2nd Permaculture Design Course The Village Aug 20-29th 2010 February 27, 2010
Posted by Graham in : Courses, Permaculture, Powerdown , 2commentsI have updated the Courses Page for 2010, which includes the 2nd Full Permaculture design Course at The Village, Cloughjordan.
August 20th – 29th 2010 | The Village, Cloughjordan, Tipperary | For bookings and further information contact Davie Philip davie@cultivate.ie
Enjoy a full ‘PDC’ immersed in the thriving and innovative environment of Cloughjordan’s ecovillage. Tutors include: Graham Strouts, Albert Bates of the Farm, Tennessee, and Klaudia Van Gool. Also teaching will be other leading thinkers on various sustainability issues covered on the course.
Goodbye to the Bucket Toilet February 26, 2010
Posted by Graham in : Compost, Permaculture, water , 1 comment so farFor those of you who have been thinking that your humble zone5 blogger has got his head in the toilet for much of the time, I can now offer you proof:
After many years of shitting in a bucket I am now proud to announce the opening of a brand new twin-chamber concrete block toilet which renders my bucket obsolete.
Permaculture in Belize February 8, 2010
Posted by Graham in : Permaculture , add a commentThanks for Albert Bates for sending us this uplifting snapshot of a permaculture course in Belize. Hopefully this years’ PCD in Tipperary will generate as creative cabaret as this!
Solar Power on the Shortest Day December 22, 2009
Posted by Graham in : Kinsale, Permaculture, Renewable Energy, Tools and technology , add a commentIt is now exactly 6 months since I set up my 600watt at Derryduff.
Having now reached the shortest days of the year I am in a position to evaluate its performance, and I can say it has served me very well. Obviously there has been a huge difference in power availability between summer and winter, but in fact the last 10 days here have seen constant sunshine -along with freezing temperatures- and I have probably had more power so far in December than October.
As I said in the earlier post, on a system like this you cut your cloth according to your measure, so giving an account of my energy consumption would be misleading- I would use more electricity if i had it! In fact though I use and need very little- on average 1-2Kwh/day would be loads to run computer, one or two lights, radio and some power tool use. Some days I would use more, and I made good use of an electric chainsaw during the longer days. The only major increase in power consumption is likely to come from a washing machine which I intend to get in the near future, the model I am looking at only uses 1.2kw per cycle, and would easily be achievable on any sunny day any time of the year.
I did run short of power a couple of weeks ago and have invested in a small petrol generator as a back up, mainly to protect the batteries, and to ensure I need never be without some power if I want it. I have only had to run the generator on a handful of evenings during cloudy weather when I have run the batteries down with power tools during the day; it would not however be too much of a hardship to do without the generator and only use power when available.
To increase power availability I could put up a wind turbine, but at this stage it might be better to invest in more batteries- I only have approx. 1000Amph storage at present- and maybe a couple more PV panels. This might be sufficient as I dont expect to be increasing my electricity consumption drastically any time soon. The great advantage of PV over wind is that there are no moving parts, no maintenance and they are modular- I can add in more panels whenever I have some spare cash.
In short I am satisfied that I can live just on a modest solar array even in cloudy gray Ireland. For my situation it has been a good option; for a family of four, maybe not unless supplemented by wind.
I also want to mention my new Rayburn wood burning range that I installed in the cabin just this weekend. It replaces a cast iron stove, but I missed the range from the roundhouse for baking, and I am delighted with it so far. Ranges are a great option, doing everything at once: space heating, water heating, oven for baking, hob for cooking. It might require a little more wood than the stove, but that is one source of fuel I have plenty of. It should mean I use less gas for cooking at least in the winter months, and increases resilience as I could do without gas altogether if I had to.
Best of all, the range was free- many thanks to Liam and Ger who were replacing it with an oil burner, and to Ciara who pointed them in my direction!
We also got to play with the PV demonstration panel we have at the Kinsale college.
The meter reads 3.19 amps from an 80watt panel.
Reading the Great Book of Life October 27, 2009
Posted by Graham in : Biodiversity, Environment, Human Ecology, Permaculture, book review , 4commentsBook Review:
The Living Landscape: How to Read and Understand it
Patrick Whitefield
Permanent Publications 2009
334pp
48 color photos
When I first saw in the recent Permaculture Magazine that Patrick Whitefield had written a book on reading the landscape I became very excited and thought, “That’s probably a book David Holmgren would have liked to have written!”
Holmgren called it “reading the great Book of Life”- looking at the living landscape of the countryside through the lens of ecology,botany, geology, archaeology, history and even politics and economics.
Observation of the natural world is the starting point of permaculture design and with this book Whitefield helps us gain an insight into the myriad of the many natural and human processes that make up our landscape, and how to interpret their hidden indications.
Patrick Whitefield covers all of these impacts on the British Countryside, taking his examples from all over the country, and shows us how to be a kind of landscape detective, painstakingly uncovering the meaning of signs and indications of past land-use, some obvious – the absence of trees indicating ongoing grazing- some much less so- the horeshoe bat indicating an intact mosaic of different habitats.
The book begins with some chapters on general patterns in the landscape and underlying features of geology, soil and then climate and natural succession before moving onto more specific cases including animal signs; niches; succession; Different Kinds of Woodlands; Grassland; Heaths and Moors; Water in the Landscape; and finally, Hedges and other field boundaries and Roads and Paths.
Throughout Patrick gives us pages from his extensive notebooks that he has kept over the years which show actual examples of reading the landscape in a wide range of landscape types he has encountered on travels up and down the country, from the Highlands of Scotland to the Somerset “Levels” – or Moors as they are more usually known locally; the remnants of diverse wildflower meadows still found on the chalk downs, and the semi-ancient wood of Lady Park Wood in the Wye valley.
Patrick is always an agreeable travel companion and makes fascinating observations throughout. The pleasure he takes at discovering new landscapes or unpicking the story of a woodland and how it got to have the species mix it has- the subtle interplay of geology, microclimate and grazing patterns- is always obvious, becoming most so when discovering a new hedgerow with large number of species ( a possible indicator of antiquity).
we have been using Patrick’s previous books, The Earth Care Manual and How to Make a Forest Garden on the Kinsale course for the past several years; The Living Landscape is another great addition which fills an important niche in permaculture literature. A fascinating and engaging read with great color photos, it will have to find a place on every designers’ bookshelf.
Biodynamics: Why Believe What Steiner said? September 21, 2009
Posted by Graham in : Gardens, Permaculture, Science and Rationaltiy , 24commentsIt is hard to know how best to respond to Judith Hoad’s article in the current edition of the IOFGA magazine Organic Matters in which she admonishes me for being “blinkered” in rejecting biodynamics, the esoteric practice of farming proposed by Rudolph Steiner, whose philosophy of anthroposophy has also lead to the creation of the independent Steiner-Waldorf schools and the Camphill communities.
“Unorthodoxies have their orthodoxies too:” she writes- “Graham Strouts, who heads the permaculture course in Kinsale, has learned and teaches techniques dependent on observations of phenomena in the natural world to replicate them in the human constructed world.- forest gardens are an example of this. (Permaculture is still regarded by some people as wild unorthodoxy). “However, he is blinkered when he slags off Biodynamic gardening as hocus pocus. Although some would regard Biodynamics as Astrology for plants and animals, what’s wrong with that? Years- lifetimes- of detailed observation of cosmic bodies and terrestrial plant and animal behaviour have formalized cultivation techniques.”
The first thing I would say is that to refer to something I may have said on hearsay without any reference, or context, or including any of the reasons I may have given to argue my case, is not just rude and bad practice, but misleading and pointless. (more…)
Cuban Ambassador visits Cloughjordan September 5, 2009
Posted by Graham in : Courses, Peak Oil, Permaculture, community , add a commentOn Saturday 29th August the village of Cloughjordan was visited by the Cuban Amabassador, Noel Carillo
Thia was the first visit of an ambassador to the village, and came about through a Cuban connection between a family member of one of the founders of the Cloughjordan Eco-village. The Ambassador had been intrigued by the eco-village and paid a visit there to see if links could be made with similar projects in Cuba.
The Ambassador gives an address after planting a pear tree
The visit was especially appropriate as it took place at the end of our Permaculture Design Course. A short reception on the village green with the Mayor and other local dignitaries was followed by a tour of the new eco-village development and a tree planting ceremony; later the film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak oil was shown and a panel discussion followed with Albert Bates- one of the tutors on the permaculture course; Michelline Sheehy Skeffington, a botanist from NUI Galway; and professor Peadar Kirby of the University of Limerick, hosted by Iva Peacock of Coughjordan Eco-village.
Left to Right: Professor Peadar Kirby; Ambassador Noel Carillo; Iva Pocock; Michelline Sheehy; Albert Bates
In the panel discussion, a common theme was that Cuba was no garden of Eden.
Michelline, who has been in Cuba for several visits and worked on a voluntary basis in the National Botanic Gardens in Havana on the fruit tree project in 2001, pointed out that most Cuban will drop the bicycle as soon as they have a little money to use a car, and also told us how, despite the extensive market gardens that are shown so well in the film, she actually found that they were given very little vegetables at meals- the Cubans prefer meat! She also asked the question, could the Cubans have managed so well as they did during the Special Period were it not for the socialist system, particularly with its emphasis on education?
Albert Bates has not actually visited Cuba but has worked with many Cuban Eco-villagers in the United States.
He began his talk by saying that there are parallels between the island nations of Cuba and Ireland- an island nation will have in innate awareness of natural limits. He also called for a campaign in the US and internationally to end the US trade embargo and sanctions against Cuba.
Cuba was the first Latin American country visited by Peadar Kirby, in 1979, and he also paid tribute to the country which had survived so well through hardship and its people who had managed to forge a future despite the US making life as hard as possible for them. He raised a huge laugh by claiming Cuba as being the only country in the world he has visited where the poeple will spontaneously come up to you and tell you how much the government means to them!
The Ambassador made quite an impression and came over as a very personable character, and echoed the comments of the previosu speakers: Cuba is no paradise on earth. It continues to be a struggle for the Cuban people, and although he knows they have to work it out for themseleves, he also wants to make links with the eco-village in Cloughjordan.
Cuba, he told us, had made a lot of mistakes. During the Soviet era it was just too easy to take the fossil energy from their allies and trade with Eastern Europe. Twenty years ago they were importing 13million tonnes of energy every year. They had serious pollution problems because of their industrial model, and had become very lazy. At the same time, they had been just as keen as the west to develop consumer lifestyles, an ideology that had been deeply rooted in their minds after being taught for 60 years by the Americans!
Once the Soviet block collapsed, Cuba found itself with no assets, and only itself to blame for its dependency.
I found this an interesting point, the complete lack of resilience in the system up to that point.
He spoke of how hard it was still to make links internationally- for example it had been practically impossible to make links with irish companies becasue oif their US connections.
He echoed Michelline’s comments about Cuban dietary preference, raising quite a few laughs with his frankness about the downsides of Cuban life and culture, telling us that, like many Cubans, he doesnt like vegetables! “I know they are good for you but we Cubans want to eat beef!” He also stressed that for most ordinary Cubans, the “organoponic” farms are preferred just because they are cheaper. The more sustainable lifestyle portrayed in the film have been adopted only because of necessity.
VIVA LA REVOLUCION -Albert Bates and myself pose by the Ambassadors’ car
They are still hugely dependent on imports of a lot of their food, in particular more than 2/3 of their milk is imported despite being strictly rationed within the country. (Apparently they used to buy from Ireland but now find milk cheaper from New Zealand!)
There is still a huge amount of unused land in Cuba, but apparently land will be given freely to anyone who wants to start growing food- a scheme that caught the attention of several of the permaculture students there!
Leon also told us how they had reduced energy demand by a government scheme that simply gave everyone a free fluorescent lightbulb in exchange for an old incandescent one; and how they operate a decentralized grid with over 200 mini power stations throughout the country.
Most tellingly of all, the Ambassador told us that, although he thought he would be killed for saying this in his own country, he hoped that they never find oil in Cuba- it would always place them under US scrutiny and control if they did.
Afterwards I managed to get in a couple of questions about Cuba and the Special Period, and how he thought Ireland might cope under similar circumstances, before he was lead away to watch a display of hurling on the GAA pitch. I hope to post this interview as a podcast at a later date, once I have mastered the technology.
Davie Philip lowers the Cuban Flag at the end of the day
Permaculture Design at The Village, Cloughjordan August 28, 2009
Posted by Graham in : Courses, Permaculture , 3commentsThe 10-Day Permaculture design Course at The Village, Cloughjordan, Tipperary is well underway and as I write this the 18 participants are out on the land working on their design projects, which will be presented to the group on Sunday morning.
The course has been a great experience so far, taking place in and around the site of the new Eco-Village, which currently has several houses under construction- an exciting stage for the project after 10 years of planning and development.
Houses under construction at The Village, Cloughjordan
L-R: Albert bates, Davie Philip, Martin Giannini
Course tutors are myself, Davie Philip of The Village, Klaudia van Gool from the UK; and Albert Bates from the farm, Tennnessee.
The course has covered a range of the usual permaculture topics, with evening sessions from Davie Philip from the Powerdown Course, and special input from Albert on eco-village design, biochar and keyline design.
Tree ID exercise with Klaudia in the yurt
Planting a Forest Garden
This will hopefully be the first of many Permaculture Design courses held at The Village, which is destined to become a major learning center and focus for long and short courses on sustainable living and design, as well as being a place to come and see cutting edge examples in practice.
Mixing Cob with Saul Mossbacher
Design work begins in earnest
Permaculture at Kerry Earth Education August 11, 2009
Posted by Graham in : Forest Gardening, Permaculture , add a commentKerry Earth Education Project (KEEP) hosted a 2-day Introduction to Permaculture and Forest gardening course which I led for 18 participants last weekend.
The course was wonderfully hosted by Niamh and Ian and Cathy of KEEP at their centre at the Gortback Organic Farm, near Tralee, Co. Kerry.
On the course we looked at Permaculture design Principles; the theory of natural succession; forest garden design and plants; and mulched and planted the start of a forest garden.
Gortbrack Farm is a 10-acre smallholding established in 1991, and the dedicated team have been promoting and teaching organic gardening, school gardens, teacher training and biodiversity programmes since then.
They have recently put up some very pleasant timber “eco-cabins” complete with solar water heaters and wood burning stoves which are available to rent for holidays and courses, where I was very comfortably ensconced for the two nights of the course.
KEEP have also just produced a wonderful 50-page booklet on The Year Round Organic School Garden written by Lucy Bell, Niamh Ni Dhuill and Aine Ni Fhlatharra, complete with garden designs, steps to setting up a garden, monthly garden projects and many more resources.
This is an essential resource for teachers, parents and anyone interested in seeing a school garden be established in their school. Contact KEEP for details.
Thanks for everyone’s support and participation on the weekend and good luck to you all with future permaculture and forest gardening adventures.
Forest Gardening in the Irish Times June 22, 2009
Posted by Graham in : Food, Forest Gardening, Permaculture , add a commentWe were fortunate enough to have Irish Times columnist John Gibbons attend our last permaculture course in Cloughjordan, and he had a great write up in his column last week:
Permaculture offers one vision of a future where human ingenuity and adaptability will allow us to survive, and indeed thrive, in the age after oil, writes JOHN GIBBONS
High time agriculture got back to its healthy roots
IF YOU go down to the woods today, prepare to be surprised. A new movement is taking root that in a low-key way challenges almost everything we think we know about agriculture and our relationship with food. Last week’s column asked: how can we feed ourselves without ready access to the fossil fuels upon which conventional agriculture depends utterly? It wasn’t meant to be a rhetorical question.
The basis of all agriculture is soil. Healthy soil positively teems with life, including earthworms, fungi and essential bacteria. Mature topsoil is the product of hundreds, even thousands of years of slow growth, decay and decomposition. Within human timescales, soil is essentially a non-renewable resource.
The plough has shaped human history even more profoundly than the sword. Where for 10,000 years we depended on a delicate balance of nutrients to maintain the soil upon which our civilisations stood, the energy revolution and industrial farming in the last century saw us throw away that rule book. Full Article here
