The resilient farm and homestead An innovative permaculture and whole systems design approach

Ben Falk, 1977-

Book - 2013

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Subjects
Published
White River Junction, Vt. : Chelsea Green Pub 2013.
Language
English
Main Author
Ben Falk, 1977- (-)
Other Authors
Cornelius Murphy (-)
Physical Description
304 pages : illustrations, chiefly color ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781603584449
  • Chapter 1. Creating a Positive Legacy While Adapting to Rapid Change
  • Regeneration: Enhancing Life Systems
  • Resiliency: Becoming an Adaptive Animal
  • Using This Book
  • Permaculture
  • Zones and Their Definitions
  • Who Are "We?"
  • WSRF Site Specifics
  • Site History
  • Site Future: What's Possible?
  • Fleeing
  • Dwelling
  • Energy Cycling
  • Reinvestment
  • The Green Distraction and the Political Black Hole
  • Exodus from Consumer Society
  • Becoming Useful in the Transition
  • When Systems Fail: Emergencies and Resiliency
  • Chapter 2. The Design Process and Site Establishment
  • Planning and Design: Observation before Action
  • The Designer's Set and Setting
  • Site Establishment Leverage Points
  • Ecosystem Management: Steering Succession
  • Resiliency and Regeneration Principles
  • Understanding Your Site and Finding the Synergies
  • Goals Identification and Requirements of the Design
  • Assessing the Site
  • Land Analysis
  • Design Criteria
  • Imagination: Limiting Factor to Design
  • Schematic Design: Sorting Through Multiple Development Options
  • Adapting Land to Rapid Change
  • Diversity and Connectivity
  • Working Plans and Implementation Documents
  • Chapter 3. Water and Earthworks
  • Brittleness and the Quest for Resiliency
  • Gravity-Feed Systems
  • Locating Water
  • Slowing and Infiltrating Water
  • An Agriculture as Diverse as the Landscape
  • Water Ridges with Valleys: Keyline Agriculture
  • Ponds
  • Chapter 4. Fertility Harvesting and Cycling
  • Compost, Urine, Humanure, and Biochar
  • Fungi: Quiet Ally to the Whole System
  • Remineralization
  • Cover Cropping and Winter Cover
  • Tall-Grass Grazing
  • Pasture Reclamation: Why Not to Let Your Field "Go"
  • The Benefits of Mowing
  • Scything: The Most Resilient (Mechanical) Biomass Harvesting Method
  • Ducks, Chickens, Dogs, and Sheep
  • Grazing and Perennial Food Crop Integration
  • Keyline Agriculture and Fertigation
  • Leach Field Cropping: Making the Most of a Faulty System
  • Chapter 5. Food Crops
  • Perennial Plants and Resiliency
  • Staple Crops: Paddy Rice, Meat, Eggs, Fruits, and Nuts
  • Annual Vegetables
  • Growing Food as a Response to Toxicity
  • Food Processing and Storage: Spreading Abundance across the Entire Year
  • Chapter 6. Adaptive Fuel and Shelter
  • Using Wood for Your Main Heat Source
  • Adaptive Shelter
  • Mechanical Systems
  • Water: Passive Supply for the Resilient Home
  • Chapter 7. Resilience and Regeneration for the Long Haul
  • Enhancing Vitality in a Time of Biospheric Toxicity
  • Growing Health and Body-Mind Resilience, Not Just Calories
  • Money: One (Important) Means to Get Work Done
  • Staying
  • Acknowledgments
  • Appendix A. Assessing Resiliency Aptitude Quiz
  • Appendix B. A Resilient Home Curriculum Outline
  • Appendix C. Crucial Skill List for Emergencies
  • Appendix D. Tools and Materials
  • Appendix E. Homestead Vulnerability Checklist and Strategy Summary to Reduce Vulnerability in Acute Events
  • Appendix F. Vocabulary and Concepts
  • Appendix G. Resources
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

This intelligent, challenging book, rooted somewhere between back-to-the-land idealism and radical survivalism, sees resilience as both planting and building for the use of future generations, but also as preparing food, water, shelter, and the human body and psyche for the onset of any imaginable extreme emergency. The result is a comprehensive, open-ended, theoretical and practical system for a post-carbon-dependent life-including site design; water and earthworks; perennial farming that integrates gardening, animal husbandry, and soil building; energy; architecture; and personal health-a system that is not only sustainable but restorative of the biosphere. Readers just dipping their toes into sustainability may be overwhelmed by Falk's comprehensive vision and intimidating appendices listing homestead vulnerabilities and crucial skills for emergencies, but more seasoned 21st-century homesteaders, permies, and possibly also survivalists will appreciate Falk's realism and his belief that "the process is an enjoyable, vitalizing one, and the results are staggering and humbling... life wants to live." (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved