Whole Systems Design, LLC

06/29/2024

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

George Orwell, 1984

05/01/2024

The lack of interest by nations, international "health" orgs and the like in even reflecting on, exploring and doing a serious debrief on what of the responses may have worked and what may have only exacerbated harm should tell us all we need to know about the legitimacy of both the ad-hoc approaches and those mandating them.

Luckily a few smaller orgs have been looking into this most important of questions and finding things like shown below. TLDR Clif notes: Lockdowns have caused at least 5x as much harm as the virus itself by this point in time (which is a fraction of the long tail harm compounding from the affects of destroying so many small businesses and increasing poverty more than was ever accomplished previously in such a short span of time).

"Overall, we conclude that lockdowns are not an effective way of reducing mortality rates during a pandemic, at least not during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results are in line with the World Health Organization Writing Group (2006), who state, “
Our findings are also in line with Allen's (2021) conclusion: “The most recent research has shown that lockdowns have had, at best, a marginal effect on the number of Covid- 19 deaths.” Poeschl and Larsen (2021) conclude that “interventions are generally effective ininfluenza pandemic indicate that social-distancing measures did not stop or appear to
Reports from the 1918dramatically reduce transmission [...] In Edmonton, Canada, isolation and quarantine wereinstituted; public meetings were banned; schools, churches, colleges, theaters, and other publicgathering places were closed; and business hours were restricted without obvious impact on the epidemic.”
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mitigating COVID-19 spread”. But, 9 of the 43 (21%) results they review find “no or uncertain association” between lockdowns and the spread of COVID-19, suggesting that evidence from that own study contradicts their conclusion."

Another study:
"The cost-benefit analysis is shown in Table 6, finding on balance the lockdowns cost a minimum of 5X more WELLBY than they save, and more realistically, cost 50–87X more. Importantly, this cost does not include the collateral damage discussed above (from disrupted healthcare services, disrupted education, famine, social unrest, violence, and su***de) nor the major effect of loneliness and unemployment on lifespan and disease. Frijters and Krekel have estimated that “the [infection] fatality rate should be about 7.8% to break-even and make a radical containment and eradication policy worthwhile, presuming that would actually eliminate the disease (page 422)” (180). A similar cost-benefit analysis for Canada is shown in Supplementary Table 5, with the cost at least 10X higher for lockdowns than the benefit. A different analysis for Australia is shown in Table 7, estimating the minimum cost is 6.6X higher than the benefit of lockdown (181, 182). "

04/30/2024

In my recent piece, ‘Genetically Engineered Armageddon’ I used a tale about technology gone wrong in the agriculture domain more familiar to permies, ecological farmers and food sovereignty activists, and asked a series of questions about how we might have responded when faced with such a challe...

02/24/2024

02/22/2024

"My point is not that women should get back into the kitchen: it is that we all should. Modernity prised the men away from the home first, as the industrial revolution broke their cottage industries and swept them into the factories and mines, where their brute strength could be useful. Later the women, who had been mostly left to tend the home single-handedly, were subject to the same process. The needs of business were sold to both sexes as a project of “liberation” from home, family and place."

The reason this happened is clear enough. Making a home requires both men and women to sacrifice their own desires for that of the wider family — but this kind of sacrifice does not feed the monster. Only by unmooring the human being from his or her roots in community and place can the emancipated individual consumer and self-creator be born"

Our dysfunctional society must return to the hearth

01/24/2024

One thing people don’t commonly think about when planting trees is how they will storyify their home place. How they will embed themselves into their habitat by adding living anchors between past and present. I gaze out from the bathroom at this this black locust and recall when it was part of a small nursery I had there for a few years. Then one spring we moved the potted trees but the locust had grown through the pot attaching itself to the ground. I was going to cut it down, since in my mind I hadn’t planned to plant a tree there (so it wasn’t the “right spot”). But said something to the affect of “that’s an ok place for a tree, no?” We both decided it wanted to be there badly and also that it could be nice shade out the kitchen door on a hot day. And that it would be a nice slackline anchor eventually with the hemlock nearby. So we left it. Now it’s a beauty that is beefy enough for the slackline and serves as a nice end of driveway marker. So much so that our plow guy backed up into the other day. He then came out looking at his precious truck and yelled “this place is a damn hellhole!” at my wife. There are many reasons that when you’re wondering “if I should plant a tree here” the answer is always yes.

01/12/2024

Shipping in the coming week to two! Special offer up for the next five days too.

https://mailchi.mp/wholesystemsdesign/rfh-pre-launch?fbclid=IwAR3FPQ8Wrp5nStNarGBCQsgcGUxGSxODOV3_5z3NXszI0XrcH4_-TmkpFZ8

I am excited to announce that after 11 years, the revised and expanded edition of the Resilient Farm and Homestead is available for pre-order right now.

01/05/2024

Early bird still open for another few weeks and course is until filled...
https://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/permaculture-design-course

12/22/2023

Thanks for the input on the cover folks - we finalized it some weeks ago and the book will be on shelves within about 3-4 weeks from now...

10/17/2023

Going through some photos for the new book cover.. What are folks favorites?

06/23/2023

05/24/2023

Been a minute / few months...
Late winter went huge with snow.. miracle march.. a spring stretch of skiing for the books... incredible snow melt and swollen clear rivers... big sap flow.. early bee flights.. the annual WSD Apprenticeship.. planting season most amazing blossom year in memory.. super hard late freeze..summer coming in slow but surely. Hope you're all well... Much love, Ben

02/20/2023

Getting a start on the 2023-2024 strategic wood reserve. The IBC totes have been worth their cost already in just two years and if ya don’t trash em with the tractor should last a couple decades plus. Saves 10,000 lbs moved each year.

01/06/2023

Been felling on the waned moon for years now, but can't say i've tested it against the larger moon yet. Love the moon wood concept and hope to see more moon wood buildings.

12/30/2022

Hello friends...
I realize that needs seem more immense now than ever. So I have resisted requests to share this but I am now because it's one way WE can help meet needs locally and it's the end of the year.

My wife and the teachers of these programs have worked super hard to create and run them and make them available to anyone locally regardless of their ability to pay.

Opioids are part of the landscape here and a general lack of funds for children (especially those who benefit the most) to attend ANY summer programs that cost anything.

We funded one child 100% last year and others at reduced rates. The program was run at a loss and the teachers didn't make enough to make their long drives viable. But they came anyway and want to do it again.

One of the children had been on screens for hours a day previous to this program and after day two of the camp their mom told us that they came home a different child and said instead of wanting to be on a video game right away, they wanted to go outside instead.

Withdrawal from addiction to digital technology is so real and we got to see this happen in young children.

Our hope is to make this viable long term for our teachers and keep offering free spots to the local community. We will continue to offer the site at no cost and embody all the expenses like insurance, covered by other programs we do like our PDC.

Thanks for considering supporting this - even 5 dollars adds viability and support.

https://wholesystemshealthvt.org

WHOLE SYSTEMS HEALTH Nature & Place-Based Learningin the heart of Vermont 2023 SUMMER CAMPS permaculture kids camp 2023 Dates and Time TBA Rooted in nature & place-based learning, children will explore the forests, ponds, and fields. Children will discover wildcrafting techniques, develop primitive....

12/18/2022

https://gofund.me/07fd0c33

A nice project that's been happening for awhile to share with if you have the surplus and interest..

My name is Samwel Otieno Orenda, I am a born again Christian, I am t… Matthew Stanbro needs your support for Help Kenyan Permaculture Farmer Buy A Greenhouse

11/15/2022

https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=HKKLMM2AN7KAA
A great effort by Morag and team...

Help Ethos Foundation reach their goal by donating or sharing with your friends.

10/21/2022

A nice account of the farm from Andrew Millison and Saskia Madlener.
https://youtu.be/2pcRdXRJ9hE

Andrew Millison visits Ben Falk at his thriving Permaculture farm in Vermont, USA. Ben goes deep into his philosophy, practices, and reveals what really moti...

08/31/2022

I drifted in and out of sleep for hours, each time waking up to a shifting view of the heavens above.
Banks of clouds scuttled by closing and opening apertures into the rest of the universe. Shooting stars sparked across the sky. At some point any tiredness in me evaporated and I found myself gazing at Cassiopeia smack overhead. The rest of our galaxy had rotated from north-south to east-west and the seven sisters had climbed up toward the Milky Way with Mars trailing shortly behind from the east. Saturn led the way further west, followed by Jupiter. Owls called back and forth on the hillside to the south. The warm strong winds swaying the oak overhead.
As the night wore on I could see ever more and a couple of hours later I realized that there was a star cluster coming into clearer view as it moved toward apogee. I grabbed my binoculars and peered through to behold the Andromeda galaxy. Two trillion-odd solar systems emanating as a tiny luminescent cloud. Our neighboring galaxy. The ancient light from Andromeda, traveling for millions of years now streamed into my eyes. Laying on my back in the summer breeze, time traveling.

Earlier in the day I had listened - for as long as I could stomach - to an interview a friend sent me. It was between one of the world’s wealthiest tech billionaires and a podcaster. Both men shared their excitement for virtual and “augmented” reality. Apparently the computer guy spent 10 billion dollars on developing these approaches in 2021 alone. Is the given world not interesting enough for them, or just not a business opportunity, or both? He spoke about the possibility of soon having “realistic human presence” without well, actually being present. It felt like an endless string of jokes with no punchline. I didn’t understand why it was even a topic worth spending energy on much less billions of dollars.
As the first birds began to sing the dawn chorus I couldn’t help but wonder that if the infinite given world wasn’t good enough for us, how could an invented world ever be?

08/22/2022

The farm has emptied of the few dozen folks who graced this place and our lives for the annual permaculture design course, but their laughter, teachings, music and so much else remains. Mark Krawczyk, Erik Schellenberg, Erica Koch, Cornelius Murphy, Nick Neddo, Syvia Davatz, and I facilitated but maybe more was learned from what all of the “students” brought to the experience. We immersed in the land systems at three sites, in the local rivers, in the ponds, in music, in Sandy and Dwyer’s foods, in the cricket and bullfrog-laden silent nights, in the waxing moon riding with beaming Saturn, and in one another for just 10 days but it felt like a month and it will ripple onward for years. Thank you everyone, our hearts are full. This seems to have been our 16th Permaculture Design Course since 2011, which graduated it's 548th student.

03/02/2022

Happy birthday my best little adventure pal Jangles! Reminding me that if you’re gonna go, go wicked hard. And if you’re gonna rest, rest completely. And if you’re gonna love, do it without conditions. Here’s to a big 71st dog year, a ten year old puppy you still are. An inspiration to all of us, love B,E, A, J and even Flow the cat.

02/23/2022

Woodchip driveways > gravel driveways. As far as surviving this climate weirding increasing frequency of freeze thaw cycle. The high r-value of the chips keeps the ice in the ground even through quite warm rainy spells, and stays super hard. Meanwhile the gravel softens 2-4x as fast which then means damage/ruts/erosion/more gravel and grading needed. We are in our third winter testing this and I had reservations, so far it’s performing better than I thought, especially in mud season. I had to re-up the chips after two summers. Cost if you buy chips is about the same or much less the chips depending on how you buy em. Plus you get yards of black soil after three years. Potting mix quality soil. Scrape, then add more chips. Your driveway can be a renewable, locally-sourced fungally-driven soil factory.

02/14/2022

In the same vein...

02/13/2022

02/10/2022

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
How 90's was that?

01/22/2022

Industrial “civilization”

What the World Eats - Families with their weekly stash of food.
American photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D’Aluisio have traveled the world documenting that most basic of human behaviors—what we eat. Their project, “Hungry Planet,” depicts everything that an average family consumes in a given week—and what it costs.

09/22/2020

Arthur Haines

We were blessed with a successful bear hunt this year during the Harvest Moon (which is the current moon phase). This boar was taken in the last minutes of legal hunting time as it moved very quietly through the forest. Utilizing the gifts of the forest sometimes requires killing the life that provides the gifts. The black bear is one of the most intense deaths that I experience, as these animals as very important to me (they are my puwhikon) and sometimes make noises/vocalizations as they are dying. Despite a carefully aimed shot (through the heart, literally), this black bear called out in the darkening forest. It is emotional and haunting to me. And yet, it was a necessary part of the hunt to bring the strength of this animal into our home.

Some hunters might rather that you not know this (that bears can make almost human-like noises as they die). I understand their fears, because a death-phobic and individual-focused society becomes even more passionate about ending all suffering for mammalian life. They feel that hunting should be abolished (which is to say, that humans should not be predators). Life involves risk, and it involves some suffering (especially for the death of most wild animals). Why we feel that life (including our lives) should be entirely free from risk and suffering is something worth discussion. No wild living being ever started from the assumption that their existence would always be comfortable and without risk or fear. Can you imagine if the iconic moose decided they would no longer wage battles with their antlers to determine who would mate with the cows that year? Or if male lions decided they would determine the pride champion through games of chance? What if the lynx decided it would no longer harm snowshoe hare? Or if the orcas collectively chose not to prey on living seals of any kind? What kind of world would that be? What would the resulting form of those amazing animals become after some generations of these changes to their ecology? Hint: you could look at modern humans for clues.

I am not wishing for a prolonged suffering on anyone (or myself). There is a difference between wishing pain on someone and recognizing it is almost inevitable as an end of life. Like it or not, we do not always get the kind of death we hope for. Most contemporary humans wish for a death without conscious recognition of the process because it happens in their sleep and is without any pain (or meaning). At the same time, we will sometimes glorify the modern-day heroes and champions of the past, who gave their last breath to defend their lands, their families, and sometimes total strangers who needed to be protected. This contrasts with our oft desires for the whimpering end of our heart beats to come in the unconscious night. I also do not wish for suffering on the lives that I hunt, but it is not a possibility. The end of life for wild beings almost always comes with some form of anguish, no matter how brief it may be. Our role as conscientious hunters is to limit the fear and pain of the prey we pursue. Killing in an ethical manner requires practice—it requires practice killing. That’s what all predators do, they practice killing and become better as they mature. While some may not comprehend the point of this post, and feel it is barbaric and without sympathy, there are those of you who I write this for that understand the emotion involved with being a predator. Life entails risk and some suffering. It is what part of what creates the meaning and reward. We should embrace these facets of life, rather than try to eliminate them. It is difference between wild animals and zoo animals. A compassionate zoo animal might sound nice, but the unseen cage you live within will deprive you of connection to the earth mother.

09/20/2020

The multifunctionality of positive outdoor living spaces in warm microclimates are a central design focus of resilient and regenerative homesteads. This 160 SF south-facing deck (with huge overhang) hosts morning tea, clothes drying, midday sunbathing, solar workouts, lunch, dinner, firewood drying, food processing, and many other functions Over about fifteen years we’ve found that you need roughly the amounts shown below of space (with the right microclimate) dedicated to food production, curing and storage. The first two require sunshine, the second frost and rain protection and the third a cool dry area of shelving (mudrooms and cool basements can be ideal). Then there are the root drops which need cold moist storage and no curing. And of course the dry herbs and frozen foods I’ve shared about already. A good home extends the value of the garden and acts as a unified system with it.

Area (sf) required to grow, cure, store winter of cool-dry crops (non roots) for two people in Zone 4:
Squash: ~ 1500, 50, 50
Garlic: ~85, 10, 3
Onion, shallot: 125, 15, 4

09/14/2020

I always procrastinate pulling the summer crop in the greenhouse. It’s a familiar rythm to harvest them each day, but at some point the needs of the new crop coming up below is just too much - they are getting leggy and weak reaching for the light under the canopy of the old.

So I pull the plants we sowed in March, even as they are heavy with young fruit, most of which will not make it before cold fall temps and failing light stop them in their tracks.

But I don’t pull every one - some like the prostrate Thai pepper share the light enough for the new succession of arugula, chard, parsley, maché and mesclun.

Even though I’ve had the experience of failing to remove the old for the new and know that this will both yield few more tomatoes and no winter greens to boot, I regret it as I pull them. That is until I return to top dress the new crop with compost made of the old plants themselves, and then a week later i see the new crop has begun to flourish, no longer leggy and thin but spreading and robust, growing enough to eventually become a winter harvest.