When the question came up, “How could permaculture be applied on a commercial scale successfully?” it led to an amazing opportunity to meet up with Nico Snyman, a long time South African farmer, and his wife Janie, who are using soil organisms to rehabilitate polluted and damaged soils.

Over the years Mr. Snyman has noticed a decrease in the number of farmers countrywide due to ever increasing input costs. He mentioned that one of a farmer’s major expenses is the purchase of fertilizers and pesticides (many farmers of his time were brought up and taught at university to farm with these products). His son, Peter, B.Sc Agric (Hons.) farming in Zambia, also noticed that after a number of years of the soil been treated with fertilizers, it had become infertile, infested with eelworm and nothing would grow at all.

They began to wonder if there was another way – a way which would require a new way of looking at farming in a new light. They realized that they would need to replace the biological component in the soil.

This eventually led Nico to (the now late) Dr Pieter Cloete, a D.Sc. (Agric) Biochemistry and eventually a medical doctor who discovered that when he took a soil sample from a totally undisturbed forest or wildlife area and was able to reproduce the organisms and introduce them into infertile, poor or damaged soils, that he started experiencing astonishing results.

…click here to read more

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If you’re wondering where you can do your course here in SA, have a look at the list below. It also includes online options as well (although be sure to enquire about how much practical vs. theory you’ll be doing).

Outeniqua Trout Farm (Near Knysna, Western Cape)

Contact Andrew or Hazel at info@permaculturesouthafrica.com to find out more.

Outeniqua Trout Lodge
E-mail:  info@permaculturesouthafrica.co.za
http://www.outeniquatrout.co.za/ and
http://www.permaculturesouthafrica.com
Tel: +27+44-752-3034
Fax: 086 652 5515
GPS Co-ordinates: S33°49′16.2″; E23°10′55.6″

…click here to read more

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Sepp Holzer has a remarkable permaculture system – he has also been able to grow tropical plants on his farm which is situated high up in the mountains in Austria. All that he learned, was through simple observation of nature; this was way before the term, permaculture, was even coined.

He inherited a farm that was known to be ‘unproductive’ (the soil was ‘bad’ and it was situated on very steep slopes) but over time he transformed this area into a productive, self sustaining system.

A short article from a visitor to the farm.

Sepp Holzer’s website:
http://www.krameterhof.at

Geoff Lawton takes us through a 300 year old food forest in Vietnam which has been in the family for 28 generations. Even he is a bit awed by the whole experience as he’s never seen anything like it.

Geoff Lawton’s website:
http://permaculture.org.au

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This is the book that I started with when I decided that permaculture was something I wanted to know more about. At first glance it felt a little like been back at school with a text book (which it is I guess) but if it’s something you’re interested in, then all good.

His no-nonsense, direct approach to the topic, I think, is great. It’s all practical, down to earth knowledge that anyone can implement in their backyard garden (young or old). He includes, at the end of each chapter, a ‘further reading, reference, resource’ list and the appendix includes a ‘useful permaculture plants’ section to help you get started.
I’ve since bought, Permaculture: A designer’s manual, but have found that the intro book is sufficient to make good progress.

What’s inside:

1.)    Permaculture principles
2.)    Broadscale site design
3.)    Pattern understanding
4.)    Structures
5.)    The home garden
6.)    Orchards, farm forestry and grain crops
7.)    Animal forage systems and aquaculture
8.)    Urban and community strategies

…click here to read more

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There are few things that compare to the scent of citrus blossoms on the warm evening air. Every garden has to have at least one of these trees, in my opinion.

I bought my lemon and lime trees from the local nursery and planted my lemon tree in a bed near the pool while the lime tree went into the very first bed that I’d made when I started out. Both areas in full sun with good drainage.

Lemon and lime afflictions: leaves yellowing and dropping off (usually an iron deficiency)

…click here to read more

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Seedballs: the final result

Both of these concepts: guerilla gardening and seedballing, drew an instant fascination for me (even though I felt the guerilla gardening concept had quite a goody-nerd feel to all of it).

Guerrilla gardening: the idea that empty, plantless or shabby areas (whether in the city, towns wherever) get a makeover but usually done secretly as most of these places are private property. Most of the time, a group will get together at night, nip into an area, pull out their spades and pop in the plants or flowers they’ve brought along.

Seedballs are a combination of compost, clay and mixed seed rolled up into a marble sized ball. Because the seeds are protected within the ball, birds and other creatures aren’t so likely to get to them. They can be scattered out onto the ground surface and will germinate usually after the first good rains arrive.

…click here to read more

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Ever wondered where to find free rocks; especially here in Joburg? I was dying to build a herb spiral and needed to do it on the cheap. And guess who came along? Grudgingly though because I was cutting into his gaming time.

I’d been going on and on for a few days about needing rocks and eventually B agreed as he couldn’t bear the thought of me been out there all alone rock gathering and wondering if there were any weirdos hanging about – he’s so caring.

Rock hunting can also be quite tiring on the ear; you’d never say, but geez was I getting words after an hour of driving around without any success.

…click here to read more

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Here it is, our spacious backyard – looks deceptively large in the photo for some reason but in reality it isn’t. Though, when I first decided on going ahead with this whole project experimentation I did feel a bit overwhelmed. Where to start?

So I focussed on a small area nearest the house and of course nearest to the tap. I was at that stage reading an Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison and decided to start putting a few things into practice. I’d also picked up a bit on forest gardening as well and used a mix of both methods.

…click here to read more

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Bill Mollison and Masanobu Fukuoka

These words from Fukuoka’s book, The Natural Way of Farming (The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy), caught my attention. I had come across his books after first discovering permaculture and Bill Mollison (but, more on that in another post).

Masanobu, a farmer-philosopher (and former scientist) states:

…click here to read more

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This was one of those moments, after seeing this video, that really made an impact on me. An astounding clip on the greening of a patch of the desert. You have to see it to actually get an idea. This video, amongst other few things, has had such an effect as to have actually clearly steered me along the path I’d like to take in life (for probably the first time in my life) – living and working where the green things are.

See the latest ‘Greening the Desert – Revisited’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Hfxeh3t6I

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