EXAMPLE OF LIVING WITHIN NATURE:
From,
Earth User's Guide To Permaculture, page125
Rosemary Morrow
Kangaroo Press,Australia 1993
ISBN 086417 514 0
"There are many other examples of social and ecological experiments
where people are trying to change destructive patterns of behaviour and
land use. A key to the success of all these schemes is the appropriateness
of the design to the land. An interesting example is shown by the Penrose
Permaculture Community, in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia. The
community was allowed to have a multiple occupancy title to their land because
the local government office declared that the land was useless for conventional
agriculture. The people who lived there decided to have only food gardens
and to let the original vegetation regenerate. After more than ten years
the regrowth is extraordinarily beautiful, and the indigenous animals fearlessly
move around the residents because they have come to recognise the land as
a sanctuary. The people live in simple houses, built with mudbricks or recycled
timbers, and use solar and wind-powered electricity. Because the community
is largely self-supporting in terms of water, power and food, the people
do not need large incomes and can afford not to turn the land into a full-scale
farm.
1. Choose a special biozone that has always appealed to you. Describe the
soils and vegetation. Now design a cultivated area that perfectly fits the
natural features of this landscape.
2. Return to your plan and see whether you have accounted for the special
cultural and ecological features of your biozone.
Hint: I live in the mountains where the modern siting of houses on
southerly shaded slopes is inappropriate for the climate. People need fires
all day on cold sunny days and electric lights need to be turned on during
the day. If my neighbourhood had been well-designed then all the houses
would have been sited along sun-facing slopes, with living rooms warmed
and lit by natural sunlight. Ideally, houses would have been built of wood
and stone and they would have been protected from the cold winds by the
surrounding forests. The food gardens and orchards could then have been
placed on the lower slopes in front of the houses."
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