Comments on: Permaculture and the Ethylene Cycle Myth http://sustainablesmallholding.org/permaculture-and-the-ethylene-cycle-myth/ Permaculture, and Sustainable practices on a Lincolnshire Smallholding Thu, 08 May 2014 07:18:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.1 By: Deano Martin http://sustainablesmallholding.org/permaculture-and-the-ethylene-cycle-myth/#comment-6898 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:14:40 +0000 http://sustainablesmallholding.org/?p=3927#comment-6898 I echo that.
Permaculture Design starts with an aim or intent, and then assesses the best tools/methods to deliver that. Instead there is a homogenised version of permaculture, a sort of ‘permaculture by numbers’, which defaults straight to a no dig/mulch veg garden, with or without raised beds, and one or two dwarf fruit trees optimistically called a forest garden. Many of the arguments against digging don’t hold up when you start to look deeper into how soil/fertility/microbes/minerals/plants interact. Many of the perennial plants don’t produce enough to find a place in my garden.
I think that’s a good an example of my goals driving the design process to produce a solution that fits what i want it to. The fact that I know of very few other permaculturalists who garden in any way other than the above suggests that there isn’t enough diversity, or that the ‘diggers’ are keeping a low profile.

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By: MikeH http://sustainablesmallholding.org/permaculture-and-the-ethylene-cycle-myth/#comment-6866 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 14:03:20 +0000 http://sustainablesmallholding.org/?p=3927#comment-6866 I absolutely agree with Alan re “reality checking” in permaculture and anecdotes turning into gospel and being stripped of their caveats. In part this is due to tools in the toolbox being confused with the toolbox itself and tools being transplanted without critical analysis between continents, climate zones, different soils etc.

Ute,

I think that part of the problem is that the itinerant teacher model of spreading permaculture has reached a lot of people for who permaculture resonates but who also have little or no first hand horticultural experience. As a result they have no way critiquing what they are being taught or knowing how to transplant to their situation what they are being taught. For example, when they hear about hügelkultur, they think that’s the horticultural holy grail. If they stop there, they miss John Jeavons, Emilia Hazelip, Mel Bartholomew, Alan Chapman, Ruth Stout, et al.

It also seems to be difficult to question some of what is happening in permaculture today without being seen as attacking permaculture. It seems to me that there’s a great deal of defensiveness, perhaps in part for the theoretical/practical difference I outlined in the first paragraph.

Regards,
Mike

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By: MikeH http://sustainablesmallholding.org/permaculture-and-the-ethylene-cycle-myth/#comment-6332 Thu, 01 Aug 2013 20:14:06 +0000 http://sustainablesmallholding.org/?p=3927#comment-6332 http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/

You can search by plant – http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/plantdisp.xsql?taxon=984 (comfrey) or by chemcial/mineral.

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By: Nicollas http://sustainablesmallholding.org/permaculture-and-the-ethylene-cycle-myth/#comment-6095 Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:23:15 +0000 http://sustainablesmallholding.org/?p=3927#comment-6095 Yep,

what we need for this DA thing is a motivated guy who has a lot of plant cadidates and to launch a fundraising to pay for a soil analysis and tissue analysis of each plant

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By: Deano Martin http://sustainablesmallholding.org/permaculture-and-the-ethylene-cycle-myth/#comment-6090 Fri, 26 Jul 2013 13:48:56 +0000 http://sustainablesmallholding.org/?p=3927#comment-6090 Hi Mike
Thanks for that explanation. It makes a lot of sense, and it would be useful if it were more widely known.
Happy to join the Permaculture Geek Club
All of the best
Deano

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