tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37299828627276826692011-11-04T21:34:34.422-07:00ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-83250775190262237092009-07-15T17:22:00.000-07:002009-07-15T17:37:40.105-07:00

Over the past 2 years I've been developing an economic design tool for ecological agriculture enterprises.It creates ten to fifty-year profit and loss projections based on hand-collected & collated hard research data on the following ag enterprise areas:• Permaculture food forests, forest gardens & agroforestry areas;• Mixed-fruit orchards;• Small fruits, berries & hardy kiwi + grape vineyards;•

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-32272905633522726932009-06-23T10:14:00.001-07:002009-06-23T10:19:57.803-07:00

Ever notice that there seems to be a plethora of permaculture principles? And that every permaculture teachers tends to use a different set?How could this have happened? Is this a lack of consensus in the permaculture movement? Is there a definitive set of permaculture principles?To understand these questions better, I started to collect EVERY PERMACULTURE PRINCIPLE that I've ever seen anywhere.

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-86591805253187485652009-05-22T08:36:00.001-07:002009-05-23T15:51:37.723-07:00

Yesterday, Greg Landua of BooyaCacao and Nemawashi Venture Altruism presented at the Green Ventures Conference. Our slideshow, which presents ground-breaking work on the new realm of Ecosystem Investing, is posted on slideshare.net and below:Financial Permaculture & Ecosystem InvestingThe summary of ecosystem investing is as follows:Would you like to invest in any of these businesses? Or have us

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-62317277920707721242009-05-17T13:12:00.000-07:002009-05-18T08:48:33.625-07:00

Yeehaw! Working with permaculture water-harvesting principles, we dug a small pond and connected it to more than 400ft of rain-capturing-forest-garden-watering contour swales. I worked with Tristan Vis (a past PDC student of Geoff Lawton's and mine) and a local earthmover Dick Stokes for 8 hours yesterday to get everything in the ground, cleaned up, and seeded with a mix of nitrogen-fixing

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-51931996050849674342009-05-13T07:50:00.000-07:002009-05-13T07:55:40.146-07:00

Young apple tree bark stripped off by rodents! Oh no! What can we do?!? Ethan Roland of AppleSeed Permaculture attempts a bridge-grafting technique (basically a skin-graft!) to heal the tree -- connecting the root system back to the living bark further up the tree. This is at Jason Kass's place in VT during a Permaculture Design Course. For more on bridge-grafting, see here: http://www.bit.ly/

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-92064023571792079252009-04-30T18:14:00.000-07:002009-04-30T18:18:51.724-07:00

So what's the role of architects in all of this?Architects often become the de-facto landscape designers, because the majority of money in any development budget is spent on the buildings. Any landscapes design, much less integrated landscape design, is a often a tired afterthought. To go beyond sustainability, we need to step past this paradigm! The following notes are from a talk I gave at the

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-13144017852630328072009-04-28T22:12:00.000-07:002009-06-23T19:53:21.516-07:00

I get this question all the time:"What are the computer programs you use every day? What are the most useful for your work as a permaculture designer?"So, here we go...EVERY-DAY USE• Omnioutliner Pro - incredible note-taking and organize-everything software. The program I use most.• Omnifocus - the omnigroup's implementation of David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) system. beautifully simple

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-82901233987195946362009-04-19T10:16:00.000-07:002009-04-19T10:57:53.803-07:00

Fresh off the press from a PDC in Vermont -- A PERMACULTURE PANCAKE POLYCULTURE.Here's the species - function list :Long-term overstory• sugar maple (Acer saccharum) - syrup• black walnut (Juglans nigra) - nuts, syrup• shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) - nuts, syrup• black birch (Betula lenta) - syrup, tea• sweet-acorn oaks (Quercus spp) - acorn flour for pancakes! (see www.oikostreecrops.com for a

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-6000414224907944632009-04-15T06:36:00.001-07:002009-04-15T06:36:15.141-07:00

From Kevin Skvorak of Regeneration CSA to the Northeastern Permaculture Listserv:"...What percentage of the calories in our diet (NE region) should we be getting from perennial crops?  How if any way should this influence the thinking of people involved in local planning, farmland protection, and smart growth issues?"My Response:Howdy Kevin and All!I think the 'should' is difficult. It depends on

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-10032519601266355322009-04-05T17:52:00.001-07:002009-04-05T17:52:17.903-07:00

You all rock! Congratulations to everyone who presented their final permaculture designs and received their certificate! Here are some photos from the weekend. Could someone post a photo of the whole class? And maybe an image of your certificate? Go Ninja Turtles!

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-61232643754102002872009-04-05T17:17:00.000-07:002009-04-05T17:45:01.203-07:00

Here's a list of 14 things to do after a Permaculture Design Certification Course. This list came to me from Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, and Christian Shearer of the Panya Project and I added to it at the January 2009 PDC at the Panya Project.1. Start at your own back door! Design and Implement!2. Create or join a local permaculture guild.3. Travel to other

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-39147344733248900572009-03-27T08:42:00.000-07:002009-03-27T08:48:17.085-07:00

"Hi Ethan,I'm doing a research project at Umass for my climatic change class. I want to do a case study of some different permaculture sites that are using permaculture to deal with and adapt to changes in the climate. My professor is skeptical and I really want to knock his socks off with my project. Do you know of any good sites/projects I could research? Also know of any good resources for

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-15223931418226601732009-01-19T07:01:00.000-08:002009-01-19T07:33:24.067-08:00

A slew of fresh photos from the incredible Panya Project in northern Thailand, where we're 9 days into a Permaculture Design Certification Course...In the mud-pit, the class mixes up a fresh batch of adobe for brick-making & earth-plastering. Clay, sand, rice hulls, water, and feet.GeoffroyStudents pour adobe into 4x8x16" brick forms. On a good morning the Panya crew makes 150 bricks. Many of the

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-15816009307799981652009-01-16T05:50:00.001-08:002009-01-16T07:13:47.440-08:00

Howdy All! I'm blogging live from the Panya Project in Chiang Mai, Thailand -- an emerging permaculture paradise bursting at the seams with fresh bananas, passionfruit, garden greens, and joyful permaculture students of all ages!Here I am with Ping Sodantha, the kinetic and bi-lingual 3-year old daughter of our head chef Kae.For more of our adventures, check out www.panaypermaculture.blogspot.com

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-56759615475228431542008-12-12T11:35:00.001-08:002008-12-12T11:35:34.161-08:00

Check this out! From the International Permaculture Listserv...Dear friends,yesterday the national Croatian television showed a documentary aboutpermaculture and Fukuoka, where also the place where i live now wasincluded. We started a new ecovillage initiative with 3 grown ups and 2 kidsin an abandoned village named Furuli in Istria, Croatia. The video can beseen on http://www.facebook.com/ext/

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-15532402193765460142008-12-08T22:03:00.000-08:002008-12-08T22:12:03.197-08:00

Yeehaw! More AppleSeed Permaculture students rocking out in the world. The Common Sense Regeneration Project, is emerging from Eden Vardy, who took the Permaculture Design Course with me in Thailand (same course as Hugo, blogged below!) and is now an associate at Gaia University.

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-68655983789149933562008-12-05T21:49:00.001-08:002008-12-05T21:49:10.059-08:00

Check out my student Hugo's new project naTerra -- Permaculture land & community development in East Timor and beyond!The organizations tagline:"The best way to predict the future is to invent it"Hugo took the 2007 Panya Project Permaculture Design Certification course with me, Christian Shearer, and friends. I'm teaching another one there in January...

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-22410815987107412642008-12-02T18:30:00.000-08:002008-12-02T18:35:12.907-08:00

Thanks to KrisCan for putting this video together! View more interviews here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=kriscanshow&view=videos

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-64974864969541785762008-11-04T08:40:00.001-08:002008-11-04T08:40:26.247-08:00

A discussion with Seth Jordan from ThinkOutward has alerted me to Rudolf Steiner's lectures on the 'World Economy'. Seth thinks there may be some solid connections between this text and Financial Permaculture -- head on over and check it out!Rudolf Steiner was an incredible visionary -- the founder of Anthroposophy, Biodynamic Agriculture, Waldorf education, and more.Here are the Steiner Archives

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-65569771587185678762008-10-25T18:45:00.000-07:002008-10-25T19:38:15.492-07:00

Seriously. This is one of the most awesome presentations I've seen yet at the Financial Permaculture Course.In a Nutshell: Eric Waldrop of www.locallygrown.net has solved the major challenges of Traditional Farmer's Market's, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), & Buying Clubs with an easy-to-use piece of internet software. (No nerds required! - Did I saw "wow?")The virtual farmer's market he

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-19071010224668129832008-10-25T10:00:00.000-07:002008-10-25T10:58:42.294-07:00

The Financial Permaculture Course is stirring up some discussion in the international permaculture community!Stella of the Chaordic Permaculture Institute writes on the international permaculture list: (edited for relevance)It's great that the term [Financial Permaculture] seems to have gotten all sexy, perhaps also thanks to this initiative, http://www.financialpermaculture.org (crashed servers

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-29236265666781960952008-10-25T08:03:00.000-07:002008-10-25T09:47:51.251-07:00

"The number one cause of environmental damage on the planet is Fiat Currency." - Catherine FittsWhat? Huh? What is Fiat Currency? I don't know, but I'm about to find out.Catherine Fitts just introduced the Finance Team - a humble and experienced team of attorneys, financial advisors, precious metal dealers, and more. Here's a very quick and incomplete overview of some of the team and some of

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-72313042164219681012008-10-24T11:31:00.000-07:002008-10-25T08:02:01.837-07:00

Lunchtime at the Financial Permaculture Course. Catherine Fitts of Solari explains,"I've been waiting for 57 years for this... I moved to a small town in TN, because it is small towns like this that will be able to decentralize and sustain themselves. This is the first time in my life that all the right people in all the right positions of influence are in the same room -- we don't know all the

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-21482319576406313382008-10-24T07:29:00.000-07:002008-10-24T11:41:44.267-07:00

"God's got to be proud of y'all working to save the planet,"Says Hohenwald City Mayor Don Jones to the gathered group of citizens and green business designers as the Financial Permaculture Course gets underway at the Blondy Church of God.With 34 States represented, the next 5 days are bound to be full of creative collaborative design for local economic resilience. Stay tuned!

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-2875668709138300012008-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:002008-10-23T15:00:15.693-07:00

Howdy All -We're on site at the Blondy Church of God in Hohenwald, TN, meeting with Catherine Austin Fitts, Jennifer English, and the other core design members of the Financial Permaculture Course.Our expert Gaia U ace IT team has been working with Pastor Marcus Webb and the rest of the generous folks at Blondy Church, and our wireless is up and running -- The network is "Financial Permaculture",

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-68643950082319875952008-10-22T09:05:00.000-07:002008-10-22T09:23:08.880-07:00

Patrick, Greg, and I sat down earlier this week to talk about how wecould best make information-rich blogs that are accessible to a widerange of people. This meeting comes on the cusp of the financialpermaculture course, which we will be real-time blogging in order totell the story of a small-town gathering to explore solutions for aresilient local economy.Our Gaia University blogging team will

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-76191101477673259872008-10-17T13:34:00.001-07:002008-10-17T13:34:54.053-07:00

Thanks to Albert and Catherine for their appearance on Coast to Coast last night! They generated enough traffic to overload the financialpermaculture.com website for a few hours. It's now up and running again -- head on over and take a look!

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-28475496129079564802008-09-30T13:36:00.001-07:002008-09-30T13:36:21.254-07:00

Fresh from Darren Doherty, visionary permaculture + Keyline designer at www.permaculture.biz, we would do well to take a look at Holistic Management for the financial side of Permaculture & Ecological Agriculture.http://www.holisticmanagement.org/Holistic Management® Works. On 30 million acres worldwide. HMI works with people around the world to heal damaged land and increase the

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-1679683915622475982008-09-25T08:01:00.000-07:002008-09-25T08:02:01.921-07:00

Here's the link to a Winrock report on Farmers' markets in the mid-atlantic:http://www.winrock.org/agriculture/files/wallacemktrpt.pdfShould be useful for the farmer's market folks...

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-34457214557669995312008-09-24T17:09:00.001-07:002008-09-24T17:09:18.272-07:00

Here are the most useful search terms I've found for the current phase of Permaculture Agriculture research I'm doing:"small farm enterprise budget""organic enterprise budget""organic crop budget""small farm crop budget"Basically I'm developing an excel-based  ecological agriculture design tool to provide, in phases:1. basic economic information & budgets for new eco-ag projects2. detailed

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-8431268766870865602008-09-24T16:56:00.000-07:002008-09-24T16:57:00.249-07:00

Some great stuff here for the Ethanol team at the Financial Permaculture Course::http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/reethanol.html

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-21440408339312918692008-09-17T15:20:00.001-07:002008-09-17T15:20:03.785-07:00

Financial Permaculture Course -- Green Business Research -- Here are some budgets for individual products that meet be processed in a Community Kitchen. From the INCREDIBLE British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture and Lands...Value Added & Food Processing: (pdf format) ENTERPRISE LOCATION DATE

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-54026145730818495922008-09-17T09:51:00.001-07:002008-11-04T08:49:27.792-08:00

Some fascinating stuff on Agile Development, Agile Project Management, Extreme Programming, and Scrum.Extreme Programming Explained describes Extreme Programming as being:An attempt to reconcile humanity and productivityA mechanism for social changeA path to improvementA style of developmentA software development disciplinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Programmingthe Agile Manifesto (as

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729982862727682669.post-20241105501642338182008-09-11T07:00:00.000-07:002008-09-11T07:04:06.731-07:00

Permaculture Designs -- whole systems solutions to the complexity of challenges facing our planet. Designs that harmoniously integrate humans into the landscape to produce food, water, energy, shelter, and all other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.First up: Financial Permaculture. A lower-right approach to local economic resilience.

ethanappleseednoreply@blogger.com0