Last night I was rereading Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison. I was particularly struck by two different statements I read that I don’t remember from my last reading. “Permaculture is not energy- or capital-intensive, rather it is information-intensive.” With my penchant for wandering around picking up information it would seem that permaculture could be right up my street. What he didn’t mention is that in order to implement something like permaculture information has to be anyalyzed and organized and decisions made. I’m sure many of us come to grief at that stage in the process. It’s mentally intensive to come up with a complex plan and implement it. We may end up doing what we already know how to do simply because we already know how to do it!
Before my mental list of things to do in and around my home overflows my brain capacity, I thought I’d better write it out here. In no specific order:
- set up an outdoor place for air-drying laundry
- build a rain garden – we have huge run-off coming through our backyard
- plant a permaculture space
- get rid of as much grass as possible (that’s where Bill Mollison’s 2nd thing comes in)
- find ways to use renewable energy – a wood burning stove is possible
- set up a composting system
- insulate the attic (not on my interesting list, but it needs done)
According to Bill Mollison “The American lawn uses more resources than any other agricultural industry in the world… A house with two cars, a dog, and a lawn uses more resources and energy than a village of 2000 Africans.” Ouch! Know anyone who got rid of their lawn yet?
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Decision making is where I keep getting stuck. That and the amount of “lawn” we have.
Hi Robinson, thanks for visiting. Do you have a lot of lawn, or a little? I popped over to your blog and posted on there about my own issues with planning what to do. I wish I could get my head around this.
Hi,
I wasn’t sure if I responded to your comment on my blog if you would get the answer. It was the BBC’s planet earth that was so inspiring. And about attic insulation… we will be working on that this fall. I did some research on types of insulation and chose this stuff called radiant guard. It is heat reflective so it keeps heat inside in winter and out in summer. I am not sure if this link will work but I’ll give it a shot anyway.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Radiant-GUARD-Radiant-Barrier-FOIL-Insulation-ULTIMA_W0QQitemZ220277665961QQihZ012QQcategoryZ63894QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Thanks so much for finding me and good luck with your greening efforts!!
Jennifer
Alison,
I wish I could see someone else’s established permaculture project in person too. Pictures help, but it’s not the same. I think I’m just going to have to go with trial and error.
Hi Jennifer, you’re right, this is the best place to respond. Of course you might not see my reply either now! I do find though that visiting each other’s blogs is a way to keep them linked so that I can come back later. To try and grow my readership I’m visiting at least 5 blogs a day, sometimes probably nearer to 30. I comment on any that look at all interesting, but I only return to ones that I especially love or where I get a reciprocal visit.
I’m not sure what handyman hubby wants to do for the insulation. He says we have to remove all the current loose-fill to plug gaps (not a job he has time for or that seems fun) then probably put down roll insulation with maybe loose-fill on top.
I need to watch the BBC Planet Earth (it’s sitting right beside my computer). Maybe I’m worried that it will make me cry!!!!
Robinson, I started looking for websites, blogs, forums and e-mail lists pertinent to permaculture today. I’ll try to write up a list maybe tomorrow. I found a lot and I need to sort through!!! I’m thinking that a forum or e-mail list might help us both get started and there are some out there – no point in re-inventing the wheel!
We live in a forest, so we installed a bit of grass next to the house to accommodate the kids’ swingset and playhouse so we don’t track a bunch of mud into the house. We bought a non-gasoline powered manual mower. It takes him about 15 minutes to cut it with that.
We insulated the attic and are working on drying in the basement. The weather was amazingly balmy here during August so we didn’t run the airconditioner. Then it rained for 4 days and everything mildewed. I’ve also tried air drying the laundry, but it’s always so humid here that things like jeans and towels never get dry and then mildew or smell sour.
I do need to read more about permaculture though, because we have all kinds of runoff problems.
Oh, yeah, we have a woodburning stove as well. Our insurance company refused to cover us and we had to switch over to farm bureau (who I hate) and they’re charging extra for it.
Ouch on the wood burning stove and insurance. Handyman hubby won’t like that!
I’m not sure where we’re headed with the spikey trees as a wood source because they need to be taken down this year in order to meet our prairie restoration schedule. We could probably only use a small fraction of the trees from 64 acres for firewood and we’d have issues with seasoning the wood in time to burn it for the winter. I think I’m going to have to make a longer term plan if I want to use a wood burning stove. There still shouldn’t be a problem with wood supply – I just hate the waste of not using this wood for something because the co2 will be entering the atmosphere either way anyway.
Like many things in my life there’s a planning/timing problem.