and Chromatography;
Mycorestoration;
Regenerative Forestry;
WET Systems;
Effective Micro-organisms;
Induced Meandering for Riparian Restoration;
No-kill Cropping;
Agroforestry; and
Natural Sequence Farming

As well as all this, we saw a Keyline plough in action in a West Sussex pasture.

Why is all this so exciting? To my mind, an approach to agriculture that creates systems which build biological capacity in the form of soil, biomass, biodiversity and balanced natural and human managed ecosystems (agroecosystems) is the foundation of the possibility of our flourishing in the earth. And it is interesting and fun. What more exciting thing is there to do in the world than to join with those natural forces which would produce abundance with ecological health; to foster productive systems which teem with life and invite others to join in this creative work.

Darren presented people throughout the world who have been involved in this work with beautiful and profitable results. Profit, in these cases, is gained while ecological health is improved. There is still the issue of to whom those profits might rightfully accumulate or with whom they are most properly shared, but that will be a subject for another day. While I am working the most part of every day to build a barn to store some cereals, I have to hold back on exploring all that I am learning and thinking about. I have written a little bit about some of these people and strategies here before (holistic management, pasture cropping, keyline design, agroforestry). Some of the others strategies in the above list will be the subject of future posts. Some of Darren’s own ideas were also very provocative and will doubtless find their way here in the near future. For now, I have to get off to bed so that many years of work in gathering and multipying diverse cereals are not exposed to rain and sun and lost before we get a barn built.

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Keyline: More Than Water Harvesting

Harry Wykman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:38:27 +0000

“We are discovering a new Australia! As yet, few Australians have seen it.” - P. A. Yeomans

Percival Alfred Yeomans is a greatly underappreciated figure in Australia’s history. This is the conclusion to which I have come while reading “The Challenge of Landscape” in preparation for a course in regenerative agriculture in West Sussex this week. Yeomans developed a system of landscape development which dramatically and quickly improves even very poor agricultural land by considering and working with landscape pattern. Within permaculture, the keyline system is often misunderstood or treated vaguely as simply a water harvesting technique, amongst other things. Like permaculture, however, keyline is principally about design — “… from pattern to detail.”

As a mining engineer, Yeomans came to farming with a unique outlook. He poured over maps, particularly contour maps, with the idea that there must be some pattern which would allow him to work cooperatively with nature’s forces. Allan Yeomans, his son, writes in the introduction to “The Challenge of Landscape”:

“He discovered that a contour line, that ran through that point of a valley, where the steepness of the valley floor suddenly increased, had unique properties. Starting from this line, and cultivating parallel to it, both, above the line, and below the line, produced off contour furrows, which selectively drifted water out of the erosion vulnerable valley. He named this contour “The Keyline”. The entire system became “The Keyline System”.”

Water is primary within the Keyline System but only because it is the first thing over which we may exercise some significant influence in what Yeomans calls “The Keyline scale of relative permanence of things agricultural.” What is more succinctly known as “The Keyline Scale of Permanence” includes:

Climate
Land shape
Water supply
Farm roads
Trees
Permanent buildings
Subdivision fences
Soil

One of Yeomans’ most important insights in comparison to his agricultural contemporaries was the recognition that soil can be built quickly. With something of a prophetic ring, he announces:

“Soil will improve until Australian soil everywhere is richer and deeper than nature has ever provided.”

Nevertheless, soil is last on the Keyline scale because, though most important, it is the least permanent. Yeomans sees soil improvement and fertility in general as a function of other more permanent factors with which we must first work:

“If the effect of climate on soil is fully understood, I believe we have a basic knowledge that will enable us to increase the fertility and productivity of any natural soil … While there are many ways of worsening the soil climate to reduce fertility of soil, and we have no doubt employed them all, there are, in my opinion, as many ways of improving the soil climate and increasing fertility … The fertility of good soil can be destroyed before a line of fenceposts will rot. A poor soil can be changed into a highly fertile soil in about a tenth of this time.”

This rapid improvement is achieved through adressing the items on the scale over which we have control in turn, beginning with the foundation of water:

“With full water control from Keyline planning, the farm environment improves, the soil improves; the pasture, crops and stock improve in health and their numbers may increase many fold with the growing capacity of the property.”

Keyline, then, while emplyoying amazing techniques for slowing, speading and sinking water into the landscape, is not just a technique. It is a system of planning or design for increasing fertility through harvesting sunlight while facilitating sensible placement of agricultural elements in accordance with their relative permanence. We’ll get into the geometry and detail of keyline in future posts — for now, here are some links with great information about Keyline design:

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A Few Keyline Resources

Harry Wykman — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:04:26 +0000

I have been lax in my posts. My intention has been to post each week on a Tuesday but I have been working very long days on the farm and getting little time for writing.

So, excuses aside, I have decided to make a less-than-substantial post which points to some resources I have recently created on the back of other people’s generosity.

Next week, I am going to be attending to course on regenerative agriculture with Darren Doherty. As far as I can tell, the course follows essentially the Keyline Scale of Permanance. Some of the key texts in the ‘recommended reading’ list are three which Steve Soloman of the fantastic Soil and Health Library has made available with the permission of Alan Yeomans — one of the sons of the indomitable Percival Alfred Yeomans, the author of these three works.

I wanted to be able to read these books on my e-reader, so using ‘wget’, a GNU / Linux command line tool, I downloaded the full illustrated HTML and, using Calibre, an open source e-book manager, I converted the texts to .epub format, a free and open standard for e-books.

Just in case anyone else finds illustrated HTML as frustrating as I do, I am making the .epub versions of the books available here:

Thanks again to Alan Yeomans for giving permission for the Soil and Health Library to host these important works. If you appreciate them, why not buy a hardcopy of Yeomans’ classic work “Water for Every Farm” to show your gratitude.

If you’re interested in the idea that free e-books could improve sales of hardcopy books, check out Cory Doctorow’s book ‘Content’, available as a free e-book or audio book on his site craphound.com.

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What is Permaculture? An Historic Response

Harry Wykman — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:00:00 +0000

When introducing myself, I inevitably mention permaculture. I then conduct a careful scan of my conversation partner, looking for signs of recognition or bafflement. Very often, this situation is followed by the question ‘Permaculture? What is that?’ and more often than not I find myself answering historically.

Permaculture is about design. However, permaculture is a design system with a particular historical analysis. This analysis involves three very broad swathes of history centred on the current period of high energy — pre-industrial, industrial and a hoped-for future time characterised by design.

Pre-industrial life, excepting some energy excess of imperial powers, is largely characterised by a low-energy, labour intensive life and limited exploitation of natural resources.

Industrial life is characterised by a high energy, low labour and resource intensive life.

Permaculture envisions the possibility of and looks forward to a life which is characterised by relatively less labour and dramatically lower resource use than industrial life — a knowledge-intensive or design-intensive life.

This design-intensive future is made possible by the purview afforded by the present energy peak. The degree to which we can come to know about other people and places in time and space is an unprecedented product of the high energy age. Permaculture seeks to use a knowledge low energy systems of the past and present to design low-energy systems for the present and future which possess the advantages of both the pre-industrial and industrial periods of the past without destroying the ecological foundations of human society.

The reason I have come to use this explanation most often is because of how exciting and expansive this vision is. It encompasses all the strategies of low energy life from holistic management to bio-intensive gardens; eco-building to fab-labs; cooperatives and communities to creative commons and free culture. Permaculture is a meta-framework and foundation for the development of a satisfying life exploitative of neither person nor place — a life within ecological limits.

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DIY Biological Innocuant: Using Indigenous Micro-Organisms (IMOs)

Harry Wykman — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:45:29 +0000

I had heard of effective microorganisms (EM) before and I had the impression that I would be paying a lot for something quite simple. I am always suspicious of things which require money rather than knowledge and effort. Thanks to Itai Dolev Hauben from Costa Rica and Rico Zook from New Mexico, I discovered that my suspicion of EM was unfounded.

According to Itai, the man who developed the powerful cocktail of organisms which came to be known as effective microorganisms, Teruo Higa, wanted the information about how to cultivate this melange to be spread far and wide. Itai gave a great workshop on the first day of the International Permaculture Convergence in which he outlined a recipe for EM. Rico coined a name for the cocktail which I really like —indigenous microorganisms, or IMOs. Rico’s name captures some of the significance of this process — it can be done by anyone with locally available materials to cultivate a tremendously useful set of microorganisms which are indigenous to a particular place. It is to the great credit of Teruo Higa that he recognised that such a powerful process ought not be kept from anyone.

Why are IMOs Useful?

IMOs cultivated according to this process are extremely versatile. It seems that there are few things which are not benefited by their presence. They can be

… used as a foliar or soil spray to promote plant health,
… added to animal feeds for healthier animals,
… added to a a composting toilet or kitchen food waste bin to stop bad smells and aid decomposition, and
… added to pond water to maintain living, healthy water.

How to Cultivate IMOs

Now for the recipe. This one is for a 55 gallon drum batch. The same proportions can be used for a batch of any size:

Ingredients:

25 L of mulch, manure, soil, leaf litter and healthy (white / off white) fungal strands from healthy ecosystems
25 L of rice semolina (or equivalent)
25 L wheat bran
25 L powdered charcoal
50 L rice husk / wheat husk OR softwood sawdust
200 g bakers’ / brewers’ yeast
2 L raw milk
3 - 5 L molasses / cane sugar / brown sugar / silan (or equivalent)

Combine ingredients and check that the moisture level is that of a squeezed out sponge (like an ideal compost moisture level).
Put in drum / container with an airlock (simple plans for this soon).
Allow to ferment for approximately one week or until bubbling stops (time will vary with climatic conditions).
Open drum. The mix should have a pleasant smell.
Dry the mix slowly in the shade for later use; use directly on soil, in animal feed, kitchen waste or composting toilet; or make up a liquid mix (1 kg dry mix, 1/2 litre molasses, 20 L water) for foliar or soil application.

Thanks again to Itai for sharing your knowledge.

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The Underground Forest: Using Biodiversity to Help People

Harry Wykman — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:10:29 +0000

One of the highlights of the tenth International Permaculture Convergence was meeting Tony Rinaudo of World Vision Australia. Tony is a living example of the posture required for the development of truly regenerative systems. Tony has come to see patterns of people, plants and landscape which allow deserts to grow trees again. He does this by opening himself to the voice of the land.

While working in Niger, Tony noticed that what appeared to be small shrubs were in fact trees which had been coppiced by continuous grazing pressure, firewood harvesting and the impulse of farmers to keep crop land free of trees. Tony calls these trees ‘the underground forest.’

‘Do you speak tree?’

Rather than continue to plant trees at great expense only to have them die, Tony began to work with the natural processes which would allow this underground forest to grow. He says that it is necessary to learn to speak a new language — ‘Tree’. Not knowing whether it would work but trusting the natural fecundity the land, Tony worked with some farmers to select particular healthy stems, remove all but one to five of the remainder, cull to the required number of trees per hectrare and prune to promote healthy growth. This simple approach Tony calls Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). FMNR is based on

“… the systematic regeneration of living tree stumps, roots and seeds.”

In Niger, 5 million hectares have been reafforested in the last 20 years using FMNR. This change can be seen from space as a spread of green where once there was a growing desert. Niger, as a result of FMNR, is the only African country with net afforestation.

‘It’s not a bad thing to be ignorant.’

I listened to and spoke with Tony several times over the course of the convergence and what became clear is that Tony is not just peddling a technique. At the beginning I mentioned Tony’s ‘posture’. Tony’s posture is one of enquiry, not expertise; listening, not just advising. This same posture comes to characterise the farmers with whom Tony works. Each community or farmer does things slightly differently according to their circumstances. Where Tony recommended keeping a maximum of 20 - 40 stems per hectare, some farmers have begun to leave 100 - 150 stems per hectare with an increase in their crop yield. They have found out what works through their own observations of natural regenerative processes.

Using Biodiversity to Help People

The trees and shrubs which grow up from the underground forest are the native species which have sometimes not been seen for decades. As a result, the community comes to have not only double or triple the crop yield between the trees but also tree fruits and nuts, medicines, firewood, fodder and shade for livestock and habitat and food for birds and insects which bring fertility and other ecosystem services. FMNR allows for the regeneration of biodiversity and so also the regeneration and maintenance of ethnobotanical knowledge which might have dried up with the desert.

FMNR is almost scandalous in its simplicity. Working with nature, Tony has been able to be a co-creator with that force which lies at the heart of nature and would produce abundance. It was a great privilege to meet Tony and to learn about his work. FMNR is one of the best examples of permaculture in practice and gives me great hope for the future.

Tony also has a lot to share about edible Acacias but that is another story altogether and a post for another day.

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Brad Lancaster on Rainwater Harvesting - Day 1 of IPC10: Slow, Spread, Sink.

Harry Wykman — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:07:58 +0000

Beginning with the questions

“What is the story of your place?” and “What is the story of its water?”

Brad Lancaster began to tell two tales of water — a degenerative story and a regenerative story.

A Degenerative Story: “The Hydrophobic Society”

Showing images of urban landscapes designed to hasten the movement of water from those landscapes, Brad suggested that these landscapes were indicators of a “hydrophobic society.”

Not only is water wasted by this hydrophobia but the risk of flooding is increased 10 fold when paved, concreted and otherwise sealed areas feed the ‘dehydration infrastructure’ designed to solved the ‘problem’ of water inundation in drylands.

“Distance is energy”

The result of seeing rainwater as a problem which must be drained is waste and, therefore, expense. More rain falls on Brad’s home, Tucson, Arizona, than is necessary for drinking, washing, food production and industry — all of Tucson’s water needs. Yet the pumping and transportation of water from the Colorado river is the largest consumer of electricity and the largest single source producer of carbon. Waste creates expense — “distance is energy.”

A Regenerative Story: “Run off” to “run on” which is “right on.”

In Tucson 3,000,000 l of water falls on each kilometer of sealed road each year. Outside of their house, Brad and his brother began to use some of this water to irrigate native mesquite trees on their verge. The kerb was cut to allow the water from the road to ‘run on’ into the mulched basins in which the trees were then able to grow. Sufficient water falls on the roads of Tucson to passively irrigate a mesquite tree in a mulched basin every 8m. Recently, these mulched basins have been found to host a soil ecology approaching that of an established forest in comparison to the surrounding, relatively dead and degraded soils. Where mesquites have been grown in this way, local people have been able to earn $25 an hour picking mesquite pods to be processed into a naturally sweet flour and made into many kinds of food for sale. This is one example of the creation of a regenerative system which turns ‘run off’ into ‘run on’ while increasing biodiversity, growing shade, food, community and livelihood. These basins are examples of ‘infiltration infrastructure’ — ‘rehydration infrastructure.’

“Show the flow”

Mulched basins and other water harvesting earthworks which are a part of rehydration infrastructure not only catch rainwater where it falls but are also able to receive greywater. Brad prefers to keep the greywater outlet pipe above the mulch level to prevent it being blocked up by roots and to ‘show the flow.’ I know that washing day is an exciting time at my house. There is something special about seeing this productive use of water which would otherwise go to waste.

“Plant the rain and the plants will plant themselves.”

Brad emphasised that we must:

“Slow. Spread. Sink!” rather than “Pave. Pipe. Pollute.”

By slowing water and allowing it to spead out and infiltrate, the earth responds with growth. Native and productive trees planted with an awareness of the the rainwater harvesting budget of a site can provide shade, food, biodiversity and many other benefits. Water is the beginning of the creation of regenerateive landscapes which provide many yields while improving ecological health.

Brad closed an inspiring talk with the suggestion that we all have a role to play in the story of water in our landscapes. We can choose the story and we can choose the role. Degenerative or regenerative? Not a hard choice, really.

Watch Brad’s talk from the live streaming of IPC10.
Brad’s books: Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands - Volume One - Volume Two.

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Water for Life: Towards Jordan and IPC10

Harry Wykman — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Water is the condition of life. Without it organisms from bacteria to birds of prey can neither flourish nor survive. For Sepp Holzer

“wasser ist leben.” (water is life.)

For Brad Lancaster

“Rain is the embodiment of life.” — Rainwater Harvesting For Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1, p. 1

Water can be a limiting factor in plant growth and ecosystem function where it is scarce or irregular and water can be a powerful destructive force in the form of flooding, soil erosion and waterlogging where it occurs in great quantity or in disturbed ecosystems.

For P. A. Yeomans

“There can be no satisfactory or permanent agriculture without permanent water supply.”

Yeomans developed a system of design called Keyline which conserves and utilses water where it has hitherto been scarce and, where it is in relative superfluity, directs and distributes its otherwise destructive flow. These possibilities open up from an understanding of pattern in landscape. Increasing moisture or improving drainage improves the biological capacity of a place and its potential to produce yields for human use without ecosystem degredation.

The tremendous value of water combined with the perception of its scarcity derived from its waste makes it a contested resource. The potential for conflict over water will only icrease in the near future with continued misuse and pollution of water and with the desire for big solutions to the problems of climate change, peak oil and the collapse of biological systems. For Vandana Shiva

“Water is a commons because it is the ecological basis of all life.” — quoted in Lancaster, Rainwater Harvesting For Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1, p. 16

Water is the theme of this year’s International Permaculture Conference and Convergence in Jordan. There are few better place to consider the human relationship with low energy water harvesting than the home of the Nabateans — an ancient people who created a desert civilization founded on rain water harvesting and conservation.

Only the propagation of methods like those outlined by Yeomans in his works on Keyline or those made eminently accessible by Brad Lancaster in his works on water harvesting earthworks for dryands hold the possibility of avoiding the commodification of and conflict over water which will ensue if all people are not empowered to catch rain where it falls, improve the land of which they are stewards and, on that foundation, develop secure livelihoods.

I hope to learn more about these vital strategies over the coming weeks in Jordan and in Palestine. I will be sharing here what I can of the things I learn during the conference and convergence and in the ensuing time. There is also the possibility of seeing and hearing some of what is going on at IPC10 by having a look at the live streaming.

Water will be a bit of a theme and there may be a bit more action that usual at Perennial Ideas from now up to and after the keyline and regenerative agriculture workshop I will be doing with Darren Doherty of RegenAg and Australia Felix Permaculture in November so check back soon or subscribe to keep up with news from IPC10 and the upcoming regenerative agriculture course.

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Mycorrhizal Associations: The Web Resource

Harry Wykman — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:00:00 +0000

I have been researching mycorrhizal associations with cereal crops as a part of my work with John Letts at the Heritage Cereals Institute and I stumbled upon this amazing resource:

MYCORRHIZAL ASSOCIATIONS: The Web Resource

What is really cool is that it is a Western Australian initiative and funded by the Lotteries Commission of WA.

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Bread and Beer: Cereals in Permaculture?

Harry Wykman — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 02:00:00 +0000

“Without bread, all is misery.” — William Cobbett, Cottage Economy

“…really good bread is a thing of so much importance, that it always ought to be the very first object in domestic economy.”—William Cobbett, Cottage Economy

“A judicious labourer would probably always have some ale in his house, and have small beer for the general drink.” — William Cobbett, Cottage Economy

Since returning to Oxford after travelling in Spain, I have been working on a small farm in Buckinghamshire assisting with the production of cereal crops for grain and thatch. John Letts, whom I am helping, is an archeobotanist who has returned to his farming roots to grow some of the ancient grains he studied academically. We have recently been joined by Joy Hought who is completing her masters in Agroecology. As we have talked and worked, I have been considering the place of cereals within a permaculture. These reflections would not have been possible without the convivial conversation of happy farm workers. I am indebted to the John and Joy for their insights.

Humans began, for better or worse, to develop a closer relationship to grasses around 17,000 BCE with the harvesting of grain from wild populations in the areas surrounding the Tigris, Euphrates and the Nile rivers — aka. the Fertile Crescent. This was followed by the transition to agriculture and settlement — the so called ‘Neolithic Revolution’ — around 9000 BCE.

These facts imply one answer to the question “why cereals?” — Most humans have formed deep preferences for foods derived from cereals; bread and beer, for example. Bread and beer have been around since humans began to process cereals. These two items stand as symbols of the way in which cereals have been embedded in human culture for millenia. The quotes from William Cobbett above illustrate just how strong can be the preference for cereals products — and I certainly wont disagree on the value of these two items of food and drink. This deep cultural preference for cereals is one of the many reasons why the embrace of food derived from perennial plants is likely to be a slow one.

There are other, less contingent, reasons that cereals are and have been so highly valued, including:

high calorific value;
high protein content / nutritional value;
storability; and
the ability provide a quick yield relative to perennial crops of similar value.

In his Cottage Economy, William Cobbett compares potatoes with wheat and suggests that a bushel of wheat will yield sixty five pounds of nutritious matter as bread where the same volume of potatoes will yield only five and a half pounds of equivalent material. That is, according to Cobbett (and I would appreciate being pointed to a more recent source!), by volume, wheat is near to 12 times more valuable than potatoes as a staple. The nutrient density of wheat means that it requires less storage space and land for its growth than an equivalent in potatoes.

All but the final of these values intrinsic to cereals apply to perennial yields like acorns or chestnuts. The establishment time of these valuable crops is a significant disadvantage and again we encounter the problem of established cultural patterns and preferences as such foods are less easily rendered into something appealing in most cultures.

This first step of analysis suggests that cereals, given their value and in accord with the need to “obtain a yield” might at least find a place in the early stages of the development of a permaculture as the transition to a more stable perennial system and set of cultural patterns is developed. But could cereals also be a part of the long-term design of a permaculture? David Harris elegantly describes the crux of the problem of historical cereal culture:

“…once land clearance and tillage is practiced regularly on more than a very small scale, the energy-input demands of the system increase substantially.” — David R. Harris, ‘An evolutionary continuum of people-plant interaction’, Foraging and Farming, 1989

The continuous disturbance regime of ploughing and its associated impacts is the problem of most cereal culture.

The incorporation of cereals into the long-term stability of a permaculture requires a regenerative grain culture. Larry Korn reports that

“Until Bill Mollison read The One-Straw Revolution he said he had no idea of how to include grain growing in his permaculture designs. All the agricultural models involved plowing the soil, a practice he does not agree with.” — Larry Korn, Masanobu Fukuoka’s Natural Farming and Permaculture, 2003

Masanobu Fukuoka’s methods were revelatory to Mollison because they were able to give a grain yield equivalent or greater than the neighbouring farmers who were using conventional methods while continuously improving rather than destroying the health (ie. the life) of the soil by tillage. Since this early recognition of the possibility of cereals within permaculture, other cropping systems have been developed, notably pasture cropping. The folk from Milkwood Permaculture have very recently outlined the way in which pasture cropping opens up the possibility of a regenerative cereal culture:

“Pasture cropping sows crops (like oats, rye, wheat) into perennial pastures. The crop is raised and then harvested, leaving the stubble standing in pasture, with no bare ground or tillage involved. That pasture is then grazed within a holistic management style regime with sheep, which suppresses the pasture plants growth while increasing their root mass, species diversity and creating impressive amounts of topsoil. And that regime is followed by another crop.”

Like Fukuoka’s methods, pasture cropping does not disturb the soil in the way that a plough agriculture does but it is much more suitable for (though not limited to) dry or ‘brittle’ landscapes where herbivores perform important nutrient cycling functions. In addition, the stable ground cover ecology deals with the nuisance plants which otherwise inhabit a distubance ecology (aka. ‘weeds’).

I am coming to learn that these systems are not enough by themselves, however. I have found myself in the unique position of being able to learn, from a man named John Letts, about the additional dimension of plant genetics and its importance for low-energy systems. John has been searching out and developing cereals which are genetically superior in low input systems. No, its not GM; its back to the future of ancient and old grain species and varieties.

Agricultural crops are products of the agroecosystem in which they are grown. Modern cereals are bred for use in systems with high levels of soluble nutrient and to meet the needs of industrialised processing industries (eg. baking, oil production etc. etc.). The so called “Green Revolution” was ushered in by the development of cereals which were shorter, less competitive amongst themselves and which could most rapidly convert soluble nutrient large yields of high protein grain.

Most modern cereals, then, are precisely those which will be disadvantaged in any low input, regenerative system which relies on a biological pathway from organically complexed (and so stable) soil nutrients to the crop. In fact, trials in the early 80’s (Austin 1980 - ‘Genetic Improvements in winter wheat yields since 1900 and associated physiological changes’) showed that older varieties of wheat, on average, had a higher percentage of nitrogen (protein) in individual grains than the newer modern varieties in both low and high input conditions. The lower yields of the older varieties means that there is, on average, a lower overall percentage of nitrogen than the modern varieties. To the cheap energy mind this latter point is the more important. Low yield of an individual crop in a complex system with a high aggregate yield has never been an problem for the cultivator of permacultures.

Having sourced thousands of genetically distinct samples of old cereal varieties from gene banks around the world, John Letts is developing genetically diverse cereal populations suited to his region. This redevelopment of genetically diverse landraces is a foundational work of each place in which a regenerative cereal culture is sought. Nick Romanowski has begun this work for the eastern states of Australia but as far as I am aware, no one in the Western Australian wheat belt is developing such endemic cereal populations.

John says that:

“Older varieties of wheat are lower yielding, but they are also hardier, and produce grain with good gluten content as well as tall, strong straw perfect for use as thatch. They also grow better and are more reliable than modern varieties in low input/organic conditions. The biodiversity of our fields helps keep them free of disease, and the tall stems and large leaves helps choke out weeds.” — John Letts, Interview with the Real Bread Campaign

Such old varieties in conversation with the particularities of climate and land within no tillage cropping systems are the next best thing to high yielding perennial grains grown in polyculture. This latter breeding project is being undertaken by Wes Jackson and The Land Institute. Jackson says that

“If we’re to solve the 10,000-year-old problem of agriculture, we’re going to have to perennialize the major crops and put them in mixtures so that we can bring the processes of the wild to the farm.” — Wes Jackson, Q&A, Mother Jones, Oct, 2008

Cereals don’t get much more permaculture than that but high yielding perennial mixtures are yet some time off. In the mean time, we must ‘obtain a yield’ and the best approach I can see is the combination of zero-till cropping systems like pasture cropping and natural farming with ancient and old species and varieties of cereals grown in landrace populations or mixtures. There is certainly a place for cereals within permaculture.

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Sepp Holzer and the Water Landscape of Tamera

Harry Wykman — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:00:00 +0000

The morning swim in the creatively named “Lake One” at Tamera was one of my favorite parts of the time I spent in Portugal. If “Lake One” has something of the revolutionary resonance of “year one” it would not be wholly inappropriate. This first and (currently) largest of the rain-fed water retention basins at Tamera is, for the Tamerans, the first in the movement to re-hydrate the landscapes of Tamera, Portugal and the dry lands of the world.

These large expanses of water are striking in semi-arid Mediterranean climate Portugal. They are the result of the Tamerans working with Sepp Holzer to develop a permaculture which will sustain the several hundred residents of Tamera and become a model for Portugal and elsewhere. The Tamerans live where Portugal’s cork oaks (Quercus suber) once dominated the landscape as a part of a stable relationship between people, pigs and trees. Where this most stable Mediterranean climate agroecosystems once existed, the land is now undergoing desertification.

The Tamerans are trying to develop such a stable agroecosystem again — they call it a healing biotope. They are starting with water. And where better to begin? Following Sepp Holzer’s methods, the Tamerans have created a series of large water retention spaces along with other smaller water harvesting and water distributing earthworks.

Surrounding Lake One are terraces of vegetables and fruit tree polycultures. Experiments in hugelkultur are also being conducted next to the retention basins.

A more recent basin is surrounded by fruit trees only. Trees are densely planted on small finger berms which allow for passive irrigation on the low side of the basin. On the high side trees are planted along or below a small off-contour distribution swale with micro check dams to slow the water and encourage infiltration. These swales are fed by pumps and irrigation lines from the dam.

The Tamerans appear to be working from a different tradition of water landscaping than that represented by the Keyline tradition. Influenced by Holzer and by writers like Viktor Schauberger, the Tamerans see water as a living thing which must remain vital as it moves through a living landscape — the ‘earth body’. To my eyes there were signs of some destructive patterns and underutilsed resources — things which might have been avoided by greater familiarity with the writings of P. A. Yeomans, more recent works like Brad Lancaster’s books on Rainwater Harvesting in Drylands and the work of practitioners such as Darren Doherty of RegenAg. These signs included the erosion patterns which were visible below the overflows of the retention basins, the relative lack of small scale earthworks like basins for individual trees and insignificant greywater systems given the number of people on the land. Nevertheless, the intuitive approach taken by the Tamerans has resulted in a beautiful place which is rapidly undergoing regeneration.

Every effort is needed to hydrate and re-hydrate dry landscapes to make best use of the resources of soil and sunlight and to ensure the continued function of these often delicate but important ecologies. The water landscapes of Tamera represent a significant movement towards such landscape regeneration.

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Vines, olives, wheat and walnuts et. al.

Harry Wykman — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 02:00:00 +0000

The landscape of much of the Rioja district of northern Spain is characterised by ´patchiness´. Patches of vines, patches of olives and wheat and occasional patches or borders of walnuts or almonds or even apples if there is an irrigation ditch. Wine, olives, oil, bread, walnuts, fruit and vegetables. Not a bad subsistence diet. The contrast is stark between this area and, for example, the Margaret River wine region or the wheat belt of Western Australia. No doubt it is a function of their different histories. Western Australia's resource extracting history need not determine its future, however. Indeed it must not. Western Australia has a lot from its older Mediterranean sibling.

The wines of the Rioja were no doubt widely traded following the establishment of vines in the area by the Phoenicians and the Romans. This did not keep the Rioja cultivator of the vine-tree from developing a robust set of crops. By contrast, the export crops of wheat and wine in Western Australia developed in an historical, geological and geographical context which discouraged such diversity.

The patterns of the Rioja are mostly monocultural paired with the common Mediterranean climate weed- and fire-prevention strategy of absolutely bare earth. Irrigation is mostly by flooding. There are few of the earthworks which might dramatically improve this landscape.

Despite these limitations, the patchy diversity of the Rioja is striking. The patchiness is formed by small monocultures of perennial and annual staple crops. Complemented by the home vegetable gardens which are frequent in the towns and on their outskirts, these patches signify a remarkably coherent cultural and agricultural landscape.

After thousands of years of agricultural productivity, there are signs in the Rioja of the monoculture of the mind by which most of modern agriculture is characterised. In comparison to the steady degredation and destruction of the delicate Western Australian ecosystems, however, the Rioja is a model of stability.

There will yet be a day when patches of perennial polyculture characterise Western Australian agriculture. There is much to learn from Spain and other places with Mediterranean climates in which delicate and infertile soil, scarce and irregular water and intense insolation have been the conditions under which human interaction has yielded millenia of stable productivity.

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Espalier, grazing and grapes: Use edges and value the marginal

Harry Wykman — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:38:49 +0000

Miniature horses grazing the roadside in the Basque country of the Pyrenées.
Edges can be dynamic, productive places and they can be neglected or marginal places. These photos represent good use of edges which might otherwise be wasted to sustain horses, maintain the roadside (ie. low energy mowing) and to grow fruit.

Espaliered apple trees on the edge of a vineyard.

Grapes and fruit trees between pylons of aquaduct in a grain field.

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Spanish Solar Harvest (with a bit of wind): Catch and Store Energy

Harry Wykman — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:19:18 +0000

Home vegetable garden and wood pile.
At the moment, I have the special pleasure of walking in northern Spain. As such, I have little internet access. I have decided that I am going to keep more of a photo blog while I am walking with reflections on David Holmgren´s permaculture principles.

A Basque wood pile.

As might be expected in a rural area, there are many instances of the ´power principles´ — ´obtain a yield´ and ´catch and store energy´. In the Basque country of Spain, very neatly stacked wood piles are commonplace, as is the home vegetable garden (vegetable garden photos to come). Here are a couple of other examples of catching and storing energy:

A harvest of sun and wind, low tech and high tech: piles of straw with wind turbines in the background

Derelict beech coppice (Fagus sylvatica) in the temperate Pyrenees.

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Forest Gardening with Martin Crawford

Harry Wykman — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Martin Crawford is the most experienced forest gardener in the modern tradition of temperate climate forest gardening. Martin has been developing his forest garden on the Dartington estate in Devon in the UK since 1993 — for 18years. What began as 2.1 acres (0.85 ha) of pasture land is now a garden in many layers which provides a diversity of nutrient dense human food and other goods while building soil and providing a refuge for biodiversity. According to Rob Hopkins of the Tranition Network, Martin

“…has made the single most extraordinary contribution to what makes a forest garden actually work.” — Rob Hopkins in the preface to Creating a Forest Garden

I was very lucky to spend some time with Martin this last weekend. Twenty four other people joined me on Saturday morning in the Dartington church hall to learn from Martin and his forest garden about providing for human needs by gardening in three dimensions. The two day workshop consisted of Martin detailing the essentials of forest gardening according to his experience and several daily visits to the nearby forest garden site to see how things worked out in practice. The Devon weather was uncharacteristically fine so we were able to spend most of our time in the forest garden.

On each visit to the forest garden Martin would focus on different forest garden elements: hedges and shelter; the canopy layer; the shrub, herb and groundcover layer; ponds; vines; edible mushrooms and mycorrhizal fungi and useful tools for forest gardening.

The focus of the course was design. It is design which makes Martin’s forest garden such an important example. In contrast to Robert Hart, the initator of the modern forest garden concept and Martin’s principal inspiration, Martin has designed his forest garden with great care. Martin says:

“In a forest garden, we allow the plants to do what they want … its not completely wild, its all pretty managed, but lightly.”

This lightly managed wildness allows plants to meet their own needs and to have their needs met by other plants and animals. At the same time these plants are generating products for human use and improving the soil. This requires very careful design. For Martin, the most important thing is to “start at the top”. He goes on to say:

“I regard canopy design as the most important because the canopy most of all effects everything else.”

As a result of careful design, not much of Martin’s original canopy design has changed — a couple of trees removed, a couple of deaths and a few new plantings. Martin is still experimenting with the groundcover and herbal layers of the garden, trying to find the best combinations of plants. His forest garden is experiemental. It is not designed for maximum yield. Forest gardening is the cutting edge of applied and functional ecology so there is still a lot to learn and Martin is committed to learning and to sharing that knowlege.

For me, the most important thing about the workshop was seeing such an established, well designed forest garden and to hear from Martin about the work involved in getting it to this stage (the food, including a ‘forest garden salad’, was also a highlight!). Many of Martin’s methods and the species he uses are not appropriate for Western Australia. There is therefore an exciting work ahead of developing for W.A. and other Mediterranean climates the kinds of practical knowledge which Martin has aquired for England’s South West. Do get in touch if you’d like to join me in this work.

Forest gardens and agroforestry more generally offer the possibility of working with W.A.’s native species, vegetation communities, soils and climates to develop complex, beautiful, productive, biodiverse systems from backyard to farm.

I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to have learned directly from Martin and to have seen and be inspired by his forest garden which stands as such a potent sign of the future. Thanks to everyone who helped me to get there. May your polycultures be overyielding!

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Edible Forest Gardening: Just the Pith

Harry Wykman — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:32:11 +0000

It is the eve of my visit to Devon, UK to attend a course in forest gardening with Martin Crawford of the Agroforestry Research Trust. I’m really excited and I want to briefly share why. I will curb my enthusiasm now in preference for pith and I will share more details after the course.

So What is an Edible Forest Garden?

Martin Crawford says that a forest garden is:

“… a three dimensional garden of useful plants … all designed to maximise beneficial interactions and minimise competition — designed to be sustainable in the long term …” —Martin Crawford´s Forest Garden video.

Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier say that:

“… a forest garden is an edible ecosystem, a consciously designed community of mutually beneficial plants and animals intended for human food production.” — Edible Forest Gardens, vol 1., p. 1

… And Why Are Edible Forest Gardens Good?

Edible Forest gardens (along with homegardens and other agroeological systems and perennial polycultures) are the future for the provision of food and many other human needs. Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier describe the Seven F’s:

food
fuel
fibre
fodder
fertiliser
“farmaceuticals” and
fun

These seven F’s are the categories of yields which can be derived from forest gardens et. al. Because forest gardens are designed to mimic natural ecosystems, these yields can be produced sustainably with a minimum of human input.

In March this year, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food said that:

“To feed 9 billion people in 2050, we urgently need to adopt the most efficient farming techniques available, … Today’s scientific evidence demonstrates that agroecological methods outperform the use of chemical fertilizers in boosting food production where the hungry live – especially in unfavorable environments.” — Mr. Olivier De Schutter, Eco-Farming can double food production in 10 Years

From the scale of the many hungry in the world to the urban courtyard, the ideas of forest gardening and like systems have the potential to provide human needs sustainably.

Convinced? Let me know. I’ll be writing more soon (including a bibliography) and I’d love to hear your first impressions before I do.

For more than just the pith, check out:

The Agroforestry Reseach Trust’s page on Forest Gardening (including a great video - also quite pithy)
Edible Forest Gardens - the webpage of the two volumes of the same name
Transiton Initiatives’ Rob Hopkins’ recent interview with Martin Crawford
Permaculture Magazine UK’s Maddy Harland’s posts at Mother Earth - an introduction and designing and planting

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Low Carbon Mowing: Swinging Scythes at Oxgrow

Harry Wykman — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 01:00:00 +0000

On Sunday afternoon I visited Oxgrow, a great little urban agriculture project in Oxford, for one of their weekly work parties. Oxgrow attracts a great range of people, including John Letts who was giving an informal scything demonstration just as I was dismounting from my bicycle on arrival. Scything is low carbon mowing — as Wendell Berry says “… it runs on breakfast.” John, apart from being a scythe competition winner is a local farmer. John used to work as an academic archaeological botanist. He is growing heritage grains with 1400 different varieties of wheat which he has collected from many gene banks. He is also one of three founding members of the Oxford Bread Group cooperative. I hope to visit John’s place and learn more about scything, heritage grains and cooperation for the preservation of biodiversity. For now, here’s a little video of John demonstrating scything technique and scythe sharpening. Please forgive my embarrassing laughing in the second part of the video.

Low Carbon Mowing: John Letts Scything at Oxgrow from Harry Wykman on Vimeo.

Here’s the rest of the quote from Berry on scythes:

“It is the most satisfying hand tool that I have ever used. In tough grass it cuts a little less uniformly than the power scythe. In all other ways, in my opinion, it is a better tool because, it is light, it handles gracefully & comfortably even on steep ground, it is far less dangerous, it is quiet and makes no fumes, it is much more adaptable. In rank growth one narrows the cut & shortens the stroke. It always starts - provided the user will start. Aside from reasonable skill & care in use, there are no maintenance problems. It requires no fuel or oil. It runs on breakfast. It’s cheaper to buy than most weed eaters & is cheaper to use than any other power mower. And best of all it’s good exercise.” — Wendell Berry, A Good Scythe

A few scythe resources:

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Thai Jars for Water Storage

Harry Wykman — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:54:52 +0000

I just came across this beautiful example of the kind of ‘thai jar’ which Art Ludwig describes in his book on water storage. They are constructed in a similar fashion to a large-scale ferrocement tank. The small-scale allows for the kind of beautiful shapes which this jar shows.

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Deb Tolman

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Bicilavadora: A Pedal-powered Washing Machine

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A Pedal-powered Washing Machine: The Bicilavadora

Harry Wykman — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:02:00 +0000

I just had to share this project that I came across via Sanergy. It’s called the “Bicilavadora” and its a pedal-powered washing machine. This is a great little technology. Some time ago I bought an old-school bamix hand-cranked washer but it is very small because it was intended for camping. This is a great scaling up of the idea.

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After London: A Vegetal Adventure

Harry Wykman — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:21:08 +0000

Today was a victory for rambling. This morning I found myself on a bus to London without having had much chance to think about what I was going to London for. I had a vague notion that I would visit FARM:shop and perhaps visit Hackney City Farm.I didn’t get to Hackney City Farm but I did see FARM:shop and along the way I came upon a few other things of interest — two of Patrick Blanc’s vegetal walls, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden and the Kings Cross Skip Garden.

A Vegetal Wall

I enjoy walking in new places — rambling. As I rambled my way toward FARM:shop, I happening upon the first of Patrick Blanc’s vegetal walls. It was beautiful. The plants are very sensitively chosen for each niche on the wall and the end result is a beautiful mix of texures and colours which looks like it ought to be there. I was especially interested to see wormwood (Artemesia absinthium) among the mix. Most of the plants appeared to be in good health.

’After London’: Imagining Urban Ecology

As I rambled further, I came upon a fantastic exhibition on Science Fiction at the British Library. This got me thinking about the kind of imagination which urban gardening requires. There was a book called “After London” which explores a post-apocalyptic London being reclaimed by plants and animals. The space between ’nature’ and the city as a quintessentially human space is a deeply contested one. It is difficult to imagine something that is neither a return to a romanticised past nor an entension of the cheap energy mind. The projects I would come across variously represent possibilities of re-vegetating the city — some high tech, others more traditional. There is still tremendous scope for imagining cities and places which plants, animals and people can flourish together.

Dalston Eastern Curve Garden

Before I reached FARM:shop, I was drawn toward another project near by — Dalston Eastern Curve Garden. The people here were very friendly and told me of another Patrick Blanc wall close to Hyde Park. The space was not about high production but it was a beautiful, multi-use space which showed signs of being a vibrant community meeting place; a strong sign of something new.

FARM:shop

Finally, I wandering just down the road to FARM:shop. FARM:shop is an art project exploring the possibilities of small urban spaces for food production. It includes aquaponics, fermentation, mycoculture, chickens, sub-irrigation gardens, greenhouse culture and hydroponics. I am skeptical about the energy return on energy invented (EROEI) of intensive urban of this kind but I enjoyed the space and the project’s intent. It was nice to eat my homous and salad sourdough sandwich with basil pesto to the noise of the water moving through the aquaponics system even if I wouldn’t want to eat lettuce of this provinance all the time. Still, I’m sure its better lettuce than its industrial ag. counterpart.

Kings Cross Skip Gardens

Next, I decided to seek out the other Patrick Blanc wall I had learned about at Dalston Green Curve Garden. On the way, I came upon the Kings Cross Skip Garden. Sadly, I couldn’t access the space as it was locked. I did manage to take some photos through the viewing windows which the developers had provided. This project is a really interesting concept — modular, portable deep-soil-culture which can utilise existing containers and transportation technology. There was a greenhouse skip, a shadehouse skip, a re-enforcing-mesh trellis skip and a salad greens skip. It certainly sets the mind thinking about possibilities for providing fresh food to temporary or establishing communities.

Another Vegetal Wall

I then found the second Patrick Blanc vegetal wall — a scale up from the first. This wall also gave some insight into the technology of vegetal walls as the base of the wall was at ground level. I could see the continuous flow of water which keeps the plants hydrated, for example. From what I have read, Blanc’s flavour of vegetal walls is pretty water intensive.

Finally, I went off the the Avett Brothers’ concert which was my ostensible catalyst for my London trip. The vegetal adventure into what might come ’After London’ was the far more satisfying and stimulating part, however. More on some of these project soon, including photo galleries.

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Hugelkultur in Mediterranean Climate Portugal

Harry Wykman — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 16:32:35 +0000

On a recent visit to Tamera in the Alentejo region of Portugal, I had the opportunity to see several examples of raised garden beds which had been made by Sepp Holzer according to the method he calls ‘hugelkultur’. I have been very curious about how well this kind of raised bed would function under Mediterranean climate conditions. My visit to Tamera has begun to satisfy some of my curiosity though I still have some questions.

Why bother with hugelkultur in the first place?

In his recent book, Holzer describes the following advantages of hugelbeds:

Hugelbeds create microclimates. According to their placement relative to wind and sun, some places will receive relatively more or less radiation and some places will be relatively more or less wet / dry or warm / cool.
Hugelbeds loosen the soil increasing receptivity to water.
Hugelbeds retain water in their lower parts
Hugelbeds slow soil freezing.
Hugelbeds speed soil heating.
Hugelbeds provide a slow release nutrient supply.
Hugelbeds increase useful garden surface area.
Hugelbeds increase landscape design possibilities.

It is not difficult to spot those ‘advantages’ which are only so when we are considering a cool climate (with heavy soil). Holzer has observed that:

“… the raised part dries out more quickly.”

and that

“… the raised part of the bed warms up more quickly, which is a great advantage in colder climates and at high altitudes.” [emphasis added]

Both of these are disadvantages in a Mediterranean climate. So, should we bother? The principle advantages remaining for hugelkultur for a Mediterranean climate (or other brittle landscapes) would be:

water retention
an increase in useful garden area
microclimate creation
slow nutrient release, and
soil loosening, if the soil is heavy and compacted

Given this remainder, how did the hugelbeds at Tamera stand up?

Hugelkultur at Tamera

There were three different examples of hugelkultur at Tamera:

A recently built hugelbed growing potatoes only (Kartoffel Kultur)
A two year old hugelbed for which the core was made of waste organic materials (paper, cardboard, clothes etc.) (The Brazilian Beds)
A three year old hugelbed which had received almost no attention since its construction. (Seed Beds)

I will describe each in order.

Kartoffel Kultur: The Potato Bed

The most recent of the hugelbeds was growing potatoes only and had been mulched by laying pine branches over the finished bed. The soil was a fairly infertile heavy clay. The internals of the bed consisted of woody materials and the bed was irrigated with drip irrigation with a spacing of about 300mm between drippers and between irrigation lines. The potato plants appeared to be healthy.

The Brazilian Beds

Several years ago, a group from the slums of Sao Paulo, Brazil participated in the construction of hugelbeds which incorporated carbonaceous materials which were available in the waste stream to which they had access (eg. paper, cardboard, clothes etc.) A trellis was also erected on the top of this bed on which grapes were grown. The bed has received little attention since construction and now grows mostly salad greens, herbs and pumpkins. This bed was irrigated in the same fashion as the potato bed.

The Seed Beds

The oldest hugelbed is three years old and has been allowed to self-seed in the hope of creating an area which might yield hardy plant varieties. The bed was still quite high and did not appear to have slumped much with decomposition of the internal woody materials. This suggests that the material is decomposing very slowly under dry conditions. I do not know what the irrigation regimen is for these beds but I suspect that rain and irrigation are insufficient to keep the woody materials continuously moist leading to the characteristically slow decomposition of woody materials in Mediterranean climates. I would have liked to have been able to inspect the internals for signs of fungal colonisation but this was not possible.

Concluding Thoughts

Seeing hugelkultur in action in Tamera has certainly convinced me of the possibility of hugelkultur in a Mediterranean climate. Nevetheless, I retain my concern that exposing already dry, infertile soil to greater dessication may be an essentially disfunctional pattern in drylands. A practical inversion of the pattern is difficult to imagine but I think this must be the beginning of any adaptation of this technique to more brittle environments. If I may scandalise the etymology in this way, it is perhaps hugel-basins, hugel-swales, descending hugel-spirals and hugel-pits that we might experiment with — these can perhaps retain some of the advantages of hugelkultur (particularly increased water storage capacity) without inappropriately transferring patterns born on heavy soils in a cold climate.

Some other hugelkultur links:

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Gravity Fed Drip Irrigation with Buckets

Harry Wykman — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:02:09 +0000

I love drip irrigation but I have always been troubled by the need for high pressures which necessitate pumps. Today I came across a great write-up from big picture agriculture on a bucket drip irrigation system. You can read it here:

Gravity Drip Bucket Irrigation Systems for Vegetable Gardens Enhance Food Security for the Food Insecure

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Introduction to Permaculture - Oxford, UK - July 2011

Harry Wykman — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:10:10 +0000

If you’re going to be around Oxford in July I’m going to be teaching an Introduction to Permaculture with Oxford local, Phil Pritchard. As the flyer says, call Phil on 01865 718980 or check out Oxford Permaculture for more information or to book your place.

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Sepp Holzer: Words of a Master OR A Model of Holzerian Permaculture Action

Harry Wykman — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 23:03:33 +0000

Sepp Holzer is an Austrian farmer from a family of Austrian farmers. I did not realise what this heritage meant until attending a three day seminar with Holzer in the Alentejo region of Portugal. Sepp Holzer speaks with a unique power deeply rooted in the vernacular traditions of Austrian alpine farming and blossoming with his peculiar genius.

If I had any expectations that this seminar would be a delivery of technical information about water landscaping, hugelkultur, productive polycultures, earth building or heritage livestock these were quickly dashed. Sepp Holzer will have no students, only disciples. This three day seminar in the basics of Holzer’s approach to permaculture was a lesson in how to say “learn from nature” as a response to any question. I have tried to develop a model of the kind of permaculture practice which gives Sepp Holzer his capacity for powerful regenerative action in the world in the vain hope that I might share some of the inspiration of this few days.

1. Observe

What I mean by the statement that “Sepp Holzer has no students, only disciples” is that Holzer comes from a tradition of educators more akin to the rabbi, the zen master or the desert-dwelling monk than the researcher or the university professor. For Sepp Holzer, nature is the only book necessary for life. All action must begin with the consumption of this text. Continuously, Sepp says:

“Everything is written in the book of nature. This book is always open.”

This statement is at once a cautionary tale and an exhortation. Begin in any other way and you will have failure. And, begin! What better thing to do than join with that force which resides in the world and says “here there shall be abundance — here there shall be friends and well provisioned.”

2. ” … experience it in a playful way.”“

Holzer began his gardening experiements as a child. I don’t believe he has ever really abandoned this childlike approach. If you want to do something, Holzer says:

“Work out a little model and then you will see that it works … experience it in a playful way.”

As a boy, Holzer conducted gardening experiments on marginal land on his family farm. This was a process of trial and error through which he learned to observe where natural forces conspired to positive effect and where only negative effects prevailed. He is not afraid of mistakes. Only it is better to make mistakes with a model. Holzer learned to respect those patterns which harmonised with natural forces and to abandon all else. Holzer’s confident intervention in natural systems derives from the foundation of these early experiences. Where this confidence is lacking he will “work out a little model.”

3. Observe

A model becomes another book to read. A way of testing whether you read the book of nature aright. Do you need to work out another ‘little model’? Model building is of course and iterative process and ought to proceed further only when the model has verified the correctness of your vision.

4. Expand the Model

Sepp Holzer is truly concerned with the right use of land everywhere. Where one has worked out a successful model, the earth groans for its expansion or repetition. With confidence born of experience a working model can begin to be worked out on a larger scale to allow the land with which you are working to yield what it will. Holzer says:

“Allow nature and time to work for you.”

If one has observed rightly, one can make large interventions with some confidence. One can also make small changes to great efffect. Holzer says:

“Start with the right thing and nature will work for you in big steps.”

5. Observe

The generative and regenerative capacity of nature is the principle test of success once one has expanded from a model. Holzer says:

“When cooperating with nature everything multiplies positively.”

The fact of a system improving over time is a key indication that one has made a positive action.

6. Adapt

The expansion or replication of a successful model is not the end, however. When asked about plant spacing during the seminar, Holzer replied:

“The only thing is to plant more.”

This is perhaps similar to the Mollisonian adage — “The yield of a system is theoretically infinite.” There is always another niche to fill. Holzer says:

“We got a brain from nature to steer, not to fight. For cooperation, not confrontation with nature. Use your mind to support nature. Nature is perfect. You cannot improve it. Not at all.”

There must be a continuous refinement towards an ever greater accord with nature.

7. Observe

Another test of the goodness of an action is sympathy or empathy. “Ask the tree!” Holzer would exclaim.

“Step into the perspective of your counterpart. If I were a fish, or a worm, would I feel good? That’s the natural way of thinking — to step into the role of our counterpart.”

It must be emphasised here that this is no mere sentimentality. This is a man who has become deeply concerned for the wellbeing of other creatures as a part of the fullness (including productivity) of the whole.

8. Profit

If you were beginning to feel like this was all getting a bit airy fairy then this section ought to convince you that Sepp Holzer is no hippy. At one point, Sepp was asked about purchasing materials. After vigorously shaking his head he responded:

“Only use your wallet to put money in, not to buy anything. Nature will fill your wallet if you cooperate with it.”

The corollory of the accrual of natural abundance, for Sepp Holzer, is profit. And what profit. Few can say that they have profited principally from that portion of the world which is not necessary for the life of the world itself. The point is clear — act rightly and you will benefit by the way that nature works for you:

“Start with the right things and nature will work for you in big steps.” says Sepp.

1. Observe

And so we return to the beginning of this cycle of action. Each experience of this process broadens ones capacity for sight; for vision. And Sepp Holzer is a man with a big vision. For him

“Nature cries for help to the human being — ‘do something!’.”

Every place, however degraded, holds the possibility of abundance in partnership with humanity. This exhortation must begin and end, however, with observation. The book of nature is always open.

I have tried by this model to communicate the artful practice which was emphasised in this seminar of a few days. At every point, it was a way of saying:

“The most important thing is to learn from nature — if you do this everything will become very easy.”

The posts to follow will focus more on the particular practices of Sepp Holzer which sprout from this vision: hugelkultur, terracing, water landscaping etc. etc.

The Urban Forest Gardens of Lisbon

Harry Wykman — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:58:31 +0000

Last week, on my way to a seminar with Sepp Holzer (more on that soon), I had the happy opportunity to spend some time in Lisbon, Portugal. On several occasions during my wanderings around this beautiful city I stumbled upon a little oasis amongst the meandering streets and tumble-down buildings. Calling these little oases ‘forest gardens’ may be stretching the analogy a little but these gardens were striking in their diversity of plants and structure. These gardens are a great demonstration of how even small urban gardens can make use of the ideas of forest gardening. From the rooftop courtyards of Lisbon to the suburban backyards of Perth, Western Australia, gardens like these create beautiful productive places which support biodiversity in the city.

The gardens that I came across in Lisbon had a set of typical Mediterranean herbs, shrubs, trees and vines (figs, grapes, pomegranites, citrus, rosemary, lavender, thyme, sage etc.). In addition, tropical species like bananas were growing where permitted by moisture and microclimate. As a human, these places called me to wonder at them and sit amongst their shade. I can only think that they are similarly appealing to birds, insects and other animals to whom the city might otherwise be a harsh place.

These gardens are a beautiful reminder that an approach to gardening which mimics natural vegetation structures provides many benefits — comfortable and aesthetically pleasing human spaces, refuges for biodiversity, use of otherwise waste water, culinary and medicinal herbs, salads and fruit — and all of these within the city.

My hope is that while on this trip through the Mediterranean that I can continue to learn from the places like this and from people and cultures who have inhabited Mediterranean type climates and ecosystems for much longer than we of South West Western Australia. There are tremendous possibilities for a better way of gardening the South West. I would love to hear from others about beautiful productive Mediterranean climate adapted gardens that they have come across.

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Perennial Polyculture Prevails over Peak Oil (YouTube)

Eric Toensmeier's Suburban Forest Garden

Harry Wykman — Tue, 31 May 2011 22:38:57 +0000

In this video, Eric Toesmeier is interviewed about his suburban forest garden. He touches on many issues from peak oil to perennial vegetables and polycultures.

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Food Forest: Using waste concrete (urbanite)

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Using Waste Concrete: An Urbanite Video

Harry Wykman — Tue, 31 May 2011 00:29:40 +0000

After my post on urbanite a few days ago, I just wanted to share a nice little video which someone on the permaculture sub-reddit mentioned. There is a good summary of why urbanite is a useful material and some brief shots of uses for urbanite at the end.

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Suburban Permaculture: towards a pattern language

Harry Wykman — Mon, 30 May 2011 11:30:11 +0000

For some time I have been puzzling over whether is is possible or useful to come up with a core set of strategies and elements for use in the design of suburban permacultures. I put this question to one of the permaculture email lists to which I belong and together we came up with a large list of elements (thanks to Fern, David and Andrew especially).

Suburban Permaculture Elements (pdf)

I have since been thinking about the core strategies and techniques which generate these elements. My intention is to try and depict these in an infographic.

“The ultimate usefulness of ecological knowledge to environmental management practice relies to a large extent on the resolving of percieved ecological complexity into the simpler units of testable models and tractable strategies.” — Davis, Richardson, Keeley and Hobbs, Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems: The Influence of Biodiversity on their Functioning

The above quote gives some of the rationale for this project. I would like to develop a kind of pattern language for suburban permaculture which might inform events like permablitzes or a committed households without as much dependence on trained designers. I would like it to be robust enough to create testable models in which yields and systems relationships can be documented and enhanced.

The design of the system begins from the premise that the system must meet human needs. To make things simpler, I am only going to consider the metabolic needs of

water,
air and
food.

These needs are sufficient to generate a number of strategies. Further needs will be generated by the non-human elements of the system.

My current list of the strategies which meet the human needs directly includes:

gardening
animal husbandry / wifery
food storage
water harvesting
water storage
cooperation
purchasing

In this case too, the needs of other elements will generate other strategies.

Strategies are realised by techniques. Gardening techniques include:

edible landscaping
forest gardening
mycoscaping
biointensive gardening
vertical gardening
aquaculture / aquaponics

The strategy of animal husbandry can be realised by the techniques of:

microlivestock keeping (chickens, rabbits, pidgeons, quail etc.)
minilivestock keeping (snails, meal worms, crickets, silk worms etc.)
aquaculture / aquaponics (fish, frogs etc.)

Water harvesting for drinking water is principally realised by clean catchments (mostly rooves) and storage by tanks.

We have to make decisions about what to produce at home and what we should purchase. Cooperation is the principles strategy for this. Cooperation is realised by:

food cooperatives
farm shares

Purchasing can be realised by:

farmers’ markets
community supported agriculture
the grocers / drygoods merchant, and lastly
the supermarket

By my reckoning, these are the principle strategies and techniques for meeting human metabolic needs in the suburbs. I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on additions to this. I would also love to collaborate with someone to figure out the best way to depict the complex relationships which will be generated as the needs of other elements in the system are developed.

May your polycultures be overyielding,
Harry

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From Waste to Wall - An 'Urbanite' Story

Harry Wykman — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:53:48 +0000

One of the things that I am really appreciating about being in the UK are the dry stone walls. Each time I see one, it makes me want to go home and build some more. Last year, as a part of a job at Red Hill’s Waste Management Facility, I got the chance to build a drystone wall in a material known as ‘urbanite’.

Urbanite is just a funky name for concrete which has been upcycled for some landscaping purpose. It is a material that I’m excited about using more of. With urbanite, you can get the great effect of traditonal drystone walls without the great costs involved in using stone (for most people on the sandplains of Perth, anyway) and with the great benefits of utilising something from the waste stream.

The photos in this post show a little bit of the process of building an urbanite wall. Drystone walling is not complicated but there is definitely an art to it. The video at the end of the post is a great introduction even if the production is a bit cheesy.

The benefits of a wall like this to a permaculture are many. They include:

increased water retention
increased garden area
soil retention and improvement
animal habitat
seating

We found a place which crushes concrete for re-use as aggregate which was happy to supply us with out ‘urbanite’. I’m sure they thought we were a bit strange picking through their piles of concrete refuse. They’ve since closed so I’m on the lookout for another source in Perth.

After finding the concrete, we had a bit of help from a bulldozer to scrape back the gravel on the slope. There turned out to be a large rock sheet below the gravel which made a good foundation for our wall. It is important to use large pieces on the bottom to form a solid foundation. As you can see from the photos, the wall is a lot thicker at the base than might be expected when looking at it when it is complete. This makes the wall very stable.

It is the thickness of the wall and the way that large pieces of concrete are used in layers to tie the wall into the soil behind which gives the wall its stability. These pieces allow the soil to shift and for the wall to remain strong.

As we went, we laid aside some interesting large pieces which would become the cap stones for the wall. Once these were on, we could backfill with the gravel which the bulldozer had scraped back, add some enriched soil, connect up the irrigation and plant it out.

Thyme (Thymus spp.) and other creeping species were planted amongst the gaps between the capstones so that they will eventually form soft places to sit, as well as enhancing the wall’s beauty.

And that’s my urbanite story. I think urbanite has a great future in permaculture applications. Do let me know if you think so too. I’d love to see other people’s uses of this great resource.

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Glass Bottle Garden

Harry Wykman — Wed, 25 May 2011 22:52:32 +0000

Thanks to Inside Urban Green I came upon the idea of using glass bottles to make sub irrigated planters. Having just begun, for the first time in my life, to live in a very small space with no yard (not even a balcony), I thought I’d give it a go. Using glass appealed to me because I prefer drinking sugar as beer rather than soft-drink.

So far, my success has been mixed but, as you can see, not wholly unsuccessful. The medium needs a bit of tweaking. I have been planning to buy some coco peat and perlite to try a mix mentioned on the Global Buckets site — their recipe #3:

Recipe #3: Coir

I’m sure I’ll get around to trying it eventually. The other dimension to this little experiment is ‘liquid gold.’ This might freak some people out, but liquid gold is human urine. Last year I read the fantasic book by that name by author Carol Steinfeld. I do recommend it. I hope to write a review soon. So far it has been working out well. No signs of ill health. I have been diluting the urine with ten parts water to one part urine. It is good to have the opportunity to experiment with these things. Living in a small apartment in Oxford has certainly helped me appreciate how important access to living things like this is (as well as being able to pick parley to go in my beans!)

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What's wrong (with Agriculture)?

Harry Wykman — Tue, 24 May 2011 23:17:11 +0000

A couple of succinct summaries worthy of the start of any permaculture course:

“Agriculture is the biggest threat on the planet, the largest cause of habitat loss, deforestation, the largest user of water, twice all other human uses combined. In fact today it takes about one litre of water to make one calorie of food. We have got to get a lot better. Agriculture is the largest source of greenhouse gas, when you take in deforestation and land conversion for agriculture. We’ve lost, depending on the scientists you quote, between 30% and 60% of top soil in the last 150 years as a result of producing food. And it is the largest user of chemicals on the planet … Going forward we need to intensify food production, but we need to do it sustainably, and that’s going to be the challenge.” — Jason Clay, Senior Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund

“… agriculture today consumes 40% of the Earth’s land surface right now. It uses 70% of our water consumption across the planet. It has doubled the flows of nitrogen and phosphorous compounds through the environment, leading to severe environmental degradation and pollution. And it is also responsible for about 30% of all of our greenhouse gas emissions, the largest of all our economic sectors. So even feeding seven billion today is completely unsustainable and can’t continue. … the challenges we are going to have to be facing are feeding nine billion and providing access, dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and essentially eliminating unsustainable water use, nutrient pollution, biodiversity loss, et cetera. … feeding the future is possible, but we have to do so sustainably, which more than doubles the challenge, and we have to do that not as business-as-usual, because that won’t work, we are going to have to completely reinvent the food system and the way we do agriculture to achieve this.” — Jonathan Foley, ecologist, University of Minnesota, St Paul.

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Soil, Oil and Biochar on the Wireless

Harry Wykman — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:44:02 +0000

“Soil is the most complex bio-material on the planet.” — Professor Iain Young

Even though I’m in the UK, I’ve been getting my fix of Radio National — especially the science show. In the past few weeks they’ve put together some really great stories on soil and peak oil which are well worth a listen. The most recent especially, with Iain Young is really worth listening to — he doesn’t think organic methods can feed the world but this is overshadowed by his clear love of soil. The mention of “terra preta Australis” in the biochar segment is interesting too. These the soils which have been amended with millenia of “charcoally stuff” from the fires of Australian aboriginal people.

“… by 2015 at the latest in the view of the industry task force, there will be a descent of global oil production. That will cause a crunch, it will cause the price to go through the roof, it will cause price volatility and all the downsides that come with a fabulously expensive and, in some cases, simply unavailable oil.” — Dr Jeremy Leggett

“… there is evidence now showing that biochar can influence a range of soil health parameters, including soil micro-organisms, and there are various groups around the world doing work on impacts of biochar on, for example, nitrogen fixation. We’ve got some very good trials here. In fact the trial you see at the bottom of the plot there with legumes is showing that we are getting significantly improved nitrogen fixation in the presence of biochar derived from poultry litter.” — Lukas Van Zwieten

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Science Daily - Loss of Plant Diversity Threatens Earth's Life-Support Systems, Experts Say

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Why Polycultures? Science answers.

Harry Wykman — Tue, 24 May 2011 09:19:34 +0000

Science Daily has a writeup on a meta-study focused on biodiversity and ecosystem services which includes the following quote:

“…plant communities with many different species are nearly 1.5 times more productive than those with only one species (such as a cornfield or carefully tended lawn), and ongoing research finds even stronger benefits of diversity when the various other important natural services of ecosystems are considered. Diverse communities are also more efficient at capturing nutrients, light, and other limiting resources.”

Thanks science!

If you’re interested in the paper itself, there is a reference to it in the science daily piece to which there is a link below.

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Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A Review

Harry Wykman — Sun, 22 May 2011 13:13:10 +0000

‘Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture’ is the work of a man of unique sensitivity and imagination. Holzer has combined a lifetime of practical experience with clarity of expression and intellect to produce a book which will satisfy a practically-minded farmer or gardener as well as the student of agroecological design. With gentle strength, Holzer would make designers and practicioners of us all and entrust to us neither task unless we join him in the school of nature.

He makes us want to join him in that school. He describes the techniques of what he calls “Holzer Permaculture” with surety born of concrete success and the observation of ecological health but without the urgency of someone trying to convince us that he is right. Any urgency the work posesses becons us to join with the author in the “joy of cultivation” which comes from working together with nature.

The Krameterhof, the Holzer family’s land and home, is one of the most compelling examples of the application of permaculture principles. Holzer writes that:

“With a little ingenuity it is possible to apply permaculture principles anywhere.”

The Krameterhof is a fine example of the application of these principles to an alpine climate.

My principle criticism of the book (and let it be drowned in a clamour of praise) is the potential for some of the techniques described to be transferred to inappropriate contexts. Though I am sure that the author intends to describe the techniques which have worked for him — techniques which must be altered or abandoned in other climates — the tone is sometimes makes this easy to forget. The author sometimes appears to refer to “Holzer Permaculture” as a set of techniques rather than as the set of design principles which he sets out early in the book.

The techniques Holzer describes are impressive examples of what can come of long observation of natural systems and continuous and sensitive experimentation. Some of these techniques include:

terraces, paths and humus storage ditches
raised beds (like none you’ve likely to have heard of before)
ponds and ‘waterscapes’
plant polycultures and green manuring
keeping livestock
earth building
intensive kitchen and vegetable gardens, fruit trees mushroom cultivation.

Each of these is described clearly, with reference to other parts of the system and as a part of an evolving process which begins with sensitive earthworks and broadscale soil improvement. If you recognise some of the techniques in the above list you may be misled to think that this book is not worth reading. You almost certainly do not know about them as Sepp Holzer practices them.

As I came to the close of the book, I was struck by the picture which had grown up of Holzer’s imaginitive power. He begins the work with a story of his first garden experiments on a marginal piece of rocky land inhabited by snakes, too far away to irrigate by hand. Some of the things he learns from working with this piece of land are impressive even to his mother, a very experienced gardener. She says, however, that she is unable to use Sepp’s methods because of what the neighbours will think — her garden will appear ‘untidy’. From this time until now, Sepp Holzer has had not only the sensitivity to develop new methods, he has had the imagination and force of character to integrate them into a viable economic method of farming in the midst of long traditions of ‘how things ought to be done’ and in an area of Austria thought to be good only for low-value forestry.

This same imaginative power is displayed in Holzer’s vision for urban spaces. He elegantly describes very small but scalable systems for small yards and balcony gardens in apartment blocks. The beautiful illustrations of these systems capture an imagination which appears to see how we together might assist nature to do what it would do given hundreds or thousands of years and just the right conditions. Here is the spirit of design — the application of intellect to the ends of people and nature.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in producing food and designing for productive and beautiful places. Holzer has not only produced a working model of the application of permaculture principles, he is himself a model of the elements of character required for working with nature and not against it. Even if, like me, you’re from a vastly different climate such as south west Western Australia’s mediterranean climate, you will find this book worth reading for its integrity of vision and practice. All it takes is “a little ingenuity” to apply the principles of ‘Holzer Permaculture’ to other places.

You can buy the book at Permaculture Magazine UK’s online shop, Green Shopping, Chelsea Green in the USA or ask your local library or bookshop to order it for you.

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WA keystone species under stress

Harry Wykman — Fri, 20 May 2011 10:23:08 +0000

An iconic Western Australian species, the Marri (Corymbia calophylla), may be showing signs of stress induced by climate change. Marri’s are a keystone species in the extremely biodiverse Western Australia and may indicate a high degree of ecosystem stress. Read the article here:

Is climate change behind marri cankers?

“These tree species support a range of life for which we simply don’t understand yet what the flow on effects could be.” —Prof Hardy

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YouTube - Stropharia Mushroom Bed

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Mushrooms in the Mulch

Harry Wykman — Fri, 20 May 2011 09:55:43 +0000

Eric Toensmeier gives us a little tour of mushrooms growing in mulch in the shade.

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More 'Round-Up' Resistant 'Weeds' in WA

Harry Wykman — Wed, 18 May 2011 10:13:53 +0000

Science Network WA reports a new instance of glyphosate (round-up) resistance in agricultural 'weeds'. You can read it here:

New Glyphosate Resistance in WA

According to Dr Todd Gaines

“The good news is that these populations are controlled by Group A and B herbicides, as well as paraquat and glufosinate.”

And

Approaches may include “double knock” – the application of glyphosate followed by a paraquat-based product to kill off any GR survivors. According to the GRDC, a Queensland field trial showed this approach gave 99.5 percent control of barnyard grass, liverseed grass and feathertop Rhodes grass.

That is, more and more dangerous herbicides to fight herbicide resistance. The article suggests that "the need for responsible management is immense." Surely this must include alternatives management which dispenses with these dangerous chemicals.

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Science Network WA

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Ernst Haeckel and patterns for paths in Permaculture

Harry Wykman — Sun, 15 May 2011 23:02:30 +0000

The use of natural patterns in permaculture was brought to the front of my mind when recently I re-encountered the beautiful drawings of Ernst Haeckel after they had been released into the public domain. Haeckel’s drawings of diatoms, jellyfish and other facinating organisms are intended to provoke us to consider questions of order in nature by their astounding symmetries. I was struck by how many of them possess variations on the classic “keyhole” pattern suggested by Bill Mollison for garden access. One panel in particular could almost bear the title “Meditations on the ‘Keyhole Pattern’”. These drawings provoke the questions which must be asked of all patterns if they are to be useful in design — why are they like that? To what problem are they a solution? By what force have they been shaped?

The patterns of the natural world play a prominent part in the design practice of Permaculture. Too often though natural patterns and shapes (spirals, curves, waves, branches etc.) are used as if they were magical — as if “naturalness” was a sufficient condition for their use in design. This use of pattern can serve an aesthetic purpose but in what other ways are natural patterns useful to designers? I would like to briefly explore a different approach to patterns through looking at the keyhole path.

I would like to begin this exploration with a quote from Mollison on the application of patterns. He writes:

“There are two aspects to patterning: the perception of the pattern that already exists and how these function, and the imposition of pattern on sites in order to achieve some specific ends.” — Bill Mollison, The Permaculture Designers’ Manual, p. 95

Haeckel’s drawings inspire thoughts of both these approaches — They remind me of the keyhole, a form of pattern imposition ‘to achieve some specific ends’. If you were to place a tree in their centre, some of Haeckel’s drawings would be a ready representation of a guild planting in a forest garden with ideal access. I am also provoked to think of what forces and conditions influenced the particular organisms to possess these shapes. For now though I will leave reflections on this latter approach for a slightly more geometrical approach to the question of what problem keyholes solve.

A Geometrical Meditation on the Keyhole

What is a keyhole path? A keyhole path is a solution to the design problem of access. It is perhaps best described by comparing it with another similar design solution to the problem of access — the linear path. Let’s assume that we need access for a person only, not a wheelbarrow, and so set path width at 60cm. Let’s also assume that an adult can reach about 70 into a garden bed while kneeling on the path and that the garden bed has a length of 2 m. Given these assumptions, a maximum garden bed with of 1.4 m (70cm reach from each side) can exist between two paths 60cm wide. This makes for a total area of 5.2 m². The linear paths occupy 46% of this space. By contrast, a keyhole bed with a 1m diameter circle at is extremity takes up only 26% of the available space while still allowing full access to the garden bed.

Keyhole paths mimic the natural pattern which occurs, for example, in the human lung and many other places where folds or ‘crenelations’ are the solution to the need for increased surface area. An increase in surface area increases the capacity for exchange across a boundary. A keyhole allows for a high degree of edge between path and garden while keeping the space required for the path small. In our comparison, the edge between path and garden is approximately the same for the linear and the keyhole path but the keyhole occupies 20% less space.

In short, a keyhole provides access while minimising path space (ie. maximising garden space) and creating a large surface area between path and garden. A keyhole is also an end node for a branching pattern but that is a story for another day. In the mean time, have a look at Ernst Haekel’s pretty pictures on wikimedia and lift your hands the god of the public domain.

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Science Daily - It Takes a Community of Soil Microbes to Protect Plants from Disease

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Plants have a Microbial Immune System

Harry Wykman — Tue, 10 May 2011 09:02:27 +0000

It is something that has been “known” or suspected for some time but it is wonderful to have this kind of hard science to show it. That is, that plants cooperate with bacteria (and other microbes!) for their protection and the microbes’ sustenance.

It Takes a Community of Soil Microbes to Protect Plants from Disease

A few choice quotes:

“We now see that the complex phenomenon of disease suppression in soils cannot simply be attributed to a single bacterial group, but is most likely controlled by a community of organisms,”

“To return the favor, the sugar beets funnel about a fifth of their photosynthetically captured carbon through their roots into the soil to fuel the microbes.”

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Grow (ie. ferment) your Own Clothes

Harry Wykman — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:40:05 +0000

A fantastic example of the using biological services for low-energy production. This is not growing nettles for silk, or some kind of homesteader’s cotton patch. This is clothes made from cellulose produced by bacteria. Hail the microbes!

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Our Nitrogen Footprint

Harry Wykman — Sun, 08 May 2011 22:33:48 +0000

One of my favorite podcasts, the Naked Scientists (you can get the link from my gpodder feed), has a great little interview with Professor James Galloway of University of Virginia on the perils of excess nitrogen in the environment. This is not the space to go into detail but its another great reason to design and create self-fertilising systems which rely on microbes for nitrogen.

“If you’re a vegetarian, then the amount of nitrogen that is applied, about 20% would get into your mouth … And if you only eat meat, it’s around 10% that goes into your mouth. The other 90% is lost during the food production process.

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The Beauty of Pollination

Harry Wykman — Fri, 06 May 2011 23:10:58 +0000

Click on the image to see a brief talk about pollination with some very very beautiful footage.

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Perennial Veggies for Mediterranean Climates from the Master of Perennial Vegetables, Eric Toensmeier

Harry Wykman — Fri, 06 May 2011 16:44:01 +0000

Eric Toensmeier is one of my favorite people. He is a self-described plant geek. He has also come up with a list of perennial vegetables for Mediterranean climates. Being from the US, this is most relevant to California, but there are things of interest to places outside the US, including Western Australia. I hope to link all the botanical names to the encyclopedia of life very soon using their name link API but I can't quite get it to work yet.

Mediterranean and Mild Subtropical perennial vegetables for Southern and Coastal California

Southern and central California has a mild climate well suited to perennial vegetables. This region corresponds with USDA Zones 8–10 and Sunset Zones 7–9, 14, 15, 16, and 18–25.

Perennial in all of the Mediterranean and Mild Subtropical zone:

Allium ampeloprasum — perennial sweet leek
Allium cepa aggregatum — shallot
Allium cepa aggregatum — potato onion
Allium cepa proliferum — walking onion
Allium fistulosum — Welsh onion
Allium tuberosum — garlic chives
Arundinaria gigantea — canebrake bamboo
Asparagus officinalis — asparagus
Asphodeline lutea — yellow asphodel
Atriplex halimus — saltbush
Bambusa spp. — clumping bamboos
Beta vulgaris maritima — sea beet
Brassica oleracea — wild cabbage
Brassica oleracea acephala — ‘Tree Collards’, ‘Walking Stick Kale’
Brassica oleracea acephala — tropical tree kale
Brassica oleracea acephala — ‘Western Front’ perennial kale
Brassica oleracea alboglabra — gai lon
Brassica oleracea botrytis — perennial broccoli, including ‘9 Star’
Brassica oleracea ramosa — branching bush kale, including ‘Dorbentons’
Bunias orientalis — Turkish rocket
Canna edulis — achira
Cedrella sinensis — fragrant spring tree
Chenopodium bonus-henricus — good king Henry
Cicorium intybus — chicory
Cnidoscolus palmeri — bull nettles
Colocasia esculenta — ‘Celery Stem’ taro
Colocasia esculenta — taro, cocoyam, eddo, dasheen
Crambe maritima — sea kale
Cucurbita ficifolia — Malabar gourd
Cynara scolymus — globe artichoke
Cyperus esculentus sativa — chufa
Dioscorea bulbifera — air potato
Diplotaxis muralis & sylvetta — arugula
Helianthus tuberosa — sunchoke
Hemerocallis — daylily
Malva moschata — musk mallow
Nasturtium officinale — watercress
Nelumbo nucifera — water lotus
Oenanthe javanica — water celery
Opuntia spp. — spineless nopale cactus
Phyllostachys spp. — running bamboos
Physalis peruviana — goldenberry
Phytolacca americana — pokeweed
Polygonatum biflorum canaliculatum — giant Solomon’s seal
Qiongzhuea tumidissinoda — running bamboo
Rumex acetosa — French sorrel
Rumex acetosa ‘Profusion’ — sorrel
Rumex acetosella — sheep sorrel
Rumex scutatus — silver shield sorrel
Sagittaria latifolia — arrowhead
Sagittaria sinensis — Chinese arrowhead
Sasa kurilensis — chishima-zasa bamboo
Scorzonera hispanica — scorzonera
Semiarundinaria fastuosa — temple bamboo
Stachys sieboldii — Chinese artichoke
Taraxacum officinale — dandelion
Urtica dioica — nettles

Perennial in some of the Mediterranean and Mild Subtropical zone or with protection:

Abelmoschus manihot — edible hibiscus (as dieback perennial)
Allium ursinum — ramson
Alternanthera sissoo sissoo — spinach
Apios americana — groundnut
Aralia cordata — udo
Arracacia xanthorhiza — arracacha
Basella alba — Malabar spinach (as dieback perennial)
Capsicum annum — ‘Perennial Capsicum’ sweet pepper
Carica pentaphylla — babaco papaya
Cnidoscolus chayamansa ‘Stingless’ — chaya (as dieback perennial)
Coccinia grandis ‘Sterile’ — perennial cucumber (as dieback perennial)
Dioscorea alata — white yam
Dioscorea esculenta — asiatic lesser yam
Dioscorea trifida — cush cush yam
Dolichos lablab — hyacinth bean
Eleocharis dulcis — water chestnut
Gigantochloa spp. — clumping bamboos
Gynura crepioides — Okinawa spinach
Hibiscus acetosella — cranberry hibiscus (as dieback perennial)
Ipomoea aquatica — water spinach
Ipomoea batatas — sweet potato
Laportaea Canadensis — wood nettle
Levisticum officinale — lovage
Momordica charantia — bitter gourd
Moringa oleifera — moringa (as dieback perennial)
Moringa stenopetala — moringa (as dieback perennial)
Musa x paradisica — ‘Rajapuri’ banana
Musa x paradisica — plantain, banana (only in warmest areas)
Nastus elatus — clumping bamboo
Oxalis tuberosa — oca
Phaseolus coccineus — runner bean
Phaseolus lunatus — Lima bean
Phaseolus polysantus — cache bean
Psophocarpus — ‘Day Length Neutral’ winged bean
Rheum rubarbarum — rhubarb
Saccharum edule — pitpit
Sauropus androgynous — katuk (as dieback perennial)
Sechium edule — chayote
Sium sisarum — skirret
Smallianthus sonchifolia — yacon
Solanum melongena & spp. — eggplant
Solanum muricatum — pepino melon
Solanum tuberosum & spp. — potato
Tetragonia tetragonioides — New Zealand spinach
Trichostigma octandrum — basket vine (as dieback perennial)
Tropaeolum tuberousum ‘Ken Aslett’ — mashua
Ullucus tuberousus — ulluco
Xanthosoma brasiliense — belembe
Xanthosoma saggitifolium — tannier, yautia, malanga
Xanthosoma violaceum — violet-stem taro

Can be grown as annuals in the Mediterranean and Mild Subtropical zone:

Carica papaya — papaya (in warmest areas)
Lycopersicon spp. — tomato
Manihot esculenta — cassava
Physalis pruinosa — ground cherry

Source:

PerennialVegetables.org

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Strategies for developing a (Mediterranean climate) Permaculture Plant Palette — Part II

Harry Wykman — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:49:35 +0000

Our goal is the development of a palette of plants which can be used to develop permaculture systems which are sensitive to the climates they are in. In the last post we looked at developing the scope of our palette. In this post we will look at ways to limit that scope to the plants to the plants with the highest degree of utility for a permaculture system.

So far we have the set of plants …

This is a very large set of plants — too large for design without a very good plant database tool.

We will now consider how to sift this very large set to get that set of peculiarly useful plants for inclusion within a permaculture design.

Consider priority ecosystem functions

An ecosystem function is something an ecosystem requires for its maintenance or flourishing. Ecosystem functions include things like:

nitrogen fixation
nutrient accumulation
habitat (for insects and other animals)
pollinator support
weed suppression
pest deterrance

All of these functions are important for our permacultures. When they are considered together, they are a very powerful selection tool. If we consider the permaculture principle that every element of a system ought to have multiple functions, our list of possible plants can be made rapidly smaller. We might, for instance, prioritise those nitrogen fixers which also provide pollination support and weed suppression and so diminish our list of potential nitrogen fixers.

Consider potentially troublesome plant qualities

Permaculture practicioners often shy away from the use of words like ‘weed’ but some plants in some conditions are just plain undesirable. They may:

tend to rampancy / be opportunist in nature (secret: this is ecological code for ‘weed’)
be poisonous to humans or animals
check the growth of other plants using growth inhibiting chemicals (allelopathy)
provoke allergies
have thorns or prickly leaves

Let’s consider the nitrogen fixers in our expanded palette again. Many nitrogen fixers tend to rampancy — they have a distinct advantage over other species in nutrient-poor conditions in being able to supply their own nitrogen. As was noted in the last post, Western Australia has many native nitrogen fixers so we may prefer to use only natives for this function. We may then realise that Acacias can induce hayfever in some people and so determine to use mainly Casuarina spp. for nitrogen fixation (leaving aside their potential for allelopathy for the sake of an example). Each of us will have different parameters but it is certainly a good idea to ensure that you’re not going to introduce a nuisance to your area.

Consider availability

A pretty obvious point but its easy to get carried away thinking about plants from other places which can be very difficult to find locally. It’s not much use designing your system around plants that you can’t (easily) get hold of. This will mean different things to different people. If you’re the propagating type then made sure you can get hold of plant material. If you’re the buying type check what your local nurseries can get in and what you can get by mail order or via the internet.

Consider regional ethnobotany

Ethnobotany is the study of the relationship between plants and people. One of the ways to find useful plants within the scope of our palette is to look at how people in the places from which we have drawn our palette use the plants from their area. This might lead us to consider cultural plant use in space and time. For example, for south west Western Australia, we might consider Nyungar plant use (eg. Acacia spp. seeds for flour) in adition to contemporary commercial horticulture / agricultural plant uses. We might also consider historical and contemporary plant uses for mediterranean climate zones of Chile, South Africa, South Australia, California and the Mediterranean basin.

What have we got?

Everyone who follows these steps will end up with a different set of plants. This is the beauty of a permaculture — unique solutions for every place, from climate to household. What we have developed here is something between the kind of list of species that a designer might use for a range of sites in a particular climate and a list of species suited to a particular site. These are a few of the strategies I use to think about plants for a permaculture. There are more but I didn’t want it to sound too scary. I’ve probably already made it sound like that. Its probably best to consider the strategies in both posts all together and keep checking them against one another. I’d be really pleased to hear your thoughts on finding the plants most appropriate for a particular climate or site.

Read Part I

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Natural Dryland Gardening and the Lessons of Semilla Besada

Harry Wykman — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:33:15 +0000

Very few people have a good understanding of what it takes to develop Permaculture systems (or any agro-ecosystem) in a Mediterranean climate. Someone who did was Aspen Edge of Semilla Besada in Granada, Spain. Aspen’s husband, David has generously made available a draft of a book that Aspen was working on called Natural Dryland Farming. Over the years at Semilla Besada, the Edges used the insights of Permaculture and Holistic Management^® to develop systems that are sensitive to the unique patterns and conditions of mediterranean-type climates and ecosystems. A draft copy of the book can be found in the Semilla Besada bookshop:

Natural Dryland Gardening in the Semilla Besada bookshop.

Some of Aspen’s other writings for Permaculture Magazine UK are also available as PDFs below:

There is also a 2009 article from ‘In Practice’:

Integrating Permaculture and Holistic Management, 2009

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Semilla Besada Bookshop

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Paul Wheaton talks to Maddy Harland about Sepp Holzer in Portugal (among other things)

Harry Wykman — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:36:17 +0000

As many of you will know, I am currently in the UK. My hope is to see as much Mediterranean climate permaculture as possible. I am going to visit Tamera to do a workshop with Sepp Holzer, pioneering Austrian Permaculturalist. You can hear Paul Wheaton, Sepp’s biggest fan, talking with Maddy Harland of Permculture Magazine UK about Holzer and the amazing work of regenerative permaculture he is undertaking at Tamera by visiting the link below:

podcast 016 maddy harland of permaculture magazine

To support me to get to Tamera, have a look at my Support Harry’s Mediterranean Permaculture Study Tour page by clicking on the image in the sidebar.

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Paul Wheaton's Permaculture Podcast

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Fellow Communard Jarrod Exploring Polyculture in Zambia for World Vision Australia

Harry Wykman — Sun, 01 May 2011 19:23:39 +0000

Jarrod McKenna, a member of the community of which I am a part, explores a fish, banana sweet potato polyculture in Zambia.

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Science Daily - Database on Environmental Impact of Major Urban Ecosystems Created

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Household Ecology Database

Harry Wykman — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 19:42:29 +0000

Science Daily has just published an interesting write-up on research conducted into household ecosystems. This is input-output analysis on a serious scale. I hope more of this work is done for other cities. In the meantime, the data from this study ought to be really useful for urban ecological design.

Database on Environmental Impact of Major Urban Ecosystems Created

A couple of quotes from the article:

“We measured an enormous range of different activities that make up each household’s impacts on the environment,” said McFadden. “All of those measurements were made on the same set of households at the same point in time. That allows us to see the connections between different household activities and impacts.”

“The resulting database is a treasure trove of information that can be mined to discover how the interplay of different factors –physical-biological, demographic, or social-psychological – determines the way that household ecosystems function,”

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The Seedball Story

Harry Wykman — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:28:58 +0000

While having a closer look at the fantastic site “On Seedballs” created by Anthony Delfau, I came across the video “The Seedball Story” by Jim Bones. Its a really good outline of seedballs and focused on dry environments. Bones says:

“To work well, seedballs need to be used in areas that receive at least ten to twelve inches of annual precipitation. But the timing of the rains is also important. Three to five inches of rain are required to dissolve the seedballs and begin germination. Continued rains are then needed to promote growth and establish viable root systems.”

In metric terms, that is a minimum total rainfall of of 254mm and a breaking rain of at least 75mm. In the south west of Western Australia, a rain like that is unlikely to come until May / June. In 2010, the first winter rain was not until June 14. On average, the only months with 10 or more days in the month with rain of more than 1mm are May (10.0 days), June (14.3), July (15.1), August (13.1) and September (10.1). This seems to me to be a good pattern for seedballs. I look forward to future experiments!

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On Seedballs

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Seedballs and Masanobu Fukuoka in Greece — then and now

Harry Wykman — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:53:53 +0000

I have been interested in Masanobu Fukuoka’s ‘do nothing’ approach to farming since reading ‘The Natural Way of Farming’ some years ago as a part of early studies in permaculture. My interest was especially piqued in October last year when I watched the first three videos shown here in which Fukuoka applies his seedball method to Mediterranean climate Greece. Fukuoka visited Panayiotis Manikis’ farm in Edessa in 1998 and undertook a major project in ecological restoration using seedballs in the hillsides surrounding Edessa. Seedballs seem as though they are perfect for brittle landscapes in which rainfall is concentrated to a particular part of the year. The Edessa project was particularly important as Fukuoka says that:

“The biggest effort so far has definitely been here in Greece.”

Sadly, there have been no ‘after’ photos that I have been able to get hold of. A comment on YouTube from someone who says that he was 12 at the time and in the second video suggests that the area was grazed by sheep and goats which ate any new foliage as the seeds sprouted.

The photo archive on Manikis’ website suggests that seeding has been proceeding apace for the last few years. Aside from a few photos of seeds sprouting form seedballs in the photo archive, there are still few indications of the efficacy of this method in Greece. Most of the sprouts shown are vegetables seedlings, though I did notice a few perennial nitrogen fixers.

Thanks to Tina Lymberis of mediarize a recent seed balling event, the Paros Seed Festival was captured on video. It certainly looks fun!

I hope to get a chance to visit Edessa and Manikis’ farm this year. Hopefully I can get a better sense of how viable seedballs are on this scale. I’m really excited about this method for the development of forest gardening in Mediterranean climates. I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who has experience with using seedballs in Mediterranean climates.

More information on the use of seedballs in ecological restoration is available at:

On Seedballs — This site also has a few other videos of Fukuoka in Greece in Japanese and in Greek.

More information on the 1998 and other seedings is available here:

Natural Farming

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Indigenous Landscape Management

Harry Wykman — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:58:20 +0000

Another great quality video from Eric Toensmeier, one of my favorite Permaculturalists. There is a similar story in Western Australia to the one presented in this video as documented by Irene Cunningham in her book ‘Land of the Flowers’.

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Permaculture.tv

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Permaculture et. al. in a Mediterranean Climate: A California Biologist's Perspective

Harry Wykman — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:35:23 +0000

The Las Pilitas Nursery website has a great article (excepting the odd advertisement) describing a "design for a garden/orchard using the concepts of permaculture / agroforestry / intercropping and ecosystems agroecology in a Mediterranean Climate". The article is in four parts:

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The Best of Permaculture Drylands Magazine

Harry Wykman — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:45:07 +0000

The Permaculture Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico has made available some of the best articles from the journal’s 11 year history:

The Best of Drylands Permaculture Journal

“Founded by Scott Pittman circa 1986, PDJ was (and remains) the only publication in the world with the specific focus on Drylands Permaculture. Published for 11 years (1986 - 1997) by the Permaculture Drylands Institute, operating out of Arizona and New Mexico, this publication has lots to offer to permaculture students even 10 years after its final issue was delivered.”

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Scott Pitman

Strategies for developing a (Mediterranean climate) Permaculture Plant Palette — Part I

Harry Wykman — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:16:35 +0000

Most often the starting point for developing a set of plants for a permaculture will be to look at lists of useful and edible plants in regional permaculture or related books. Sometimes, however, there are few or no such lists available. Or, like me, you may have a perverse inclination towards first principles and wheel re-invention in the hope of small gains in understanding or the development of new possibilities. If either of these is the case, you will need some way of sifting through the many plant species of the world.

In this post we’ll look at strategies for determining the scope of a plant palette for your location. In the next post we’ll consider how to limit that scope so it is easier to work. We will leave the actual guild and site design phase out altogether — for now, we just want to get a set of plants with which we can approach the design phase. We will use the south west of Western Australia as a case study but most of what we discuss will be applicable to non-Mediterranean-type climates.

What are the main sets of plants which might form our plant palette?

Plants native to your area

It seems fairly obvious but it is certainly worth mentioning that plants native to your area are much more likely to be the most well adapted species to your site’s conditions. Native plants may not form the main set from which your main crop plants are drawn but there are a great many other ecosystem functions to be performed in a polyculture. Western Australian, for example, has an abundance of local nitrogen fixers.

Plants native to places within a similar climatic zones to your site

Native plants have developed adaptive strategies for the prevailing conditions of your area. One of the major influences on the development of those strategies is the climatic zone in which your site exists. We can consider other places which share than climate in the hope of discovering plants which possess similar adaptive strategies while providing aditional ecosystems functions — especially yields useful to people which are not easily gained from plants native to your area. I don’t want to go into too much detail in this post as I hope to address this topic in more detail at a later time. For now, I will try and make the briefest outline I can of this strategy.

A quick guide to finding places with similar climates is to find areas with similar latitudes and similar physical geography. For example, the broad climatic patterns of the south west of Western Australia are very similar to those of other places of mid-latitude on the western side of major land masses. We can now look to the native vegetation of major parts of:

California
Chile
South Africa
South Australia, and
the Mediterranean Basin

to fill out our palette.

Plants that possess the adaptive strategies required for life in your climate

Each climate has certain conditions to which plants must be adapted if they are to flourish without significant external support. In a permaculture system we want to minimise external supports so we select (mostly) from plants which possess these adapatations. It may seem like I am repeating myself but this is a bit different to climatic adaptation. For example, if we consider drought tolerance, most plants of the areas we considered in the former section will have it as these areas share long, hot, dry summers. But so also will plants of more extreme dry environments (eg. deserts). Considering specific limiting adaptive strategies in this way is especially useful for developing a plant palette in anticipation of changes in climatic conditions.

Plants that provide the specific yields you require

“Nature has not given us a peach climate; but we get peaches.” — William Cobbet, Cottage Economy

Sometimes none of the former strategies will turn up plants which provide some of the yields we really really want. This ought to make us think about whether we really really need them. If we do, then these too are essential additions to our palette. At the design stage they will need to be placed in specific microclimates.

There is of course much more that can be said on this topic but hopefully that is enough to set you thinking. As you do, I’d love your feedback. Next post we’ll consider how to make this list a bit smaller without losing the most important species from it.

Read Part II

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Gardening Australia's Veggie Guide

Harry Wykman — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:52:46 +0000

Gardening Australia has created a pretty nice little veggie guide. While not wholly accurate to call Perth in ‘arid’ it is certainly better than the ‘temperate’ category it is ordinarily placed in. Here’s the link:

“The Veggie Guide”

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Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria Perform Valuable Service

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Bacteria cooperate with plants

Harry Wykman — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:58:46 +0000

A Moment of Science has a great little description of nitrogen-fixing bacteria or rhizobia (rhizobium in the singular). See the source below for more.

“The ‘nitrogen-fixing bacteria,’ as they’re called, live on the roots of legumes, such as beans and alfalfa. They take nitrogen out of the air and make it available to other living organisms. Because plants and animals can’t use nitrogen from the air, nitrogen-fixing bacteria perform an essential service for both plants and animals.”

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Infographic: The Agricultural Multiplier Effect

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The Importance of Agriculture: the multiplier effect — an infographic

Harry Wykman — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:51:21 +0000

This infographic is a great depiction of a particular model of agricultural investment. It leaves out a lot of complexity, as infographics will tend to do, but it is a great summary of a particular hope.

It is prefaced by the suggestion that:

“Investing in agriculture is one of the best ways to reduce poverty because up to 70 percent of people living in extreme poverty are small-holder farmers — and more of them are women.”

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Sepp Holzer, Agro Rebel — a documentary

Harry Wykman — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:15:56 +0000

A great little doco on Austria’s Sepp Holzer — you can watch it online:

The Agro Rebel

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Interview with Allan Savory

Harry Wykman — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:31:56 +0000

The ‘Nourishing the Planet’ blog over at World Watch has two great interviews with Allan Savory. Savory’s insights are very important for ‘brittle environments’ such as the South West (and many other parts) of Western Australia:

A couple of key quotes:

“In environments that are alternately wet and dry and thus experience seasonal humidity—such as vast grasslands, savannas, and man-made deserts—things operate very differently. The life-cycle has to be maintained—and it was, prior to human intervention. In these environments, a great amount of vegetation grows during the humid growing season. When the soil and humidity dry off each year, most trees and shrubs lose their leaves, which drop to the ground and decay. Many billions of tons of above-ground grass parts also die off but do not drop to the ground. Thus, a large volume of plant material that has to decay stands dead in an environment where the microorganisms of decay have also diminished due to the lack of humidity.”

“…most of these perennial grass plants developed alongside vast herding herbivores. The animals were dependent on the grass for food, and the grass was dependent on the animals for removal and rapid biological decay of the dying material. Most grasses have growth points close to the ground, out of harm from grazing animals, so the animals could remove leaves without damage to the plant and also allow sunlight to reach the growth points the following season. But if there are not enough large herbivores with vast microorganism populations in their moist gut to cycle this mass of material, then it remains standing.”

“I have come to the conclusion that we have no option but to get the public, scientists, politicians, and others to accept that only livestock can reverse desertification. There is no other known tool available to humans with which to address desertification that is contributing not only to climate change but also to much of the poverty, emigration, violence, etc. in the seriously affected regions of the world.”

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History of Cuban Permacultura - Roberto Pérez Rivero

Harry Wykman — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:29:37 +0000

Nicholas Roberts of permaculture.tv has uploaded some very interesting videos of Roberto Pérez Rivero talking about the history of Permaculture in Cuba:

History of Cuban Permacultura - Roberto Pérez Rivero

On the site of the foundation of which Roberto is the director, there is a great gallery of permaculture solutions in Cuba:

Gallery of Permaculture Solutions in Cuba

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Zuni Water Harvesting Techniques by Justin Thomas, Virginia

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Zuni Water Harvesting Techniques

Harry Wykman — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:53:56 +0000

Over at Treehugger, Justin Thomas has written a nice little note on ancient amerindian water harvesting:

“Joel Glanzberg is a palaeohydrologist — he studies water use of ancient American Indians in the Southwest. He says the Zuni in New Mexico used sunken beds called “waffle gardens” for growing high-value crops like tobacco and chiles. Modern kitchen gardens can benefit from this prehistoric technology. American Indians survived for centuries in the desert by harvesting rainwater to grow crops. And while today’s water supply may not be as scarce, gardeners still can tap into ancient water-saving strategies.
The two main techniques used were to sink the planting areas and to mulch with rock. “Waffle gardens work just like a waffle, with the plants placed where the syrup would go,” Glanzberg says.
Ground-level berms surround each 2-foot-square planting area. The berms are several inches high and built with unamended soil. The depressions catch and hold water close to the plant’s roots. Grid gardens are similar, with 10-foot-square grids bordered with rocks. Larger versions of grid gardens have been used in the Southwest and also for dryland farming throughout the world.”

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Keyline in Mediterranean Chile

Harry Wykman — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:39:33 +0000

Darren Doherty of RegenAG^® has uploaded some great annotated photos of some keyline developments in a Mediterranean climate area of Chile.

RegenAG^® Keyline Farming in Chile

Darren is one the foremost proponents of keyline design and one of the principal Permaculture activists working in broadacre Permaculture.

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Cottage Economy on LibriVox

Harry Wykman — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:55:57 +0000

Many thanks to Philippa for her great recording of William Cobbett’s ‘Cottage Economy’, available at LibriVox.

Cottage Economy by William Cobbett

Here’s to LibriVox — “accoustical liberation of books in the public domain”!

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Pol-e-cultures III: Coppice

Harry Wykman — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:20:53 +0000

Here is the latest (April / May) of my bi-monthly contributions to the PAWA e-news, the electronic newsletter of the Permaculture Association of Western Australia:

Last month, I caught the train from Oxford to West Sussex, rode my bike over rather more undulating country than I was anticipating and eventually made my way to Prickly Nut Wood amongst the historic Snape Copse. I had come to the home of Ben Law, woodsman and permaculture practicioner, to learn about coppicing. Coppicing is the practice of regularly cutting a tree right back to its stump, then allowing it to regrow. A copse is a woodland which has been regularly coppiced - some copses are hundreds of years old. Coppicing has a regenerative effect on trees such that they live much longer than can be otherwise expected.

So, why coppice? I learned from Ben that there are many answers to this question and Ben was practicing most of them at Prickly Nut Wood. Ben began with 8 acres about 20 years ago. In order to get this area into shape, a lot of the standing wood went into charcoal production (for use as biochar, artists charcoal and fuel). 20 years on, Ben has 100 acres of mostly chestnut trees (hence “Prickly Nut”) with some beech, hazel, larch and oak with the possibility of some black locust to come.

When chestnut coppice is cut after say 4 years it is said to be on a 4 year rotation. Short rotations like this produce wood for things like walking sticks (until recently a major use of West Sussex coppiced chestnut). A five year rotation might produce bean poles or picket fence posts where a 30 year rotation might be used for post and rail fencing. Rotations of upwards of 30 years become useful construction timbers. And that’s just chestnut. Each tree has its different suitabilities. For example, hickory is used for tool handles requiring rigid strength and ash for handles requiring flexible strength; willow is used to make cricket bats and black locust is said to last “a year longer than stone” in the ground or in the weather.

Having begun with charcoal as a kind of pioneer strategy while bringing derelict coppice into production, Ben still produces charcoal with wood of insufficient quality for other uses. This way nothing is wasted. Coppice products besides poles, timber and charcoal include logs for mushroom growing and firewood. An Australian study has shown that coppice that is used for firewood locally has a net sequestration of carbon per unit of energy produced in burning (around 0.06kg CO2 / kWh) - that is, it actually reduces carbon emissions. Given efficient stoves and local use, burning firewood from coppice is a more efficient heating fuel than gas or electricity.

There are also yields from bees, animals in the woodland, fungi and increased biodiversity. Ben is actually managing his woodland in an area which must be managed to preserve the mosses and lichens growing on the coppice stands. Coppice management is very amenable to such conservation, especially if it includes about a 10% canopy cover provided by uncut trees - this is called “coppice with standards.” Coppice with standards increases wildlife habitat and the overall stability of a system.

I felt very lucky to learn from such an experienced woodsman with an understanding of permaculture and I gained a greater appreciation of the place of coppice in a permaculture. Not everyone can be a woods-person, crafts-person and and marketer like Ben and make a living from stewarding a woodland but coppicing can also be used as a management strategy in suburban forest gardens or in animal fodder systems, amongst other things. Coppice offers one of the best ways of capturing the sun’s energy to meet many of our needs for fuel, fibre, fodder (and fungi!).

This entry has been reproduced from the Permaculture Association of Western Australia’s e-news. Visit the association’s website for more information, to join or to sign up for the e-news.

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Pol-e-cultures II: Why we can't afford not to wait --- Some reflections on Permaculture in Timór-Leste

Harry Wykman — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In Timór-Leste, most people cannot afford instant gardens. As a result, it is much easier to see the strategies of a Permaculture design come into fruition. I can’t but think that this is a lesson in patience for we who can afford to continuously prop up broken systems by importing materials from outside.

These were some of my reflections on my return to Timór-Leste while in transit to the UK in December. In July and August of last year, Joshua Hobby (of Design to Produce) and I assisted with a garden project at a malnutrition clinic in Dili, Timór-Leste (see the Peacetree Permaculture website for more details). As a part of the installation of a diversion swale, we planted a line of six stems of vetiver grass for soil stabilisation. Now six stems of vetiver are of rather limited use in holding the soil together on around 30 metres of swale but that is all we were able to gather from an erosion prevention project we came upon by chance. Six we had so six we planted.

About five months later those stems had become sizable clumps. With the Timorese gardeners, I cut them back severely, dug them up, divided them and planted the whole berm with each stem at about 20cm apart. That is, six stems yielded about 150 plantable stems of vetiver grass in five months. Rather than buy 150 plants, sun, soil and rain were allowed to provide their bounty to the plants who in turn yielded their habitual abundance. In another five or six months, there will be 150 clumps which will stabilise soil, provide habitat for beneficial insects and which can be regularly cut for use as mulch. The six five month old clumps yielded material to mulch two garden beds. 150 mature clumps will be able to thickly mulch around 50 garden beds. That is enough to mulch all the intensive garden beds in the garden twice a year. This vetiver grass example is one amongst many “small and slow solutions” which will ultimately and ongoingly build fertility in this garden.

It seems to me that too many of us do not have the patience to assemble and foster such stability. We import rather than plant our fertility. We cannot afford this any longer. We cannot afford <strong>not</strong> to wait for a slow but tremendously potent natural abundance to grow up around us. One of the most impoverished nations in the world cannot afford impatience. We from one of the wealthiest must learn when our money is no good.

May your polycultures be over-yielding,

Harry
Oxford, United Kingdom

This entry has been reproduced from the Permaculture Association of Western Australia’s e-news. Visit the association’s website for more information, to join or to sign up for the e-news.

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Chrysopogon zizanioides

Pol-e-cultures I: Timór-Leste

Harry Wykman — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:23:25 +0000

Timór-Leste, from which I write, is the loofah-adorned gateway to my newly begun adventures in polyculture. I have been asked to write brief snippets as I go for inclusion in PAWA’s e-news, thus the less-than-satisfying reference to the electronic medium in ‘pol-e-cultures.’ Why polycultures? Well, this little part of the e-news is going to be a place for me to share with any willing readers some of what I learn and experience on my Permaculture journeys over the next 18 months. The name comes from the many cultures that I will encounter in this time and the strong desire in me to learn more about how to grow plants together in a way that produces abundant yields useful to people. Specifically, I hope to learn more about polycultures in Mediterranean climates.

From two weeks in Timór-Leste working at HIAM Health in their ‘home kitchen garden’ (home gardens are the more ancient tropical equivalent of the forest garden concept) I travel to the United Kingdom, where I will be based in Oxford, England. It is my intention to and work enough to subsist and travel to those places in which I can learn more about forest gardening and polyculture in general.

Martin Crawford’s forest garden in Devon, England will be one of the first destinations once I am settled. I hope to gain his advice on where to travel around the Mediterranean basin. There I hope to find polycultures and permacultures which will provide inspiration for work in the analagous climate of the South West of Western Australia, now and into the climatically unstable future. Next e-news, I’ll get down to some specifics, beginning with Timór-Leste. In the mean time,

May your polycultures be over-yielding,

Harry
Dili, Timór-Leste

This entry has been reproduced from the Permaculture Association of Western Australia’s e-news. Visit the association’s website for more information, to join or to sign up for the e-news.

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Two Weeks in Timor-Leste

Harry Wykman — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Some months ago, a friend, co-worker and fellow communard Joshua Hobby received an email from an organisation in East Timor called HIAM Health.

In early 2009, Josh worked with HIAM to establish a ‘home garden’ (toos uma-hun) at HIAM’s new premises in Dili. Over 6 months Josh and several Timorese worked with an inhospitable and infertile site to establish a garden infrastucture using Permaculture design methods. After this work Josh left East Timor for a time, eventually returning to Australia. The recent email from HIAM was a request that he return and assist with further training in Permaculture and organic gardening techniques as soon as possible.

Josh was uncertain whether this would be possible, having just begun a business (Design to Produce) but, not closing down options, asked whether I would come along to assist him if he decided to go. With a bit of time to think, both of us decided that it was something we could respond to and began to make plans.

We didn’t know quite what to expect before we arrived or what elements of systems and infrastructure which Josh had helped to establish remained. Arriving a week earlier than I, Josh reported that things were ‘better than expected.’

I arrived in Dili on the 22nd of July and after getting settled in joined in with the garden work. Though I had nothing to make a comparison with, I was certainly surprised to see how well the basic design of the garden had been maintained, given the perceived need for urgent assistance. We had thought that we may have needed to make some major design changes but it has been unnecessary. We are in the process of tweaking the design, having undergone a design process with the HIAM garden workers, which included a trip to other Permaculture and agroforestry projects in the highlands.

Josh has been here for three weeks and I have been here for two. The first part of this time consisted of (re-)establishing relationships and observing the current systems. We conducted some skill-sharing workshops on bio-intensive gardening methods and hot composting while propagating many leucaena (ai-kafe — Leucaena spp.) seedlings, a leguminous tree which is present in abundance, in anticipation of later design changes.

Last week, we made two day trips — a short trip to Dare to visit an agroforestry project and a long trip to Turiscai to visit some of the projects of Timor’s Permaculture organisation, Permatil (Permaculture Timor Lorosae). These were very valuable excursions, not least because we were able to get some valuable plant material, including calliandra (ai kaliandra — Calliandra spp.), vetiver grass (duut — Chrysopogon zizanioides), mexican marigold (Tagetes minuta), cosmos (Cosmos spp.) and elder (ai funan mutin — Sambucus nigra).

This week, we have been re-designing together, in light of our trip and the things we learned and beginning to put the new design into action. This has included digging a large diversion swale along the top of the garden, planting it out with vetiver, leucaena and mint (ortelaun — Mentha spp.), and establishing a banana circle in the ‘wet food forest area’.

There is, of course, a lot more to say but I’m sure that’s as much as will be digested in a blog post. Hopefully more soon on our mountainous journeys and details of garden works and systems.

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