INHABIT

“Inhabit” is a documentary film project that aims to expand the reach and relatability of permaculture. Permaculture is a design science based on the observation and replication of patterns and relationships found in nature; it is an approach to designing sustainable systems of agriculture, community, economics, politics, and more.

We will travel in a solar and veggie-oil-powered bus documenting the people and projects currently giving voice to permaculture in the Northeast. We will look at permaculture practices in rural, suburban, and urban environments to break away from the conception of it being purely agricultural, and we will explore the breadth of its application to current local and global challenges - from issues of food, water, and medicine, to governance, economy, and culture.

Whole Systems Design : Earthworks

June 25, 2013  /  Costa Boutsikaris

  Ben Falk is a landscape architect and permaculture design educator who runs a cold climate permaculture research farm. 

"We design and implement regenerative food, fuel, and shelter systems that operate on current solar energy.  These are homesteads, farms and schools fit for a challenging future of peak oil, climate change and economic transition."  www.WholeSystemsDesign.com

We got to stay at a new site he is developing in Rochester, VT where he is doing large scale "Earthworks" to optimize the water flow and resource distribution in the land by shaping and sculpting the surface of the hillside.

We got to film some of the process of measuring the contour of the hill with a laser level and then sculpting the flow of water with an excavator to bring the water across the site to the dry areas. Can't wait to return again to see this system develop more with perennial plantings, ponds and grazing!

 

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