Dear old Bill would ferociously chew my ear about Spirituality and Permaculture, if he didn’t simply hang me by the balls and be done with me. Silly old sausage. He alluded to it often enough in the Manual, about the integration between all elements and the role people have and potentially could have, in nurturing nature while nurturing themselves. As if Nature and People are somehow disconnected. I believe this is the fundamental problem; the separation that exists between ‘Us’ and ‘It’, implicit even in declarations such as “I love Nature”. Continue reading Permaculture and Spirituality
Category Archives: ECOLOGY & PERMACULTURE
PERMACULTURE – Self-empowerment in a myriad forms
PERMACULTURE – Self-empowerment in a myriad forms
Is there a significant difference between Permaculture and organic, or ecological, or sustainable agriculture? Yes indeed. Each of these terms may be included as themes in Permaculture, but Permaculture is principally about attitude, rather than technique or technology, or scientific definition. It is a conscious self-empowerment tool through which we can exercise a far greater degree of control over our lives, by taking decisions based on a wholistic understanding of the situation at hand, and applying practical implementation accordingly. At a time when so much of our lives is influenced by fewer and fewer powerful corporate entities, this potential to take personal decisions which achieve more independence from a narrowing path of existence is indeed important and relevant. Continue reading PERMACULTURE – Self-empowerment in a myriad forms
Killing the goose that laid the golden egg,
‘Killing the goose that laid the golden egg,’
Toscana is exquisitely beautiful. Everyone seems to agree on the point, whether Italians, or the hoards of foreigners who swarm the gorgeous landscapes, gushing their praises, falling in love with the place. Many stay, like me.
Little wonder then, that Tuscons are so proud of their land. So why is it being trashed? ‘Killing the goose that laid the golden egg,’ is an English expression that aptly describes the situation. As I move around Tuscony, my heart cries out in pain to see so much environmental vandalism taking place, generally by the same proud Tuscons. Continue reading Killing the goose that laid the golden egg,
Clothing the naked mountain – the rainmaker
Before the forest grew, in the early few years of my life by the sacred mountain Arunachala in south India, some mornings I would look up at the peak shrouded in cloud, and optimistically hope that rain might fall. Invariably though, I was disappointed.
The reasons are obvious, now that I’ve watched the mountain for so long. Invariably, the prospect of rain would evaporate – literally – as soon as the sun rose and beat down on the dry rocky slopes. The temperature for seven months of the year averages a daily maximum of over 35 degrees, and often much more. Hot – parched and dry at first, in March, building up to stifling and humid pre-monsoon, then simply sauna-like until the relative respite once the monsoon has passed by December. Comparatively mild for the next three months until the build-up process begins again. Continue reading Clothing the naked mountain – the rainmaker
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