Having not heard back from our landlords in response to our letter (nothing in today's mail...), we have discussed amongst ourselves what our strategy will be and wanted to share it prior to our open day on Sunday. We feel it is important that those coming in support know all the details of how we are approaching this, i.e., of what it is that they are supporting. We are also concerned to make it clear that we do not view this as in any way a 'fight' or 'struggle' or 'conflict' between ourselves and our landlords. We do not wish to disrupt, perturb or complicate their lives in the slightest. We want to discuss this matter with them on friendly terms and reach a mutually agreeable resolution as soon as we possibly can.
At the same time, we are approaching this matter from the perspective of a much bigger picture, a picture that for us is vastly more significant than the details of our particular situation, and, dare we say it, the fate of our particular garden.
This bigger picture informed our decision to grow so much of our food where we live, it informs our desire to continue doing so while we live here, and it informs our desire to explore the
possibility with our landlords of working together towards leaving something more productive than bare lawn behind us when we move on. This bigger picture is big; it has many interconnected aspects. Here is what stands out most for each of us.
CatFor me, the bigger picture is the recurring human pattern of overconsumption which is affecting all life on earth. Our ecological and economic stability are threatened by our insane plundering of resources, of which oil is one - and oviously a big one. Our very climate is being affected by human behaviour, and we are losing ecological diversity every day. At the same time, as a direct result of their disconnection from each other and the land, humans are becoming increasingly depressed and unhealthy. Most people don't know how to feed themselves, have never seen a carrot grow, while we eat commercially produced food full of pesticides and herbicides, and now our food is even being genetically engineered. We are poisoning ourselves and the land. In this situation, what choice is there but to grow food? To dig my hands in the dirt, to feed myself fresh, nourishing food, and to share this experience with others. Gardening brings people together; preparing and eating food is an act of sharing. I feel that growing food is a vital necessary act if we are to change our destructive lifestyle.DanI believe that we are face to face with an energy crisis that has been described as a historical turning point for humankind. As David Holmgren, Adam Fenderson and Tim Winton have pointed out in their letters of support, available evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that global production of conventional oil is at its peak.
The implications of what has become known as 'peak oil' for our way of life cannot be overstated.
Higher prices at the petrol pump are only the beginning. All the goods, services, and facilities we rely on are massively dependent on oil, from rubbish collection through purchased food to golf balls. We have been living for a long time as if we had an unlimited energy budget. With peak oil comes the realisation, one way or another, that our energy budget is limited, and that the sooner we start living within this limit, the smoother our transition though this historical turning point will be.
These are not the assertions of a whacky minority. These assertions are being made in Time Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Times, Chevron Oil Corporation, The United States Administration, The Board of Supervisors of the city Of San Francisco, and so it goes on. To engage with the available evidence is to conclude that this is happening, and that this is happening now.AdrianFor me, producing your own food is not about peak oil. Oil production peaking I see as an economic crisis which has social impacts (like wars over oil reserves) but still I see it as a blessing – catalysing the transition forward (or back) to sustainable systems. My motivations are primarily socio-environmental. In no time at all, humans have squandered the priceless natural services of wilderness and replaced it with resource-hungry industrial and ornamental dysfunction whilst losing their spiritual and functional connections with the earth and each other.
I believe we are now facing our biggest challenge to date: To rapidly relearn to live sustainably and cooperatively in the increasingly hostile environmental, social, political and economic situation we are busily creating for ourselves. Appropriate technologies and clever stewardship of our Earth can simultaneously provide for our food, medicine, water, energy, structural materials, clothing, entertainment, spirituality and other material and non-material needs. By becoming producers of such things - instead of waste - and in seeking out and sharing solutions with those around us we're meeting that challenge.Within the context of this bigger picture, we believe that it would be a tragedy to destroy any demonstration of how a suburban household can grow a good deal of its own food. Within a few years, we believe such demonstrations will be seen by all as crucial resources in helping communities adapt to the inevitable consequences of peak oil. We believe that suburban and urban residents, be they tenants or not, urgently need to start growing more of their food where they live. We believe that having a productive suburban food garden removed on the basis that it constitutes a "loss or damage" to a property will be looked back on in future years with nothing short of profound disbelief.
That said, we appreciate that our landlords don't necessarily share this bigger picture, and we stand by the two proposals we made in responding to the notice to tenants we received on Monday April 24 (neither of which involved money changing hands). These two proposals were:
(1) We work together with the landlords to move together towards a productive low-maintenance garden based around perennial trees and shrubs (see below quote from Bill Mollison for more details).
(2) We agree, as previously verbally agreed but now if necessary in writing, that we will take our garden with us when we leave and re-establish lawn, as we understand we are legally obligated to do so.
In the interests of resolving this matter swiftly, and in ignorance of what our landlords have made of our first two proposals, we have now opted to make a third proposal, should neither of the above prove acceptable to the landlords:
(3) We raise and set aside in a dedicated third-party account an amount that we, as permaculture designers, estimate would be required to 'reverse engineer' the garden prior to terminating our tenancy: To carefully remove the plant systems we have set up, and to leave the garden in a state acceptable to the landlords, be that bare lawn, or, we sincerely hope, something more productive and less energetically (and ecologically) irresponsible. Here, rather than the plants we have lovingly tended becoming landfill, the plants would go both to the food gardens of our gardening friends in the local community and to our own future garden or gardens. In addition, the process would be carried out with utmost care and respect for the land upon which our garden currently stands.
Here, however, is where we have decided to draw the line. We are not prepared to meet the landlord's original demand that we hand over the sum of $2,100 for the express purpose of having the garden leveled, trashed, and replanted with lawn using of commercial weedkillers to suppress unwanted growback, to paraphrase the lawn contractor quoting that figure. We would consider this course of action unethical.
We believe we are being more than reasonable in what we are proposing here. We hope that visitors to this site and all those who have offered their support agree. We only hope that the landlords will make contact with us soon so we can move this thing towards the win-win positive outcome we are confident is possible.
All our best and looking forward to a great day on Sunday, celebrating our garden for what it is - a positive response to global and national energy realities, a source of healthy fresh food, and a source of great enjoyment for us, our community, and all the fellow creatures we share it with,
The Thomas Street Crew
http://thomasstreet.info/
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"Within this decade, productive food gardens may become a rental market asset while water and resource consuming lawns may be seen as socially irresponsible and undesirable. I strongly encourage the landlord of this rental property to negotiate with the tenants and recognize the market opportunities which could flow from this improvement to the property. Local and state governments should reduce the impediments and facilitate the spread of these positive examples of householders taking responsibility for their own needs in a socially and environmentally desirable way" (David Holmgren, co-originator of the permaculture concept)
“It is now probable that the lawn cultures of affluent nations use more water, fertilizer, fossil fuels, biocides, and person-hours than either gardens or the formal broadscale agriculture of that country… To reform the lawn, new permaculture businesses are evolving, using natural (non-irrigated) ground covers, berry and small fruit shrubberies (salal, blueberry, cranberry), flowering meadows of native bulbs and perennials, copses of small trees, ponds, marsh or fen area, and rock gardens or speciality gardens of perennials. Even vegetable gardens are slowly becoming more respectable as values change from the production of waste to the production of food for the home” (Bill Mollison, the other co-originator of the permaculture concept)
"Permaculture gardens are part of a vision of a greener, healthier, happier vision of sustainable suburbia. To say we need positive visions for a time of energy crises can not be overstated. Through self-education, skill-sharing, active community building, sustainable small business, and urban food production, the occupants of Thomas Street, Clayton are essentially building a lifeline to the future" (Adam Fenderson, founder and co-editor of EnergyBulletin.net)
