Evolving Natural Landscape Paradises
Written
Aug. 2014.
Support Towards Thriving
Since
the mid 1900s action researchers have been gathering and cohering around the theme
and challenge of finding ways of greatly improving the potential of landscapes
towards thriving. This is in marked contrast to just surviving and being
sustained in a current state.
In
order for humankind to thrive well
and long into the future, we of Earth need to go beyond the meaning and limited
hints of action behind a popularized word like ‘sustainability’, which can
create defined limits and a steady state of comfortable compromise maintaining
nature in current impoverished states. ‘Sustainability’ meaning capable of
being continued at a certain level - from Old French sostenir ‘hold
up, bear; suffer, endure’ (Online Etymology Dictionary); also meaning
‘Maintenance in being or activity especially in a certain condition or at a
certain level’ (Oxford Dictionary). This all has a feeling tone that is a far
cry from supporting nature to thrive
guided by nature’s own wisdom.
Following the Natural Living Processes
Lexicon:
To survive is to fight to maintain relationship
to the present reality.
To thrive is to use natural processes, available
resources, emerging resources and evolve relationships with future possible potentialities and
realities – the motivation to explore and constitute new possibilities, choices
and realities, that in turn nurture future growth and ongoing success.
Around
the whole planet it’s virtually impossible to find a natural system in pristine
glory – pristine meaning unspoiled untouched, pure. Virtual every aspect of
nature around planet Earth has been imposed upon by man guided by his own
ideas, rather than been supported by people towards thriving states wisely guided by nature. When engaging
in this later way with nature, what are termed numinosum states may be
experienced. Numinosum refers to the experience of life’s richness in
being in the world, with nature in turn being experienced as fascinating,
mysterious, sacred, and tremendous. Indigenous people use the term ‘sacred
places’. On ‘letting nature tell us what to do’, notice P.A. Yeomans comments
in the Kiewa Valley
Video at the ten minute mark. This phenomenon of numinosum has little meaning
until you experience it.
In
this action research, ideas began entertaining and evolving possibilities for
creating superabundant landscapes where nature is constantly thriving; looking
for standout natural settings around the world where nature is still showing
its full capacity, and wondering whether these extraordinary places may be
replicated in less performing regions - to mirror nature’s fullness of
potential for abundant fertility.
Ideas
began exploring the potential for having nature guiding us in our quest. On
surrendering to this quest, learning comes quickly; and nature reveals that there’s
one must-have ingredient that goes along with, and underpins all of these
pristine thriving landscapes. There’s always the presence of this unusual putty
like colloid pervasively throughout the soil. This colloid varies in
colour; mostly dark brown to jet black and it always has the texture of fine
particle soft putty.
The
plants that thrive in it have their roots so densely through it that it is hard
to find with the naked eye a square centimeter without the presence of some
kind of root-like structure woven through; and this material is extremely fine
like a spider’s cobweb. It may be likened to an enormous neural network
of energy-exchange fibre optics. There’s this pervasive sense that there’s a
fantastic correlating multi-causal linking between what’s going on above the
ground with massive activity underground in the soil.
A Pioneering Example to Inspire Aspirations
While
this action research was commencing in the 1990s there was also research into
finding others, if any, who were challenging the prevailing notions of
landscape design who could be an inspiration to the action research. One
standout was P.A. Yeomans who action researched during the 1940s through 1970s
inland from Sydney in Australia. P.A. was an Australian mining engineer
turned farmer who wanted to see if it was possible to design landscapes,
particularly farmland towards thriving fertility and abundance using nature as
his guide. This was a challenge in the one of the driest inhabited
continents on Earth. P.A.’s thinking was, ‘what better place to start’.
If he could do it in Australia, he could do it anywhere.
P.A.
Yeomans achieved astonishing results in just a few short years; so much so that
people were coming from around the world to see for themselves what some had
said was impossible. Refer Kiewa
Film at the 3.37 minute mark. He received so many inquiries into how
he achieved his results that he wrote a book in 1954 called the ‘The
Keyline Plan’. In it P.A. reveals the Keyline principles, processes,
techniques and systems. When fully utilized, these Keyline Designs can
provide the keys and practical approaches to unlock the latent potential of the
existing landscape through regeneration and enhancement. The questions
that came back from readers of the first book soon impelled P.A. to write other
books to further widen out the novel concepts raised in his first book. The
Challenge of Landscape was written in 1958 and The
City Forest was published in 1971.
The Kiewa Film
with PA Yeomans being interviewed provides a feel for his ideas in action
In
the late 1970s, David Holmgren and Bill Mollison the developers of the
Permaculture design methods and practices were looking around for exemplary
practitioners of permanent agriculture methods and decided that P. A’s
successes deserved to be included in their teachings as a core fundamental.
David Holmgren states the following about the Yeomans:
In
the research I did in the 1970’s developing the Permaculture concept, we
identified the Keyline system of landscape analysis, soil development and water
harvesting developed by P.A. Yeomans as the only example (in the world) of
modern functional landscape design that provided a precursor to Permaculture as
ecologically functional landscape design.
In
continuing the Action Research on creating thriving landscapes during the
1990s, P.A’s work inspired the continuing extending of his process. What
emerged was finding links and bridging points between Keyline insights and
super-abundant naturally occurring landscapes; how to go from a typical
Yeomans’ Keyline Farm to a deep ecological food forest able to sustain a
complete biological wonderland and therefore begin restoring and regenerating
the Earths Eco-systems to hopefully better than they’ve been in times long
past. The 1990s Action Research had been deeply immersed in this from the
outset and Keyline provided a guiding frame for further action.
The Life Colloid
Studying
the putty like material (what has been called Life Colloid) revealed that it
has a number of stand-out properties. Firstly, plants roots will seek it out
and go to great lengths, quite literally, to partake of it as plants seem to
sense when it is in the area despite this Life Colloid being sometimes in
isolated pockets. Tree, bush and plant roots have been tracked, like buried
telecommunication cables; with the roots leading from the colloid back to a
tree a long distance away. Sometimes all that can be seen is a ball of roots
that seemingly is living in no substrate what-so-ever! Upon closer inspection
these roots are wrapped tightly around this colloid.
Something of the extraordinary
properties of Life Colloid is happening way below our eyes capacity to see.
Have a look at the trillions of living organisms flowing around in a speck of
life colloid in the Life Colloid You Tube.
Why
is this colloid so sought after? It must contain something really valuable to
the plants? What is it? Secondly, colloid is at times only in tiny amounts in
some contexts and more plentiful in others. Why is this so? When there’s more
colloid there are way more plants and tall trees.
The Tests
This
colloid was collected and put in a controlled greenhouse environment away from
the source. The research method followed normal scientific protocols. Two test
bed sets were created in isolation via separate sets of containers under the
same roof so that they received the same amount of moisture sunlight and
warmth. One set of varying soil type containers had no colloid mixed in it, and
the other set contained a number of varying soil types that had the colloid
added in similar amounts. Each container except for two (one with colloid and
one without) received the same vegetable seedlings and were closely monitored
over a full growing season from seedling, fruiting, to seed, then decay. We
also had removable panel for access to view the underground soil profile while
they were growing - showing root growth patterns.
The Outcome
The
containers that had no colloid did as expected for their soil types from clay
to loam with varying degrees of fertile organic matter in them; no noticeable
difference from what was to be expected from plants growing in varying degrees
of fertility in the soils. Poor yields with clay, better with loamy clay and
best with compost added to these substrates.
The
colloid containers were different stories indeed, even the one with no plants.
Every container, including the one with the heavy clay soil showed remarkable
improvement. Upon inspection of the roots along the growth timeline there was
the same seeking out of the colloid as had been seen in the source locations!
The better the substrate the better the plants did also. The container with no
plants was a curious one. There emerged three main types of weeds that the one
without colloid did not produce. In fact the one without the colloid only
produced a few stunted grass patches and a couple of measly dandelions. The one
with the colloid was completely covered with a healthy amount of green cover
crop within weeks. Dandelions, stinging nettle, clover, and chickweed with two
types of grass.
It
was like the colloid provided some kind of kick-start switch to the biology
within the soil and that provided enough of a change to allow the seeds lying
dormant to have a chance to start their metabolisms.
Applying Action Research
The
challenge was finding a way to grow or make Life Colloid in quantity. The
inclination was to treat the Life Colloid with more and more reverence as it
became more familiar – the numinosum phenomenon! This is a most remarkable
substance to be relating with; one that nature is really into. If it could be
grown or made, this material could be placed into the surrounding soil to
enliven the potential of even the poorest soils, as was demonstrated with the
heavy clay test.
This
became an exhilarating prospect and one generating passion and energy. In lay
terms it was presumed that the Life Colloid was full of living organisms that
get along well with each other and produce some sought of sticky glue or jell
in the process of breeding, feeding and producing. Placing Life Colloid under a
special microscope and there is a myriad of types and numbers beyond
imagination inside the smallest of samples. They showed large separation as if,
despite being a dense Colloid, they kept their space from one another and also
exhibited vigorous movement; and there was lots of ‘visiting’, ‘meeting and
greeting’ and what appears like ‘partying’ going on – fun to watch. It was like
looking at a chaotic bee hive of activity with a difference being that there
was no queen bee ruler.
It
was assumed that there must be some self-sufficient cycling of nutrition within
the mass for it to stay effective in poor soil environments. Astonishingly,
closely observing Life Colloid under special microscopes allows one to see
living samples without any harm or destruction revealing there are indeed
millions, billions, even trillions of vibrant minuscule organisms producing
their own food supply, and what’s more, they are making excess to individual
needs which raised some eyebrows as to why this benevolence towards their
fellow organisms. Well, they all seem to be there to do the same thing - make
the soil fertile for larger species of organisms. An altruistic collective!
This was stunning! They as a complex system of systems are one of nature’s
nurturers! Along with the soil organisms in the Life Colloid were tens of
1,000s of species of micro-flora – the good gut probiotics that live in the
human intestines and that transmute digesting material into the chemicals our
bodies need. Also present in the Life Colloid are paciferins that ecosteralizes
against harmful mold, fungi and yeasts. Life food - retaining its genetic integrity and easily reproducing
itself in nature - grown in Life Colloid rich soil has a special property in
that these kinds of food also can ecosteralize against harmful mold, fungus and
yeasts. The natural paciferins in life food in turn have a special property in
that they can transfer their ability to our bodies so we too have the ability
to ecosteralize against harmful mold, fungus and yeasts. Potent effects towards
thriving!
After
eight years of intense effort and following P.A Yeomans, networked action
research has evolved processes for growing Life Colloid in volume within 9 weeks!
Knowings
have emerged as to why Life Colloid persists in pristine natural settings and
why plants want to tap into it so eagerly. Also known is why it is not common
within most landscapes.
Life Colloid is found with an
extraordinary mix of Micro-biota, spring and surface water, minerals, organic
materials and humus in special places in nature termed Livaceum, something that may occur naturally at some Keypoints
(refer ‘Keypoint’ in Keyline Design). The
locality where very special thriving soil is evolved by bio-mimicry to
replicate a Livaceum is termed Livacea. The very special top soil in Livaceums
and Livaceas is termed Livyon.
All
of this provides scope to move towards thriving landscapes emerging through
action of thriving communities.
Laceweb Water Harvesting New Soil and
Food Forests