Permaculture Gardens

[David Braden]

I am working on a number of projects in the Denver Metro Area introducing sheet mulched permaculture key hole beds to the gardening community. The Project furthest along is next to the Boulder Homeless shelter where we have permission from the owner to garden 1.3 acres.

The conceptual design for the property is 175 ten foot diameter beds:

This is what the property looked like the morning of March 24:

And on that day we laid out 14 ten foot diameter beds and completed the build out on three. Here is what that looked like:

We went back March 28 for some Extreme Gardening :-)

I am working on the genetic make up of a sustainable community which I describe in this essay entitled The First Base Pairs. I am hoping that Changing Normal will be a way to share information about "what works" across communities. I think that will also require a conversation across interest and expertise - and I'm thinking your Domains are an obstacle to that kind of conversation. In system design, one thing is related to another and everything is related to everything else.

Can we create a Domain about how the parts fit together?

[Discovery Fuel]

Hi David,

There's a couple articles (see links here) that should help to satisfy your desire for us to shape an 'ecology of design' and to cross pollinate knowledge between communities. During our first phase of development, we will be working on "subjective" community design using the domains as an interactive framework for inspiration and innovation. As we evolve a bit, we will then move the next phase of development into more actionable "objective" efforts to physically build (or rebuild) our 'communities of practice' relative to where we are geographically located, with an emphasis on moving from the innovative to inventive stage of design (See this link under the section on objective/subjective community design). This approach takes the concept of 'thinking global' and 'acting local' to another level of understanding and action. Vic : ) D.F./C.N.

[David Braden]

It looks like I asked the right question :-). I am impressed with the synchronicity of our respective models and look forward to learning more about yours. There is much that I would like to share with you as well. My links above are parts of an embedded matrix of concepts arranged by the links between them in my own model of how the parts fit together. I try to record the links at Introduction to Three Dimensional Networking. It is difficult to ask others to step into that map and and compare it to their own because we are used to categorizing objects not observing relationships between objects. For you I think I will start with one of the core principles. That is the principle that we are integral to a complexity spiral in which we have the capacity to reverse the currently decreasing complexity by consciously designing in new complexity. I think that is what you are saying as well.

[Discovery Fuel]

I'm with ya .. yes. One of my principles are 'trinities dimensionally move and thereby expand awareness' (we have a society based in opposites; especially in the West). Another one is 'complexity breeds simplicity'. Be glad to connect with you sometime in the near future. Best, Vic