Episode-1485- What is this Permaculture Stuff and Why Should I Even Care

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The Effect of Pulsing Poultry over One Year

From time to time I back up and do a sort of “back to basics” show on certain subjects. Often things like Modern Survival Philosophy or basic preparedness. But yesterday I realized the word “permaculture” is tossed around at TSP constantly but likely many listeners don’t really understand it at all or perhaps even know what it is.

Additionally many people wonder why they should even care. Isn’t permaculture just hippies rolling in mud? No, it is more like Greening Deserts, Greening More Deserts and perhaps even using cows to restore entire eco systems and feed half the world. It also might be completely redesigning the largest farm in Jordan, building a cold climate sustainable profitable orchard or perhaps making a back yard feed a family.

So today we take a look at Permaculture from a basics of understanding and functionality standpoint. I think that both people totally new to permaculture and those who are full time practitioners will enjoy this look into the design science of permaculture.

Tune in today as we discuss…

What is permaculture – beyond the typical definition
What permaculture is not and misconceptions about it and the people behind it
What is the prime directive and the three ethics
Understanding techniques are techniques they are not permaculture
- Swales
- Hugulkulture
- Food Forests – A good teachable example
  - The High Canopy
  - The Low Tree
  - Shrub
  - herbaceous
  - rhizome
  - cover crops
  - vertical climbers
What are zones and sectors
Permaculture on a small scale
- Intensive gardens
- Urban food forests
- Reuse and recycling
- Back yard engineering
Permaculture on a broad acre scale
- Can not be run like “conventional systems”
- Not always called “permaculture”
- Absolutely requires the integration of Animals
- Requires a time phased approach
- Largely misunderstood both by main stream and “purple breathers”
The simple truth
- The unaltered ethics and directive are universal
- This is a system of design, not just a way to grow food
- If permaculture “doesn’t work” natural systems don’t work
- Truthfully modern agriculture doesn’t work if fairly judged
Final Thoughts

Resources for today’s show…

Bob Wells Plant of the Week – Methley Plum Tree

The Methley Plum is highly adaptable from zone 5 to zone 9. It is a juicy sweet plum with red flesh, reddish purple skin and great flavor.

It is an attractive tree that is vigorous and bears heavy. It ripens early and is very cold hardy. This is Bob Wells personal favorite when it comes to plums.

Bob Wells Nursery specializes in anything edible: Fruit trees, Berry Plants, Nut Trees, as well as the hard to find Specialty Trees. Find this plant and more at BobWellsNursery.com

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21 Comments

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Rick Allen

11 years ago

Mondo good stuff, Jack! Of course Im biased. I love anything Permaculture.

Save us from the “purple breathers”! We have had a few on our Permaculture 2013 forum. One young person was shocked to her foundation to learn that we would like to turn what Geoff taught us into business opportunities. (SMH) Party on bro!

Author

Modern Survival

Reply to Rick Allen

I think many such young people just don’t know any better. I met a small group at Ben Falks PDC. They were like “corporations are evil”, I was like well you know the Red Cross is a corporation right?

Um, uh, well, um, ya, um, oh no profit yea, yea, non profit.

Well see here is the thing the CEO of the Red Cross is obscenely rich and flies around on a G5 Jet, did you know that? By the way did you know I own several corporations?

Well, um but see you are cool, you are into permaculture, etc.

Really do any of you have a job?

All four, yep we all work?

Are you glad you have jobs?

Yep, pays for this, two of us are saving to buy land together, etc.

Oh really, and do you work for a corporation?

Well, um, yea but they are small.

Oh so small is good and big is bad?

Well yea mostly.

So the people you work for, if they started to get successful and employ more people, when should they stop? When should they say we don’t want to create any more jobs or opportunity?

We went in a lot of circles before they began to understand what a corp even is, why they exist and boy were they all up in a wad about the whole corporations have rights of individuals thing!

That was fun. Went like this.

So corporations shouldn’t have rights?

No, evil faceless, etc.

So I own a corporation, one is mine alone the other I own with partners, do we have rights?

Yes yes, all people have rights.

Do your rights end because you work for a corporation.

No no boo hiss, rights are rights!

Really so why should my rights end just because I own a corporation.

Blank stares!

See guys every corporation is nothing but a representation of a person or group of people, all corporations are owned by people in the end. If you own a house should you not have your rights extend to your property?

It went on for a while, these kids just have no clue, they haven’t been taught a thing about business, reality, the reality of energy, etc. They don’t know a thing about money, etc. They are overly optimistic about Permaculture because they still have the belief and wonder and no grounding in reality. This is curable fortunately.

I consider the purple breathers the late 20s and older crowd that still act that way!

Chris

Honestly Jack, don’t take this the wrong way but you should rename your podcast “The Permaculture and Libertarian Rant Podcast”. It seams lately you’ve drifted far away from typical / standard survival topics. I realize permaculture IS a survival topic but even the call in and feedback shows end up being libertarian rant shows. I also am a libertarian, I just feel the survival podcast isn’t the “survival” podcast anymore.

Reply to Chris

Sorry you feel that way but as to the anymore comment, I guess you haven’t listened for very long then.

Hugo van den Berg

+Chris, Jack has podcasted and also did presentations on how ‘survival’ isn’t about what the general public (and Discovery Channel) sees as survival. But is has more similarities with how to become independent of systems (government ie libertarianism), and long term survival, not for 10 days. He starts by saying, if 30 days of food will not suffice to bridge the gap, what would you need to have an infinite large store of food? He then says: a garden! Maybe you forgot, or didn’t ever hear the podcast. When Jack does Permaculture or Libertarianism, he is spot on, dead center, talking about survival. This is just my opinion of course, your milage may vary.

Terry Woods

Great show…..

Chupa Cabra

Thanks, that was a really good radio show.

ChrisJ

Loved this episode. Great stuff.

RonBoots

Yes! Permaculture without the hippies. Just solid principles that can be applied to just about anything. Keep up the good work Jack.

jeff nw ohio

The four biggies of modern preparedness, saftety, health, shelter and food.
Of the four, the longest learning curve and most needed (only one or two percent of population farm and produce food). Those that have might have the biggest security will be the ones that know how to provide food not only for themselves but for others too and do so with little energy inputs, ie permaculture. So for all those that think that guns are the end all, what happens when all the stored food runs out? We also need old fashioned ways of preservation too, root cellars, pickiling too.

Buffalo Jim

Great show Jack, thanks

andrew

I don’t know why everyone bags on that video of the hippies playing in the mud. I love playing in the mud and I wish I could have been there to play too. In that video, I don’t see them espousing any extremely left wing political beliefs or corrupting the 3rd ethic, but they certainly did look happy and full of freedom! That doesn’t bother me at all!!!!!

Reply to andrew

Let me just say that when you want to spread permaculture to non hippies this is not the image that gets the job done and leave it at that.

whoops he did say fair share didn’t he? but I also thought that the explanation given for PC at ~5:00 – 6:00 was really quite good. Love this podcast!!

Of course he did, those that see permaculture as a way to create social justice vs individual liberty always do so.

re: 1:04 agriscaping (iagriscape.com) focuses on edible landscapes that are hoa compliant ! they can also install landscapes that are not in an Hoa, of course!

Russ

Thank you Jack. I started listening to the show sometime around episode 600, it has been a joy to learn and grow along with you and your audience.

stallionfire

Love your show Jack, listen to every show for almost 2 years. I’ve made big things happen in my life thanks to you and this show. I just read your coment concerning corporation, I hear you about being allowed rights. The problem I have with corporations is that they are regulated by a third party contract, which terms are dictated by the feds and the UCC (Universal Commercial Code). This limits your individual rights when you conduct business as a corporation. You basically sign off many of your constitutional rights with the third party contract. Corporation are also given exclusive rights to conduct regulated business where individuals are not permitted, which makes sense in some cases but mostly serves the corporations. There are ways we can excercise more of our individual rights and its starts avoiding commerce. I would not be so hard on those kids, they know there is something wrong with these corporations and might not know where to point. The fact is you know as well as I, the world craziest and most successful sociopaths are hiding behind the curtain of government and corporations. I would love to hear a show on how to get out of using cash and sell your products and services with gold, silver, copper and other trades. I’m making my own personal business model where I can trade for just about everything I can ever need. Still a work in progress mind you. Anyways Jack I’d love to talk in person one day. Take Care.

James

Seems to me the agenda behind the “Fair Share” ethic change goes counter to the Prime Directive.

Reply to James

Correct of course if you use fair share the way purple breathers do.

Fair share CAN BE an accurate way to describe the ethic when translated from the original

“Setting limits to population and consumption”.

If you own land YOU can only take so much from YOUR land before you damage it. That is what Bill and Geoff mean when they use the term, Geoff told me this directly.

The hippies have corrupted it!