Geoff Lawton and the Permaculture Research Institute just released this complimentary dvd tour footage of Zaytuna Farm. Ten years of revolutionary design. Enjoy.

Landshare Australia - Connecting growers to people with land to share.

Landshare is for people who:

• Want to grow vegetables but don’t have anywhere to do it
• Have a spare bit of land they’re prepared to share
• Can help in some way – from sharing knowledge and lending tools to helping out on the plot itself
• Support the idea of freeing up more land for growing
• Are already growing and want to join in the community

Wild Farming - Wikipedia

The agricultural technique known as “Wild Farming” is a growing alternative to “factory farming”. Wild farming consists of planting crops that are highly associated and supportive to the natural ecosystem.^[1] This includes intercropping with native plants, following the contours and geography of the land, and supporting local food chains.^[2] The goal is to produce large crop yields, while still promoting a healthy environment. Wild farming is a backlash against the dominance of factory farming. Up until the mid 20th century, agicultural crop yields relied on natural inputs such as rainfall patterns, natural soil resources, recycling of organic matter, and built-in biological control mechanisms.^[2] Currently, agricultural practices have been conventionalized to include large monocropped fields and use of synthetics: pesticides and fertilizers. Avoiding the conventional farming practices, wild farming adopts many practices from sustainable agricultural systems such as agroecology, permaculture, forest farming, and greywater systems. The four basic guiding principles of the wild farming movement are:

1. Direct managers to develop long-term vision for future of landscape

2. Basic recognition of ecosystem processes.

3. High value on biological diversity.

4. To consider the quality of life of the community as well as the self.

Permaculture Principles

somebeautifulplace:

1. Observe and interact: By taking time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.
2. Catch and store energy: By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need.
3. Obtain a yield: Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.
4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback: We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
5. Use and value renewable resources and services: Make the best use of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior and dependence on non-renewable resources.
6. Produce no waste: By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
7. Design from patterns to details: By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go.
8. Integrate rather than segregate: By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.
9. Use small and slow solutions: Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes.
10. Use and value diversity: Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.
11. Use edges and value the marginal: The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system.
12. Creatively use and respond to change: We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.

Perennial Staple Crops of the World | Permaculture Research Institute

This article reviews perennial staple crops, a little-known group of species with tremendous potential to address world problems.

By Eric Toensmeier