Design

Recently, I had the privilege of attending a course in regenerative agriculture strategies with Darren Doherty. The course was structured by an interpretation of the Keyline Scale of Permanance with a couple of additional items:

“We are discovering a new Australia! As yet, few Australians have seen it.” - P. A. Yeomans

Percival Alfred Yeomans is a greatly underappreciated figure in Australia’s history. This is the conclusion to which I have come while reading “The Challenge of Landscape” in preparation for a course in regenerative agriculture in West Sussex this week.

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.

Beginning with the questions

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

The morning swim in the creatively named “Lake One” at Tamera was one of my favorite parts of the time I spent in Portugal. If “Lake One” has something of the revolutionary resonance of “year one” it would not be wholly inappropriate. This first and (currently) largest of the rain-fed water retention basins at Tamera is, for the Tamerans, the first in the movement to re-hydrate the landscapes of Tamera, Portugal and the dry lands of the world.

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.