tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69683232020682619312011-11-27T18:19:40.849-05:00Musings... Organic Gardening Permaculture Local food Bee keeping Slow food movement Environmental Issues ecological restoration sustainable living Native Plants micro-farming Small Scale Intensive " SPIN " Farming eat the suburbs Compost back yard chickens purposeful gardens vermiculture preparation of Spygirics Biodynamic Agriculture practical alchemy edible landscapes sustainable landscape food not lawns Ethnobotany Sustainable Agriculture Analog forest/plant communities becoming a "Locavore"TERRA ALCHEMYnoreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968323202068261931.post-36151827804796011772009-04-30T08:10:00.001-04:002009-04-30T08:10:12.945-04:00<a href=http://www.examiner.com/x-8317-Philadelphia-Home-Gardening-Examiner~y2009m4d29-Permaculture--a-viable-solution-to-the-threat-of-industrial-agriculture-induced-disease>Philadelphia Home Gardening Examiner: Permaculture - a viable solution to the threat of industrial ag induced disease</a><br /><br />Posted using <a href="http://sharethis.com">ShareThis</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6968323202068261931-3615182780479601177?l=terra-alchemy.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>TERRA ALCHEMYnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6968323202068261931.post-45925584098713450092009-04-13T15:11:00.011-04:002009-04-14T01:40:15.708-04:00Permaculture is "one of those words" (well okay, I can't really think of any other word like it) that will likely yield a different definition from each and every Permaculture practitioner asked to provide one.<br /><br />Wikipedia defines <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture" _fcksavedurl="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture">Permaculture</a> as,<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agricultural </span><span style="font-style: italic;">systems that mimic the relationships found in the natural ecologies."</span><br /><br />You can read more about the origins of this design philosophy &amp; the visionary gentlemen that devolped it <a href="http://www.permacultureactivist.net/intro/pcintro.htm">here.</a><br />Permaculture strives to mimic nature, in form and function, and to create TRULY sustainable systems.<br /><br />A natural system (a forest, for instance) undergoes gradual changes in structure over time, a process known as "<a href="http://biology-online.org/4/7_ecosystem_succession.html">ecological succession</a>", whereby one plant community is supplanted by another (usually as a result of differences in shade tolerance).<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.teara.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/2E2877DF-0906-463F-AEF2-4B71F9CA7E06/200671/di11898enz.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 656px; height: 276px;" src="http://www.teara.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/2E2877DF-0906-463F-AEF2-4B71F9CA7E06/200671/di11898enz.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br />Utilizing "<a href="http://biomimicry.net/">biomimicry</a>", we can attempt to replicate biological succession in our own landscapes-- working with nature, no longer exerting energies trying to fight her. The resulting landscape is easy to care for, inexpensive &amp; requires very little (if any) outside "inputs" in the form of fertilizers, pesticides and our valuable water resources.<br /><br />In future posts I will attempt to provide you with some very simple, low-cost techniques to set you on the right garden path...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6968323202068261931-4592558409871345009?l=terra-alchemy.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>TERRA ALCHEMYnoreply@blogger.com0