Ed Dowding

Tag: permaculture

Permaculture principles

It seems this list can bring wisdom and insight to pretty much everything we do. Apart from the more specific ones (like ‘keep water high on the land’, but maybe just try to metaphor these as taoist haikus to trigger bewildering insights.) Relative Location Components placed in a system are viewed relatively, not in isolation. ...

Reasons to be cheerful: Peak Phosphorous

Graphs like this make me very happy because they hint that thing might all work out OK. via Peak Phosphorus: the sequel to Peak Oil. I’m sure you know that phosphorous is one of the critical components to the most abundantly used fertilisers. I’m sure you’ll also know that it’s what causing algal blooms, feeding ...

French farmers turn Champs-Elysees into huge farm

The Champs-Elysees, has been covered in earth and turned into a huge green space in an event staged by young French farmers. Plants, trees and flowers were brought in by lorry overnight to transform the avenue into a long green strip. More than a million people are expected to visit over the next two days. ...

Looking for a happy, well paid job? Become a gardener

1 acre of land = £43,000 income per year for about 30 days work.. Every time they harvested anything from their modest 1600 square foot (150 square metre) garden, they recorded it and compiled these figures into a spreadsheet and came up with an amazing 834 lb (380kg) of total harvest. From this they computed ...

Kim Stanley Robinson on BldgBlog

It seems Kim Stanley Robinson and I are in accord. The more we can live in keeping with our evolutionary history, the happier we are likely to be. Simple pleasures which put us in “the zone”, mind and body working in harmony, within our comfort zone, but occasionally brushing up against the edges to keep ...

A farm for the future

I finally got around to watching A Farm for the Future (available on Google Video) a few nights ago, and found it to be a great introduction to the concepts of permaculture. Key things to realise (some not from the programme): Current methods of farming will not continue to feed you during your lifetime. We ...