"The world needs a new, non-polarised, and non-contentious politic; one not made possible by those in situations which promote a left-right, black-white, capitalist-communist, believer-infidel thinking. Such systems are, like it or not, promoting antagonism and destroying cooperation and interdependence. Confrontational thinking, operating through political or power systems, has destroyed cultural, intellectual and material resources that could have been used, in a life centered ethic, for earth repair." Bill Mollison, Permaculture: A Designers Manual 1988 (1999 reprint.)
Chapter 14 is one of the most neglected chapters of the designers manual. There are a lot of Permaculture groups and clubs and societies and...and...and... There are also a few well designed Permaculture village communities. I have never lived in one of these communities, so I cannot comment on how they have been designed, or how they are run. Anyone should feel free to comment on any experiences they have in those places.
At the Permaculture Melbourne (http://www.permaculturemelbourne.org.au/) AGM it has been mentioned a few times that the group is not being run sustainably. Office bearers and volunteer workers are not getting the support they need, or are just simply getting burnt out. It has been suggested that ALL people on Trunk (the management committee) should become fully cognisant of chapter 14.
This has apparently not happened so far, as the minor changes in management style we have had are just barely moving in the direction of a chapter 14 style system.
We don't have party politics, we don't have an oppositional dichotomy. We are still holding decision making meetings (usually only the AGM) to make decisions on office bearers, and occasionally on matters of policy.
Would troikas make it any better? Maybe. We often have trouble finding people to fill positions of responsibility, because the work load is perceived as large. If we had an accounting troika, and a secretary troika (we have moved slightly toward this, by splitting up some parts of thee jobs.) these jobs should be more manageable: we have enough trouble electing the six needed by our constitution, so that is not likely.
Local groups are managed differently. Trunk takes care of insurance and details required to remain an incorporated body, so local groups don't need to do that. Our local group (http://www.sesuburbspermaculture.org.au) doesn't elect office bearers. We have a treasurer and a convenor with the recent addition of a website designer/manager. All these people have volunteered for these positions, and that has been enough. My understanding of chapter 14 is that this is how troikas should be organised: people with relevant skills volunteer. We still have the problem that it is always the same people volunteering, and that communication seems to not happen very well. Our current convenor has asked over the last 12 months for someone else to step into the role.
We also have a bit of an issue with the convenor being seen as the dictator/organiser. We ask for input from others, we ask for other people to organise things, and it just doesn't happen. What else can we do? How can we organise so that the workload is shared? So that people aren't taking on too much and getting burnt out? So that peoples ideas and opinions are seen/heard and valued?
I have to read chapter 14 again. And again. And take some good quality notes. I hardly remember much of it being discussed in my Design Certificate Course. Stay tuned. I'll see what I can come up with. After all, the problem is the solution...
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Education beef. (no, not cows...except in the sense of "don't have a...")
O.K., so the title of my 'blog is supposed to refer to Permaculture ethics, but today, I am looking at education, an important aspect of "Care of People."
I could look at all sorts of issues here: schools saying they have a "student lead curriculum," students being (often wrongly) drugged to modify their behaviour, schools which emphasise that they use "individualised learning programs"...
Beef 1. All students are individuals. (that covers all the three things mentioned above. I may expand later.)
Beef 2. Performing monkeys and language education.
I am a language teacher. I speak a little German, Indonesian and Chinese. I have a university degree that includes a minor (although mot recognised as such by the university, they only recognise majors) in Linguistics. So, why would I not be anooyed with a principal who wants to keep my daughter back in Prep on the basis of her language skills? (He thinks she can't read.)
Point one: Bilingual children (although that is a little bit of a stretch) often develop certain language skills behind monolingual children, but take the final step more suddenly: for example, a bilingual child will often start speaking later, but is more liklely to START with complete sentences then individual words.
Liora CAN read. She is impatient, and would rather guess a word than slow down and work it out. But I can read her a German picture story book, and she can tell me in English the basics of the story.
The problem we have with the school, is that Liora is shy. She will "perform" on things she knows she can do well, but will flatly refuse to do something she is scared of (climbing a ladder for example), lacks confidence in (reading for example) has not done outside of home before (saying names of hebrew letters for example) or doesn't want to do (using pencils when there are markers available....)
SO!! Performing children, who will confidently read for their teacher, but do not have any of the multitude other skills that Liora has, WILL be advanced to grade one. Shy students will be kept back.
The VELS states "The first challenge for children at school is to socialise and connect with teachers and other students, and such engagement – behavioural, emotional and cognitive – remains critical to success throughout schooling. "
(http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/interpersonal/stages.html accessed 17/12/2010) I have italicised that last part, because THAT seems to get to the nub of the matter here. Liora is already shy, and takes time to form new friendship attachments, specially in a large group, like a class. Holding her back is likely to set her back in terms of this "first challenge" which may prove detrimental to her sucess "throughout schooling."
Liora is being partially homeschooled (hence the plethora of language oportunities to which she is exposed) and was sent to school, after discussions with the principal to determine his willingness to accept a partial enrolment, and with the emphasis that we are doing this PRIMARILY for her social development.
The system needs rebuilduing from the ground up if it can't cater for all students with individual differences as small as these. Sure, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if you've blown a head gasket, a new paint job (such as introducing a "new" national curriculum) won't make a jot of difference.
I could look at all sorts of issues here: schools saying they have a "student lead curriculum," students being (often wrongly) drugged to modify their behaviour, schools which emphasise that they use "individualised learning programs"...
Beef 1. All students are individuals. (that covers all the three things mentioned above. I may expand later.)
Beef 2. Performing monkeys and language education.
I am a language teacher. I speak a little German, Indonesian and Chinese. I have a university degree that includes a minor (although mot recognised as such by the university, they only recognise majors) in Linguistics. So, why would I not be anooyed with a principal who wants to keep my daughter back in Prep on the basis of her language skills? (He thinks she can't read.)
Point one: Bilingual children (although that is a little bit of a stretch) often develop certain language skills behind monolingual children, but take the final step more suddenly: for example, a bilingual child will often start speaking later, but is more liklely to START with complete sentences then individual words.
Liora CAN read. She is impatient, and would rather guess a word than slow down and work it out. But I can read her a German picture story book, and she can tell me in English the basics of the story.
The problem we have with the school, is that Liora is shy. She will "perform" on things she knows she can do well, but will flatly refuse to do something she is scared of (climbing a ladder for example), lacks confidence in (reading for example) has not done outside of home before (saying names of hebrew letters for example) or doesn't want to do (using pencils when there are markers available....)
SO!! Performing children, who will confidently read for their teacher, but do not have any of the multitude other skills that Liora has, WILL be advanced to grade one. Shy students will be kept back.
The VELS states "The first challenge for children at school is to socialise and connect with teachers and other students, and such engagement – behavioural, emotional and cognitive – remains critical to success throughout schooling. "
(http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/interpersonal/stages.html accessed 17/12/2010) I have italicised that last part, because THAT seems to get to the nub of the matter here. Liora is already shy, and takes time to form new friendship attachments, specially in a large group, like a class. Holding her back is likely to set her back in terms of this "first challenge" which may prove detrimental to her sucess "throughout schooling."
Liora is being partially homeschooled (hence the plethora of language oportunities to which she is exposed) and was sent to school, after discussions with the principal to determine his willingness to accept a partial enrolment, and with the emphasis that we are doing this PRIMARILY for her social development.
The system needs rebuilduing from the ground up if it can't cater for all students with individual differences as small as these. Sure, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if you've blown a head gasket, a new paint job (such as introducing a "new" national curriculum) won't make a jot of difference.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Bees in a permaculture system
thinking...
Having written three (or is it four) articles on beekeeping for PIE, how can I explicitly talk about bees in a Permaculture system.
Obviously there are the two main sets of Principles we talk about.
If I combine David Holmgrens "Obtain a yield," his "Catch and store energy" and the 'Introduction to Permaculture,' (and generally quoted) "each element performs many functions" (and we could throw in Davids "Value biological resources" for good measure) we can immediately see how bees stack up well.
The two main material yields from a bee hive are both used as forms of energy: honey as food energy for people and bees, and wax as combustion energy for lighting. (hence the name of the book 'Sweetness and Light.')
The many functions of a beehive in a P/c system: honey production, pollen collection, wax production, propolis production, guard services, pollination, duck food...
and if I can work out how to make use of it, airconditioning...
Add in David's "Use small and slow solutions" as well, because even someone with no backyard can sometimes find somewhere for a beehive: the smallest livestock.
Looking at the situation in reverse (kind of) people who don't keep bees can help out by increasing the plant biodiversity in their systems, and permaculture designs tend to encourage such biodiversity. In fact, anyone who has a vegetable gardfen should consider planting useful nectar and pollen species for the lean times, to encourage the health and strength of any local beehives. A potentialy useful resource in the quest for bee-helping biodiversity is something like 'Honey Flora of VIctoria' published by the dept of agriculture, Victoria (my copy, from 1973 has a cover price of two dollars...)
Permaculture Melbourne members, please disregard this blog entry, as I will rewrite it more cohesively for the next (but one) edition of PIE.
Having written three (or is it four) articles on beekeeping for PIE, how can I explicitly talk about bees in a Permaculture system.
Obviously there are the two main sets of Principles we talk about.
If I combine David Holmgrens "Obtain a yield," his "Catch and store energy" and the 'Introduction to Permaculture,' (and generally quoted) "each element performs many functions" (and we could throw in Davids "Value biological resources" for good measure) we can immediately see how bees stack up well.
The two main material yields from a bee hive are both used as forms of energy: honey as food energy for people and bees, and wax as combustion energy for lighting. (hence the name of the book 'Sweetness and Light.')
The many functions of a beehive in a P/c system: honey production, pollen collection, wax production, propolis production, guard services, pollination, duck food...
and if I can work out how to make use of it, airconditioning...
Add in David's "Use small and slow solutions" as well, because even someone with no backyard can sometimes find somewhere for a beehive: the smallest livestock.
Looking at the situation in reverse (kind of) people who don't keep bees can help out by increasing the plant biodiversity in their systems, and permaculture designs tend to encourage such biodiversity. In fact, anyone who has a vegetable gardfen should consider planting useful nectar and pollen species for the lean times, to encourage the health and strength of any local beehives. A potentialy useful resource in the quest for bee-helping biodiversity is something like 'Honey Flora of VIctoria' published by the dept of agriculture, Victoria (my copy, from 1973 has a cover price of two dollars...)
Permaculture Melbourne members, please disregard this blog entry, as I will rewrite it more cohesively for the next (but one) edition of PIE.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Permaculture in Spring.
Much as I hate the emphasis on gardening when people talk about Permaculture, it is an important aspect, and in spring, that is certainly where the focus moves.
Had BRILLIANT flowering on our semi espaliered apricots, and they now have quite an abundance of baby fruit on them.
Our main nectarine and peach trees burst their leaf buds about a week apart. Last year, they were both affected by curly leaf, which I treated reasonably successfully with three sprays about a week apart of Nettle and Horsetail tea (Urtica doica and equisetum arvense, not too sure on the spelling of the binomials.) This year, the nectarine got curly leaf and the peach didn't. I put this down to the fact that it rained during the week the nectarine opened its leaves, and not during the following week when the peach burst. Happy to hear any other theories.
The apricot graft on the nectarine, and the plum graft on the nectarine are both healthy. They are obviously not as vulnerable to curly leaf as the peach part of the stone fruit family.
Both of them have been attacked by little black aphids, but we have a marvelous population of lady bugs. We photographed the entire life cycle of lady bugs on the stone fruit last year: little yellow eggs, tiny greyish black hatchlings, black, spiky, orange dotty striped juveniles, speckled pupa, and of course the beautiful adults.
We have started picking tomatoes. I don't know if this is due to incredible skill on my part, or just a mild winter and bird netting. Our broad beans are just about finished. The girls must have eaten kilos each over the season, and probably a similar amount of the broad bean leaves.
Our old chicken (over six years old, possibly over seven) has been laying roughly one egg every two days for a few weeks now. She is a Jungle fowl, presumably the ancestor breed to modern chicken varieties. I would challenge anyone with a modern commercial hybrid to have them still laying at that rate (even if only for two or three months) at that age. Certainly she never laid the 300 eggs per year some of the cross breeds can, but she has kept going for longer, and has been a much loved part of the family. (Her and her adopted son, and her two sons that he fathered and their adopted brother, and her grandson and granddaughter...) None of them ended up in the pot, although Liora, at the time about four years old, came up to me with "Fish" in her arms, gently patting him and said "I think this one is going to be a rooster. We should kill him and put him on the stove and eat him." Fish's sister, Broccoli is still with us, giving us an egg a day at the moment.
Liora, now six, said recently, "I can't wait until we have room for more chooks, so we can kill some to eat." Bloodthirsty child.
Had BRILLIANT flowering on our semi espaliered apricots, and they now have quite an abundance of baby fruit on them.
Our main nectarine and peach trees burst their leaf buds about a week apart. Last year, they were both affected by curly leaf, which I treated reasonably successfully with three sprays about a week apart of Nettle and Horsetail tea (Urtica doica and equisetum arvense, not too sure on the spelling of the binomials.) This year, the nectarine got curly leaf and the peach didn't. I put this down to the fact that it rained during the week the nectarine opened its leaves, and not during the following week when the peach burst. Happy to hear any other theories.
The apricot graft on the nectarine, and the plum graft on the nectarine are both healthy. They are obviously not as vulnerable to curly leaf as the peach part of the stone fruit family.
Both of them have been attacked by little black aphids, but we have a marvelous population of lady bugs. We photographed the entire life cycle of lady bugs on the stone fruit last year: little yellow eggs, tiny greyish black hatchlings, black, spiky, orange dotty striped juveniles, speckled pupa, and of course the beautiful adults.
We have started picking tomatoes. I don't know if this is due to incredible skill on my part, or just a mild winter and bird netting. Our broad beans are just about finished. The girls must have eaten kilos each over the season, and probably a similar amount of the broad bean leaves.
Our old chicken (over six years old, possibly over seven) has been laying roughly one egg every two days for a few weeks now. She is a Jungle fowl, presumably the ancestor breed to modern chicken varieties. I would challenge anyone with a modern commercial hybrid to have them still laying at that rate (even if only for two or three months) at that age. Certainly she never laid the 300 eggs per year some of the cross breeds can, but she has kept going for longer, and has been a much loved part of the family. (Her and her adopted son, and her two sons that he fathered and their adopted brother, and her grandson and granddaughter...) None of them ended up in the pot, although Liora, at the time about four years old, came up to me with "Fish" in her arms, gently patting him and said "I think this one is going to be a rooster. We should kill him and put him on the stove and eat him." Fish's sister, Broccoli is still with us, giving us an egg a day at the moment.
Liora, now six, said recently, "I can't wait until we have room for more chooks, so we can kill some to eat." Bloodthirsty child.
Monday, November 1, 2010
No, it's not all aout movies.... (it's supposed to be all about Permaculture)
And yet...
http://www.facebook.com/vanishingbees?v=wall
http://www.vanishingbees.com
Change Agriculture. This is outside the scope of many people, (other than inthe purchasing choices we make) but massive monoculture is likely to be a contributing factor: bees eating from only one plant are not going to get all the nutrition they need. Somthing as simple as having multpile flowering groundcovers in an orchard, or having one tree in ten be something other than the main crop. And clearly, cut out the use of chemical pest controls as much as possible. Reduce the total poison load on the environment, even if we can't get rid of them altogether.
Now... I just need to find the money so I can screen the movie here.
http://www.facebook.com/vanishingbees?v=wall
http://www.vanishingbees.com
New movie launched in America in August.
I heven't seen it yet, but having watched the trailer, I urge everyone to go and see it, or to host a "Vanishing of the Bees" house party, and get the story out to as many as possible.
There are many theories about Colony Collapse disorder. Until we find out for sure what is causing it, there are some things we can do:
Lobby governments the world over for better studies on pesticides (also, grow your own food or buy organic), their effect on honey bees and humans, and their persistence in the environment. Prefferably studies NOT run by the companies producing the poisons.
Plant more flowering plants. Roses are lovely, but modern roses actually offer very little to honey bees. Find plants for your location that produce plenty of nectar and grow them without insecticides (or other pesticides).
Now... I just need to find the money so I can screen the movie here.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Food, Inc...Just watched it.
We have just watched "Food, Inc" with our local Permaculture group.
While the images of animal abuse under the title of intensive farming was distressing, there was something more distressing in this movie.
Politics. Surely, in America, a country where the constitution includes an amendment guaranteeing Freedom of Speech, it shouldn't be possible to pass a law preventing people from saying bad things about food EVEN IF IT IS THE TRUTH.
There was a lady (Barbara ?) whose son had died from eating E.Coli infected meat. The meat was subject to a product recall, including up to 19,000,000 pounds of meat (8550000 kilograms). This lady WHOSE SON DIED was to afraid to say "I reduced my condumption of meat," or, "Losing my son has made me wary of buying burgers." It is the TRUTH and may stop someone else from losing their beloved child to Commercial Negligence Poisoning.
If the way food is being produced is outright DANGEROUS, there is much more to be gained for EVERYBODY by changing the production methods, than there is to be gained by changing the law to stop people talking about the production methods.
Please, get to know the provenance of your food. Did your beef spend half its life knee deep in its own excrement? Was your chicken grown so quickly its leg bones couldn't support its own weight? Does the slaughterhouse put all the live animals it receives through its production line regardless of the health of the animal (right up to the point of bringing cows in on a forklift because it is to SICK to walk to the killing room)?
And THEN! Ontop of all that, have they identiufied that there are health problems associated with these production methods, and rather than change the way they do it, add an extra step where ammonia or chlorine bleach is used to get rid of pathogens that wouldn't otherwuise be present at such dangerous levels?
Next time, I hope to be more gentle in my blog. I may tell you all about the wonders of my spring garden.
While the images of animal abuse under the title of intensive farming was distressing, there was something more distressing in this movie.
Politics. Surely, in America, a country where the constitution includes an amendment guaranteeing Freedom of Speech, it shouldn't be possible to pass a law preventing people from saying bad things about food EVEN IF IT IS THE TRUTH.
There was a lady (Barbara ?) whose son had died from eating E.Coli infected meat. The meat was subject to a product recall, including up to 19,000,000 pounds of meat (8550000 kilograms). This lady WHOSE SON DIED was to afraid to say "I reduced my condumption of meat," or, "Losing my son has made me wary of buying burgers." It is the TRUTH and may stop someone else from losing their beloved child to Commercial Negligence Poisoning.
If the way food is being produced is outright DANGEROUS, there is much more to be gained for EVERYBODY by changing the production methods, than there is to be gained by changing the law to stop people talking about the production methods.
Please, get to know the provenance of your food. Did your beef spend half its life knee deep in its own excrement? Was your chicken grown so quickly its leg bones couldn't support its own weight? Does the slaughterhouse put all the live animals it receives through its production line regardless of the health of the animal (right up to the point of bringing cows in on a forklift because it is to SICK to walk to the killing room)?
And THEN! Ontop of all that, have they identiufied that there are health problems associated with these production methods, and rather than change the way they do it, add an extra step where ammonia or chlorine bleach is used to get rid of pathogens that wouldn't otherwuise be present at such dangerous levels?
Next time, I hope to be more gentle in my blog. I may tell you all about the wonders of my spring garden.
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