Alex Apfelbaum

Here's a quick update, after leaving the fish alone for about ten days in the closed tank, I opened the lid today. Not a single mosquito flew out, when two weeks ago before I introduced the Gambusias I'd get a good fifty flying out immediately every time I opened. The fishes seem happy so far, I can see them swimming around.

I'll keep checking regularly, the mosquito season is really beginning just now, I'll see how it goes in the next few weeks.

My comfrey is extremely vigorous and when it gets too big I put a spade right down through the middle and dig out a big chunk of roots (better done at the beginning of the season, when there's very little leaves). This is then used for propagation for more comfrey or cleaned, peeled cut up and dried for infusions. I'd say 7.5 feet space between trees is enough to put some comfrey.

Rue Barbie wrote:Agroecology' is even flatter than 'permaculture' over the years.

If these stats are correct, it's quite depressing.. "ecology", "homesteading", "gardening", "conservation", "deforestation", "agroforestry", "peak oil", "appropriate technology", "renewable energy", "overfishing", "global warming", are all strongly loosing interest. "Climate change" and "overconsumption" are flat. On the other hand "resilience" and "prepping" are rising steadily. I don't know what this tells us of global awareness, I thought for us people on the "inside" it seemed that the word was spreading, I really hope it is..

Tyler Ludens wrote:Can you give an example of a permaculturist who is reaching a large audience, such as Paul is doing here with permies, who exhibits the appropriate seriousness and appearance?

I'd say maybe Toby Hemenway ?

Here's a trending graph of the term "Permaculture" on Google for the last twelve years. It doesn't tell us much about good or bad reputation, but gives rough idea of how the general interest for it on the web has evolved.

It seems that it had been decreasing until 2008, then relatively stable followed by a slight rise since 2011 and a surprising jump at the beginning of 2016..

It's also interesting to see that the graph follows the seasons, it's always lowest in December and highest in April, when many people go out to garden.

You can make a very good seed starting mix made of equal parts of peat, perlite and vermiculite.

I don't know about potential risks of residual persticides in peat though..

My chicks also eat roaches, slugs and countless other insects. Every second day they don't get any feed at all and have to chase whatever they find in the orchard. They also get the occasional greens that went to seed and kitchen leftovers. Little by little I'm trying to make grain more of a supplement than the main food for them.

We need James Cameron to make a movie. We need Ellen Page to be the main actress of that movie (And Tool to write the soundtrack!)

I see a few aspects that may give Permaculture a bad image to some people :

- It's seen as "unscientific" : A lot in Permaculture is based on the effects of inteconnections within a whole system, that makes it the oposite of a typical scientific experiment where you isolate things to pinpoint specific factors and results. Permaculture is also about trusting nature, the scientific mind doesn't like that.

- There is a "new-age/hippie/hipster/alternative/callitwhatever" side to Permaculture that attracts a certain kind of people who may not be taken seriously by the average professional farmer.

- There are no big corporations and celebrities endorsing it, no marketing, no big brands. In effect it doesn't really exist in the global media world, so how can it be serious ? (some people think like that.. sadly)

It really depends on the people you talk to, these three points can also be seen as giving Permaculture a good image !

I got some Gambusias, they went into the tank today.