A well rounded, 5 minute, introduction to many of the techniques that have been developed  and used by permaculture practitioners: swales, polyculture, composting, mulches, grey water recycling, composting toilets, and recycling of resources.  This is another nice example one can use to answer the question, "What does Permaculture look like?"

And, at the 2:16 mark, you will see a black composting unit.  I have a similar model in my composting arsenal.  Due to the shape, color, and my being a geek, it is the Darth Composter.

The Permaculture Garden: Restoring Your Yard, Sustaining Your Life!

There is an art exhibit that opened recently in Berlin called Permaculture.  Seven international artists are taking their different  views of low-tech, recycled sustainable art off of the street and into the gallery.

CultureLab: The art of sustainability.

And we return to the PDC material with Water, including how to harvest, store, treat, use, and conserve it.  As this is a topic includes numerous techniques, to help round that out are links to many of the points covered in the show for additional reading and follow up. Early on, I mentioned some percentages that add up to more than 100%.  I blame that fully on my brain and a rounding error when putting the show together. Also, the word research comes up again and again and again in this episode.  Given the breadth of Permaculture, the bioregions we work in, and the variety of techniques we can use, the amount of information is encyclopedic.  Use the information contained within as a place to jump off from to find ideas that go with your observations and are applicable to that situation. Swales: www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/swaleguid.pdf Spreader Banks: https://www.southwestnrm.org.au/sites/default/files/uploads/ihub/study-tour-pondingwater spreading1994.pdf Tied Ridging: https://www.farmingsolutions.org/successtories/stories.asp?id=107 https://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=4105 Micro-Catchment https://www.sci.sdsu.edu/SERG/techniques/microcatch.pdf https://www.ecocomposite.org/restoration/microcatch.htm FlowForms https://www.nationalwatercenter.org/flowforms.htm Constructed Wetlands: www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/pdf/hand.pdf www.deq.state.ok.us/factsheets/local/wetlands.pdf Sand Filter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioSand_Filter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_sand_filter Joe Jenkins: The Humanure Handbook

Permaculture College Australia has registered their PDC with the Farm Ready Reimbursement Grants program.  This allows farmers, their immediate family, managers, and employees to have a large part of their course fees paid back through the program.  I wonder if something like this is available for American farmers?

https://www.echonews.com.au/story/2011/06/30/course-helps-farmers-start-permaculture/

This is a beautiful example of what can be done with a living roof.  In this case, three different ecosystems are integrated into the space, with an eye towards permaculture.

If you are in the Jacksonville, FL area it is accessible by appointment.

https://www.greenroofs.com/blog/2011/07/03/gpw-breaking-ground-contracting-green-roof-rooftop-garden/

Citizens of Cairo are finding ways to integrate agriculture into their city.  They are being assisted by the South African Permaculture practitioner Dominique De Bruin and focusing on how to make the best use of the vertical spaces and rooftops.  A Non-US, UK, or Australian look at design in a rapidly changing social and political environment.

https://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/474171

I had a great time interviewing Rachel and am thankful for her, and co-author K. Ruby Blume's, perspectives on living a regenerative lifestyle based in permaculture. The artwork and photographs in the book are wonderful, it's well written, easy to understand, and contain a number of hands-on projects to get you started in whatever your area of interest may be. The chaptering of the book is a logical progression, with each chapter containing a description of the subject, information on it, interviews with people or organizations and how they are working with the idea, and hands-on projects.  Throughout there are some sidebars with more information and in some chapters a time frame you can use to implement gradually and not get overwhelmed. My favorite parts of this book are the Principles of Urban Homesteading, the interviews, the hands-on projects, and the inclusion, and focus on, the non-material. The Principles of Urban Homesteading reflect the way the Principles of Permaculture arose over time through the action of it's practitioners. They reveal a way to consider the urban environment while trying to practice permaculture there. The interviews are reminders that others face the same challenges we do.  I find them empowering and inspiring. Many books on Permaculture can be overwhelming with the amount of knowledge and information that is imparted in just a few pages. Rachel and Ruby have spread that out and the projects help to give us little things to focus on and then take action.  The reader can move forward without being caught up in paralysis by analysis trying to figure out "What do I do next? There's so much!".  Find something you like and do it.  Many of these can be done in an afternoon with supplies you already have at your home. The non-material is something that, though we discuss it as being part of our ever growing need to implement permanent-culture, I feel it is often overlooked as the focus becomes one of design, food, and stable ecosystems.  We also need to work on our stable social-systems. Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living now has a permanent place on my book shelf and is on the short list of recommended reads for people beginning their path to permaculture.  If you've been doing this for a while and want something for someone who is still on the fence, this is the book. You can buy the book directly from the authors at: https://urban-homesteading.org/ And, if you'd like to listen to Rachel speak and possibly get to meet her, she will be at the Northeast Permaculture Convergence July 22-24, 2011.   Note:  I received my copy of Urban Homesteading from Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. for review.  Only after reading it cover to cover, and feeling it would be a value to you my audience, did I contact Rachel for the interview.

As someone who comes from a computer science background, I have an affinity for the transition Rishi and his family have made.  Whether you have a large amount of space or a little, the passion and dedication to the process can guide you through.

This video is well produced and talks with Rishi and Ro about the project, their accomplishments, and possibilities for the future.

https://diamondbar.patch.com/articles/diamond-bar-home-goes-green#video-6688242
You can learn and see more about the projet at:

https://thegrowinghome.net/

Neal from New Jersey wrote me a few days ago with the following questions.  I already had a chance to respond to him via email, so he could start working on this immediately, but this takes that response and expands on it a bit. 1) Is it bad to buy non-organic plants for your home garden? I know this isn't ideal, but since I wanted to get a few more veggies into the garden, I just bought a few from the local Agway. Now I'm wondering if that was a bad thing to do. 2) Should I get my soil tested to see how I can improve it 3) I understand there are a lot of things we can add to improve the soil such as manure (I can easily obtain horse manure where I live), veggie scraps, coffee grinds, etc. However, is it good to use these if we don't know if they're organic or not 4)Any tips on making/obtaining supplies to build a raised bed?

This brings us to the next portion of the Permaculture Design Course with the very core ideas of permaculture: The Prime Directive, Ethics, and Principles that make permaculture permaculture. The Prime Directive, from Mollison, states: "The only ethical decisions is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children." From there we move into the Ethics:

• Earth Care
• People Care
• Fair Share

This time around, I present the Principles differently from those presented by Holmgren and others.  10 Principles in total are covered:

• Whole System
• Observation
• Soil
• Diversity
• 4-Dimensional Design
• Relative Location
• Planning Tools
• Scale
• Yields
• Energy

For this episode, my primary resources were: Permaculture: A Designers' Manual by Bill Mollion Teaching Permaculture Creatively by Skye and Robin Clayfield The Earth Care Manual by Patrick Whiefield