"Chookie" wrote in message
"0tterbot" wrote:

- i've read 3 permaculture books so far & i'm just not
GETTING IT. what's the goss on that? :-)
snip
perhaps it's just mollison et al's appalling writing style. it was
like the
books had no beginning or end, it was all just bla.

i just sort of feel robbed - as though i was supposed to have
"aha!" moments
reading about this marvellous movement but it was all babble,
politics (and
slopes and windbreaks ;-) and the intense and repetitive way mr
mollison
wants us all to CONTROL our land rather freaks me out. most of my
property
is regenerating bushland. big bill is evidently of the opinion i
should sell
most of it, as it is too big for me to CONTROL.

Sounds like you missed out on the Permaculture Design Manual and
(IIRC)
Permaculture One. The Earth User's Guide to Permaculture (by
Rosemary Morrow)
is quite accessible and better written than the others.

I don't like the books of Rosemary Morrow that I've seen. I've got
one and never go near it.

Permaculture is agriculture for engineers. It looks at ways of
saving energy
rather than money. For example, my chooks are at present living
under my
lemon tree. They have removed the grass that was competing with the
tree
roots, spread mulch, and added fertiliser to the area. There are
other ways
to achieve the same results, but this is an energy-efficient one.

The idea is to consider inputs and outputs and see how you can make
things
work for you with a minimum amount of effort. Soil characteristics
are
definitely an input. I think they are covered in PDM.

In my example, my chooks need as inputs: a run to scratch in, green
stuff to
eat, and shade. They produce scratched-up ground, eggs, and poo.
The lemon
tree needs: the grass removed from its roots, nitrogenous
fertiliser, and
water. It provides: lemons and shade. (This list is not
exhaustive, of
course.) Therefore I arrange matters so that the chooks and lemon
tree
provide some of each other's needs *without my further
intervention*. THAT is
"control".

The rest is broad conclusions and sample technique.

Not a bad summation.