Advice please! Studying permaculture - how do YOU organise information/notes taken?

[Doug Peddle]

Hi there all,

I have been studying permaculture for the last couple of years and have so far got a whole mess of various notes/printouts/audio and digital content collected.

I am continuing my studies and was hoping to tap into the collective brain for answers to the following question:

How do you collate and store all the information that you have written/collected relating to Permaculture? Any advice welcome!

In particular how have you complied written notes taken during courses (e.g. PDC, workshops, site visits, working experience...)

It seems that one problem is that Permaculture covers pretty much everything; "its a wardrobe within which all of human knowledge can be hung"...

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Doug.

[Michaelangelica]

Welcome Doug
Two things for you to investigate Biochar and/or Terra Preta Soils
(which also rely on building high soil organic matter)
These seem to boost soil flora and fauna, which in turn seems to radically boost soil fertility

[eco4560]

Note books. Several make up my garden diary - obviously chronological. It does sometimes take a while to find what I was looking for, but it is handy when you want to remember what you planted / observed / did at the same time last year.
I have a big one for my PDC notes.
School exercise books are dirt cheap at a bulk store like Officeworks. If you wanted to be tidy you could have different ones for different areas of interest. One for soils, one for water, one for plants or something like that. I just use my diary for most things.

[Roby]

I use a filing cabnet.. with various labels...I found it the fastest and convient way to store information and be able to put my hands on it quickly and then Note books and lever arch files for specific topics

[matto]

Good question, mine seem to pile up gathering dust while im off on the next subject. And the desktop on my computer is a real shambles, not knowing where I have hidden some information.
After a couple of years you should know what you are most interested, I have found that you really need to focus on that rather than becoming too much of a generalist unless you are considering running PDC's by yourself.
Cataloging files on your computer in relevant sections, and the same in a filing system for your home study will likely help.
Good luck!

[purplepear]

you can most likely just get a copy of the design manual and chuck the notes away. I like to take notes too but rarely return to them. So much of what you need to know, you already do know and the rest is common sense.
I say you need only to approach the tasks with the right INTENT and use OBSERVATION to learn and to inject effort and then INTUITION will let you know that the observations and the action is the right one.
Keep faith with your self - I like your style.

[Unmutual]

Good question, mine seem to pile up gathering dust while im off on the next subject. And the desktop on my computer is a real shambles, not knowing where I have hidden some information.
After a couple of years you should know what you are most interested, I have found that you really need to focus on that rather than becoming too much of a generalist unless you are considering running PDC's by yourself.
Cataloging files on your computer in relevant sections, and the same in a filing system for your home study will likely help.
Good luck!

I agree, my note taking skills are not that great. However, I find that if it's a subject that can keep my attention(urban permaculture for example), I can remember most of it. Generally speaking though, I write up my own notes and lists of things such as what plants attract/retain/overwinter beneficial insects, what plants increase my soil fertility, and what veggie varieties are good for my local area. The only reason that I read everything that I can get my grubby little fingers on is because you never know when it might be useful...and I thought I was just a packrat with material items...

For instance, comfrey is a relatively new plant in my listings. I know of nobody that grows this on purpose, and I don't think that I've run across it in the wilds. I'm not entirely sure how well it will grow in my area, but I'm going to find out this year and I'll be saving my own seeds for naturalization purposes.

Any electronic data is kept on my computer, laptop and on thumb drives so I don't lose everything if I have a hard drive crash. I also invest heavily in books, but there is a lot of "free" information out there on the net, if you can collaborate that information from another source(I find that a lot of information is copied and pasted on to various websites, so it makes checking that data rather difficult..the internet is full of plagiarism).

I have a few "fact sheets" that I usually help myself to whenever I do volunteer work as a Master Gardener(mostly from the agricultural extension office). Visiting garden shows and things like that can net you a few already printed notes and they're usually checked for errors.

Actually, this thread has brought me to believe I need to file some of those sheets away in an easy to find system!

[Grahame]

I find that the only way to store the information I gather is to put it into action. Take it from the mental and place it into the physical. There is a lot of value in gathering together all the relevant information you need for the task you are working on now. There is far less value in gathering together all the titbits of information on a possible project you may never do.

Get the gist of the whole thing and then apply it to a real world task using recently gathered relevant material. This is also a good way to focus your attention on a task that needs doing now.