Re: Just a few holes in the Permaculture suit?

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

(been away for a week; pardon me if this topic has died in most people's
minds)

>The debate has concentrated on the consequences of Trade Marking on
>teaching 
>Permaculture, an area of financial profit for many involved in PC.  Why has
>the debate 
>concentrated on the area of profit if there is a flaw in the ethic?

I'd agree with Robyn's response to this; it's not about profit, it's about
being allowed to offer courses. I don't teach because I love the money (my
last course paid me about $6/hr, and I got sick from exhaustion after it)
but because I want the ideas to get out, and because I love to teach. It's
precisely the violation of ethics that outrages me. After saying
"permaculture is vested in all PDC graduates" for 20 years, it's astounding
to me that Bill (or Bill and Lisa) feel it is ethical to be the sole
arbiters of who can use the term "permaculture design."

on 7/29/91 [!!!!] 6:32 AM, Neil Barraclough wrote:

> Could someone tell me to what extent has the use of Mandala Gardens, Keyhole
> Gardens and Herb Spirals contributed to the home gardeners food production in
> Australia?

Good point, Neil. I've seen plenty of abandoned herb spirals. Some of them
are too far away (poor use of Zones), but most often, they are abandoned
because an herb spiral lets you fit about 30 herb plants into a tiny space,
and most people simply don't use that many herbs. Thus they are rarely used
and die of neglect. The builders of these are ignoring some important design
concepts: grow what you use, don't blindly follow a dogma in design (why not
substitute a few flowers, greens, veggies, etc.?). But as a learning tool, I
think herb spirals are great. They illustrate pattern (spiral and mound, 2D
and 3D), microclimate, biodiversity, space conservation, simplicity of
construction, and just plain ol' getting something built. And that in itself
is a nice example of stacking functions.

Same with keyhole beds. I've gotten rid of those of mine that were on a
slope; rectangular beds on contour were far easier to use. And keyholes are
a bitch to water with a drip system. But in some cases--when applied not
blindly but appropriately--they are fantastic, like the one outside my door
that holds all my salad greens, and that I water by hand.

Also, when measuring productivity, nearly any intensive system is as good as
any other; keyholes and mandalas won't necessarily yield more than
rectangular beds. They may save a lot of walking around, because the paths
can be made much shorter, and they often look much prettier than rectangles,
and they seem to encourage people to plant more flowers and other habitat
plants in the margins. Remember that there are far more variables to look at
than simple productivity--that's the error of conventional agriculture.

I find a major value of herb spirals, keyholes, etc, is as learning tools.
Each can illustrate a huge number of Pc principles, and can also be used to
show how NOT to apply techniques blindly. My garden is a mix of many
different techniques; David Holmgren said at one point he's gone back to
rectangular raised beds in front of his house. Use what works for you, at
your site.

Eric Storm wrote:

> Some time ago I also questioned the assertion that keyhole beds and mandala
> gardens increase the planting area.  Playing with some basic math, I
> couldn't show that it works.

We must be using different math. One of the illustrations in "Gaia's Garden"
(p.45) is a comparison among row crops, rectangular beds, and keyholes, and
the path areas needed to service each. In row crops, 50 square feet of crops
needed 40 sf of path; in rectangles (raised beds) they needed 10 sf of path;
in a keyhole, 6 sf of path. But I have seen some mandala drawings that omit
access to much of the plants, and claim that as a reduction in path size,
which is cheating.

Toby
_____________________________________________
For a look at my new book on ecological gardening,
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, visit
http://www.chelseagreen.com/Garden/GaiasGarden.htm