The Man Who Farms Water

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by Jez, Mar 12, 2007.

  1. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    This is not a new article...but it's been recently revived...a great read, partly as an inspiring story in its own right, partly as a very reader friendly introduction to techniques in non-expensive water harvesting for those not familiar with formal Permaculture texts and teaching (which pretty much mirror what Phiri has done).

     
  2. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    g'day jez,

    haven't read the article yet, but we did much the same when we were on the property, had a medium rainfall of around 700 to 800mm and with rips along the contours and heavy mulching we produced citrus fruit on available rainfall, always juicy and sweet.

    we also bought up the moisture holding of the avalable soil using this technique which in turn revitalised the mixed pasture grasses and turned our tree planting losses from pre improvement times of losing 80 to 90% of young trees to only losing less than 5%.

    we used our natural forms much the same as this farmer did by the sounds of it a good dose of common sense.

    len
     
  3. Jim Bob

    Jim Bob Junior Member

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    That's pretty interesting. Something my old man could use, perhaps. Save dragging up all that stupid salty bore water. I'll keep an eye out for the book in stores.
     
  4. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    I hate online reading- however I read all the article!
    this guy who shurely doesn't even know how to spell permaculture should give lectures.
     
  5. ho-hum

    ho-hum New Member

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    Hedwig,

    Very well observed!!!!

    floot
     
  6. Richard on Maui

    Richard on Maui Junior Member

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    Did I read a different article? One reference to the word Permaculture, spelt in the conventional way... :?
     
  7. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    Well, he has mirrored Permaculture water harvesting techniques...techniques which are based on the same common sense observation of your land and the way water interacts with it that Permaculture stresses.

    These things are taught at every PDC I've ever heard of and are right through all the major Permaculture texts...why do we need Phiri to teach us techniques that are already widely taught and written about?

    I just think it's a great story that he was able to learn all he needed to know simply through observation...and that he successfully survived and prospered after losing all source of income.
     
  8. Richard on Maui

    Richard on Maui Junior Member

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    No I agree Jez, absolutely. I was responding to Hedwig's comment about lectures from someone who can't spell Permaculture... I think what that fellow in Africa has done is, to quote the phrase, bloomin' marvellous!
     
  9. Jim Bob

    Jim Bob Junior Member

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    Because we have been taught, taught or written about water harvesting, while he has done it. And also because it sounds as though his conditions are harsher than most of us have ever had to contend with, but are as harsh as we may have to deal in coming decades with global warming.

    Guiven that permaculture is a set of principles with many, many different practices, it's always interesting to read of a practice which is new to us. Some permaculturist living in Nimbin trying to apply their experiences in (say) rocky and hard clay north-central Victoria is like people trying to make English cottage gardens in Nimbin. Whereas this bloke's experiences might be of help to that Victorian.
     
  10. newcroft

    newcroft Junior Member

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  11. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    Thanks Newcroft.

    Yeah, I was sort of responding to Hedwig as well Richard...I wasn't quite sure what you meant so I thought I'd make it a general comment. :lol:

    You're right, what Phiri has done is bloomin' marvellous! :D


    So have plenty of Permaculturalists JB. There are numerous examples on this site...just for starters: Geoff Lawton, Jeff Nugent and Darren Doherty (and no doubt a few I've forgotten about) have all documented and photographed large scale projects which all use the same principles of water harvesting.


    It's not new to 'us' if by 'us', you mean Permaculturalists. It may well be new to many people who haven't studied Permaculture formally or read key Permaculture texts - which is partly why I posted it.

    There are numerous very good Permaculture teachers in Victoria (and all over Australia) who can teach students the same water harvesting principles (and more), plus a huge range of things you wouldn't be able to learn from Phiri. Just one of those would be using species which are not uniquely southern African but serve similar aims.

    These days when you do a PDC with a Permaculture Institute approved teacher, a primary focus is conveying knowledge and techniques which can be adapted between all climate zones - this is one reason curriculums now have to be PI approved...some teachers were just focusing heavily on local conditions and not giving students the necessary design tools and techniques to design well outside that narrow set of local conditions.

    Techniques taught and demonstrated range from constructing or retrofitting a range of climate appropriate buildings and structures for livestock and poultry, designing for disaster proofing relative to all climates, food growing techniques for all climates, and conducting a Natural Energy Audit which (among other things) helps identify flow patterns and energy transfers between system elements in a range of different climates. On top of all that, a student has the opportunity to design staging plans and a final design which will meet the unique challenges of their land, then getting quality feedback from their teacher on how to achieve their aims, along with suggestions for enhancing the design.

    There's probably a few 'universal climate adaptation' elements I left out - all my books and course materials went to the new place with our furniture.

    Above all, it's intentionally designed to give students the critical thinking skills needed to be universal designers who can easily adapt to changing circumstances or completely different climate zones and situations. Personally, I think that's a better way to go than teaching people mostly how to deal with only one set of conditions and circumstances.
     
  12. ho-hum

    ho-hum New Member

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    Well I understood Hedwig.

    Phiri didnt write the article but Hedwig's point was that here we have an example by someone who probably cannot spell Permaculture but could be giving permaculture lectures [on what he has achieved with his site].

    Inspirational all the same. I first read about Phiri [or someone with the same story] maybe 5 years ago. I will keep looking for the original article.

    floot
     
  13. heuristics

    heuristics Junior Member

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    I think it is worth remembering that little within permaculture is "new"or "unique".
    What Bill - and David - did was synthethise a lot of knowledge and information that resided in a wide range of academic and other fields of study and endevour.
    Bill talks about how his approach enraged academics who LIKED the fact that information was compartmentalised they HATED the way permaculture liberally and almost indiscriminately created relationship and coonections between as many elements as possible.

    Bill - permaculture - did not "ïnvent" landscape water harvesting.
    Bill talks about spending time being "tutored" by PA Yeomans.
    Yeomans didn't really "invent" landscape water harvesting either, but he did brilliant work in formalising it demonstrating it, documenting and explaining its merits.

    Similarly, flavour of the month Peter Andrews with his Natural Sequence Farming has not really invented anything new. But it works and he has captured people's (and the media's) attention, so fantastic.

    Well done to all the Piris in the world who see and observe and intuit a way to work WITH their environment and harness its powers.

    In fact in the spirit of true Bill-ism, it is far more likely that a man in Africa who cant spell "permaculture" would easily and independently intuit one of its fundamental principles far more easily than a western PhD in hydrology!!!
     
  14. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    Yep, agree with all you've said above Heuro.
     
  15. sweetpea

    sweetpea Junior Member

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    Jim Bob, "while he has done it" Rock on!! Boards are so full of speculation by people who haven't done it!!

    Newcroft, thanks so much for the MP3 download site. I love these things that I can listen to while I'm working outside!

    Heuristics, you forgot Oil War 4 - the US in the Middle East :)
     
  16. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    the purpose of this excercise as i see it si that all need to be thinking outside the square when we need to achieve what we want, all too often you see the classic way being held up as the only way.

    phiri has done no more than what others including ourselves have done to get a result using whatever forms are available.

    all too often i've seen the copy book classic held up as the only way when there are obviously many ways to achieve desired results, we farmed water on our property and did it very successfully and very economically and without the need to permanently alter the (scar it) appearance of the landscape.

    KISS is the word and that is what phiri and many others have done maybe before him.

    len
     
  17. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    sweetpea,

    Whether intentional or not, your comment does IMO, to some degree devalue the efforts of those who take the time to look up info for others or make a suggestion in an attempt to help them with their enquiries.

    They may not be experts, or have ever had to deal with the same situation because they live in a totally different climate or situation, but making an effort to help someone is better than not bothering isn't it? Far more often than not, it does end up helping. And if there is a bit of incorrect 'speculation' which is misleading, often someone will jump in to correct the record.

    All up, I think that with this board at least, that's a pretty good self-regulating system...especially considering the advice/assistance is free.

    I'm not sure what point you were trying to make with regard to mine and JB's exchange, but all I was trying to do was...

    a) Relate an inspiring story

    b) Point out how important observation was and how far it can take you (along the '100 hours of observation and thinking for every one hour of doing' principle)

    c) Relate Phiri's successful methods back to Permaculture techniques which anyone, anywhere, can learn by doing a PDC or reading key Permaculture texts

    I think point 'c' got missed to some extent - and that would be a shame. :)
     

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