Permaculture is like Native American agriculture

http://www.permies.com

Heidi Bohan, author of "The People of Cascadia" talks about the Native American agriculture in the pacific northwest hundreds of years ago.

She explains that the native american people that were here then were well beyond "hunter gatherer". They had an agriculture all their own. Much like permaculture.

I think that this Native American idea of agriculture is far beyond current agriculture practices. Even beyond organic agriculture practices. The Native Americans used polyculture techniques and focused on plants reproducing themselves. Enhancing natural systems.

Heidi mentions that the Native Americans would do burnings to help with production. Including to keep trees out of certain agrculture fields.

You can learn more about Heidi and her book at http://www.peopleofcascadia.com

music by Jimmy Pardo

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• native
• american
• indian
• first
• nation
• agriculture
• permaculture
• eco
• green
• organic
• environment
• gardening
• plants
• indigenous
• native american

[MrJuicemon]

Permaculture is a design ethic. Its new, but in its application it borrows from studies on traditional systems. Even if it looks like permaculture it isn't necessarily so.

[dailydols]

@dailydols heard of "terra preta" ? :-D

[dailydols]

heart of "terra preta" ?

[patamaracillo]

i agree with littlelumpos.... it's my understanding from the history courses i took... that the hunter-gathering/horticulture are waaay less labor-intensive and healthier for the environment (i.e. better) than what most consider to be agriculture... i'm not saying anything negative about the tribes of the NW, only that a move toward full-on agriculture simply does not imply progress...

[sookiestackhouse2u]

Nice work, Heidi ....

[littlelumpos]

Nice video. My only suggestion is to examine your language (both Ms. Bohan and the author of the video description). "Advanced," "primitive," "beyond" - all of these terms are steeped in cultural meaning, conflating everything old with "simplicity," i.e. backwardness, and everything new with "progress," i.e. improvement. Hunter-gatherer lifestyles were, and are, rich in both complexity and value.

[ahnamay]

Excellent info--thanks, Heidi and Paul!

[vention4wh]

As the Europeans moved west they found a mostly empty land because the plagues of Europe swept the land clear of people and left it open for settlement. Guess you could say that our diseases did most of the conquering of this land, and the carriers inherited it afterward.

[GetMeThere1]

Oh...everybody thinks Indians were so great. Heck, they probably filled THEIR dumps up with megatons of petro-plastics and industrial chemicals TOO! ;)

[hbohan08]

Great stuff Paul, thank you!