2. What is permaculture?
Permanent culture
Permanent agriculture
Regenerative, managed practices
(economic, interpersonal, ethical, often
with a focus on food and energy
production/management)
Permaculture is systems design, with ethics (Earth Care, People Care, Obtain a Yield
and Return of Surplus) and principles rooted in the thoughtful and protracted
observation of nature.
3. What is an example of Regenerative?
“The anthropologist/philosopher Gregory Bateson used to tell this story:
Founded in 1379, New College, Oxford is one of the oldest Oxford colleges. It has, like
other colleges, a great dining hall with huge oak beams across the top, as large as two
feet square, and forty-five feet long each.
A century ago, some busy entomologist went up into the roof of the dining hall with a
penknife and poked at the beams and found that they were full of beetles. This was
reported to the College Council, which met the news with some dismay, beams this large
were now very hard, if not impossible to come by. "Where would they get beams of that
caliber?" they worried.
One of the Junior Fellows stuck his neck out and suggested that there might be some
worthy oaks on the College lands. These colleges are endowed with pieces of land
scattered across the country which are run by a college Forester. They called in the
College Forester, who of course had not been near the college itself for some years, and
asked him if there were any oaks for possible use.
He pulled his forelock and said, “Well sirs, we was wonderin’ when you’d be askin’.”
Upon further inquiry it was discovered that when the College was founded, a grove ofUpon further inquiry it was discovered that when the College was founded, a grove of
oaks had been planted to replace the beams in the dining hall when they became beetly,oaks had been planted to replace the beams in the dining hall when they became beetly,
because oak beams always become beetly in the end. This plan had been passed downbecause oak beams always become beetly in the end. This plan had been passed down
from one Forester to the next for over five hundred years saying “You don’t cut themfrom one Forester to the next for over five hundred years saying “You don’t cut them
oaks. Them’s for the College Hall.”oaks. Them’s for the College Hall.”
4. “The answer to the question,
have new oaks been planted,
is probably. Somewhere on
the land owned by the New
College are oaks that are, or
will one day, be worthy of use
in the great hall, assuming
that they are managed in the
same way they were before.
It is in this management by
the Forester in which lies the
point. Ultimately, while the
story is perhaps apocryphal,
the idea of replacing and
managing resources for the
future, and the lesson in long
term thinking is not.”
From: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/oak-beams-new-college-oxford
6. The Patterson School
How do we create a system that produces a yield with high labor at the beginning,
but less labor over time? How do we rehabilitate and set the Patterson School on the path to
being a leader in regenerative farming/organic farming?
http://permaculturenews.org/category/earthworks-earth-resources/swales-earthworks-earth-resources/page/4/
http://treeyopermaculture.com/treeyo/introduction-to-permaculture-and-holistic-management-systems/
7. Sam Dobson
Iredell County Dairy & Beef Farmer, last
year of transition to certified organic for
Organic Valley.
Already direct-marketing grassfed beef
& producing for Hickory Nut Gap Farm
9th generation on this land.
10. With set stocking we
destroy fertility.
With Management-
intensive Grazing
(MiG) (high density
animal numbers,
short duration
grazing, and long rest
periods between
grazing), we can
create fertility.
21. Examples of Integration
From the Left clockwise: treehugger.com; ordinary-2-extraordinary.com; upbeetlandscapes.com
22. The food forest gardening approach is the creation of
systems which are productive and abundant yet which require
very little maintenance.
http://foodgrowsontrees.blogspot.com/
24. Filter the ideas
through hands-on
training in
permaculture design
and these principles
permaculturepower.wordpress.com
25. Some Additional Permaculture Possibilities for the Patterson School
-Birdwatching sanctuary
-Forest Garden orchards
-Agroforestry including selective tree harvesting through use of draft animals
-Custom grazing operations
--Heritage cattle, pigs, turkeys
-Direct marketing of organic grass-fed meats
--Grass-fed Meat Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
-Mushroom production
-Organic vegetable production
--CSA
--Patterson School Farmers' Market
--Patterson School Organic Farm School
-Organic Dairy
--Value Added Dairy Products
--Artisan and Regional Yogurt and Cheese
-Heritage animal, plant, and seed production that is historically unique to the
Patterson School's past
-Organic Farm Vacations and Getaways
-Permaculture Education destination with We Are All Farmers Permaculture
Institute
_Premiere Environmental and Food Conference Center
-Grazing workshops
-Organic Medicinal Herbs
-Cut Flowers
26. Turn now to initial proposal
– Stewards land and builds soil for possible additional enterprises
– Jumpstarts beginnings of Patterson School as a land and
agricultural attraction
– Coalesces re-commitment, possible to raise seed money for
enterprises
– Coalesces education, possible to raise donations for education
– Grows food and teaches community
Management intensive Grazing (plan is for cattle—paid to custom graze):
Learn more at
– The Stockman Grass Farmer:
https://www.stockmangrassfarmer.com/index.php
– Greg Judy
Pastured Sheep, start a flock
Mushroom Cultivation
27. “The field lies open to the intellect.”
--Bill Mollison
Start with:
–Sepp Holzer, Permaculture
–Take a permaculture design course
–David Holmgren
–Mark Shepherd
