- I can't speak to Africa but here in Bocas del Toro, Panama we are working a new permaculture concept that fits perfectly to a fast "action plan" pretty much anywhere.
- The mentioned species should work or substitutes can be chosen for African sub climates.
- This abstract article entitled Guerilla Permaculture is related to future projects and experimentation, and it may not be for everyone. It's certainly alternative thinking and is written to provoke specifically more "outside of the box" thought. It's not that alternative, being it is the most in-line with nature concept in the discussion.
The beautiful point plainly addressed; to live in harmony with nature using public lands and be productive, could be coined as Guerilla Permaculture, a title which describes kinda how I imagine harmonious natural life in my mind, anyway.
The installment of excellent species is out there now. It takes only to learn the immediate surrounding nature over a great area of land, and know the locations of good food trees and shrubs and be able to assemble a masterpiece of a meal menu from them.
It is just about proven truth that a diverse gathering of greens provided the evolutionary step to making spear and fire yet, it not known as so much to what degrees that a highly strategic nutritional diversity diet plan has the ability to go beyond the primitive selection.
You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.”
― Bob Marley
Science perhaps should have ventured in this direction, but instead, this community opted for the "direction of dissection" as opposed to realizing diverse combinations, and creative study. Right now, to modern culture (North American) what I am talking about in terms of planning out a "highly diverse diet to optimize yourself "is a crazy idea, that likely has a lot less of a benefit than I say it does. At this time it seems that cool is to be dumb and Cheetos are good. I really keep repeating myself so a few young people I care about consider the idea, and actually discover the athletic benefits.
Since the pandemic, a health wave of fitness enthusiasm in the Bocas del Toro Islands has begun. I have been running biking and swimming here for ten years off and on. Biking and surfing is something you see a lot of. But there has always been more partying in the night then runners in the morning, and now I am joined even by a small few at 5 am, which has never been the case for me before.
Humbly, I would like to cover a few points of disclamatory wisdom that can offer a positive perspective and helpful must-knows from a world(s) of experience not everyone reading this has had.
I should say if you take land be prepared to give food and plants away. This particular idea likely works the best on public land. This idea should not be the root of land disputes so always do your homework and check with authorities. You should be able to get written permission to do at least a little garden somewhere for you to start.
Wisdom 1.) It would be good to have as many evolving models of growth as the planet can and share the diamonds of information that diverse experience comes up with. It is always tempting and now very viable with the internet to accomplish but at the same time; the biggest problem I have seen across the board in farming operations is working with people. Keep your circle small, make sure the people you do permaculture with are really into permaculture and you can do other things with those who like other things. I can't say it enough you need quality people to do quality farming at any quality level. Don't carry people through things, you'll be moving slower like that. Be your own winner and that means to know how to cut the dead weight and make moves. You will always be able to come back to that which you cut if you cut it the right way. That being said, some cuts should be permanent, believe me, those cuts are there for everybody, and they will have to be made in order to succeed as much as you may not like that fact or the person you may need to cut. These decisions about people are based on their honesty, integrity, toxicity, and strength. It takes time to get to know people, and superstars always have "haters," so remember diamonds are made under pressure and they are hard to find. People are dynamic and working them generally is dangerous so you just really need to get to know them before embarking on any kind of commitment with them and if they have been dishonest with you in the past, well - it is guaranteed to fail and it is your fault when it does because you knew that.
Wisdom 2). Land disputes are sort of interesting all their own as we don't thank the Great Spirit for these amazing lands, anymore. We (1) own them (2) we know better than nature does, and we torture and send to extinction all the biological life on this planet that existed long before us, through basically those two thoughts.
I started this paper at the 5 years into my Permaculture sciences study mark. I just passed ten years in this field. I am able to proceed in this pursuit of happiness and free-trail blazing thanks to receiving property from an Angel, a million and a half blessings from above, and the support of my Father, Bruce Bro, JPKill, my Bro Richie, My Sis Wendi, and plenty more thank you all.
I have though been in 7 years now, deeply, and have said the last 4 of those that I would like to do Permaculture on public, not owned lands, anonymously as a way of conjuring up the highly intelligent attention from nature; the ultimate school, in a new category of certification from nature herself.
Guerilla Permaculture :
Secret or at least sparratic or off-trail installations of human-intention-ed permacultures within greater naturaul landscapes.
Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu, in his The Art of War (6th century BCE), was the earliest to propose the use of guerrilla warfare.
Guerrilla warfare is defined by Google as; irregular military actions (such as harassment and sabotage) carried out by small usually independent forces. Others see it as a term that also includes sneaking upon, rather than confrontation, from small parties oftentimes existing always nomadic-ally or in hidden locations.
There is no need so much for the secrecy at this time, other than to keep others from harvesting your stuff while away. The irregular planting style in contrast to the modern monoculture planting style has been loved by many now for half a century and diverse combinations were without a doubt the method of the most advanced growing systems through history and today in terms of nutritional quality.
The combat applied idea was key to America gaining her independence from British Rule, it can theoretically be the activity structure from which the little man or the underdog can come up.
Monoculture rows can easily be beaten in quality and can be outproduced by this style of intertwined with the natural cultivation of desired foods. This is an interesting (unfortunately) lateral comparison to war history whereas, rows of soldiers were beaten and outperformed by the strategy of guerilla tactics and techniques. hence my use of a similar term.
There is a real want to simply become a wild forager and hunter, that does not need agriculture and can travel a great distance.
Just short of that, within a certain smaller span of distance, I think it could be advantageous and fun to look at doing some small, quickly install-able guerilla permaculture sites.
The thing we did not see coming from this initiative was the amount of incredible insight that is downloading about everything through the practice.
The next step (if we survive that long) in human intelligence following the age where we thought we owned land, where we stabbed flags in it, wrote documents for it, went to war over it, will be an appreciation for the crazy awsome gift hopefully.
Monoculture agriculture our primary source of food is a cocky person's attempt to show nature who is boss. It is working and will kill and mutate shelves of pollinators every day, cause millions of human cancer cases, and we deliver it all in a long-lasting pretty wax-coated version with a hefty price tag on it.
These items most purchase grow. It takes a good year of learning and working with the chosen species and then anyone can produce on a small amount of land. They are other gifts from God or Nature or Great Spirit the whole Earth is really one big gratitude test and should one choose they can learn to grow stuff anywhere.
If one can move to the site for a while they likely would want to start with animals, moveable solar fences and controls for these animals, use simple shelter such as tents, and once a small trail of land is cleared and the animals have been situated the permaculture design installation of plants can go next.
True absolute freedom will come when
The permaculturist leaves the cancer patch on the skin of the Earth known as the city.
A method of eating and surviving far from the city has been established.
We can say that in a nomadic journey the best version of guerilla permaculture could be accomplished, but I have developed and experimented more on a re-visit style of doing this.
These unknown, un-owned, all free guerilla permaculture sites could even be strategically functioned to assist nature, to be a piece of the reforestation solution we so badly need to be today; sort of terraforming stations.
The ecology we could kick off from a large movement of humans doing this could create a quality of life far greater than what we are looking at without this type of movement. I certain sect of people seem very made for something like this, but it also seems the mental constraints of ownership, or the need to own it before working it makes us focus on buying something when that is not in this case necessary to accomplish it.
Arguably it may not be as secure. I think to keep it to a trail format and stretch it out doing your daily runs and harvests on a strategic set of productive species is both less attractive of attention and provides security in the sense that the planting is stretched rather than a squared area.
Today provides us with GPS, and there are ways of exporting map files for a location so that in the event of a power outage or GPS failure real maps together with the exported maps should be able to get you back to the sites.
"It was a good life, you break your back, you snap your fingers, you snap your neck." - Prong
The duality of technologies is interesting. They can increase ability but when there is too much the technologies begin to present evidence that they are hurting us (individually and ecologically) by creating toxins and causing us to perform less physical activity. To achieve the correct balance as a society and as individuals is daunting for the scientist.
This balance is the everyday success of nature. Support nature and nature will support all of this.
Mapping the stars can be fun for the family, is a very important skill, and other ways of creative site marking and finding come to mind in the endeavor. Planting specific plants in certain vicinities, and along trails that you and your group have mapped out could be mu9ch more productive of a daily activity that one would think.
We have thought to launch a star and sky study group that focuses mostly on biodynamics, which Guerilla Permaculture superstars should be familiarized with.
Biodynamic Agriculture principles and preparations as hard as they may be for some to believe in, really do work and the should also be considered for employment in the guerilla permaculture mission. Not being one to argue with the results, in my experience we are in a dynamic situation whether people believe it or not and those with more knowledge and belief in those dynamics will have a better chance of success at outgunning the major agriculture industry with an all-natural method.
I thought of some initial things that could help sites and trails blend in with nature.
- Motorcycle, foot, or horse access only.
- Several wall-expansion perimeters planted at the onset in a bullseye like a form (birds-eye view). This could be an excellent general permaculture focus, one for example; one tall tree, shorter trees next, shrubs next, ground cover next, chosen vine, etc. Using
- Bees & other dangerous insects animals and reptiles...my little kid imagination runs wild. Bees I think are perfect and I would do them at as many locations they are being so adversely affected by chemicals associated with mono cropping today. This could really drive and realize a new level of beekeeping - likely very needed already years ago now.
- Sharp and scary plants can be sourced, and maze entry styles can be designed with certain species such as bamboo, wild ginger, and many others.
- Tree "Y" planting. With a piece of rope or natural twine-wrapped several times around a tree branch "Y" shapes, sticks, in a sort of high-up planting nest could be a wonderful method of doing this, that inspires tree climbing and integrated tree planting which I can see now could become very advanced.
A shrub list of starter stuff could be,
- Damiana
- Ambrosia Peruvianna
- Ashwaganda
A ground cover list could be started at the same time could be,
- Pumpkin Squash
- Bitter Melon
- Passion Fruit
The first thing that we need to do is pick our first installation spot, Sun Tzu's work may be the best guide for doing this, but again basically we are looking for a place off the beaten path, and there are many natural clearings where edge material and small stuff can be chopped up easily with a machete, the ground turned or not, and no clearing of larger plants.
I covered earlier that to move with some livestock one can be quickly established into this. That to be nomadic is a plus. The Kuna Yala tribe here in Panama was the only in the region, that was never conquered and they have some of the most preserved heritage and culture. There were not nomadic to start but became nomadic for centuries to survive until finally negotiating themselves the territory of the San Blas Islands in Panama, some of the most beautiful Caribbean Islands - and the vibe there is great!
Getting started with the agricultural part we want to make a pile of chop, start digging a hole, that is our soil mine for a time and could be a spring or other use hole later on. So if we can find seeps lets do that and start mining a piece of our soil mix from there.
If there is some rock we could break that up or use it as it comes, and if there is some larger stick we can use them as whole pieces or burn them for soil ash, we can also start powerful bio-char type processes. The options can be very optimized and are very dynamic in terms of direction.
We want the best soil possible and likely a thick topping of pasteurized chop, which the rain will do overtimes as it is in a pile. I am a fan of dicing my chop pile over and over to make it easier to apply and better functioning, but this is not necessary and would require more site visits.
Branches harvested without seriously affecting the trees can be cut and made into smart cover structures for smaller planting. It is always easy to get fairly straight 2' pieces and Lincoln log them up around special plantings. They can be charred a bit too. Rocks placed as petals of a flower around the planting is also a good way to help designate. So is sawdust, mulches, or collected leaves and needles.
Ash, concentrated fertilizer, on-site natural tea-making system, bio-dynamic preparation, logs in swales, and humanure should be considered for on site-soil preparation. I am in the tropics but there are species that can work for whatever microclimate you are in, it just takes a little bit of learning each day.
Simple ideas like these are building blocks to better nutrition anywhere. But we are concerned with patriarchy. Illusions instilled by deceit. Here in Panama people $purchased 4500 high-pressure sprayers and tanks were rolled out to spray the bottoms of cars in the tropics where it rains every day because they thought the virus crawled on the street. Someone is laughing somewhere I can almost guarantee.
The steps of installation, and planting to be performed on the first visit starting as early in the A.M. as possible :
PROTECT BIG TREES, FERTILIZE MEDIUM TREES OF PRIMARY FORREST get ready from shrub planting around these trees.
On the planting moon; Plantain, cassava, papaya, coconut, katuk, damiana, culantro right from cutting rhizome or shoot, in "banana circles." 'Vegetables, and quick growing leaves, citronella grass, cranberry hibiscus, mustards, kales, pak choy, zapio, sandia, beans - leaves oftentimes edible, herbs, *hemp, ambrosia peruvianna, sage, patchouli - keeps insects down in the area. Bamboo? Or small stick generating species.
Irrigation, if needed, and optional disguise for it. I think of a basic 20' by 20' plot being a trench around the square and trenches possibly across the center at 10' each or for one side.
The steps for the second visit;
Fertilizer delivery and application.
More planting of small crops, root crops such as ginger and turmeric paying attention to bio-dynamic planting days.
*Planting of the second wall on the other side of irrigation. If bamboo is used again, it is good to re-dig irrigation as much as possible and to a 6' swale, planting the next bamboo wall ten feet back, leaving 2' each side of the swale.
Planting more buffer area, camouflage outside of bamboo and irrigation, vines, ground covering plants.
Cut back of banana plants even if just a bit to stimulate growth.
In-Tree Planting Systems
Tree Y plant beds: where a tree makes the "Y" shape, a barrier can be wrapped or nailed on either side, and smaller plants, fungi, herbs, or flowers can be grown there. Get one done and learn, but move towards all-natural construction if that is not the starting place.
Using normal permaculture strategy such as; trunks can be covered with vine, and also plant shelves can be carved out for all-natural nursery action.
This particular abstract concept in endless in possibility and certainly a work in progress here.
Social Pitfalls
I recently met a team of volunteers that claim to clean the island and want to plant food everywhere on public land. A group of ten having beers told me they planted 25 coconuts and you can see them, and this was good. They told me they wanted to do more and they had a website. Unfortunately, after weeks since I gave them the first task of replacing the plastic pots that one of the members through away and burned on top of a five-year compost while hastily trying to dominate the spaces around him in a primitive effort to be in control of home and garden situation where he was invited by someone helping him (interesting in itself right), I have no heard from the group for five weeks now.
In thoroughness, I have left my rants about this kind of fake talk, and no walk stuff everywhere to 1. encourage the successful point that if you are going to do this, you are going to have to do it on your own, or with a truly dedicated partner - which in the guerilla permaculture should be a great partnership.
In my permaculture and nature enthusiast experience, so many people have these good intentions, or they talk the good intention talk, but to actually perform in dedicated selfless service to nature (which really earns the most important relationship a person can have in life - a relationship with nature, nature they biologically depend on every day with no appreciation) is conducted by about less than 1% of the individuals in this group talks.
That less than 1% that does something, they will not do much. This is because usually laziness, so many of these types are just looking to escape from being responsible. They have this "hippie" attitude where "everything is alright, we don't want to do anything, the system already had us enslaved we are done with that," and as credible as much of these claims are the general output from these groups is unproductive.
Most of the productive farms I have seen are pushed by Latin-America-born workers getting paid for their time, volunteers who get travel subsidies out of the deal, or because of one worker (many times anti-social rooted in this very lack of productivity from his or her peers) gets up early and puts in a full workday on his project.
It ends up being a very productive point that I think should be part of any pass down or education that there is a lack of work ethic and a huge element of distraction, waist of time. If I compiled the number of hours people like this have waisted my time it would amount to several of these installations. The only installation like this that I know of I am doing alone.
The time I wasted waiting on people who waisted hours of my time just telling me they would replace plastic containers, to actually come up with those containers, or to actually do something I could have done 100 installations, including all the nursery work to prepare for them.
I do not recommend forms, groups, initiatives, clubs, or any of this for productive guerilla permaculture. In fact, I recommend the best headphones loaded up with permaculture podcasts, good music, and motivational media, to block out the fact that everyone and everything is trying to distract you from going into nature and getting it done - the healthiest thing for you and for the world to do!
I myself live in two sets of rechargeable headphones wake up at 3 am, and go to bed at 530pm mainly because of how sick I am of listening to people who don't actually say anything real, honest, or that they will ever follow up on.
I revisit this point, in a great extension of guerilla permaculture, I called "Rotational, Revisit-style Permaculture," at the Nutritional Diversity & Permaculture Study Center in Costa Rica.
Sr. Brandon Eisler