PERMACULTURE | Forum

Independent and multiple award-winning documentary maker Marijn Poels presents his latest documentary "Return To Eden," featuring Allan Savory.

Far away from collective climate hysteria, fear and chaos, there is hope, inspiration and solutions. Across political colours. Averse to framing. Full of deep wisdom from people who approach solutions ecologically. Where the globalised farmer is strangled between government subsidies, banks and buyers and sucked into the core of the problem, the independent entrepreneur grows his local food in an inspiring way, in the middle of the desert. And that may well offer more solutions than just for our food. A healthy, living soil consumes large quantities of CO2. But can it even go a step further? Can healthy soil calm the climate and even prevent hurricanes?

"The boundary between regulating and manipulating is razor-thin," says Poels. "As citizens, we have to guard these lines very critically. Especially in agriculture. Sustainability and CO2, in particular, can indefinitely be misused as tools to push global political agendas. Centralization of power, agriculture and our food is ripping us further apart from our biological and natural balance. Common sense can be quickly confused with spreadsheets and technology. Chaos can grow very well on those. The technological revolution is an exciting direction which is not essentially wrong. But to what extent does our technology now support life? Today's technologies can imperceptibly swallow culture, agriculture, identity and turn our daily system into chaos. Creativity, freedom, innovation and fundamental biological connections are at great risk. “We are the only species on earth rapidly separating themselves from their biological origins. Is that clever and where is the boundary?" That is what Poels is trying to discover in a thought-provoking story which will be online after September 17th.

Filmmaker: https://www.marijnpoels.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM5P9GA-Mc4

In here Chris & Evie describe one of the most important elements of their success: Integrity. What does gardening have to do with Integrity? Lots. Watch to find out. In each video you'll learn something. Maybe small, maybe profound, but you'll be smarter for sure.

https://youtu.be/mOKAAyhb9a8

General Mills goes regenerative!?  

This is the first video in a four-part video series on Regenerative Agriculture covering the major challenges facing farmers and food production, what regenerative agriculture is and how it can address these challenges, and what General Mills is doing to advance regenerative agriculture. This video will home in on the Critical Challenges. Narrated by Steven Rosenzweig, PhD, soil scientist at General Mills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6NVs-M64vE

FULL SERIES!

UPDATE: Seattle Free Food Project Beacon Food Forest

The Beacon Hill Food Forest in Seattle is a legendary public park, providing fresh food in a food desert to community members who come to tend the landscape. Learn how this group of people is growing food, building soil, enhancing habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects, building community, sharing knowledge, and creating dynamic partnerships on this piece of public land in an urban environment.

https://youtu.be/wH2ShQ-7hEI

ABC News In-depth For five generations, Charles Massy's family rode on the sheep’s back and nearly destroyed their land in the process. When drought in the 80s and 90s almost sent him broke, the Cooma farmer switched to regenerative agriculture and watched his overgrazed land recover. In his mid-50s, Charles Massy started a PhD, visiting 80 top regenerative farmers to see what they were doing differently. That led to his ground-breaking book Call of the Reed Warbler, a plea to farmers to start working with nature.

https://youtu.be/58G9htz0hTk

Regenerative farming

  https://neighborhood.openlid.org/video/view/1100

Ecosia is the search engine that plants trees: https://ecosia.co/info

For more details on Ecosia’s European regenerative agriculture fund and on how to apply, please go here: https://www.ecosia-regenerative-agric...

Thank you to Benedikt Bösel (Gut&Bösel), Christina Chemnitz (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V.) and Paul Wöbkenberg (Ecosia) for their insights and time.

A big thank you to Ackerpulco (IG: @ackerpulco_farm), Emanuel Finckenstein (IG: @__finck__) and Benedikt Bösel (IG: @benediktboesel) for offering us their images.

What is Regenerative Agriculture and can it be scaled?

Regenerative agriculture has no rules. Instead, there are general principles and practices of regenerative agriculture, all of which aim to disturb the soil as little as possible and keep it covered at all times.

Three main principles guide the regenerative approach to agriculture:
Don’t till or over-plough the soil, always have a diverse set of plants on your farm, instead of rows of monocultures and keep your soil covered all year round with plants, crops and trees.

The main goal is not to disturb the soil and to always have green cover on it. Only this way can we protect the soil from erosion, damaging floods and from becoming infertile.

Combined with reforestation, regenerative agriculture could even re-capture most of the CO2 emissions out of the air again. That is why at Ecosia we have launched a competition fund for farmers in Europe to support them in their switch to regenerative practices.

From agroforestry, silvopasture, permaculture or intercropping - the practices of regenerative agriculture are varied and which ones or which set of those you apply will depend on the climate, the quality of your soil and trial and errors on any particular farm.

Meet John Austel of 4J Horse and Livestock a family operated cattle ranch in San Diego, California raising cattle on 100% grass from start to finish. He'll tell us all about how he raises his cows from calf to harvest, the amazing regenerative effect grazing cattle has had on the land and the state run studies done on his land to prove it, among a myriad of other topics related to raising cattle on pasture.

more here!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sE6wrNeUMU

Searching for Bill Mollison: Exploring the Tucson swales

VergePermaculture 42.2K subscribers Rob and Takota explore the Tucson swales, an “oasis” in the deserts outside of Tucson, created in the dirty 30’s as part of a Federal make work project, and the swales are still functioning today! Take a detailed video tour of this amazing swale, and learn how to maximize available water even in an extremely dry climate. Bill Mollison introduced the swales to us in his "Global Gardner" videos (link below), using them as an example of what can be accomplished to bring life to even the seemingly driest of ecosystems. After the swales were constructed in the 1930's, no maintenance has been done, they have just been left to nature.

In this video, Rob and Takota's tour of the horseshoe swale will amaze you with many examples of sustainable biodiversity that the swales have facilitated, then discuss how permaculture principles and concepts of permaculture design could be applied to create even greater abundance in this extremely dry climate!

Some topics discussed 2:104 eco system processes 8:07Walking over the swale - vegetation changes 13:41Takota and Rob discuss their observations of the swale 31:37Applying the 5 step permaculture process to this dry ecosystem The original “Global Gardener” video by Bill Mollison https://vimeo.com/ondemand/globalgard...CCC Swales on Google Maps https://bit.ly/2WWDPkNCivilian Conservation Corps on. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilia...

About Rob Avis and Verge Permaculture: In less than 10 years, Rob & Michelle Avis left Calgary’s oil fields and retooled his engineering career to help clients and students design integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste and food, all while supporting local economy and regenerating the land. He’s now leading the next wave of permaculture education, teaching career-changing professionals to become eco-entrepreneurs with successful regenerative businesses. Learn more and connect with Rob & Michelle at https://vergepermaculture.ca/

FREE RESOURCES: As a special gift when you subscribe to our newsletter is that we’ll send you the link to download our drop-dead-gorgeous Blog Book: 50 breathtaking magazine-style pages of our most popular blog posts and articles over the past five years, from permaculture ABCs to property-buying, home design, eco-investing, and community retrofitting. Sign-up: http://bit.ly/2Dqjg5GWhy should you reserve a place in your bulging in-box for Verge’s newsletters? One reason: because we challenge the headlines and cultural paradigms with a whole different kind of alternative fact: Permaculture-inspired businesses can succeed – and restore the planet. And we’ll show you how to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUzqMmnNYaw

https://neighborhood.openlid.org/video/view/1188

yt comment:

I wish I could make every lawn owner in the USA watch this! Thanks, Geoff! You are an inspiration.

I show you the amazing results of increasing fertility with no dig, and how the garden continues cropping throughout the year. Most vegetables you see were transplanted in summer, after harvests of spring vegetables. We add no compost or feeds before the second plantings. This is a simple, quick, and highly productive way of growing, with few weeds.

Homeacres is my quarter acre/1000sqm, no dig market and teaching garden in Somerset UK, temperate oceanic climate zone 8. Filmed 13th November by Edward Dowding my son, in one take. Edited by him. Mostly he used a motorised gimbel. Helpers are Kate Forrester and Martin Scase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lapIy_yf0_I

What is agorism, how can it impact your life? Are you already an agorist and just don't know it yet. Tune in today to learn how something as simple as a small garden pond can enrich your life in many ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GHB56fMfQU

FoodAbundance 35.5K subscribers Go to https://FoodAbundance.comto join the Food Abundance movement. Over 6,000 pounds of food per year, on 1/10 acre located just 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. The Dervaes family grows over 400 species of plants, 4,300 pounds of vegetable food, 900 chicken and 1,000 duck eggs, 25 lbs of honey, plus seasonal fruits throughout the year. From 1/10th of an acre, four people manage to get over 90% of their daily food and the family reports earnings of $20,000 per year (AFTER they eat from what is produced). This is done without the use of the expensive & destructive synthetic chemicals associated with industrial mono-cropping, while simultaneously improving the fertility and overall condition of the land being used to grow this food on.

Scaled up to an acre, that would equal $200,000 per year! To follow the Dervaes and their Urban Homesteading activites, you can find them at http://urbanhomestead.org

Urban and near-urban farming can be highly productive, causing whatever size of land you have to work with to produce with more abundance. It is time to solve hunger worldwide, through creating local food abundance.... Anyone can do it, once you learn how. To join the Food Abundance movement, go to https://FoodAbundance.com

How to find good food. http://eatwild.com/

Eatwild was founded in 2001 to promote the benefits—to consumers, farmers, animals, and the planet—of choosing meat, eggs, and dairy products from 100% grass-fed animals or other non-ruminant animals fed their natural diets. Today it is the #1 clearinghouse for information about pasture-based farming and features a state-by-state plus Canada directory of local farmers who sell their pastured farm and ranch products directly to consumers.

Not content to just spread the word about healthier meat, eggs, and dairy, Eatwild founder Jo Robinson published a new book—Eating on the Wild Side—which soon became a NY Times Bestseller. This book presents 21st-century research about the important health benefits of choosing specific varieties of fruits and vegetables, as well as hands-on advice on how to shop for them, grow them, cook them, and store them maintain their nutritional value. Jo gleaned this information by reviewing thousands of research articles, providing a wealth of information you will not find anywhere else. Read more about this prize-winning book...

Today, Eatwild.com provides research-based information about "eating on the wild side." This means choosing present-day foods that approach the nutritional content of wild plants and game—our original diet. Evidence is growing on an almost daily basis that these wholesome foods give us more of the nutrients we need to fight disease and enjoy optimum health. Few of us will go back to foraging in the wild for our food, but we can learn to forage in our supermarkets, farmers markets, and from local farmers to select the most nutritious and delicious foods available.

In 2016, the Academy of Culinary Nutrition recognized Jo's contributions to healthier eating by selecting her as one of their Top 50 Food Activists.

The War on (some) Food (growers and eaters).

But FDA has expanded the scope of this provision to cover everyone who manufactures, processes, packs, or holds food.  And the agency interprets those terms to include people who grow the food, i.e. farmers.

The agency has proposed some very small exemptions:

• Food grown or made solely for personal use.
• Farms that sell $25,000 of less of produce annually.
• Businesses that sell $25,000 or less of food annually.
• Egg producers with less than 3,000 hens.
• Nonprofit food establishments, such as food banks or soup kitchens.

more:

https://www.westonaprice.org/proposed-fda-rule-threatens-small-farms-food-businesses/

Kirsten Dirksen 1.48M subscribers Former Army tech Larry Johnson has spent his career improving computer and telephone systems so when he saw inefficiencies in how we grow our food, he decided to create a new system for farming your yard. His EZGro garden uses aquaponics, stacked towers, and custom pots to create a high-density vertical garden (HDVG) on as little land as a deck, rooftop, or parking space. Johnson says the system will grow 700 plants, using 15 towers, in a space of just 2 by 18 feet. Today, he sells kits ranging from single tower patio gardens to 10-tower deck gardens to commercial-sized set-ups like those being used by a Miami football stadium for concession meals, by a Whole Foods Market in New Jersey, and by rooftop farmers in Lagos, Nigeria.

It all began in 1995 when Johnson began tinkering with his quad pot design, crafting a custom container strong enough to hold tomato plants with over 100 pounds of fruit. He then developed an irrigation system that feeds nutrient-rich water from the top of the towers, drips through the pots, and filters out through tubing below to be reused. This closed-loop system uses less than 10% of the water of a traditional garden.

To create a system robust enough for even off-grid farmers, Johnson has spent the last 2 decades developing his trihelix solar windmill. Solar panels are mounted on top of three turbines, known as the "Tri-Helix", which are twisted like DNA strands to catch even inconsistent wind (turbines start turning in winds of just 2mph). https://ezgrogarden.com/

https://youtu.be/QSnHShly5R0

Friends of Science 43.3K subscribers
Return To Eden - It’s all about coming home. When Natural and human interests impinge on each other and over-regulation disturbs our biological balance. important questions arise. Do we belong to nature or does nature belongs to us? A thought-provoking story in which documentary maker Marijn Poels explores the human urge to control our climate, security and preferably the other. Balancing on a razor-thin line between regulation and manipulation. When technology reigns supreme and common sense vaporizes through the test of time, humanity is on the brink of becoming the tool. Miles away from the collective panic, fear and chaos, there is hope, inspiration and reconnection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s4vWrHw3WY

Can city dwellers grow their own organic food by renting pieces of land?

Down To Earth 265K subscribers Most of the people living in megacities in India have very little or almost no connection to how their food is produced. This task is left to the majority of the nameless farmers in our villages. But now a Delhi based agriculture start-up is allowing city-dwellers to do just that. Allowing them to participate in their food production.

The start-up is called Edible Routes and they have devised a very simple way to let people take a small plot of land on rent to grow their own food. Kapil Mandawewala who founded Edible Routes in 2015 has been helping people to grow fresh and organic food in their homes, terraces, and balconies. In 2018 he started a project called Farmlet, where consumers can directly grow their own food on a plot of land. Kapil says the act of growing one's own food has a transformative effect on people.

People immediately become aware that the food they are growing is healthy and chemical-free. This brings in a greater sense of wellbeing. It also makes people recognize day-to-day environmental changes around them thereby helping them to better understand the effects of climate change. Edible Routes take a large farm on lease and then creates multiple mini farms of various sizes. Then they sublet it to customers who can rent these small farms on a monthly subscription basis. One can rent a mini farm of 1200 Sq feet to 2400 Sq feet depending on the family and their fresh food requirement. 1200 Sq feet is sufficient for a family of 3 to 4 people. Edible routes have employed skilled farm labours who help form letters in growing the crops and also take care of plants in their absence. A farm letter can visit the farm to look after their crops as many times as he or she likes but the idea is for constant engagement with their crops.

Kapil recommends it once a week or at least twice a month. Farmletters are encouraged to get involved in the process of growing like sowing, taking care of the plants and harvesting. A customer can also get the harvest delivered to their home but the idea is to take part in the activity. There are many farm letters who are actively taking part in the growing process. Post lockdown, as the economy opens up more and more people are joining the farmlet venture and they are also taking an active interest in the growing process. The farmlet venture is a novel way of allowing city dwellers to connect with their food.

For those with a green thumb or who want to be weekend farmers, this is the right avenue to explore. And to top it you get healthy chemical food in return.

Dryland-harvesting home gathers sun, rain, food, & more

Kirsten Dirksen
1.5M subscribers When Brad Lancaster and his brother bought their home in downtown Tucson, the streetscape was a dusty place, devoid of trees or any vegetation. In 1996 Lancaster and his neighbors started an annual tree-planting project, which up until now has resulted in over 1,400 native food-bearing trees being planted (usually with water-harvesting earthworks) in the neighborhood. In 2004, Lancaster augmented the street tree planting by using a 14-inch, gas-powered circular saw to cut away part of his curb to divert street runoff into his street-side tree basins. When the walkway in front of his home sprouted with lifelike mesquite and palo verde trees- many of his neighbors wanted to cut their curbs as well. Lancaster approached the city to convince them to make his water-harvesting technique legal. It took three years for the city to change the rules. Today, three-quarters of the neighbors on his block are harvesting rainwater. Tucson receives just 11 inches of rainwater per year, but Brad argues this is enough. “Tucson has over a 4,000-year history of continuous farming despite this being a drylands desert community. People thrived creating crops, domesticating crops that are uniquely adapted to this climate, but in less than 100 years we almost wiped it out by becoming reliant on very extractive pumps, extracting the groundwater, diverting the river to the extent that we actually killed our river, we dropped our groundwater table over 300 feet so we didn’t want to plug into that paradigm.” Today, Lancaster’s downtown Tucson neighborhood (Dunbar/Spring) is alive with drought-tolerant, food-bearing trees and residents harvest from the barrel cactus (chutneys, hair conditioner from fruit), the prickly pear cactus (juice, syrup & natural sweeteners from fruit), the ironwood tree (peanut-flavored nuts, processed like edamame), jojoba (oil, coffee substitute), mesquite (“native carob”, flour) and sweets from the “iconic saguaro cactus”. Lancaster’s experimentation continues on his property: he calls the 1/8th of an acre site he shares with his brother’s family, his “living laboratory”. Here he plants around the greywater from his outdoor shower, bathtub and washing machine. He captures 100,000 gallons of rainwater per year on their property and surrounding public right-of-way. He cooks with a solar oven and heats his water using a 2 salvaged, conventional gas heaters stripped of insulation, painted black, and put in an insulated box with glass facing south to collect the sun’s rays. Lancaster converted the old garage on the property into his 200-square-foot “garottage” (garage + cottage) or “shondo” (shed + condo). Nearly all the wood and materials are salvaged. The garage’s original cinder block walls weren’t insulated so he added 2 inches of foam insulation on the exterior to create “ex-sulation”. Lancaster relies mostly on passive solar to heat and cool his home, though he uses an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) on hotter evenings. His kitchen is outside: a rainwater-plumbed sink, a hacked chest-freezer-turned-refrigerator, and a propane camping stove. His toilet is another experiment. “You can currently get a compost toilet that is manufactured and NSF-approved, but it costs $3000 or more. So we wanted to try making some site-built models that only cost $300 for which we got experimental permits.” His models include a urine-diverting barrel-style compost toilet (the urine is diluted to water plants and the fecal matter sits and composts for a year or more before being used as fertilizer) and a water-less standing urinal.  [more]

What Big Ag Doesn’t Want You to Know: Small Farms Can Feed the World

According to a new peer-reviewed paper, “The Myth of a Food Crisis,” corrupt philanthropic and academic sectors in agriculture and development perpetuate the lie that Big Ag is the only way to feed the world.

Sustainable, local, organic food grown on small farms has a tremendous amount to offer. Unlike chemical-intensive industrial-scale agriculture, it regenerates rural communities; it doesn’t pollute rivers and groundwater or create dead zones; it can save coral reefs; it doesn’t encroach on rainforests; it preserves soil and it can restore the climate. Why do all governments not promote it?

full article:

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2021/04/what-big-ag-doesnt-want-you-to-know-small-farms-can-feed-the-world.html