pan settlement

In 1899, Peter Kropotkin, anarchist geographer, detailed a vision of ‘the factory amidst the fields’ in which the ‘two sister arts of agriculture and industry’ are joined to meet the needs of all and to give each worker an opportunity for ‘brain work and manual work’. Never have more supportive material conditions prevailed for the realisation of Kropotkin’s vision.

I have been lax in my posts. My intention has been to post each week on a Tuesday but I have been working very long days on the farm and getting little time for writing.

So, excuses aside, I have decided to make a less-than-substantial post which points to some resources I have recently created on the back of other people’s generosity.

When introducing myself, I inevitably mention permaculture. I then conduct a careful scan of my conversation partner, looking for signs of recognition or bafflement. Very often, this situation is followed by the question ‘Permaculture? What is that?’ and more often than not I find myself answering historically.

I had heard of effective microorganisms (EM) before and I had the impression that I would be paying a lot for something quite simple. I am always suspicious of things which require money rather than knowledge and effort. Thanks to Itai Dolev Hauben from Costa Rica and Rico Zook from New Mexico, I discovered that my suspicion of EM was unfounded.

Beginning with the questions

“What is the story of your place?” and “What is the story of its water?”

Water is the condition of life. Without it organisms from bacteria to birds of prey can neither flourish nor survive. For Sepp Holzer

“wasser ist leben.” (water is life.)

For Brad Lancaster

Martin Crawford is the most experienced forest gardener in the modern tradition of temperate climate forest gardening. Martin has been developing his forest garden on the Dartington estate in Devon in the UK since 1993 — for 18years. What began as 2.1 acres (0.85 ha) of pasture land is now a garden in many layers which provides a diversity of nutrient dense human food and other goods while building soil and providing a refuge for biodiversity.

It is the eve of my visit to Devon, UK to attend a course in forest gardening with Martin Crawford of the Agroforestry Research Trust. I’m really excited and I want to briefly share why. I will curb my enthusiasm now in preference for pith and I will share more details after the course.

On Sunday afternoon I visited Oxgrow, a great little urban agriculture project in Oxford, for one of their weekly work parties. Oxgrow attracts a great range of people, including John Letts who was giving an informal scything demonstration just as I was dismounting from my bicycle on arrival. Scything is low carbon mowing — as Wendell Berry says “… it runs on breakfast.”