Observe and Interact

Today we embark on a two week discussion on the Principles of Permaculture. This should be a good primer for anyone planning on taking a PDC or just interested in adding resiliency and weal to their life. We will start with the first principle, Observe and Interact, and work our way through the other eleven one day at a time. When we are done I will likely add a discussion on the three ethics and then have a day of q+a. Please feel free to add to the discussion, it is after all a large part of the first principle.
Observe and Interact
Life moves very fast. In the scale of time we are but a blip. Somehow in that blip humankind has managed to cause irreversible damage to the life systems that the Earth so efficiently manages.
Man is quick to turn a blind eye to the natural forces that create resiliency in nature. When we slow down, giving our senses time to absorb our surroundings something magical happens. We begin to see patterns and relationships everywhere. The more we observe, the more we begin to form an understanding of the natural world and how we can interact with the world in a positive, caressing manor. A life of abundance surrounds us, yet we shall not drink from its' well. We shall add to it and take only what is necessary for our well being and returning any surplus back to the system.
Many errors in our designed systems can be avoided if we look for guidance from the natural landscape. Our homes can run much more efficiently if we use care in incorporating the structure into the landscape rather than thinking only about road access. Many issues associated with infrastructure can be avoided if natural contours are used in the design. Food systems become a healing oasis, a place where soil is massaged and fed rather than abused and finally lost.
None of these ideas are new. The writing was on the wall the whole time, we just needed to open our eyes to it.
Observation can come in many forms. Watching, listening, reading, smell and touch. You must use all of your senses. In fact if you are reading this now you are practicing the principle. There is no end to the amount of information you can learn by simple observation.
Interaction is where many of the other principles come to life. It is what we do with the knowledge and how we cope with success, failure and the energy that surrounds us that determines our benefit to the system. As we integrate ourselves into a nurturing lifestyle these interactions become much more seemless and take less energy to perpetuate. We see life as a perenial bounty rather than an annual struggle. Some interactions may at first look like mistakes, but are often only stepping stones on our path of observation. No one gets it right the first time.
It is also important to share our observations with each other,  as it helps to build relationships of understanding and empathy. As you will see, permaculture is much more than gardens and eco villages. It is an all encompassing design for life and everything that life involves.
Thank you for joining me on this experience and please interact in the comments section!

Back to the Future

Sometimes I amaze myself. Back in November of 2011 I wrote episode 8, at the end of my post I said "You will never get back the time you wasted worrying about all the time you wasted." No shit eh? This is the beauty of the blog. I do not have to go far for a little inspiration. Alot of my writing is spur of the moment, I get a gut feeling and just go with it. Lost in the confusion, in between the rough edges there is an idea, a beacon of hope to light my way somewhere down the road. I am not sure I realized the value of all of this when I started writing the blog. This archive of my thoughts, a rear view mirror.
To be honest with you I have been struggling a bit lately.  I often get feelings of guilt and remorse for the work I do. I feel I am taking advantage of the earth for my materialistic benefit. I cannot blame anyone for the way things have turned out but myself. I have made poor choices in the past and now I must pay the price, I just seems wrong that in doing so I must destroy something that I have grown to hold very dear to my soul. So in fact it seems I am making a direct attact on myself. It is a conflict in which I would rather not engage.
So what are my options? Two important things I have learned are "the problem is the solution" and "when the student is ready the teacher shall appear."  Ah ha, yes indeed. I am broke but I am not broken.
Life is a crooked path, in permaculture we call that maximizing the edges. Life flourishes at the edges. The more twists and turns in a system, the more edge, the most diversity. In a diverse system you have competition, succession and synergy. Each unit benefits from its predecessor, nothing is wasted. I know that my life is no different. If I follow the principles I will have success and will live a synergistic life within my given environment. I need to understand that there will be conflict along the way, and that I shall use the energy of the conflict to benefit the system, the way a forest fire can rejuvenate an aging ecosystem.
Another part of this permaculture principle is finding value in the marginal. "All those rusted signs we ignore through out our lives, chosing the shiny ones instead", thanks Eddie. It's true though, there is a definitive trend in today's society of devaluing simplicity. Often the answer is staring us straight in the face, if we would only take the time to look in the mirror. The dull and mundane things in life help keep us rooted when all we want to do is fly, often well before our wings have fully developed. This is the time for observation, the interaction will come later once we fully understand how to become a beneficial part of the system.

Sometimes a look back at yourself is all you need for a little guidance. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

The Wasteland of Opportunity

There are three ethics in permaculture- give care to the earth, give care to the people and give care to the future.
I was sitting in one of the largest open pit mines in North America, possibly the world. Encased in a massive cage of iron and glass I am building a roadway for the deisel guzzling monoliths that haul the prized bituminous ore. The scene is one of destruction and struggle. Man against earth. The path of most resistance. Many have compared it to Mordor, a dark and firey land from the Lord of the Rings novels. At first glance I would agree. However, as with most things in life, once you spend some time and really observe the whole picture you begin to realize a shimmer of hope. For in this landscape of doom and gloom I have seen life. I have seen pioneer species of plants trying to stake their claim in hydrocarbon laden dirt. I have seen green algae prospering in pools of oil-slicked water. Many species of insects and small mammals seem to thrive in this decrepit environment. These observations paired with a little permaculture knowledge spawned the question "Why can't we perma-blitz the tar sands?"
Sepp Holtzer is a renaissance man. He is growing lemons in the highlands of Austria. Outside. The Holtzer homestead has and elevation difference of 400 meters from the lowest to highest point and has a short growing season and bitter cold winters. He uses these hardships to his advantage and has one of the most productive farms in the world when you weigh in the fact that he uses extremely little off site inputs. Lemons aren't his prize crop, just an experiment. He has a diverse polyculture of plants, animals and insects on the property and he lets them do much of the hard labour.
So what the heck does Sepp Holtzers' farm have to do with the tar sands? Let me explain.
A mine is more than just a big hole. It is a series of benches and slopes. There are small ponds and ditches. There are sectors than have much sun exposure and others with almost none. Each bench has different features as does each slope. In some areas water gathers in contour lines. Water from the high elevations eventually gravity feeds down to the pit bottom where it is typically  collected in large sumps. Holtzers landscape shares many of these features and his cold climate is reminiscent of that of Northern Alberta. Possibly by now you might have an inkling of where I could be taking this. Hold on because I am far from finished.
First the land is surveyed. Then slashed. Then the muskeg and topsoil is stripped and stockpiled. Then the big gear moves in. Electric shovels and haul trucks move mega tonnes of earth while massive bulldozers and graders do their best to keep everything running at top production. Within months a century's old forest is replaced with a cavernous scar. All so we can drive to work, send our kids to an education system that trains them for a lifetime of debt, and buy food that is likely the sole cause of the health crisis that we are only beginning to see the severity of. That's a fair bit of doom and gloom, but it's the truth. We can make things better. If we work together.
Hydrocarbons are a real problem if you are a living creature. For almost all they are an extreme toxin. That is of course, unless you are an oyster mushroom. A recent breakthrough in bio-remediation has discovered that many mushrooms have the uncanny ability to not only feed off of, but break down hydrocarbons to their less harmful individual elements.  Many mushrooms can also sequester heavy metals and toxic elements such as lead and arsenic. What's not to say that a pile of muskeg, inoculated with mushroom spawn, could not then be used as a biofiltration device for tailings pond effluent. Once composted the muskeg could then be utilized in landscaping and reclaimation. The filtered water could then be coursed through a series of plant based biofiltration systems and finally be released into a purpose built wetland. All of this could be accomplished with gravity feed as the tailings ponds are on the top bench and your catchment wetland would be in the pit bottom. Path of least resistance, just like in nature.
Once extraction stops so does the cash flow. How do we go about funding such a large scale undertaking? This is where a permaculture ethic must be put to use by the stockholders, corperations and governments that hold interest in these operations. This ethic, the third ethic is Give Care to the Future (aka return the surplus). We must save funding for the huge remediation effort that will be crucial for the life systems in the boreal forest of Northern Alberta. It is my belief that more jobs will be had in remediation than extraction and refining could ever supply. However, if we use permaculture as a business model we can greatly reduce the monetary expence of this undertaking. I would also argue that no amount of money can make up for the destuction of the original landscape, but we are beating a dead horse on that topic. The current housing options for a massive workforce are already in place, however they are incredibly resource intensive and are not self supporting in any way, shape or form. This doesn't mean these structures cannot be retrofitted to be more efficient. Here's the thing, there are thousands of mining truck tires laying in piles all over the place. These tires are really big. Filled with compacted earth or mature fine tailings (a blend of clay particulate and polymers) these tires would be a fabulous building material for large scale earthships, the thermal mass of the huge tires would make many earthship builders quiver with excitement I am sure. With garbage building we could house many workers with little to no input for heating or cooling, an enormous savings. If we located these buildings proximate to the worksite transportation needs would also be mitigated. All waste products from the kitchens could be composted for the gardens or fed to the on site farm animals that could then be used as a protien source for the workforce. All blackwater could be added to the wastewater biofiltration stream. All potable water could be collected from the rooftop collectors and through solar distillation of grey water or snow melt. All food could be grown on site, just because the growing season is short doesn't mean it can't be done.
So now I put myself in the same spot. Only this time I am lounging in a hammock strung between a hazelnut tree and an apple tree, wildflowers sway in the breeze as swallows snatch mayflies out of the sky. The marsh is full of life. The air is clean. The only semblance of the old mine is the terraced slopes, now each one a working forest, each one lending nutrients to the one below. The houses barely recognizable but for the panes of glass soaking in the warmth of the sun and recharging the thermal batteries for the cold winter ahead. For the winter will bring new opportunities in this newly discovered oasis. An educational retreat where we teach the future generations how we came together as one to overcome the most destructive force ever known to the earth. Us.
The power of nature is beyond our understanding. We can only be humbled by her unrelenting need to heal. We can be healers too, but only if we let go of ourselves and let her guide us through this land. For one day we will all be returned to the land and the cycle will begin anew.