Our Future Plans... I have always wanted to live off in the forest or on a farm, away from cities. William and I plan to create a Permaculture Eco-Animal Sanctuary over the next few years. From what we've been learning, this hasn't been done before - not all in one place, and as we want to do it right, we will take our time in this. We plan to build with earthbag, cob and strawbale, have a few large ponds and a brook, recycle energy and water, and grow food for ourselves and our animals. Sounds down-right Hippi-ish, eh? But it won't be, as we plan to bring our own aesthetic and style to this idea. Here are some photos from The Farm in Tennessee, and one of the models we'll be using for our own place...

Mini Cobhouse. Structures like this are hardy, made of natural materials.	Gardens mulched with straw to keep moisture in and weeds out.	Earth Chicken Coop. We plan to construct our barns naturally...
The Garden Tiers. We plan to create full organic gardens...	Water Catchment. These will catch rainwater.	Zacatlanliloli - Earth wall. These are made of mud and straw, and are gorgeous!
Solar Shower. The use of the Sun for hot water during the Summer!	Hand-made gate. I have already constucted a few of these out of found materials.	Bamboo Path. We plan to have a small bamboo forest for food, shade and strong building materials.

Green Dragon - Cob/Strawbale building still under construction

The Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm is at the edge of a forest, a large, natural site with a creek that runs along the length of the property. The grounds included an Organic Garden, compost bins, various earth and strawbale buildings, ponds, a bamboo walkway and bamboo forest, solar showers, compost toilet, a chicken coop with two chickens and a duck, a book store, a shiitake log garden, constructed wetlands (that moved the grey water from house and showers through a series of ponds until all bacterias were absorbed through the plants), and the Green Dragon - a large cob and strawbale building where we took many of our classes.

Geese, ducks, chickens and turkeys all naturally weed, fertilize, and control insects. Our animals will roam gardens and fields as part of the big picture of a natural ecosystem...

Permaculture is Common Sense. We are learning tools to live a more balanced existence, everything from reclaiming damaged soils, (which is the ultimate starting place - from healthy soil comes healthy plants, and thus healthy people and animals) to water catchment systems in order to save and reuse our resources. Every living thing is thought through: how animals work in an ecosystem, how plants clean water through taking bacterias into their root systems, how gardens attract bees and beneficial insects, how we can enrich our soil through compost, how we can build a sturdy house cheaply with local materials rather than having things trucked in or imported - all of these questions are answered in this course.

What we are finding is this: Life and All Organisms, down to amoeba, is cooperative in order to sustain. The opposite of this, when one lifeform rampantly consumes for itself and destroys everything in its path, is the definition of Disease. Think on that...

From Bill Mollison, who formed the idea and created Permaculture: "For the sake of the earth itself, I evolved a philosophy close to Taoism from my experiences with natural systems. It is a philosophy of working with rather than against Nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems and people in all their functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions. A basic question that can be asked in two ways is: 'What can I get from this land, or person?' or 'What does this person, or land, have to give if I cooperate with them?' Of these two approaches, the former leads to war and waste, the latter to peace and plenty." There is a Permaculture video, The Global Gardener, of Bill traveling the world, showing African tribes how to garden in the desert, and poor farmers in India how to turn it around, using everything they actually have there, so nothing needs to be bought or wasted. There are sections for each kind of climate, and even an Urban section, for city dwellers who would like to have a small garden within a confined area. He shows natural filtration systems, houses built for the best energy use, gardens on rooftops that slant down and water the trees, so many ideas... and it's all based on common sense. More from Bill Mollison.

A pond in the garden is essential for attracting birds and wildlife to keep plant-eating insects down. Mosquito fish are recommended for the pond itself.

Permaculture addresses questions such as: How can we trap, save, and make use of rain water and gray water (water used in the shower and kitchen) for the garden rather than letting it go to waste? How can we recycle waste and trash in a more natural way that benefits rather than pollutes? What kinds of plants can be used in more than one function? (i.e., also for shade, fencing, wind barrier, soil nutrients, and food?) Where and how can we plant different kinds of plants together that will feed off of each other and therefore conserve water and soil? How can we naturally attract certain wildlife to do our weeding and pest control for us?

These ideas rang so true to William and I, we decided to learn more. If we are going to start our own Ecorealm and Animal Sanctuary, how can we work with Nature to sustain ourselves and the animals? And in light of the current natural catastrophes and the coming of Peak Oil, how can we be more self-reliant and less dependent on the outside? This is what we are learning to do... See the Ars Terra Site for more info!

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