Living Community: a Permaculture Case Study

Deer Bones found in meadow

I troll book bibliographies like a lot of ladies troll the sales aisles at Dillards. And when I find an interesting title, I see if I can track it down. When I couldn’t get my hands on a free copy of Ben Haggard’s Living Community: A Permaculture Case Study at Sol y Sombre for free, I invested a few dollars and bought a copy through Amazon.

It’s interesting how book titles can be so misleading (the cliche is don’t judge a book by its cover but could be extended to — or its title), which was the case with Haggard’s book.

Since I earn my livelihood as an academic historian, I’m familiar with “case studies” and the concepts behind case studies. This book ain’t one.

Sol y Sombre is (was) a private estate on the outskirts of Sante Fe, New Mexico, that hosted retreats, meetings, etc. Haggard worked for three years as the permaculture gardener and landscape designer on the 15 acre estate.

I had expected to find a predictable case study format: this is what existed, this is what we did, this was the result. If you dig deeply enough, in a few paragraphs near the end of the book, you can find some of that–but only in a broad, general sort of way.

Instead, this book is more of a philosophical treatise on the ideas of permaculture, poetically rhapsodizing on “a design system that reconciles human communities with the ecological imperatives of a living planet.” pg. viii

Interesting stuff, no doubt, and Haggard writes well so it was enjoyable to see him weave the ideas of permaculture beyond the garden and into the social and political lives of Americans in the early 21st century.

For example, “It will take a simple but revolutionary shift to reorder American relationships with the natural world. American law, belief systems, and values are enmeshed with the rights of private ownership. Yet the natural world is fluid. Everything cycles. To step lightly on this Earth is to relinquish the right of ownership to it. To be a species among species is to remove ourselves from the top of the pyramid and place ourselves back on the wheel.” pg. 144

Or, “A sane future will require three things. Healthy natural systems and traditional knowledge must be protected. Damaged lands and seas must be repaired. Most important, vibrant living environments that feed and house us need to be created and maintained. If people are willing to purchase a higher quality of life through a lower level of consumption, virtually any community can provide for its needs in its immediate environs. Providing for all the people of the world in this way should be our first priority.” pg. 116

This little book is filled with little gems like these–calls to the circle of life that encompasses humans as one part of a greater web rather than humans as controller and exploiter.

But if you are looking for details or are expecting “how-to” information, you’re out of luck. Even Thoreau broke things down into specifics as he outlined the details of building his house or planting his beans. I do love my philosophy but in this case, would have liked it sprinkled in among a lot more hard facts and details. Or even supplemented with a follow-up volume 2.

A nice read for the bigger picture of permaculture but don’t expect much practical take-away from Haggard’s book except for a brief list in the “afterward” where Haggard tells us Seven Things we can do Wherever we Live:

1. avoid toxic substances in the home and garden
2. tolerate and encourage diversity
3. convert from degenerative to regenerative systems
4. harvest resources
5. plant useful species
6. accept more responsibility
7. learn more

Rainwater Harvesting

Harvesting rainwater is on our “Top-Priority” to do list. We have only one small structure–a shed–on the property at the moment but we wince every time it rains because we are losing that water.

We had to get new gutters on our current home (yep, the one that’s for sale) so we’ve saved the old ones to recycle onto our shed in the next few weeks. Combining that with a barrel (or two), we should be in business.

In preparation of this, I checked out Brad Lancaster’s book, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands. I didn’t realize when I got the book that it’s volume 1 of 3, which is ok except that my library doesn’t have volumes 2 and 3.

Volume 1 is a general overview of rainwater harvesting, both in the soil and in catchment-type facilities (such as cisterns or barrels). But in addition to a (very) generalized discussion of these things, the book includes information on plants for a dry environment and home placement for the best heating and cooling.

The book is just a good overview to start you thinking about ways in which you can conserve and capture water.

Lancaster promises details in Volumes 2 and 3. I found volume 2 on Amazon but will try and interlibrary loan it first. The catch comes with volume 3 (on cisterns–and the one I’m most interested in). The first book leads one to believe that volumes 2 and 3 are readily available. I’ve even seen reference to a 2006 publication date for volume 3 but the current publisher’s website says volume 3 won’t be out until late 2012. I’m not sure what’s going on with that. And now that I’ve read volume 1, I’m really ready to get my hands on volume 3!

Anyway, there’s some great information in Volume 1 and I’ll be copying quite a few charts and graphs and making notes on how to best construct rain barrels for holding and distributing water. I’m a novice at this so some of you old-hands will find the information at the most rudimentary level but for the beginner, it’s a great place to start.

And let me know if you know anything about volume 3.

Gaia’s Garden

I purchased Gaia’s Garden a few years back and had started reading it but kept being pulled away by other, more pressing, sorts of things.  So I picked it back up last week, determined to finish it.

I’m glad I did!  Though it started out slow, the information picked up speed and I’ve garnered several ideas I want to try out around the farm.

To begin with, the chapter “Bringing the Soil to Life,” is useful because I’ve got all those empty raised beds over hard-pan ground.  How to get (create) soil in them by spring?  I may not make the spring deadline completely, but the suggestion of “sheet mulching” seems appropriate.  There are detailed instructions on sheet mulching, which is a simple way of layering materials to create organic material-soil-and I can do this layering directly in the raised beds. That should eliminate a lot of heavy lifting or the need to bring in soil from outside the farm.  Here’s a quick tutorial on sheet mulching.

There are also lists of plants, detailing their many uses in a garden. This will be helpful as I try to create a food forest.  Also, the chapter on conserving and storing water is good, though it’s just “whet” (pun intended) my appetite for the topic.

I did a little digging and found that Gaia’s Garden has been the best selling book on permaculture for the last 7 years.  I’m not surprised.  It’s a good overview of the topic while also containing plenty of details to get a permaculture garden going.

 

 

 

Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture

Since I’m waiting for the house to sell –yes, it’s been 6 months and we still haven’t sold– so we can move to the farm, I’m trying to fill this time by reading everything I can get my hands on about farming and raising stock.

Sepp Holzer’s book hit my alert button repeatedly so I ordered a copy from Amazon.  I think of him as the Joel Salatin of Austria and many of his ideas mimic those I’ve already read in Salatin’s books.  But that’s ok–it’s good to review these things, plus, I’ve learned a many new thing from Holzer.

Some of the best, I think, are his instructions for planting and caring for fruit trees.  While our farm isn’t far from sea level and Holzer farm is in altitude, much of the advice can translate.  And if you want a summary, let me just say this–Holzer recommends NOT spraying, NOT fertilizing, NOT staking, and NOT pruning.

My kinda farmer.

He even includes a recipe for an application for young trees that will keep deer away.  And we have plenty of deer.  So this concoction alone makes the price of the book worth it–it consists of bone salve, linseed oil, slaked lime, fine quartz sand, and cow dung.

An excellent read with many thoughts on creating a sustainable, permaculture-based homestead.