Trees, Trees and more trees…was the topic of today’s presentation. Zev Friedman, one of the assistant trainers, is an exuberant permaculturist who oozes passion for his work. Today he showered us with the story of trees.
Looking at my mind mapped notes I see a symbol that, sadly, I’ve used a few times today. It’s a gravestone with the letters RIP. Because, if we don’t stop and rethink, revise and regenerate our way of being on this earth.. ALL THE TREES WILL BE GONE in 2050.
If you have ever walked in a forest, smelt the pine, crunched your feet on the mulch of leaves and twigs, stood in a circle of trees and felt the energy or watched the pines waving in the wind you will probaly recall just how precious that feeling is. But our personal forest experience is but a tiny jewel in an Indra’s net of magnificence compared to the vital role trees play in all life on earth.
Our notes described trees as ‘interfacers, transformers of energies of wind, water and sunlight.
If our grid electricity were turned off tomorrow, we’d all be up in arms, rioting in the streets, demanding that the service is returned immediately. Many people would die. It’s the same with trees, only it’ll take a little longer. Rather like the difference between a quick slice and dice death and a slow lingering one.
There probably isn’t a person in this so-called ‘civilized’ part of the universe who hasn’t heard of the plight of the Amazon Rain Forest. We humans are not only short sighted we’re unconsciously suicidal. We cut down trees to grow crops to feed cattle so that we can make ourselves sick on burgers in pursuit of short term satisfaction yet we ignore the plight of the trees.
Trees stabilize global temperatures, store carbon, enhance water and preserve offshore reefs and marine life. They are a vital source of nutrition and medicine. They provide a habitat for animals and other plants. Trees offer shade, protect us from wind, warm us with their wood, provide lumber, glue, nuts, pollination, fix nitrogen in the soil, aerate it and offer spiritual solace. Trees can even make rain!
Traditional agriculture is Earth’s worst enemy. We cut down our precious trees, turn the soil up which destroys topsoil to grow rows and rows of wheat or corn. The pests look at it and see a buffet of food readily available, so we drench the land with pesticide. The topsoil degenerates so we cover her with fertilizer. If the likes of ‘So NOT Man’ have their way we’ll destroy the very hand that feeds us and they’ll be sitting in their decaying mansions with a fistful of dollars. Ever tried to eat a dollar bill or a gold coin?
Down deep and dirty
My father imported toys for a living, so my bro and I had a lot of toys and yet our favorite game of all was to be out in the garden making fake ‘dinners’ with mud, berries and twigs. I only recalled this fondly after an afternoon of building a swale. Swales are kind of dams that divert the flow of water to make it more appropriate for both the land and humans.
Bob took us over to an area between two buildings where, after a heavy rainfall, water flowed in a particular path, making it muddy and difficult to transverse. As we looked over to one building we could see that the broken gutter was the source of the water flow. So we set to building a dam to avert the water flow using earth from another project on site.
After we’d shovelled heaps of earth and tramped it down, which reminded me of a version of wine making, we had to make sure it was level. I love repurposing so I was squawking with delight when I saw what I now know is an A-Frame level. It was made out of discarded bits of wood, a stone, some string and a couple of strips of tape. It worked perfectly.
The exercise was a reminder of how important planning for all needs is. Sarah, who lives in the community and is attending the course, pointed out that the dam was all very well, but what about the people who wanted to get up in the middle of the night and cross the path to get a snack from the kitchen. So we set to making a step arrangement from some old concrete stuff. Hmmm. It just didn’t work. And then someone came up with the bright idea of creating a path round the dam.
Chuck, our lead trainer, showed us that this was an example of how important it is to plan. This was what he calls a ‘small mistake’. Big mistakes in permaculture are ones that we have to live with for years. Rather like a neighbor who build a big house on a hill and didn’t put in the silt dams. In a few years the hillside will start to erode and wash down the hill, the pond below, which is full of fish will be full of silt, the fish will die and his house won’t be so steady… Everything has a consequence for more than just our own individual desires.
Planning and design are the keystones. If we get the plan right, we’ll have trouble free living for years to come and if we don’t.. we’re screwed!
Chuck reminded us that in permaculture ‘the opposite is also true’. What works in one situation, might not work in another and there are many solutions to our design challenges.
We were wondeirng what we could do to divert the people from crossing the dam instead of using the path and innovative solutions such as putting a brush pile by the side of the path, or planting paw paws or other suitable plants would not only make it pleasant, offer edible pickings but also keep them on the path!
Carbon Footprints
After dinner we adjourned to the library where Bob and Isabel put up the website www.myfootprint.org where you get to figure out your impact on the earth in acres. Fascinating fact was that when Bob, who lived in Bangladesh for 3 years, calculated that even living like a king there, his footprint was lower than living in the States. Know what the most heavy-carbon factor is? OWNING A CAR.
Maybe it’s time we got a horse and cart like the Ingalls in Little House in the Prairie. Rural dwellers are at a disadvantage for travel because we have to travel so far. So maybe it’s also a reminder that LOCAL LIVING is gonna be the only way to go.
Bob and Isabel are my homesteading exemplars. They live in the middle of a 40 acre forest somewhere in mid Georgia. They treated us to a slideshow of their homesteading journey. All I can say is that to me living in a home made of cardboard, surrounded by a jungle of edible and medicinal plants, with chickens and goats in pens made from dumpster diving materials j[as was a lot of their 'cabin']not to mention the ‘swimming hole’ constructed from discarded plastic & living coppiced trees that grow shade in the summer, is my idea of heaven.
Meanwhile, it’s 8am and time for class to begin. It’s pretty cold here and even the delicious breakfast of home harvested sausage, quiche made with a crust of cooked brown rice and ground up seeds, coconut rice porridge, kefir and home grown grapefruit can’t keep out the bite.
This course has been totally inspiring. I find myself jumping up and down with delight at the potential, at the information that is so vital to spread out into the worldand the idea of building our own repurposed living quarters in the middle of an edible jungle of plants and trees all working together in perfect harmony.
Blogs- check out one of our chef’s blogs
She’s also posting the daily menu on Facebook if you want a gustatory thrill go friend her. http://www.facebook.com/#!/ms.milkweed?ref=ts
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