Ideas for Research Projects
> medicinal plant identification
> effects on soil & compost
> observe interaction w/ other plants
> what is their specific function in evolution?
> bio/myco/phytoremediation -- Paul Stamets -- mycelium
> plant inventory overall, each person adopt one plant for research -- not it's dangers but it's beautiful potential, ---- become it's advocate, represent it in society like you would yourself, it's uniqueness, the commonalities, neighbor/boundary issues, adaptability
> experiments w/ sheet mulching using on-site biomass
> mapping the watershed, building a small-scale model
> designing the food forest
Key Notes from Tours
The relevance of farm & nature issues ?
to empower individual and community; to counteract industrial/ corporate-driven alienation;
to rebuild the world from the ground up.
Hawaii : food security and localization = reduce distances & fuel cost & improve immune systems of society -- community building,
and to embrace the tradition: make farming a spiritual act.
Health --- rebuilding health from the ground up
GMO -- what are the risks or benefits of genetically modified organisms?
Environmental vs. ecological
Windshield view vs intimacy - our key perception of the landscape
'Perception with all senses engaged is a synchronization between my own rhythms and the rhythms of the things themselves .. ' D.Abrams
Indigenous -- we are longing to BELONG
Sustainable -- finding a balance and adapting to change
Approach to land (any size, from urban plot to whole islands):
1) what are the water patterns?
landscapes must be seen as watershed
(set up small scale models of environmental patterns & processes)
2) in which phase of evolutionary dynamic is this place engaged?
Evolution from lichen on lava to rainforest; from amoeba to sentient being -- nature's desire to move on, overgrow, overcome.
-- Modern industrial approach: control and dominance = having lots of enemies, and doing all the work.
-- Permaculture approach: how can I participate? where can I insert my interest to everyone's benefit, feed the earth and the birds while feeding my children and their future?
To participate: how can i influence the ongoing process (usually by speeding it up, propelling it forward -- hard or impossible to skip a step/layer of evolution)
borders/edges: for some reason, fertility and diversity are always the greatest at the edge, in transition zones, not in the middle --- why?
The power of distributing nutrients, moisture etc
Weeds -- accumulators, medicinals ; scab analogy
Cover crops nurse crops green manure -- planted or allowed
Forest Floor : compost like Nature does -- Food Forest (lasagna method) sheet mulching = echo of the seasons
design not for your benefit alone (crop), but for making friends -- then the crop will grow as by itself as a side effect.
Biomimicry -- Innovative solutions to human predicaments: How would nature do it?
Landscape Design & home landscapes -- Gardens must also be watershed designs
no difference betw ornamental and functional plans, or betw farm & garden: it's all about water, and about a dynamic place in evolution
aesthetics comes from love, beauty
walkability allows for participation, ergonomics, responsible stewardship, moisture preservation, soil & plant health
-- biotope
Crop Circles the nucleus/center feeds the ring of life;
soil building, moisture retention, an emerging habitat
Gravity -- slopes help move weight easily and deliver water.
Shifting Our Attitude
Lawn? weeds? -- look closer! Enter as a visitor -- remember how magical it is to arrive in a new town where you don't know anyone, and have no judgements -- everything is part of that newness.
then you make acquaintances, go exploring, get lost, find your way again, gradually EARN the privilege of being part of this community. Approach Nature like this!
We can't just rush into a new world without even looking or truly arriving.
Our systems are often too cerebral, too complicated, too convinced that we know something better than they do.
Kalil Gibran says :
if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work
and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distills a poison in the wine.
