Hi Ronald:
Thanks for sharing the genuinely useful information. I do disagree with your
graph about why farms, or anything else, work the way the work. Energy
follows the patterns laid down, whether you are practicing shamanism,
permaculture, or simple farming. The industrial model (chemical feedstock
concept) of farming is evident throughout the American midwest and in many
other places by the patterning of the buildings, which resememble other
chemical factories. It little matters whether or not the input to the
factory is labeled "organic" or "sustainable"--the results vary only slightly
in degree. The technology used requires certain patterns and therefore
determines the nature of energy flow. Even in keyline cultivation, which is
about the only soilbuilding farming using a tractor that I've heard of, let
alone seen, the final parameters are determined partly by the nature and
capability of the equipment. To take a removed example, television is
destructive per se because it affirms a pattern of instant gratification and
the illusion that technology can change reality by the press of a button. It
little matters whether the content is chemical or organic. I suppose that
similar things can be said of this means of "communication".
For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
permaculture training by email. Copyright, 1996, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O.
Box 2052, Ocala FL 34478 USA YankeePerm@aol.com
We don't have time to rush.