Note: Links evaporate. I check them when I put up the pages and try to check randomly over time. If you see something wrong, put it in the comments and I should see it.

In July, we talked about Paradise Lot.  This is a true story of how two young men built a permaculture “food forest” with the hope of attracting the women of their dreams.  They did.  The people who came to the discussion felt that the book was engagingly written and a more or less easy introduction to permaculture.  The biggest concern, as is often the case, is that ‘back East’ (specifically Holyoke, Massachusetts) is not ‘out West’ where we live.

One participant succinctly summarized the book as “much” – much information on many interrelated topics.  He added that even though there is always the problem of the moist, acid soil back East versus our dry, alkaline soil out here in the West, the concepts and strategies are valuable for us.  Not the least of which is thinking and planning before buying and planting.  Did you know that in permaculture, the advice is to learn the patterns of light and shade, of moisture, of weeds and other existing greenery for a year?  I could never do that and, actually, the authors didn’t quite manage it either but it really is good advice.  Rather along the lines of ‘measure twice, cut once.’

So, is permaculture in our arid climate possible?  Of course.  Here are some of the links that I either showed or that we talked about in class plus a few more, just because.

The Permaculture Institute is based in Santa Fe and grew out of the program developed by Bill Mollison (who wrote THE book on Permaculture).  We do have the book in the reference section in the Albuquerque Garden Center Library if you’re interested in seeing this classic treatment of permaculture.  The Permaculture Institute offers a range of courses in different locations in the US and some abroad.  And, of course, there’s lots more information if you decide to look around on their website.

The Permaculture Design Magazine is a great resource also.  The home page on 16 July 2019 included a list of 11 permaculture and sustainability sites throughout New Mexico.

One other resource is Ampersand up in Madrid, NM.

Finally, I showed a youtube video clip of author Eric Toensmeier which I found initially by poking around on his website.