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Permaculture; sustainable food production

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Pieter Steenekamp

Permaculture; sustainable food production

I think there is broad consensus that modern farming is bad for the earth. I was always under the impression that it's one of those very difficult problems to solve. I always implicitly assumed that the yield of modern farming is just so much higher than ecologically friendly farming that it's impossible to feed 7 billion people without resorting to ecologically harmful farming.

So I always assumed that the choice was between hurting the environment or letting people starve.

I got a wake-up call this week. We visited a nearby Permaculture farm (https://numbivalley.webs.com) and it's just amazing the yield in terms of healthy food that they produce on a ridiculously small area of land. They farm in a very sustainable and eco-friendly way that produces more food (and it's very tasty, we had lunch with them and healthy too) per land area than modern farming. That's what they claim in any case, I have not independently verified that. The co-owner Kathryn says she challenges any farmer that uses modern farming methods to match their yield in terms of food production per area of land.

I asked the other co-owner, Ross if a global disaster happens and they become totally isolated from the rest of the world if they would be able to survive. Jokingly he answered that they would not, because they won't be able to buy tennis balls. Tennis balls? I wondered what part of Permaculture depends on tennis balls. Yes, he said, I regularly go to the nearby town to play tennis and I won't survive without that. But on a serious note he thought about it and speculated that he reckons that they will survive.

The possible draw-back is that Permaculture is extremely labor intensive. But then, working and living like that could be very good for the soul and the body, it's not like working in a factory.

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Steve Smith

Re: Permaculture; sustainable food production

Pieter -

As Kathryn surely offered you, the field of "Permaculture" has experienced a serious resurgence with a lot of practical demonstrations of how *intense* multi-use land/animal/plant "husbandry" can be in terms of production if careful thought and patience and respect for the land, animals, plants, air, water, neighbors are practiced. A great bit of background to the spirit of the movement is Masanobu Fukouka's story. Holmgren and Mollison are the "founders" of modern permaculture but Fukouka is the Patron Saint IMO.

https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/one-straw-revolutionary/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mollison

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Holmgren

The mainstream dialogue (if we must call it that) seems to be a highly polarized tension between the devil-may-care pedal-to-the-metal damn-the-torpedoes neoliberal/industrialist/extractionist ideal that we just need to charge forward as fast as possible vs a sometimes blindly idealistic draw to "wishing and hoping" that putting down our manic hypercapitalism in disgust would yield instant utopia.

The Permaculture people ( I am at best a groupie ) "do the work" as they say. But in counterpoint to your point about it being labor intensive, they make a very strong point of "productive laziness". For example the principle that every thing one does or makes or has should have at least 3 purposes. A fruit/nut tree offers fruit/nuts in season, shade in the summer, wind-screen in the windy season, shelter and food for birds, etc. A pond provides ... , ... , ... and ... ... ...

Permaculture *first* appealed to my optimizing/satisficing awareness developed through my practices in science/engineering. I *grew* to appreciate the gentleness and reciprocity with nature that it inspires (requires) as well as the slow-patience.

Permaculture Design principles

Catch and store energy: Develop systems that collect resources at peak abundance for use in times of need. Obtain a yield: Emphasize projects that generate meaningful rewards. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback: Discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems function well.

Here is a more elaborated, popularly accessible review:

https://ethical.net/ethical/permaculture-principles/

I strongly believe that the "choice between hurting the environment and letting people starve" is a false dichotomy, though it is fair to notice that it is "hard to get from here to there", especially if we aspire to do it quickly and without any discomforts and inconveniences.

I don't have a specific reference on the tip of my fingers but I believe that Permaculture honestly aspires to address (holistically) all levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, with *food* being an easy/obvious one for many to focus on.

- Steve

On 5/22/21 4:51 AM, Pieter Steenekamp wrote:

I think there is broad consensus that modern farming is bad for the earth. I was always under the impression that it's one of those very difficult problems to solve. I always implicitly assumed that the yield of modern farming is just so much higher than ecologically friendly farming that it's impossible to feed 7 billion people without resorting to ecologically harmful farming.

So I always assumed that the choice was between hurting the environment or letting people starve.

I got a wake-up call this week. We visited a nearby Permaculture farm (https://numbivalley.webs.com) and it's just amazing the yield in terms of healthy food that they produce on a ridiculously small area of land. They farm in a very sustainable and eco-friendly way that produces more food (and it's very tasty, we had lunch with them and healthy too) per land area than modern farming. That's what they claim in any case, I have not independently verified that. The co-owner Kathryn says she challenges any farmer that uses modern farming methods to match their yield in terms of food production per area of land.

I asked the other co-owner, Ross if a global disaster happens and they become totally isolated from the rest of the world if they would be able to survive. Jokingly he answered that they would not, because they won't be able to buy tennis balls. Tennis balls? I wondered what part of Permaculture depends on tennis balls. Yes, he said, I regularly go to the nearby town to play tennis and I won't survive without that. But on a serious note he thought about it and speculated that he reckons that they will survive.

The possible draw-back is that Permaculture is extremely labor intensive. But then, working and living like that could be very good for the soul and the body, it's not like working in a factory.
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
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Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6  bit.ly/virtualfriam
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Pieter Steenekamp

Re: Permaculture; sustainable food production

Thanks for the reply Steve.

A week ago I knew almost nothing about Permaculture. Never mind doing it myself, I don't think I'll even develop into a "groupie", but there is a very good probability that we have an enthusiastic card carrying "arm-chair" supporter in the making. I really love the concept.

But then, that's if I had free will. My wife is already planning "our" Permaculture vegetable garden.

On Sat, 22 May 2021 at 17:05, Steve Smith <[hidden email]> wrote:

Pieter -

As Kathryn surely offered you, the field of "Permaculture" has experienced a serious resurgence with a lot of practical demonstrations of how *intense* multi-use land/animal/plant "husbandry" can be in terms of production if careful thought and patience and respect for the land, animals, plants, air, water, neighbors are practiced.   A great bit of background to the spirit of the movement is Masanobu Fukouka's story. Holmgren and Mollison are the "founders" of modern permaculture but Fukouka is the Patron Saint IMO.

https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/one-straw-revolutionary/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mollison

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Holmgren

The mainstream dialogue (if we must call it that) seems to be a highly polarized tension between the devil-may-care pedal-to-the-metal damn-the-torpedoes neoliberal/industrialist/extractionist ideal that we just need to charge forward as fast as possible vs a sometimes blindly idealistic draw to "wishing and hoping" that putting down our manic hypercapitalism in disgust would yield instant utopia.

The Permaculture people ( I am at best a groupie ) "do the work" as they say.   But in counterpoint to your point about it being labor intensive, they make a very strong point of "productive laziness".   For example the principle that every thing one does or makes or has should have at least 3 purposes.   A fruit/nut tree offers fruit/nuts in season, shade in the summer, wind-screen in the windy season, shelter and food for birds, etc. A pond provides ... , ... , ... and ... ... ...

Permaculture *first* appealed to my optimizing/satisficing awareness developed through my practices in science/engineering.   I *grew* to appreciate the gentleness and reciprocity with nature that it inspires (requires) as well as the slow-patience.

Permaculture Design principles

Catch and store energy: Develop systems that collect resources at peak abundance for use in times of need. Obtain a yield: Emphasize projects that generate meaningful rewards. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback: Discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems function well.

Here is a more elaborated, popularly accessible review:

https://ethical.net/ethical/permaculture-principles/

I strongly believe that the "choice between hurting the environment and letting people starve" is a false dichotomy, though it is fair to notice that it is "hard to get from here to there", especially if we aspire to do it quickly and without any discomforts and inconveniences.

I don't have a specific reference on the tip of my fingers but I believe that Permaculture honestly aspires to address (holistically) all levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, with *food* being an easy/obvious one for many to focus on.

- Steve

On 5/22/21 4:51 AM, Pieter Steenekamp wrote:
I think there is broad consensus that modern farming is bad for the earth. I was always under the impression that it's one of those very difficult problems to solve. I always implicitly assumed that the yield of modern farming is just so much higher than ecologically friendly farming that it's impossible to feed 7 billion people without resorting to ecologically harmful farming.

So I always assumed that the choice was between hurting the environment or letting people starve.

I got a wake-up call this week. We visited a nearby Permaculture farm (https://numbivalley.webs.com) and it's just amazing the yield in terms of healthy food that they produce on a ridiculously small area of land. They farm in a very sustainable and eco-friendly way that produces more food (and it's very tasty, we had lunch with them and healthy too) per land area than modern farming. That's what they claim in any case, I have not independently verified that. The co-owner Kathryn says she challenges any farmer that uses modern farming methods to match their yield in terms of food production per area of land.

I asked the other co-owner, Ross if a global disaster happens and they become totally isolated from the rest of the world if they would be able to survive. Jokingly he answered that they would not, because they won't be able to buy tennis balls. Tennis balls? I wondered what part of Permaculture depends on tennis balls. Yes, he said, I regularly go to the nearby town to play tennis and I won't survive without that. But on a serious note he thought about it and speculated that he reckons that they will survive.

The possible draw-back is that Permaculture is extremely labor intensive. But then, working and living like that could be very good for the soul and the body, it's not like working in a factory.
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6  bit.ly/virtualfriam
un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam
un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/