Science is one way of knowing the world. To say that it is the only way or that only it can validate other ways of knowledge is colonizing. To me science is something I can practice. A methodology that can reveal an understanding about the world. I can ask a question, create an hypothesis, and …
Author Archives: Milton
Brought To You By Spam
Spam is an ever present reality on the internet. I get my fair share here, as I was clearing the backlog this morning one spam comment caught my eye. The text used a quote from Goethe, in order to appear as a real contribution to the conversation, but of course the link provided lead to …
7 Ways of Thinking Differently
I think Looby Macnamara is one of those people pushing the edge of permaculture. How can we start thinking differently about the world we inhabit and what changes are possible because of that new way of thinking?
Action Cycle
This is my current thinking on a permaculture design process. I’m sure it will mauture and change on down the road, but this is just a snapshot. Over the years I’ve never been able to do any of the OBRADIMET or SADIMET type design processes that are commonly taught in permaculture. However, I’ve observed my …
Cooperative at Dawn Farm
The coop is a little project I’ve been involved in for most of the years I’ve been in Ann Arbor. We recently made a video for a grant submission. Pulled it together in a week, it turned out nicely.
Scale of Permanence
I’ve seen a fair amount of folks reaching out on the internet for help with permaculture design. “How do I add permaculture to my property!” “Help make this more permaculture!” The one thing that I most often recommend to them to give structure to their project is the scale of permanence. It lets us know …
Introductory Permaculture
If you know me, you know that I’m a big fan of working collaboratively. There’s just a way that working with other people makes things real. One project has been working with the Great Lakes Permaculture Design Collaborative, Me, Rhonda Baird, and William Faith. Originally we recorded these lectures as a intro to each of …
Permaculture Flower
David Holmgren, the co-originator of permaculture says “The permaculture flower shows key domains that require transformation to create a sustainable culture.” That is, each petal (or domain) represents a category into which we can apply permaculture in the world. But if you try to use the flower as a directional compass to orient yourself in …
Type One Error
One of the great rules of design is do something basic right. Then everything gets much more right of itself. But if you do something basic wrong – if you make what I call a Type 1 error – you can get nothing else right. – Bill Mollison The quote above is something like how …
Intro to Permaculture
What is permaculture? What is it to practice permaculture? How does it lead to positive outcomes? The way I’ve been practicing, I’d call it a philosophy. A way of being. I think you can see it most clearly in the choices I’ve made. It is a process. It is the adjacent possible. What is this …