New Items in Store – Permaculture Soils DVD and More
Courses/Workshops, DVDs/Books — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor October 8, 2010
This is just a short announcement that we’ve added a few more items to our online store. These are:
- Permaculture Soils DVD, by Geoff Lawton (not shipping until beginning of November, but we’ve had requests to let people pre-order – so there you go!).
- Permaculture 2: Practical Design for Town and Country in Permanent Agriculture, by Bill Mollison
- Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond: Volume I, Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into your Life and Landscape, by Brad Lancaster
- Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond: Volume II, Water-Harvesting Earthworks, by Brad Lancaster
- Inoculo Soil pH Kit
Novella Carpenter’s Urban Farm
DVDs/Books, Demonstration Sites, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor September 29, 2010
I haven’t read Farm City, but going by the book’s description and the very cool activities, and nature, of its author, Novella Carpenter, I’m going to guess It’d be an excellent read.
Watch the video to see what I mean. Novella’s west Oakland urban farm is an oasis of sanity in a rather interesting neighbourhood. Indeed… it’s an oasis of sanity in a rather interesting world.
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Soils DVD – Available October 2010
Courses/Workshops, DVDs/Books — by Ecofilms September 23, 2010
Let’s Make Our World Whole!
Building, Consumerism, DVDs/Books, Eco-Villages, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Oyvind Holmstad September 15, 2010
 Christopher Alexander |
I’m not a scholarly man and I have no vision to come up with any new theories, what I hope is to get a glimpse of the understanding of the world held by many greater thinkers. But why is it so important for me to get this understanding when I’m just a simple man? It started a few years ago when I wanted to build a nest for myself and my beloved wife. Unfortunately, what should have become an expression of our lives and our unification with the universe, became like being sucked into a black hole, losing all energy and trust in society.
The developer would of course say that it was something wrong with me; as would the people of the bureaucracy. But could it be a problem somewhere else? Could it be that what happened with me was a healthy reaction against sick structures in society? After I came to know Christopher Alexander I see this as a possibility:
Comments (8)The Power of Enterprise Budgets: Permaculture, Holistic Management, and Financial Planning
Animal Forage, Bird Life, Commercial Farm Projects, DVDs/Books, Financial Management, Fish, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Livestock, Markets & Outlets, Medicinal Plants, Nurseries & Propogation — by Ethan Roland September 7, 2010
Resource alert: At bottom of this blog post is a download option for more than a thousand enterprise budgets.
Permaculture designers: It’s time to get serious about profitability.
Farmers & Greenhorns: You already know what I’m talking about. I’ve been working on an integrated ecological farm design for the Ashokan Center in the Hudson River Valley bioregion. The design calls for a mega-diversity of organic enterprises: Multi-species rotational grazing, hardy kiwi vineyards, mixed-fruit orchards, agroforestry & silvopasture, no-till & greenhouse vegetables, gourmet & medicinal mushrooms, and more. There are 200+ edible & useful species spread across 13 acres of farm and 200+ acres of forest.
Click for larger view
Permaculture Soils DVD – It’s a Wrap!
Compost, DVDs/Books, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Ecofilms September 6, 2010
 Geoff Lawton and Frank Gapinski |
I just came back from filming all the links to Geoff Lawton’s Permaculture Soils DVD over the weekend. It’s a wrap – finally – with all principal photography completed and now it’s just a matter of finishing off the edit. Squeezing it all down to 90 minutes will be difficult as there’s heaps of good Permaculture information in this DVD. From Compost Teas, Kitchen Gardens to Ripping the Soil, working with cows, ducks, chickens and worms – and in the middle of it all, Geoff’s 18 day Compost formula – Geoff was in top form. Despite not drinking any water all day and being exhausted from nursing a cow the previous evening that was expecting to calf at any moment, Geoff was able to stay awake, stay focused and deliver on queue.
Comments (8)Making The Case for Earth Repair Work – Part III
DVDs/Books, Economics, Food Shortages, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Rhamis Kent August 19, 2010
In addition to my last two posts (here and here), here are a couple of additional information sources to help make the case for major investment to be made into global earth repair/ecosystem restoration work.
The United Nations Environment Programme recently published a report titled "Dead Planet, Living Planet – Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration for Sustainable Development: A Rapid Response Assessment" (15mb PDF). What makes this document so useful and important is that it presents compelling arguments for performing this work that speak to the concerns of business & economics just as much as it does of those concerned about the state of our global ecology and environment. Doing so will prove to be invaluable in helping to attract funding in amounts befitting the vital importance of this work.
Below, I’ve excerpted portions of the report’s summary that are of particular interest:
Comments (8)Overlander TV’s 60-Minute Organic Farming Program
DVDs/Books, General — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor August 11, 2010
The video covers such diverse farming enterprises as organic cattle, sheep, poultry, pigs, grain, wine, fruit and vegetables. – overlander.tv
Click play. At the end of each segment, it’ll automatically move to the next.
60 minutes in total.
Home Cheese-Making DVD Hits the Road!
Animal Processing, DVDs/Books, Fermenting, Livestock, News, Processing & Food Preservation — by Ecofilms July 8, 2010
Okay, it’s taken a while and we were expecting to release this title last year. We even had a few people ask for it for last year’s Christmas, but the truth is we took too long to finish it. So now it’s here, ready to go! Elisabeth Fekonia’s Home Cheesemaking and All Things Dairy DVD has finally been released!
Comments (13)New Book and Edible School Garden for Mary Valley State College at Imbil, Queensland
Community Projects, DVDs/Books — by Patrick Blampied July 5, 2010
Teachers at Mary Valley State College will be struggling to keep their students in the classroom thanks to a new Permaculture school garden program starting on the 23rd of this month. Leonie Shanahan of Edible School Gardens has now set up 15 schools garden projects on the Sunshine Coast and the kids say it’s a winner.
One boy said after hugging his teacher “I’m not clever in the classroom but I’m really good in the garden, I love gardening.”
On day one of the 12 month program the students will learn all about permaculture design, looking at other examples throughout Australia for inspiration in designing their own Edible School Garden.
Comments (2)Permaculture Takes Off in Tanzania!
Aid Projects, Community Projects, DVDs/Books, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres — by Global Resource Alliance July 2, 2010
Editor’s Note: It’s with pleasure I introduce you to a fantastic and fast-spreading permaculture movement in Tanzania, kicked off by Geoff Lawton’s PDC in 2007 (see Geoff’s articles on his experiences and observations there here and here), and organised by our partner the Global Resource Alliance. Below is a trailer for an upcoming documentary, and some background on it.
From the Mara Soil – Film Trailer
 GRA’s office plot in Musoma, Tanzania |
GRA was introduced to permaculture in 2006 at a workshop with Geoff Lawton, one of the world’s leading experts and promoters of permaculture. Permaculture offered a path to connect and expand GRA’s current programs in organic gardening and tree planting, and GRA’s future plans for sustainable building, rainwater harvesting and alternative energy.
Comments (3)Documentary Screening, July 6 2010 – The Garden at the End of the World
Aid Projects, DVDs/Books, Presentations/Demonstrations, Social Gatherings — by Mahboba Rawi July 1, 2010
Another free screening of Gary Caganoff’s film featuring Mahboba’s Promise, ‘The Garden at the End of the World‘, will be held at the International Peace Research Association Conference at Sydney University on July 6th, 2010.
As part of the conference’s fringe events the film will be at the Footbridge Theatre* at 6pm. Gary, permaculturalist Rosemary Morrow, and Emtissal Little representing Mahboba’s Promise, will speak afterwards. Members of the public are inviteded to attend the screening.
Entry is free and Afghan refreshments will be provided.
Watch documentary trailer here:
Please circulate to your friends.
Mahboba’s Promise newsletter downloadable here as well.
*The Footbridge Theatre is part of Sydney University, at the southern end of the footbridge spanning Parramatta Road, just west of Glebe Point Road.
More details via press release below:
Comments (1)Intro to Permaculture Design DVD Now Available with Spanish Subtitles
DVDs/Books — by Ecofilms June 24, 2010
Geoff Lawton’s Introduction to Permaculture Design DVD has already gone into a second edition, but, thanks to a number of keen Spanish speaking translators out there, we’ve now also added a Spanish subtitle option to this DVD!
The hardest part of editing subtitles into something like this is getting people to co-ordinate their transcriptions. Jane Gapinski at Eco Films sat down and made the English subtitles first with timecode embedded in the text document which meant translators fluent in both English and Spanish were able to replace the English text in their preferred language and email the new document back to Jane.
This way all the timecode was preserved, allowing the Spanish text to easily cut in on cue with the action.
This process made the whole task a lot easier to embed text into the new DVD. Many thanks to the many helpers who helped spread Permaculture around the globe. PRI and Eco Films would like to thank:
El Efecto Borde from Argentina, Enrique J. Triñane from Uruguay, Gianna Bonis Profumo from Spain and Robert Parks from the USA.
It’s a great example of team co-operation amongst the international permaculture community.
Comments OffPermaculture Soils DVD Trailer
Compost, DVDs/Books, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor June 9, 2010
It’s a wonderful thing to behold when permaculture passion and top-notch multimedia skills intersect in world-changing ways. Frank and Jane Gapinski of Ecofilms have spent countless hours working up highly educational and highly watchable productions for the PRI for a few years now. It all began with the initial Greening the Desert clip that took the world by storm; then followed the Water Harvesting DVD, the Food Forest DVD, and very recently the Introduction to Permaculture Design DVD. The incredible uptake of these films is living, encouraging proof that there is a new generation emerging who understand what needs to be done, and want to know how to do it!
But wait, there’s more! We’re now awaiting the soon-to-be-released Permaculture Soils DVD! This DVD gets to the very heart of what’s needed for a permanent culture, examining that magical muck that is the foundation of all the aforementioned productions. This work shares insights from Geoff Lawton’s two and a half decade’s worth of worldwide experience in soil creation – an experience gained in some of the world’s most inhospitable environments – helping to make the impossibly complex come to life in wondrously understandable ways. I personally think that holistic studies in soil science should be compulsory, foundational elements for every school syllabus – and that if they had been we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today – and we hope this DVD will go some distance in making up for this major shortfall in mainstream education.
Check out the trailer, and then stay tuned for future updates on release.
Comments (11)The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all. – Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America, 1977
Book Review: Resilience Thinking – Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World
DVDs/Books — by Owen Hablutzel June 4, 2010
Book by Brian Walker and David Salt
Island Press – 2006
174 pages
Reviewed by Owen Hablutzel
When is the last time you were surprised? It might have been a brand new volunteer plant in the garden, bizarre and beautiful fungi in the pasture, an incredible storm on the horizon, or a blessed windfall on the balance sheets! Given the inherent unpredictable nature of wholes – complex adaptive systems from cells, to bodies, to farms, societies and all of nature – we can be sure that surprise and unexpected change will happen quite frequently. If this is true at the home, farm or business scale it is all the more so at the regional, national, and global scales in today’s always changing and increasingly interconnected world.
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