In the drylands, getting trees established in degraded landscapes is an important step towards regenerating fertility and water cycles. Trees have the ability to fix nitrogen and hold moisture, creating an enhanced microclimate for other species to grow. Oregon State University Free Permaculture Course (http://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/p…)
An introduction to permaculture guilds showing how to companion plant for strong plant communities.
In this lesson, Toby Hemenway uses Prezi as an alternative to PowerPoint for his presentation titled ‘Guilds: Building Blocks for Creating Ecosystems’. Toby takes this sometimes mystifying topic and presents it for you very simply and clearly. He uses the well-known three-sisters triad of corn, beans, and squash to explain what a guild is and how it works.
He starts with a simple two-part guild, with pictures to clarify, then moves onto a more complicated six-part guild, also with pictures to clarify. Then Toby presents three methods for designing guilds — by structure, function, and analogy. He unpacks the idea of designing by structure as he talks about edge, layering, interplanting, and stacking. He begins to unpack designing by function as he talks about the first three of the six pieces of a guild: central elements, insectaries, and mulch makers.
This permaculture video is part of a permaculture design course focused on food forest design for cities and suburbs.
Get Toby Hemenway’s full course at http://organiclifeguru.com
The course name is Food Forest Design & Care for Cites and Suburbs by Toby Hemenway.
Twenty years ago, Stefan Sobkowiak bought a commercial apple orchard with the intention of converting it to an organic orchard. He did just that, but eventually understood the limitations of the organic model originating from monoculture. He then decided to tear out most of the trees and replant in a way that would maximize biodiversity and yield while minimizing the amount of maintenance required. Inspired by permaculture principles, the orchard now counts over 100 cultivars of apples, plus several types of plums, pears, cherries, and countless other fruits and vegetables.
“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And terrifyingly, it’s happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes — and his work so far shows — that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.
Geoff Lawton consults, designs and builds a water harvesting system on a clients farm. Visit his official website here:
This documentary is directed by Frank Gapinski and written by Geoff Lawton.
A lesson by Sage Stoneman. This video is part of a documentary project about ecological restoration. Go to http://bit.do/CEIBO for more!
A lesson on water management by Connor Jones. This video is part of a documentary project about ecological restoration. Go to http://bit.do/CEIBO for more!
Mike hosts the nationally syndicated public radio show You Bet Your Garden, which airs every Saturday at 11am on WHYY-FM (90.9) in Philadelphia. “You Bet Your Garden” is also the name of Mike’s column in the quarterly gardening publication Greenprints, appearing in every issue since 1998. Mike was editor-in-chief of Organic Gardening magazine from February 1991 through December 1997. Mike’s most recent publication is The You Bet Your Garden Guide to Growing Great Tomatoes. Released in February 2012 by Fox Chapel Publishing, it’s a completely revised and updated third edition of Mike’s classic tomato tome, which was previously titled You Bet Your Tomatoes. In the mid-1970s Mike was the entertainment editor of Philadelphia’s weekly alternative newspaper The Drummer, and editor of the associated college newspaper The Daily Planet. He wrote countless feature articles for The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News in the 70s and 80s, and enjoyed two brief stints at Marvel Comics; as editor of their British line in 1971 and as a writer and editor in the ‘Marvel Bullpen’ in 1979. Mike lives in the boonies of Lehigh County with his family, organic garden, and an inconsistent number of rescued cats. He plays pinball, enjoys baseball, grows way too many tomatoes, and will not eat lima beans, no matter how much you pay him.
How can trash fuel our world?
It is time to re-purpose organic waste to fight three critical and urgent battles — waste management, energy, and agriculture.
