Changing the Face of Farming: Permaculture Farms in the US - YouTube

[Anna Lee]

This guy is on to something helpful to the advancement of permaculture...His doctoral research in the US on permaculture farms and how to map their complex element, functions, income generation aspects.  He calls it Participatory Funtional Mapping.

 

Sustainablity, profitablility and quality of life is addressed.  he's still in the middle of this, so maybe there are farmers in his study that are nearby and we could access them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aupBkHcykQw&feature=player_embedded

[William Wallace]

A step in the right direction. bill

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"Live simpler so that others may simply live"

[Anna Lee]

I was blown away by seeing the map and thinking how amazing it is that this is being charted out and we can see where the concentration is of this type of farming(for the first time). 

 

If we could see a WHOLE bunch more filling in that space we would see a great deal of soil reclamation going on and the planet will be a lot richer for it. 

[William Wallace]

yes maybe in the near future i can get Wildcat on the map, still struggling with the new field to get into a crop of some sort, we are trying sod bluster radish but without rain they wilt and dye.  Was going to try clover today but it's to dry to get it started.  on well it will eventually work bill

[Anna Lee]

I think that you are right that it will be hard to get anything started with the dryness we have.  I take it you have no irrigation? 

 

The heavy mulching I do helps a lot, but then I also have a clay/loam soil different from yours. 

 

Even with this, it is necessary to irrigate to get things started and to keep them healthy and happy. 

 

What about swales and berms, mounds and the like?  Have you these in this area you are working on? It can help a lot to develop areas of differing microclimate in a bed area.  On a larger scale it would help a lot to create some areas for more drought tolerant types and some for more moisture requiring types.

 

If there is any slope whatsoever it will help to retain moisture and soil from being lost. If there is virtually no slope, then creating the mounds and such is just as important for holding capacity.

 

In any case, I think it would be wise to have a seed mix, letting those that are meant to be happy be the ones that survive the best.

One generally doesn't see monoculture in nature, right?  Some things dominate, but they are always among a bevy of other beauties.

 

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