Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Dear Graham I sympathise with your reservation about geomancy. Did you know, however, that all the major oil and water companies employ dowsers? It is far cheaper than using geophysical equipment and they find it effective. Lastly, the study of energy in the landscape is being experimented with by the Austrian Traffic authorities. Let me [...]
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
A technical problem with posting comments on Zone5, probably caused by faeries playing mischief, has now been sorted. Please join the lively debate re “Woo-Woo in Permaculture”
A recent trip to Madeleine McKeever, founder of Brown Envelope Seeds, down near turk Head on the south coast, provided the permaculture class with a fascinating introduction to the world of seed-saving.
Open Letter to Permaculture Magazine in response to the article “Geomancy and Permaculture” by Alanna Moore Dear Permaculture Magazine Many thanks for the recent edition of PM54 with its many excellent and useful articles. You continue to do an excellent job of promoting quality permaculture ideas and reporting on sustainable projects around the world. I [...]
Saturday, October 27, 2007
I have always loved the poetry of Rumi. Writing 800 years ago in the 13th Century, his language is beautiful and intoxicating, whatever about the “mystical” meaning of it, even to an atheist like me. Rumi takes an often side-ways look at the human condition, and his absurd rendition of people’s shallow beliefs, their pre-occupation [...]
Three important reports out in the last week highlight how utterly unsustainable the current human system is, locked in as it is to a process seeking the impossible, the unnatural and the undesirable: unending growth.
If I were only to grow one vegetable, I think it would be pumpkins- easy to grow, nutritious and delicious, many of the smaller varieties- like Pompeon or the orange-fleshed Uchiki Kuri are as sweet as sweet potatoes and store really well- until March or even April. This year for the first time I grew [...]
The Practical Sustainabilty Course in Kinsale has a record number of students this year, being completely over-subscribed in the new intake and with over 20 returning for the second year. Hundreds of students have passed through the course which is now in its seventh year, an indication of the real demand and growing interest in [...]
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Peak Everything- Waking up to the Century of Declines By Richard Heinberg 224 pp New Society (2008) “Our central survival task for the decades ahead, as individuals and as a species, must be to make a transition away from the use of fossil fuels— and to do this as peacefully, equitably, and intelligently as possible.” [...]