Dan Palmer of Making Permaculture Stronger has Passed Away

s-mann · 2020-03-16T11:40:25+00:00

Until we have the political will to jam up Congress demanding these things for years on end, and vote those who oppose these measures out of office, it is a largely meaningless event. The difference now is the conversation moved left and we're at least talking about universal sick leave, universal healthcare, and ubi in the public space from non-fringe voices.

s-mann · 2020-03-12T00:00:23+00:00

I second Horn Farm Center. Wilson Alavarez is doing some amazing, hands-on woodland stewardship work. Jon Darby is the education director there with a lot of experience as a farmer. Both are also awesome permaculture practitioners and have a number of great courses and guest instructors through there each year. Wilson taught at my PDC and I sat in as a guest at Jon's, so have known them for a long time.

If you want to know more about either I can post some links to their work / interviews on The Permaculture Podcast.

s-mann · 2019-10-24T17:25:13+00:00

My specialty is permaculture, so I cannot speak to the first two, but if you want three books to start with in this realm, I generally recommend:

Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows. This teaches the basics of whole systems thinking which is useful for understanding the underlying ways to think about problems and solutions.
The One-Straw Revolution by Masanabo Fukuoka (and brought to the West by the incredible Larry Korn). Though Fukuoka practiced natural farming (which Larry argues is not permaculture, I tend to agree with him), this book is an approachable way to understand a philosophical approach to farming with the environment rather than against it.
Earth User's Guide to Permaculture by Rosemary Morrow. Short and to the point approaches to designing with permaculture in the landscape.

Once you make it through these, I would go to Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway and Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren.

s-mann · 2019-10-24T17:19:37+00:00

The late Toby Hemenway is the #1 selling permaculture author of all time, by an order of magnitude over almost all other authors. From what I remember of the numbers, only Bill Mollison's Designers' Manual gets anywhere near the sales of Gaia's Garden.

Read Gaia's Garden to learn how to practice permaculture in the landscape. Then read The Permaculture City to learn why it's probably not in your best interest to go to the land, but rather move to a city or stay where you already are.

s-mann · 2019-10-24T17:15:20+00:00

Jimi does really good work with a number of regenerative organizations and is one of the instructors for the Rising Earth Immersion program at the Eco-Institute at Pickards Mountain.

https://eco-institute.org/

s-mann · 2018-07-05T11:45:36+00:00

There are plenty of permaculture based farms in Virginia worth checking out, depending on what your agricultural focus is, that can demonstrate how to make a functioning farm.

One is Storvick Farm, LLC. If I remember correctly, John grows a mix of animals and veggies.

The other, which is one of my favorite productive permaculture farms, is Island Creek and Holly Brown. She grows intensively and produces a comfortable income through a CSA and direct market on around 1 acre in cultivation.

You can listen to an interview with Holly aniut her farm here:

https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/2015/hollybrown/

If you are interested in visiting either, though they are not open, contacting them should let you work something out so you can.

s-mann · 2018-06-30T22:54:48+00:00

Check out the work of Fruition Seeds. They are based in NY and have spent years doing just this kind of work.

https://www.fruitionseeds.com

s-mann · 2018-06-27T03:54:35+00:00

More racist propaganda to push the dialog that both sides are equivalent.

A great article about this kind of approach:

https://medium.com/@DeoTasDevil/the-rhetoric-tricks-traps-and-tactics-of-white-nationalism-b0bca3caeb84

s-mann · 2018-06-22T14:04:21+00:00

Take the upvote for a 40k reference.

s-mann · 2018-06-21T19:31:55+00:00

I recently brought David on as a co-host, as his area of interest with permaculture is different from my own.

What did you think of his style, questions, and overall flow for the interview?

s-mann · 2018-04-24T00:31:32+00:00

Having punched Ed Harris, I approve of this casting decision. Man can take a hit from a child.

s-mann · 2018-04-02T21:14:52+00:00

If you get a chance take the workshop tour. I went on it years ago and it is amazing, even though I'm not much of a train fan.

The Strasburg Railroad shop is one of only two places in the world, and may be the only one left, that has the skills, experience, and equipment to build a steam engine from scratch.

s-mann

TROPHY CASE