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The emphasis here is on "sustainable" living. Modern industrial agriculutre is not sustainable. It flogs the land with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and GM frankenfoods, resulting in increasingly nutritionally valueless food products, a contaminated food supply, not to mention soil erosion, and the increased risk of disease any monoculture represents. Our modern way of agriculture, like our modern way of life, is not sustainable. Permaculture represents a return to simple living, the rejection of soul-destroying economic specialization, and the realization that man was meant to live with the Earth - and not to beat it into submission, or conquer it. How Does It Work? Permaculture is more than just having a vegie garden. It's about designing a property to minimize human labor, to create a self-balancing miniature ecosystem of which you, the owner, are merely a part. In farming, as in life, control is merely an illusion. The permaculturist becomes instead a custodian of the land, rather than its master. Instead of conquering the land on your tractor, rotate pigs through your pastures. They'll eat the leftovers, and root up the earth for your next planting. Weeds in the orchards? Don't spray pesticides! Build yourself a movable chicken-coop. They'll eat the bugs and weeds, and fertilize the land at the same time. Clearing overgrown land? Don't waste your effort fighting the land. Get goats. They'll eat anything and everything, and come back to you hungry for more. Laziness is a supreme virtue in permaculture. Leave your Protestant Work Ethic behind you. Don't get me wrong - this is a lifestyle that means dirt under the nails, and callouses you'll never lose. But by good design, you can create a largely self-perpetuating property of animals, vegetables, and fruit trees (and humans!) that requires minimal effort from you to keep it ticking along. What Does It Cost? As much or as little as you want. The modern industrial farmer needs hundreds if not thousands of acres to make a living growing genetically-modified soybeans or over-hybridized maize. But the permaculturist can feed a large family on as little as a couple of hectares of good land. Sure, you can spend your money on a house, if you want to. But why not build your own? There are those who say a man is not a man until he has built his own home with his own two hands. There is something to that. Modern, Western, American man has come so far from his roots (they call this illusion "Progress") that he no longer knows who he is anymore. Permaculture, and efforts at self-sufficiency, are an attempt to return to the life that man was meant to live. If it's suitable for the climate you've chosen, a mud-brick house can be built for practically nothing. This option is very popular with homesteaders in Australia, not only because it is the cheapest option, but it gives good insulation from the heat. The mud and dried grass cost absolutely nothing. Pick a design from a book, make yourself some brick molds, and you're off. (If mud-brick sounds like a totally foreign idea, remember that the Mexican word for mud-brick is 'adobe'. Sound familiar now?) Other options include rammed-earth, in which a hollow wooden wall is filled with soil and then rammed solid, and straw bale houses, where the walls are made of straw bales lashed to the house frame, and cemented over to protect them from the elements. Straw bale houses cost a little bit more because you have to buy the straw bales, but are popular with some homesteaders because they are faster to build than mud brick. As always in
life, there is a trade-off because time and money. If you've already got
a nest egg tucked away, then you've got a head start. If you've got very
little money, working at permaculture gives you the satisfaction of knowing
that your physical labor isn't going to the tax man or to some psychotic
global multinational. Instead of earn and spend, earn and spend, you have
the satisfaction of watching a house take shape under your hands, of knowing
that your physical labor is feeding and clothing you and your family. Your
work produces immediate and tangible results and rewards, and that satisfaction
is something no one can ever take away from you.
The best way to find out about what permaculture is to go WWOOF'ing. WWOOF stands for "Willing Workers On Organic Farms", and there are literally thousands of WWOOF hosts in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and parts of Europe and North America. Get yourself a copy of the latest WWOOF book, and find a host who is doing what you're interested in doing. Then call them up and go stay there for awhile. You'll work around four hours a day for your room and board, and many are kid and family-friendly, and are happy to let you all come stay for awhile. It should also
be noted that WWOOF'ers make great free labor if you treat them right.
Backpackers on a shoestring are usually happy to swap half a day's weeding
or mulching in exchange for room and board. Something to think about when
you get your own permaculture homestead set up.
Resources The classic how-to book: PERMACULTURE:
A Designers' Manual
Web Resources The Global
Ecovillage Network (GEN)
The Permaculture
Research Institute of Australia
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