Bob, re: sustainability, unfortunately, due to the weight of habits and a hell
of a lot of ecological disruption, it's going to take alot of time, some hard
work, and a great deal of attuned intelligence to get systems going again
where they run completely on automatic and are yet productive to feed us. But
I think one permaculture principle is that intelligent design can replace alot
of unthought hard work.
Yes, you're right that slash-and-burners are "trying to survive", and yes we
can't complacently from our grocery-store fed stomachs condemn them ; however,
we can assist in offering alternatives. Swidden farming, which looks similar
on the surface to slash and burn, is a very ecological, small scale version of
slash and burn that preserves the forest. That model could be propagated, if
funding and/or volunteers could be found. Also introducing people to
permaculture. Because yes, fundamentally, the rainforests will be preserved or
not by those people living near them. We need win/win thinking ...
...regarding your tomatoes, I thought of the Irish famine, and its irony ...
because only a small variety of breeds of potato were brought to Ireland from
the Americas, famine was able to wipe them out relatively easily. In the Andes
they grew over 250 different types of potatoes, so if one or two had crop
failures due to bugs, illness, or extreme temperatures, hell, there were
plenty left! This is a strategy of diversity and variety.
And if, like Fukuoka, one can begin to "undomesticate" one's plants so they
grow self-sufficiently, in self-propagating patches intertwined with other
plants, then again, one needn't worry as much.
Now one might counter, "if it were that easy, then why haven't generations who
lived off the land been doing it that way?"
But it's not that simple. Knowledge makes the difference in the environment.
Someone whose knowledge is impoverished simply does not live in the same
environment as someone who has better knowledge.
People have starved in the wilderness, in the middle of abundant food, simply
because they didn't know that the plants around them were edible, possibly
even delicious. One's ecological knowledge of one's region makes the
difference between starving and eating in harmony with nature.
I think it's awesome that you've worked on composting your manure. That is
truly a gift to the earth.
You might check out the book "Man Eating Bugs" ... it details eatings which
might be yummier for you if you are already so inclined but haven't yet
enjoyed the taste ... (if i were a meateater I would eat bugs, but as I am
vegan, I do not.)
