Curt's Ponderings From The Bioshelter

In an earlier entry to this blog I commented that one of the goals undergirding the permaculture philosophy is to develop a 30-year plan for the property. The idea behind this goal is to think through what kind of future the land will be able to provide for the human and non-human residents on the property; both need to flourish, and both need to flourish as well as possible. When Cindee and I commented, recently, that we were taking the long view in developing our property, someone took issue with it. “Why put such time and energy in the kind of development that won’t bear fruit for many years? You might not even be there to see it through, and you certainly won’t be there to enjoy the outcome for very long.” I don’t honestly remember our response. It probably had something to do with the notion that we don’t live our lives just for ourselves, but for those who follow us as well. Whatever our response, this notion has stayed with me that for too many in

Even without proof of global warming, we absolutely must deal with our carbon emissions, or we will be responsibility for the death of hundreds of millions. We know this is true, and I can tell you how we know. It should not be a great surprise that our extravagant use of fossil fuels has created a huge problem. Even well-intentioned human behavior causes unexpected problems all the time and, once those problems present themselves, we have to deal with them. A case in p oint is an issue we are currently facing on our bioshelter-home property. We thought we were solving one problem, but now realize we have actually created a new problem. Let me tell you the story. Cindee and I are both allergic to cottonwoods. While trying to decide whether or not to make an offer to buy the place, the fact that it was set in cottonwoods was a serious point of discussion. Still, we were so interested in a more eco-friendly lifestyle that we decided we would find a way to d

This summer we added a cat to our bioshelter family. The decisions to get a cat came as a result of a thriving shrew and vole population that loved our vegetables too much. I am sorry to say that we got very little broccoli or cauliflower this year, despite efforts to develop the soil and nurture the young plants. Once the voles found it, it was gone. We decided something had to be done, hence the cat. Latté came from the animal shelter. We do not really know her background, though she looks like something of a Siamese mix to me. I think she had been strictly a house cat before we got her. She was very reluctant to go outside the first time we invited her out, but stood in the door, sniffing curiously from the safety of the house. It didn’t take long, however, before she did go out, and soon she was staying out all day. Much to our joy, it also didn’t take long before she discovere d our resident population of voles and shrews. She happily did her job