00:00:00.485 --> 00:00:02.521
- [Voiceover] In the news, California

00:00:02.521 --> 00:00:04.856
often grabs the headlines.

00:00:04.856 --> 00:00:08.694
The agriculture is suffering
from a lack of water,

00:00:08.694 --> 00:00:13.055
and farms are being abandoned
at an alarming rate.

00:00:13.055 --> 00:00:14.524
But some people seem to have

00:00:14.524 --> 00:00:16.338
found a solution.

00:00:20.598 --> 00:00:22.398
- I'm Erik Ohlsen.

00:00:22.398 --> 00:00:25.744
I am permaculture designer, educator,

00:00:25.744 --> 00:00:27.746
and small business owner,

00:00:27.746 --> 00:00:30.048
and I run two organizations,

00:00:30.048 --> 00:00:31.749
one called Permaculture Artisans,

00:00:31.749 --> 00:00:35.854
we're a professional landscape
design contracting company,

00:00:35.854 --> 00:00:37.656
and a second organization called

00:00:37.656 --> 00:00:39.525
the Permaculture Skills Center,

00:00:39.525 --> 00:00:41.660
which is a vocational training school

00:00:41.660 --> 00:00:43.478
and business integrator.

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- [Voiceover] Now there's
less snow to store the water

00:00:47.665 --> 00:00:50.150
in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

00:00:51.103 --> 00:00:53.705
According to the US Drought Monitor,

00:00:53.705 --> 00:00:56.174
the states that are at risk for drought

00:00:56.174 --> 00:01:00.027
and severe droughts are in
the Western United States.

00:01:04.817 --> 00:01:08.102
- Right now, the Central Valley
is drying up like a prune.

00:01:09.020 --> 00:01:13.626
The soils cannot provide for
the agricultural production

00:01:13.626 --> 00:01:14.909
any longer.

00:01:15.827 --> 00:01:19.196
We need to find a will and we
need to find the investment

00:01:19.196 --> 00:01:22.668
now to transition to ecological practices

00:01:22.668 --> 00:01:24.636
or there will be no agricultural economy

00:01:24.636 --> 00:01:26.354
in California in the future.

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- [Voiceover] In the
milieu of permaculture,

00:01:30.175 --> 00:01:33.311
they believe droughts
don't have to necessarily

00:01:33.311 --> 00:01:34.913
lead to disasters.

00:01:34.913 --> 00:01:39.045
(somber music)

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According to Erik Ohlsen, we can do more

00:01:49.928 --> 00:01:52.080
with the water California has.

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- We design systems that catch
and infiltrate the water.

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For instance, often
permacultures talk about these

00:02:01.138 --> 00:02:05.409
swale systems, and a swale
is essentially a big ditch

00:02:05.409 --> 00:02:06.545
that's on contour.

00:02:06.545 --> 00:02:08.713
So that means that every
point along the bottom

00:02:08.713 --> 00:02:11.884
of that ditch is the same elevation.

00:02:11.884 --> 00:02:15.654
So when it rains and
water fills up that swale,

00:02:15.654 --> 00:02:18.189
it actually fills up like a bathtub.

00:02:18.189 --> 00:02:20.992
And what happens is, the
water has an opportunity

00:02:20.992 --> 00:02:23.561
to soak down into the soil.

00:02:23.561 --> 00:02:26.698
For instance, a lot of
industrial agriculture systems

00:02:26.698 --> 00:02:29.702
end up creating a crustification
on the surface of the soil

00:02:29.702 --> 00:02:33.105
through overplowing and over tracking

00:02:33.105 --> 00:02:34.640
with machines and such.

00:02:34.640 --> 00:02:37.575
So what happens in that
scenario is then when it rains

00:02:37.575 --> 00:02:40.179
the water just hits the surface,
it can't get into the soil,

00:02:40.179 --> 00:02:41.580
so it washes off.

00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:44.582
So our goal is to create these
opportunities for the water

00:02:44.582 --> 00:02:47.085
to actually infiltrate into the ground.

00:02:47.085 --> 00:02:49.469
Now, depending on your soil ecosystems,

00:02:51.019 --> 00:02:54.326
whether you have sandy
soil or a loan or clay,

00:02:54.326 --> 00:02:57.695
a lot of different
approaches will be necessary.

00:02:57.695 --> 00:03:00.099
That's one of the beauties
of applying permaculture

00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:04.035
is that we don't look at solutions

00:03:04.035 --> 00:03:07.589
in a one-size-fits-all approach.

00:03:08.473 --> 00:03:11.443
- [Voiceover] Many permaculture
farmers and educators

00:03:11.443 --> 00:03:14.062
have established projects
around the world.

00:03:15.413 --> 00:03:17.882
Generally, in this part of Jordan,

00:03:17.882 --> 00:03:20.485
there's almost no rainfall.

00:03:20.485 --> 00:03:24.838
Temperatures in August are
over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

00:03:25.924 --> 00:03:29.628
The local farmers are typically
farming under plastic,

00:03:29.628 --> 00:03:33.715
spray pesticides, and use
industrial fertilizers.

00:03:36.268 --> 00:03:39.103
Here there are too many grazing animals

00:03:39.103 --> 00:03:41.622
stripping the land from its vegetation.

00:03:43.642 --> 00:03:47.078
So Geoff Lawton designed a 10-acre system

00:03:47.078 --> 00:03:50.214
that would harvest almost
every single raindrop

00:03:50.214 --> 00:03:54.258
that fell on it with a
1 1/2 kilometer swale.

00:03:54.258 --> 00:03:56.921
When the rain falls, one
million liters of water

00:03:56.921 --> 00:04:00.058
are soaking into the landscape
and filling the swale

00:04:00.058 --> 00:04:02.209
a few times throughout the winter.

00:04:07.164 --> 00:04:09.401
They mulched with organic matter,

00:04:09.401 --> 00:04:11.769
half a meter deep and two meters wide,

00:04:11.769 --> 00:04:13.888
on each side of the swale.

00:04:17.976 --> 00:04:21.762
Then, they put micro irrigation
underneath the mulch.

00:04:24.515 --> 00:04:26.617
In addition, they started to plant

00:04:26.617 --> 00:04:29.421
the local pioneer desert trees for shade

00:04:29.421 --> 00:04:31.472
and to reduce evaporation.

00:04:32.790 --> 00:04:36.144
The root structured the
soil and provided nitrogen.

00:04:39.898 --> 00:04:41.833
And on the other side of the swale,

00:04:41.833 --> 00:04:45.504
date, fig, pomegranates,
guavas, and mulberries

00:04:45.504 --> 00:04:47.522
and citrus trees are added.

00:04:51.109 --> 00:04:53.978
Within four months,
the system was starting

00:04:53.978 --> 00:04:55.730
to produce fruit.

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- Land restoration is vital
on planet Earth right now.

00:05:01.486 --> 00:05:04.054
So many of our ecosystems
have been damaged

00:05:04.054 --> 00:05:06.925
due to human land use patterns.

00:05:06.925 --> 00:05:09.560
What happens with a damaged ecosystem

00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:13.134
is that ecological services
that it provides that community,

00:05:13.134 --> 00:05:16.868
whether it be plants, animals, or humans,

00:05:16.868 --> 00:05:19.338
become less abundant.

00:05:19.338 --> 00:05:22.507
It's difficult to put a price
on things like clean water.

00:05:22.507 --> 00:05:25.511
It's difficult to put a price
on things like clean air

00:05:25.511 --> 00:05:27.145
and a healthy watershed.

00:05:27.145 --> 00:05:30.749
Our human culture has
become quite disconnected

00:05:30.749 --> 00:05:33.518
with essentially what we might consider

00:05:33.518 --> 00:05:36.487
as free resources or services

00:05:36.487 --> 00:05:38.673
that the environment provides for us.

00:05:40.058 --> 00:05:41.710
That time is over.

00:05:42.893 --> 00:05:46.764
Cllmate crisis is in full effect

00:05:46.764 --> 00:05:49.301
and it's absolutely having

00:05:49.301 --> 00:05:51.802
an effect on the health and
safety of our communities

00:05:51.802 --> 00:05:52.988
around this planet.

00:05:54.205 --> 00:05:57.208
There's a good side to this,
and that good side is this.

00:05:57.208 --> 00:06:01.214
The ability to restore
our ecosystems is also

00:06:01.214 --> 00:06:04.749
an opportunity to transition our economy

00:06:04.749 --> 00:06:07.484
from one that his damaging and destructive

00:06:07.484 --> 00:06:10.655
of our environment to
one that can restore it.

00:06:10.655 --> 00:06:14.042
We can actually develop new job markets,

00:06:14.993 --> 00:06:17.528
new opportunities

00:06:17.528 --> 00:06:21.231
to provide for social benefit

00:06:21.231 --> 00:06:23.701
by restoring our ecosystems.

00:06:23.701 --> 00:06:26.404
I believe the water crisis in California

00:06:26.404 --> 00:06:29.674
has been framed, from
a crisis point of view,

00:06:29.674 --> 00:06:33.444
and while we certainly are
in a long term drought,

00:06:33.444 --> 00:06:36.982
we also have incredible water
abundance even in a drought.

00:06:36.982 --> 00:06:39.350
For instance, here in Northern California

00:06:39.350 --> 00:06:42.386
right where we are now,
we've got around 20 inches

00:06:42.386 --> 00:06:44.456
of rain this year, which is about half

00:06:44.456 --> 00:06:46.657
of a normal rain year.

00:06:46.657 --> 00:06:50.595
But if you put it into
perspective, one inch of rain

00:06:50.595 --> 00:06:55.033
over one acre, is 27,000 gallons of water.

00:06:55.033 --> 00:06:59.870
So in a 20 inch year, we
have hundreds of thousands

00:06:59.870 --> 00:07:02.940
of gallons of potentially
harvestable water

00:07:02.940 --> 00:07:06.110
right here in these landscapes.

00:07:06.110 --> 00:07:10.864
So while we are in a drought,
we need to reframe the crisis

00:07:11.849 --> 00:07:13.317
in terms of the real crisis,

00:07:13.317 --> 00:07:15.620
and that is it's a runoff crisis.

00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:20.040
So these are situations
that we have solutions to,

00:07:20.925 --> 00:07:23.394
solutions that we can implement today

00:07:23.394 --> 00:07:27.398
through what we call a slow it,
spread it, sink it approach.

00:07:27.398 --> 00:07:31.903
Greywater is very important
factor in how we move

00:07:31.903 --> 00:07:34.105
into a water abundant future.

00:07:34.105 --> 00:07:36.507
Here in the United States
humans use on average

00:07:36.507 --> 00:07:38.842
100 gallons per person per day.

00:07:38.842 --> 00:07:41.212
And much of that water gets
wasted and goes right into

00:07:41.212 --> 00:07:43.015
our sewer systems, our drainage systems,

00:07:43.015 --> 00:07:44.416
and out to the ocean.

00:07:44.416 --> 00:07:46.984
Imagine all of that water that

00:07:46.984 --> 00:07:49.988
is used in our homes,

00:07:49.988 --> 00:07:53.991
through washing, through
bathing, through laundry,

00:07:53.991 --> 00:07:56.594
gets reused directly into our landscapes,

00:07:56.594 --> 00:07:58.863
gets converted directly into fruit,

00:07:58.863 --> 00:08:01.400
gets converted directly into habitat,

00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:03.483
converted directly into soil.

00:08:04.735 --> 00:08:06.801
In my opinion,

00:08:06.801 --> 00:08:09.921
this is a no-brainer solution

00:08:09.921 --> 00:08:12.943
that we can implement immediately.

00:08:12.943 --> 00:08:16.914
There's absolutely no reason
why we can't implement

00:08:16.914 --> 00:08:19.818
a 100% water reuse program

00:08:19.818 --> 00:08:22.453
in every one of our households today.

00:08:22.453 --> 00:08:25.155
They greywater system that we have here

00:08:25.155 --> 00:08:29.625
is a laundry into the landscape system.

00:08:29.625 --> 00:08:32.363
And it's a very simple passive system.

00:08:32.363 --> 00:08:34.232
It operates on gravity.

00:08:34.232 --> 00:08:38.303
And what happens is, as the
water flows through a pipe,

00:08:38.303 --> 00:08:40.605
that we've set the pipe level,

00:08:40.605 --> 00:08:44.641
and we've put the pipe in
what we call a mulch basin.

00:08:44.641 --> 00:08:47.312
As water comes out of the washing machine,

00:08:47.312 --> 00:08:49.614
it enters into a few different areas.

00:08:49.614 --> 00:08:52.416
We call them surge tanks,
and that allows that water

00:08:52.416 --> 00:08:53.718
to infiltrate right into the ground.

00:08:53.718 --> 00:08:56.720
The water never daylights
so that means that

00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:59.890
we don't see the water,
there's no issue for mosquitoes

00:08:59.890 --> 00:09:02.894
or anything like that, but
the water has the ability

00:09:02.894 --> 00:09:05.162
to just slowly infiltrate into the ground,

00:09:05.162 --> 00:09:07.766
and we've planted this
mulch basin with fruit trees

00:09:07.766 --> 00:09:10.200
and herbaceous plants
so those plants are able

00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:12.402
to directly utilize that
water every single day,

00:09:12.402 --> 00:09:14.672
every time the washing machine goes on.

00:09:14.672 --> 00:09:16.979
So I'm standing here in our mulch basin,

00:09:16.979 --> 00:09:21.462
this long dug out ditch on
contour filled with biomass.

00:09:23.614 --> 00:09:27.452
And every few feet here,
we have these tanks.

00:09:27.452 --> 00:09:29.320
We call them surge tanks.

00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:31.756
It's just a little valve box.

00:09:31.756 --> 00:09:34.292
And the greywater comes through a pipe,

00:09:34.292 --> 00:09:36.660
and in every one of these surge tanks,

00:09:36.660 --> 00:09:40.064
we have a little valve,
and some of that water

00:09:40.064 --> 00:09:43.116
comes into the mulch basin right here,

00:09:44.068 --> 00:09:46.470
in a variety of different locations.

00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:50.825
And these fruit trees and
other herbaceous plants

00:09:51.909 --> 00:09:56.147
are able to utilize all of
that wonderful greywater,

00:09:56.147 --> 00:10:00.000
nutrient rich, day-to-day resource.

00:10:00.951 --> 00:10:03.187
- [Voiceover] To reuse the
water from your laundry machine,

00:10:03.187 --> 00:10:06.509
it is better to choose a
green detergent sodium free.

00:10:09.695 --> 00:10:14.115
(ominous music)

00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:22.606
We're back in Jordan.

00:10:22.606 --> 00:10:25.175
Here Geoff Lawton has worked on several

00:10:25.175 --> 00:10:28.614
of permaculture projects using greywater,

00:10:28.614 --> 00:10:30.881
different water harvesting methods,

00:10:30.881 --> 00:10:35.119
fruit forests, kitchen
gardens, mulch, and compost.

00:10:35.119 --> 00:10:38.639
The quality of the soil is always central.

00:10:40.357 --> 00:10:43.896
If people living in a country
of dry land can arrive

00:10:43.896 --> 00:10:48.532
to this level of abundance
with so few resources,

00:10:48.532 --> 00:10:50.784
what a rich country will be able to do.

00:10:59.277 --> 00:11:00.844
- So here you go.

00:11:00.844 --> 00:11:04.081
You can change that into this

00:11:04.081 --> 00:11:08.552
and you can truly solve
all the world's problems

00:11:08.552 --> 00:11:10.454
in a garden.

00:11:10.454 --> 00:11:12.490
- [Voiceover] In California, the rainfalls

00:11:12.490 --> 00:11:15.393
are still more important than in Jordan.

00:11:15.393 --> 00:11:17.928
Water catchment systems like this one

00:11:17.928 --> 00:11:19.930
can be very helpful.

00:11:19.930 --> 00:11:22.332
- What happens is, as the
water comes off of the roof

00:11:22.332 --> 00:11:25.070
of the house, it first goes
through a sediment filter

00:11:25.070 --> 00:11:27.138
to ensure that leaves and debris and such

00:11:27.138 --> 00:11:29.308
don't get into the tank,

00:11:29.308 --> 00:11:32.477
and then it goes into what's
called a first flush system.

00:11:32.477 --> 00:11:36.548
The first flush is a large
pipe with a ball inside,

00:11:36.548 --> 00:11:39.617
just a children's juggling ball inside.

00:11:39.617 --> 00:11:43.120
And so what happens is as the
water flows into that pipe,

00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:47.692
it fills this chamber up with
what we call the first flush.

00:11:47.692 --> 00:11:51.661
The ball inside the pipe
rises as the chamber fills

00:11:51.661 --> 00:11:54.298
with water, and when
the ball reaches the top

00:11:54.298 --> 00:11:57.036
of the chamber, it shuts the chamber off,

00:11:57.036 --> 00:11:59.437
and water is able to enter into the tank.

00:11:59.437 --> 00:12:00.924
Now the reason why this is so important,

00:12:00.924 --> 00:12:03.523
especially in California, is because

00:12:03.523 --> 00:12:06.336
we get rain in events.

00:12:06.336 --> 00:12:09.179
So we don't have one steady few months

00:12:09.179 --> 00:12:10.948
where we have a little bit
of rain every single day.

00:12:10.948 --> 00:12:13.184
We'll get a large rain
event and then we may have

00:12:13.184 --> 00:12:14.652
two or three weeks of sun,

00:12:14.652 --> 00:12:16.854
and then we'll get
another large rain event.

00:12:16.854 --> 00:12:20.158
And during those breaks in between storms,

00:12:20.158 --> 00:12:24.029
the roof of our house can
get dirt and dust and debris

00:12:24.029 --> 00:12:25.996
and such, and we don't want those things

00:12:25.996 --> 00:12:29.567
to go into our tank and
sedimentize the tank,

00:12:29.567 --> 00:12:32.070
so we have this first flush device

00:12:32.070 --> 00:12:35.239
that takes all that first washed water,

00:12:35.239 --> 00:12:38.009
the water that washes
the roof at the beginning

00:12:38.009 --> 00:12:41.112
of the storm, and it
separates it from the tank.

00:12:41.112 --> 00:12:43.715
Now we like to create systems
that are very automatic,

00:12:43.715 --> 00:12:47.819
so our first flush system
has a valve at the bottom.

00:12:47.819 --> 00:12:50.821
And we open that valve
just a little tiny bit

00:12:50.821 --> 00:12:53.724
so that when it rains,
it fills the chamber up

00:12:53.724 --> 00:12:56.228
in a quick rain event,
fills our tank, and then,

00:12:56.228 --> 00:13:00.364
when the storm passes,
the water slowly drips out

00:13:00.364 --> 00:13:03.667
of the first flush and resets
the ball down at the bottom

00:13:03.667 --> 00:13:06.671
and now the first flush system
is ready for the next storm.

00:13:06.671 --> 00:13:09.373
It's almost a zero maintenance system,

00:13:09.373 --> 00:13:12.076
and the amount of water that we can catch

00:13:12.076 --> 00:13:14.279
is absolutely amazing.

00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:18.283
One inch of rain on
1,000 square feet of roof

00:13:18.283 --> 00:13:20.885
equals 635 gallons of water.

00:13:20.885 --> 00:13:24.689
So in a 20 inch rain event,
on a 1000 square foot roof,

00:13:24.689 --> 00:13:26.457
there's tens of thousands
of gallons of water

00:13:26.457 --> 00:13:28.142
that we can actually catch and store.

00:13:30.896 --> 00:13:32.998
We actually need to just
turn all of our landscapes

00:13:32.998 --> 00:13:36.568
into large infiltration
systems and absorption systems.

00:13:36.568 --> 00:13:38.836
There's a variety of
techniques that we utilize

00:13:38.836 --> 00:13:39.970
in doing that.

00:13:39.970 --> 00:13:43.474
One are these contour swale systems.

00:13:43.474 --> 00:13:47.611
There's also another technique
we use called a rain garden,

00:13:47.611 --> 00:13:50.415
which is essentially a
shallow pit that allows water

00:13:50.415 --> 00:13:52.215
to infiltrate into the ground.

00:13:52.215 --> 00:13:54.685
Rain gardens are great
for urban environments

00:13:54.685 --> 00:13:58.088
because they have the highest
surface-to-volume ratio

00:13:58.088 --> 00:13:59.456
because they're circular.

00:13:59.456 --> 00:14:01.559
So you can infiltrate
a large amount of water

00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:03.261
in a small space.

00:14:03.261 --> 00:14:06.330
As well, there's times where
we actually look at terracing

00:14:06.330 --> 00:14:09.901
an entire property depending
on the soil structure,

00:14:09.901 --> 00:14:13.364
the various situations that
influence our decision there.

00:14:14.237 --> 00:14:16.707
In the end, it's all
about slowing water down

00:14:16.707 --> 00:14:19.009
and allowing the land to absorb it.

00:14:19.009 --> 00:14:23.380
Often what goes unspoken
is the soil's ability

00:14:23.380 --> 00:14:25.615
to hold and absorb water itself.

00:14:25.615 --> 00:14:28.086
So while we talk a lot
about infiltration systems

00:14:28.086 --> 00:14:30.154
and rain gardens and terraces,

00:14:30.154 --> 00:14:34.560
it's equally as important
to build our topsoil

00:14:34.560 --> 00:14:37.996
in such a way that it
actually acts like a sponge.

00:14:37.996 --> 00:14:40.797
And we literally can turn
every single landscape

00:14:40.797 --> 00:14:43.166
into a huge water sponge.

00:14:43.166 --> 00:14:46.204
Think about if you took a
house sponge and you got it wet

00:14:46.204 --> 00:14:49.673
with water, and then you
squeeze that water out.

00:14:49.673 --> 00:14:51.776
It's a significant amount of water

00:14:51.776 --> 00:14:55.847
that a material that acts
like a sponge is able to hold

00:14:55.847 --> 00:14:57.215
and capture.

00:14:57.215 --> 00:15:00.484
So if we take the surface
of all of our landscapes

00:15:00.484 --> 00:15:03.855
and we build soil through
the application of compost

00:15:03.855 --> 00:15:08.126
and other organic matter
like mulch, leaves,

00:15:08.126 --> 00:15:10.762
plant debris, woody debris,

00:15:10.762 --> 00:15:13.832
all of these resuses

00:15:13.832 --> 00:15:17.034
of what some may consider waste

00:15:17.034 --> 00:15:19.770
actually help build our soil.

00:15:19.770 --> 00:15:23.408
For instance, what we often
see in an urban environment

00:15:23.408 --> 00:15:26.144
is people cleaning up
all the fallen leaves

00:15:26.144 --> 00:15:27.778
from their deciduous trees,

00:15:27.778 --> 00:15:30.447
bagging them up in black plastic bags,

00:15:30.447 --> 00:15:33.284
and in many communities
that goes to the garbage

00:15:33.284 --> 00:15:35.787
or it might go to a compost facility

00:15:35.787 --> 00:15:37.222
and then turned into compost.

00:15:37.222 --> 00:15:40.563
But those leaves are part of

00:15:40.563 --> 00:15:44.662
the cycle in which our plant

00:15:44.662 --> 00:15:49.233
community actually replenishes
the soil with biomass,

00:15:49.233 --> 00:15:52.536
with material that worms and bacteria

00:15:52.536 --> 00:15:56.040
and other microorganisms
consume, these organisms

00:15:56.040 --> 00:15:58.375
actually create topsoil.

00:15:58.375 --> 00:16:02.312
The goal is to move our
soil into soil that has

00:16:02.312 --> 00:16:05.016
a high volume of humus.

00:16:05.016 --> 00:16:09.653
Humus is the fully
decomposed organic matter,

00:16:09.653 --> 00:16:12.694
and humus has an incredible ability

00:16:12.694 --> 00:16:16.553
to absorb water and hold
water into the dry season.

00:16:17.528 --> 00:16:20.765
We often don't know what to
do with our woody debris.

00:16:20.765 --> 00:16:23.591
When we have large trees
that have to come down

00:16:24.711 --> 00:16:27.072
in urban communities,
often they're managing

00:16:27.072 --> 00:16:30.242
urban treescapes and a
lot of that material again

00:16:30.242 --> 00:16:32.193
becomes quote, unquote, waste.

00:16:33.310 --> 00:16:37.147
We like to incorporate a lot
of the systems I've described

00:16:37.147 --> 00:16:40.718
into very dynamic diverse type systems.

00:16:40.718 --> 00:16:43.522
And what I mean by that is
let's say we dig a ditch

00:16:43.522 --> 00:16:47.268
on coutour, a swale system
like we've discussed before,

00:16:47.268 --> 00:16:49.094
we can actually take our woody debris,

00:16:49.094 --> 00:16:50.927
the logs and material we
don't know what to do with

00:16:50.927 --> 00:16:53.815
and we can put it into
these contour ditches.

00:16:54.766 --> 00:16:58.036
Then we can cover that
woody debris with mulch.

00:16:58.036 --> 00:17:01.438
So what happens is we don't
see this ugly material,

00:17:01.438 --> 00:17:03.540
most people don't find it very aesthetic,

00:17:03.540 --> 00:17:06.493
but when it does rain, the water

00:17:07.678 --> 00:17:11.583
soaks all of this woody
debris in such a way

00:17:11.583 --> 00:17:15.186
where the woody debris
actually turns into a sponge,

00:17:15.186 --> 00:17:16.987
it absorbs that water,

00:17:16.987 --> 00:17:20.190
and as our stormy wet season goes by

00:17:20.190 --> 00:17:21.959
and we move into our dry season,

00:17:21.959 --> 00:17:25.162
here in California we have
a very long dry season,

00:17:25.162 --> 00:17:28.366
that water is actually held
in the woody debris itself

00:17:28.366 --> 00:17:32.704
and becomes accessible to plant
communities planted nearby.

00:17:32.704 --> 00:17:34.972
I like to call these carbon sponges.

00:17:34.972 --> 00:17:39.089
(water rushing)

00:17:42.714 --> 00:17:45.750
Ponds are a great element to incorporate

00:17:45.750 --> 00:17:47.851
into any landscape or farm.

00:17:47.851 --> 00:17:50.488
They're a really good
representation of this principle

00:17:50.488 --> 00:17:54.391
we use in permaculture which
is called stacking functions.

00:17:54.391 --> 00:17:58.329
That means that for every
element that we place in a system

00:17:58.329 --> 00:18:01.699
it provides multiple
functions for that system.

00:18:01.699 --> 00:18:04.300
For example, a pond can be used

00:18:04.300 --> 00:18:06.119
to catch and store rainwater.

00:18:07.303 --> 00:18:09.907
Again one inch of rainwater over one acre

00:18:09.907 --> 00:18:12.077
equals 27,000 gallons.

00:18:12.077 --> 00:18:15.912
So the ability to catch and
store all of the winter rain

00:18:15.912 --> 00:18:19.283
in tanks is usually not
feasible for most people

00:18:19.283 --> 00:18:21.219
because tanks are very expensive.

00:18:21.219 --> 00:18:24.754
Ponds, on the other hand,
can be a lot cheaper

00:18:24.754 --> 00:18:27.791
to install and their ability
to catch and store water

00:18:27.791 --> 00:18:28.959
is much greater.

00:18:28.959 --> 00:18:31.262
We can actually catch and
store millions of gallons

00:18:31.262 --> 00:18:33.163
of water through surface ponds.

00:18:33.163 --> 00:18:35.865
Ponds are a great water storage system.

00:18:35.865 --> 00:18:38.735
But we gain a lot of other
benefit from doing that.

00:18:38.735 --> 00:18:41.938
See, in the dry season here in California,

00:18:41.938 --> 00:18:44.809
one issue we have is that habitat,

00:18:44.809 --> 00:18:47.443
habitat that actually
helps manage our gardens,

00:18:47.443 --> 00:18:50.647
landscapes and farms,
lizards, salamanders,

00:18:50.647 --> 00:18:54.385
snakes, birds, bees, frogs, and insects,

00:18:54.385 --> 00:18:56.687
they all need water to survive.

00:18:56.687 --> 00:18:58.389
And if we don't provide
them with some sort

00:18:58.389 --> 00:19:00.391
of water source in the dry season,

00:19:00.391 --> 00:19:03.060
then they're not able
to thrive, stick around,

00:19:03.060 --> 00:19:04.462
and provide all the other benefits

00:19:04.462 --> 00:19:06.998
that they provide for our ecosystems.

00:19:06.998 --> 00:19:10.467
Ponds provide a whole variety
of different benefits.

00:19:10.467 --> 00:19:13.971
For example, a large pond can become

00:19:13.971 --> 00:19:18.041
a safety backup in case of fire.

00:19:18.041 --> 00:19:20.611
So essentially what that
means, if the fire department

00:19:20.611 --> 00:19:23.814
or CAL FIRE know that you have
a large enough surface pond

00:19:23.814 --> 00:19:27.518
that they can dip a helicopter
catchment device in,

00:19:27.518 --> 00:19:29.686
they'll utilize that in fighting fires,

00:19:29.686 --> 00:19:32.956
and this generally helps
for defensible space.

00:19:32.956 --> 00:19:35.359
So that's one really great benefit

00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:37.461
especially in the more rural communities.

00:19:37.461 --> 00:19:39.597
Ponds also have this amazing ability

00:19:39.597 --> 00:19:41.298
to manage microclimates.

00:19:41.298 --> 00:19:43.734
See, water has the
properties of thermal mass

00:19:43.734 --> 00:19:46.192
so, during the day when the sun is out,

00:19:46.192 --> 00:19:48.439
water actually absorbs heat.

00:19:48.439 --> 00:19:50.374
And at nighttime when the sun goes down,

00:19:50.374 --> 00:19:53.911
it radiates that heat out into
the environment around it.

00:19:53.911 --> 00:19:58.381
So we will often, if we
want to grow citrus trees

00:19:58.381 --> 00:20:01.886
in a cool climate, or other
frost-sensitive plants,

00:20:01.886 --> 00:20:04.387
we'll look to either implementing ponds

00:20:04.387 --> 00:20:07.625
or utilizing existing ponds as a way to

00:20:07.625 --> 00:20:09.359
just get a little benefit.

00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.895
It's not a huge benefit, but incorporated

00:20:11.895 --> 00:20:15.332
with a few other microclimate
moderation techniques,

00:20:15.332 --> 00:20:18.336
we can usually create
a scenario where plants

00:20:18.336 --> 00:20:20.571
that wouldn't thrive
anywhere else in a landscape,

00:20:20.571 --> 00:20:22.507
can actually thrive near a pond.

00:20:22.507 --> 00:20:24.475
The additional benefit is that ponds

00:20:24.475 --> 00:20:25.943
also reflect light.

00:20:25.943 --> 00:20:29.780
So if you have particular
plants that need a lot

00:20:29.780 --> 00:20:32.616
of light and heat to ripen the fruit on,

00:20:32.616 --> 00:20:34.919
you can actually place those near a pond.

00:20:34.919 --> 00:20:36.854
And during the day, when the sun is out,

00:20:36.854 --> 00:20:39.256
you can get a lot of reflective
light onto that plant,

00:20:39.256 --> 00:20:41.225
and it actually ripens
your fruit a lot faster.

00:20:41.225 --> 00:20:45.045
(water rippling)

00:20:47.565 --> 00:20:49.566
So water comes off of the gutter,

00:20:49.566 --> 00:20:51.435
off the roof of the house here,

00:20:51.435 --> 00:20:53.371
goes into this sediment filter.

00:20:53.371 --> 00:20:56.640
This allows us to filter
out all of the little bit

00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:57.907
of sediment here,

00:20:57.907 --> 00:21:00.427
comes in here to a first flush system,

00:21:01.312 --> 00:21:05.066
goes down and right into the pond there.

00:21:05.066 --> 00:21:07.017
And when this pond overflows,

00:21:07.017 --> 00:21:08.786
it overflows into a
swale system over there

00:21:08.786 --> 00:21:11.688
under the apple tree which
hydrates that whole landscape.

00:21:11.688 --> 00:21:16.019
(water rippling)

00:21:20.864 --> 00:21:23.133
- [Voiceover] In the
milieu of permaculture,

00:21:23.133 --> 00:21:26.102
the pond is generally considered to be one

00:21:26.102 --> 00:21:29.541
of the best integrated
pest management systems.

00:21:29.541 --> 00:21:33.243
It attracts beneficial
insects and provides homes

00:21:33.243 --> 00:21:36.613
for dragonflies, frogs, salamanders,

00:21:36.613 --> 00:21:40.016
snakes, and lizards, and
they manage the pests

00:21:40.016 --> 00:21:41.419
in your garden.

00:21:41.419 --> 00:21:45.902
(upbeat music)

00:21:52.929 --> 00:21:56.632
In the Permaculture Skills
Center in Sebastopol, California

00:21:56.632 --> 00:21:59.969
this is the Program
Director, Ryan Johnston.

00:21:59.969 --> 00:22:01.370
- This is a relatively new system.

00:22:01.370 --> 00:22:04.108
It was actually replanted
after being reconstructed

00:22:04.108 --> 00:22:05.443
about a week ago and so these plants

00:22:05.443 --> 00:22:06.610
are just taking root again.

00:22:06.610 --> 00:22:08.479
But plants that you
often use in this system

00:22:08.479 --> 00:22:10.481
are both rushes and sedges.

00:22:10.481 --> 00:22:11.949
These two are rushes here.

00:22:11.949 --> 00:22:14.419
We have a cattail over
here in the corner as well,

00:22:14.419 --> 00:22:17.087
and an equisetum, a small
equisetum, down there.

00:22:17.087 --> 00:22:18.722
When choosing plants that
are appropriate for this,

00:22:18.722 --> 00:22:20.657
you want to really make
sure that they don't

00:22:20.657 --> 00:22:22.492
over-colonize your system as a whole

00:22:22.492 --> 00:22:24.794
and so you want to choose mindfully.

00:22:24.794 --> 00:22:26.630
The water is pumped
through that gravel bed

00:22:26.630 --> 00:22:28.164
and beneficial bacteria that are living

00:22:28.164 --> 00:22:30.434
in the roots of these
rushes, purify the water

00:22:30.434 --> 00:22:32.569
before returning it back to the pond.

00:22:32.569 --> 00:22:36.072
This pond system provides
a year-round water source

00:22:36.072 --> 00:22:39.208
for birds and bees and
butterflies, amphibians,

00:22:39.208 --> 00:22:43.213
reptiles, which serve beneficial
function in the garden.

00:22:43.213 --> 00:22:45.615
But the pond itself can
also grow fertility.

00:22:45.615 --> 00:22:47.317
You can harvest these rushes back

00:22:47.317 --> 00:22:48.752
or other plants that are growing,

00:22:48.752 --> 00:22:51.220
turn them into compost
or use them as mulch.

00:22:51.220 --> 00:22:54.124
You can grow food in the system
as well in the form of fish

00:22:54.124 --> 00:22:56.611
or even aquatic plants
such as perhaps wasabi.

00:22:59.097 --> 00:23:01.031
- [Voiceover] In Arizona, Geoff Lawton,

00:23:01.031 --> 00:23:04.701
a permaculture teacher,
explains why a check dam

00:23:04.701 --> 00:23:07.504
can be so useful to harvest water.

00:23:07.504 --> 00:23:09.490
(birds calling)

00:23:12.377 --> 00:23:15.213
- This is a check dam built in the 1930s

00:23:15.213 --> 00:23:17.848
by the Soil Conservation Department.

00:23:17.848 --> 00:23:22.319
And it holds back a silt field.

00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:25.696
It's actually as deep as this canyon is,

00:23:25.696 --> 00:23:27.056
as deep as this wall,

00:23:27.056 --> 00:23:28.826
and you can see at the bottom,

00:23:28.826 --> 00:23:32.229
there are leaking water seeps.

00:23:32.229 --> 00:23:36.583
(upbeat nature music)

00:23:43.573 --> 00:23:46.360
Just at the height of the

00:23:47.343 --> 00:23:49.179
check dam wall here,

00:23:49.179 --> 00:23:52.215
you can see there's a tideline of residue.

00:23:52.215 --> 00:23:55.585
This is organic matter
harvested by the water

00:23:55.585 --> 00:23:57.687
so we're harvesting
water and organic matter

00:23:57.687 --> 00:23:59.222
if we do the right thing.

00:23:59.222 --> 00:24:01.124
And here we can always check these sort of

00:24:01.124 --> 00:24:04.227
drift tidelines to see
how high the water was

00:24:04.227 --> 00:24:08.031
coming across any feature
and this is the top

00:24:08.031 --> 00:24:11.335
of the check dam wall, so
it was about that high.

00:24:11.335 --> 00:24:14.303
No more than six inches of
water spread right across

00:24:14.303 --> 00:24:15.939
the top level edge.

00:24:15.939 --> 00:24:18.308
So just below the
surface of the silt field

00:24:18.308 --> 00:24:21.567
you can see it's obviously more damp.

00:24:21.567 --> 00:24:25.979
The moisture here is
held away from the sun

00:24:25.979 --> 00:24:28.001
resisting evaporation.

00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:31.788
It's only moisture, but it's
all you need in the desert.

00:24:31.788 --> 00:24:33.389
That's all you need for production,

00:24:33.389 --> 00:24:34.841
is that bit of extra moisture.

00:24:40.431 --> 00:24:43.967
Along the edge of the silt
field of the check dam

00:24:43.967 --> 00:24:47.738
and here this acacia, acacia constricta,

00:24:47.738 --> 00:24:50.840
is really in full seed here.

00:24:50.840 --> 00:24:54.844
It's much lusher than
the same species out on

00:24:54.844 --> 00:24:57.013
away from the edge on the drier desert.

00:24:57.013 --> 00:25:01.986
And this is our potential along
the edge of the silt field

00:25:01.986 --> 00:25:05.189
there's a soak going out sideways.

00:25:05.189 --> 00:25:09.293
So we've got lots of of
nitrogen-fixing species here.

00:25:09.293 --> 00:25:12.463
There's lot of dark, rich
mulch underneath this tree.

00:25:12.463 --> 00:25:14.330
There are lots of opportunities to plant

00:25:14.330 --> 00:25:16.967
this whole system into production.

00:25:16.967 --> 00:25:21.004
Organic matter, in fact there's a stone

00:25:21.004 --> 00:25:23.206
in the top of the organic matter mulch.

00:25:23.206 --> 00:25:25.508
That's how strong this water was,

00:25:25.508 --> 00:25:29.095
but it was pacified and it
accumulated organic matter here,

00:25:30.213 --> 00:25:34.618
for our potential to
occupy those edge niches

00:25:34.618 --> 00:25:37.453
and benefit from the designed event.

00:25:37.453 --> 00:25:39.338
(birds calling)

00:25:49.265 --> 00:25:52.569
So here in the second check dam down,

00:25:52.569 --> 00:25:56.439
we've got algae, we've got
more bees drinking and insects

00:25:56.439 --> 00:25:59.293
but we've also got tadpoles from frogs.

00:26:00.311 --> 00:26:03.714
This is a permanent water
source now at surface.

00:26:03.714 --> 00:26:06.851
In fact, there's a large
toad sitting right here

00:26:06.851 --> 00:26:09.769
in the water, right in
the middle of the desert.

00:26:10.954 --> 00:26:11.821
Here he is.

00:26:11.821 --> 00:26:13.056
How ya goin', mate?

00:26:13.056 --> 00:26:17.113
So this could all be put to good use.

00:26:17.961 --> 00:26:22.365
This is definitely a potential.

00:26:22.365 --> 00:26:25.419
So the civil engineering has been put in

00:26:26.703 --> 00:26:28.170
80 years ago.

00:26:28.170 --> 00:26:30.474
Now we need the biological fallout

00:26:30.474 --> 00:26:32.225
to get things really on the move.

00:26:33.609 --> 00:26:37.080
There's a niche species here.

00:26:37.080 --> 00:26:40.484
As soon as we create a niche in nature,

00:26:40.484 --> 00:26:42.118
live moves in.

00:26:42.118 --> 00:26:43.619
There's bees here.

00:26:43.619 --> 00:26:45.755
There's a toad here feeding on the bees.

00:26:45.755 --> 00:26:46.889
There's tadpoles.

00:26:46.889 --> 00:26:48.192
There's algae.

00:26:48.192 --> 00:26:50.994
There's footprints of animals
that have moved in here

00:26:50.994 --> 00:26:52.063
to have a drink.

00:26:52.063 --> 00:26:55.932
There's a whole mixture
of life gathered around

00:26:55.932 --> 00:26:59.286
this water niche which
was created by a rock

00:27:00.904 --> 00:27:02.872
barrage dam here.

00:27:02.872 --> 00:27:06.842
This dam, this barrage
dam, holding back the silt,

00:27:06.842 --> 00:27:10.814
the second dam down with this
extra soakage and seepage,

00:27:10.814 --> 00:27:14.085
you can actually see the
water running right there.

00:27:14.085 --> 00:27:18.138
There's actual water seeping
out through this flow.

00:27:20.089 --> 00:27:24.026
This life facilitated event,

00:27:24.026 --> 00:27:26.463
we've facilitated a life-rich event

00:27:26.463 --> 00:27:29.182
which we can put to our use.

00:27:30.467 --> 00:27:33.903
We can extend this out
so that the use of water

00:27:33.903 --> 00:27:37.641
is way beyond what nature
could even facilitate

00:27:37.641 --> 00:27:41.829
because we can have the
intention of design.

00:27:42.747 --> 00:27:46.616
Design for our benefit
and the benefit of nature.

00:27:46.616 --> 00:27:49.752
It's by default that nature benefits from

00:27:49.752 --> 00:27:52.939
our good design intended pattern.

00:27:57.627 --> 00:28:00.481
This check dam wall here
is the third one down.

00:28:01.832 --> 00:28:04.334
And we're over two meters,
maybe even three meters

00:28:04.334 --> 00:28:07.538
in height above the valley
floor and there's the water

00:28:07.538 --> 00:28:08.973
just below the surface.

00:28:08.973 --> 00:28:11.441
So with all respect, I'd like to point out

00:28:11.441 --> 00:28:13.226
that I'm walking on water.

00:28:16.919 --> 00:28:20.017
(truck roaring past)

00:28:20.017 --> 00:28:24.436
(slow rock music)

00:28:41.638 --> 00:28:44.941
- So what we're looking
at here is the mycelium.

00:28:44.941 --> 00:28:47.911
And basically you can introduce
these into a landscape

00:28:47.911 --> 00:28:50.781
to help support the decomposition pathway

00:28:50.781 --> 00:28:54.183
turning woody debris back
into healthy living soil.

00:28:54.183 --> 00:28:56.953
And these can be thought of
as the internet of the soil

00:28:56.953 --> 00:28:59.889
in that there's this
long, extensive network,

00:28:59.889 --> 00:29:03.426
which is transferring both
nutrients and water in the soil,

00:29:03.426 --> 00:29:05.679
creating a healthier living landscape.

00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:12.451
You can see all that white
stuff there is the mycelium.

00:29:14.437 --> 00:29:17.274
This strain is kingstafaria
which is really vigorous

00:29:17.274 --> 00:29:19.141
and will quickly populate a landscape

00:29:19.141 --> 00:29:21.244
and even many different
things from newspapers

00:29:21.244 --> 00:29:24.481
and textbooks to large wood chunks.

00:29:24.481 --> 00:29:29.342
But as that mycelium
colonizes, grows, on whatever

00:29:29.342 --> 00:29:31.796
mass it's growing on,
whether it's woodchips

00:29:31.796 --> 00:29:35.158
or it's wood or pine needles
or whatever it might be,

00:29:35.158 --> 00:29:37.927
it actually holds all
that material together,

00:29:37.927 --> 00:29:41.130
stabilizes it like a big sticky mat,

00:29:41.130 --> 00:29:43.500
and the soil can't wash away.

00:29:43.500 --> 00:29:44.834
- Once you have a patch
established somewhere

00:29:44.834 --> 00:29:47.837
in your landscape, you can
then take a piece like this

00:29:47.837 --> 00:29:50.140
and establish other patches
throughout your landscape

00:29:50.140 --> 00:29:51.908
or as well share them with your neighbors,

00:29:51.908 --> 00:29:53.442
and so it's regenerative in that manner.

00:29:53.442 --> 00:29:57.613
Around the concept of controlling erosion

00:29:57.613 --> 00:30:00.350
and healing eroded creeks and streams,

00:30:00.350 --> 00:30:04.038
we will often use a
structure called a gabion,

00:30:05.655 --> 00:30:10.627
When a brush check dam
or utilizing loose rock,

00:30:10.627 --> 00:30:12.428
which we call a rock check dam,

00:30:12.428 --> 00:30:15.399
sometimes the water is moving so quickly

00:30:15.399 --> 00:30:18.835
then we will use a gabion system.

00:30:18.835 --> 00:30:21.873
So a gabion is a metal cage,

00:30:21.873 --> 00:30:24.440
like a big basket essentially.

00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:26.842
Now what's important
when you install a gabion

00:30:26.842 --> 00:30:30.580
is that you dig both sides
of the gabion into the bank.

00:30:30.580 --> 00:30:33.349
And so we'll dig a trench out across,

00:30:33.349 --> 00:30:35.552
we'll place this big basket,

00:30:35.552 --> 00:30:38.354
and then we'll fill the
basket up with rock.

00:30:38.354 --> 00:30:40.257
- [Voiceover] As part of this animation,

00:30:40.257 --> 00:30:43.092
we can see a gabion wall on the left.

00:30:43.092 --> 00:30:46.144
The wall starts to build
a deposit behind it.

00:30:47.531 --> 00:30:49.766
On the other side of it, this silt field

00:30:49.766 --> 00:30:52.035
is absolutely level.

00:30:52.035 --> 00:30:54.470
The water is pacified and soaks in.

00:30:54.470 --> 00:30:58.872
(gentle music)

00:31:05.916 --> 00:31:10.319
In between rains, this large
area acts like a sponge,

00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:13.389
retaining the moisture over
time, allowing the farmers

00:31:13.389 --> 00:31:16.492
to plant trees around its edges.

00:31:16.492 --> 00:31:18.495
The trees are known to be resistant

00:31:18.495 --> 00:31:20.280
to local weather conditions.

00:31:22.865 --> 00:31:26.236
The farmers add more trees
so they can grow vegetables

00:31:26.236 --> 00:31:27.753
in a fruit forest.

00:31:43.853 --> 00:31:48.592
- Food forests are these
incredible integrated gardens

00:31:48.592 --> 00:31:52.895
that produce food, produce medicine,

00:31:52.895 --> 00:31:56.033
build soil, catch water,

00:31:56.033 --> 00:32:00.396
and provide habitat for a
whole variety of wildlife.

00:32:01.805 --> 00:32:04.474
These are fully integrated
in what we would call

00:32:04.474 --> 00:32:06.643
multi-stacked systems.

00:32:06.643 --> 00:32:10.513
So in a conventional sort
of agriculture approach,

00:32:10.513 --> 00:32:14.350
you often have a mono-cultured
orchard over here,

00:32:14.350 --> 00:32:16.919
you have your mono-cultured
vegetable garden over there

00:32:16.919 --> 00:32:20.323
and all of these things are
very separated from each other.

00:32:20.323 --> 00:32:24.414
When you separate out these
different agriculture systems,

00:32:24.414 --> 00:32:26.296
it requires a lot more maintenance,

00:32:26.296 --> 00:32:28.967
a lot more space, a lot more water.

00:32:28.967 --> 00:32:31.568
But if you look at a healthy forest,

00:32:31.568 --> 00:32:33.470
any kind of forest,
not even a food forest,

00:32:33.470 --> 00:32:35.404
just a healthy forest
somewhere on planet Earth,

00:32:35.404 --> 00:32:38.307
you find that there's
particular relationships

00:32:38.307 --> 00:32:41.478
between plants, relationships
between animals,

00:32:41.478 --> 00:32:45.115
relationships between
bacteria, fungi, and insects

00:32:45.115 --> 00:32:48.884
and all of these relationships
close waste loops

00:32:48.884 --> 00:32:51.287
that provide energetic surplus.

00:32:51.287 --> 00:32:53.290
They support each other.

00:32:53.290 --> 00:32:55.224
It's these symbiotic relationships

00:32:55.224 --> 00:32:57.627
that really inspire a
permaculture design approach

00:32:57.627 --> 00:32:59.095
to any system.

00:32:59.095 --> 00:33:02.698
A food forest is this
sort of grand example

00:33:02.698 --> 00:33:05.736
of how we apply all the
principles of permaculture

00:33:05.736 --> 00:33:09.273
and develop a whole variety
of symbiotic relationships

00:33:09.273 --> 00:33:13.276
between plants, animals,
sun, water, and humans

00:33:13.276 --> 00:33:15.844
in a way that's very beneficial.

00:33:15.844 --> 00:33:19.381
I feel that the difference
between permaculture

00:33:19.381 --> 00:33:21.518
and your modern day
environmental movements

00:33:21.518 --> 00:33:25.054
is that permaculture
seats humans at the center

00:33:25.054 --> 00:33:28.057
of the restoration, at the
center of the regeneration,

00:33:28.057 --> 00:33:30.492
and a food forest is a
great example of that.

00:33:30.492 --> 00:33:34.197
If communities, if neighborhoods,

00:33:34.197 --> 00:33:36.832
could harvest their food

00:33:36.832 --> 00:33:38.968
and provide for their basic sustenance

00:33:38.968 --> 00:33:41.704
through food forest systems,
not only would they be

00:33:41.704 --> 00:33:44.641
healing the ecology
around their communities

00:33:44.641 --> 00:33:47.811
in profound ways, catching
and infiltrating water

00:33:47.811 --> 00:33:49.479
and building soil and all these things,

00:33:49.479 --> 00:33:52.282
but we take ourselves
out of the dependence

00:33:52.282 --> 00:33:54.317
of industrial agriculture systems.

00:33:54.317 --> 00:33:58.456
(gentle music)

00:34:11.033 --> 00:34:14.771
Our approach to designing
a plant community

00:34:14.771 --> 00:34:17.574
for a landscape gardener farm

00:34:17.574 --> 00:34:22.574
is founded in the goal of
managing natural cycles.

00:34:22.780 --> 00:34:25.416
Some of those cycles
are the nitrogen cycle

00:34:25.416 --> 00:34:27.083
and the mineral cycle.

00:34:27.083 --> 00:34:29.227
We believe, if we can plant

00:34:29.227 --> 00:34:32.945
plant communities that
can harvest nitrogen,

00:34:33.789 --> 00:34:37.527
then we reduce the
dependency on bringing in

00:34:37.527 --> 00:34:40.363
outside resources in the form of compost

00:34:40.363 --> 00:34:43.132
or composted manure, et cetera.

00:34:43.132 --> 00:34:45.869
And that increases plant thriveability

00:34:45.869 --> 00:34:47.737
throughout the entire landscape.

00:34:47.737 --> 00:34:50.639
In addition, we find that many soils,

00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:53.477
especially in California, are

00:34:53.477 --> 00:34:55.812
devoid of minerals.

00:34:55.812 --> 00:34:57.980
Not devoid so much as many of the minerals

00:34:57.980 --> 00:35:00.316
have been leached out or washed away.

00:35:00.316 --> 00:35:04.453
There are many amazing
plants that are beautiful,

00:35:04.453 --> 00:35:07.357
edible, medicinal, have wonderful flowers,

00:35:07.357 --> 00:35:11.577
that actually harvest minerals
from deep down in the ground.

00:35:12.829 --> 00:35:16.900
And by allowing those plants
to grow and their natural

00:35:16.900 --> 00:35:21.237
cycle of growth and death,
we actually make accessible

00:35:21.237 --> 00:35:24.023
a variety of minerals
to the entire landscape.

00:35:27.109 --> 00:35:29.413
Here we a great dynamic accumulator plant

00:35:29.413 --> 00:35:31.114
called the daikon radish.

00:35:31.114 --> 00:35:34.049
It pulls up a lot of minerals
from deep down in the soil.

00:35:34.049 --> 00:35:37.454
Also this big, thick root
has a ton of biomass,

00:35:37.454 --> 00:35:41.458
helps build soil very rapidly,
breaks up compacted soils.

00:35:41.458 --> 00:35:45.577
(dried leaves rustling)

00:35:48.030 --> 00:35:49.565
Look at the size of that.

00:35:49.565 --> 00:35:52.452
This is how we build
soil very, very rapidly.

00:35:54.680 --> 00:35:55.762
(daikon cracks)

00:36:02.679 --> 00:36:07.067
(upbeat music)

00:36:17.960 --> 00:36:19.729
- [Voiceover] In permaculture, abundance

00:36:19.729 --> 00:36:22.514
is also made possible with compost teas.

00:36:23.834 --> 00:36:28.304
- Compost tea is a wonderful
way that gardeners,

00:36:28.304 --> 00:36:31.341
farmers, landscapers, can be empowered

00:36:31.341 --> 00:36:32.975
to build your own soil.

00:36:32.975 --> 00:36:36.813
See, healthy soil is 100%
dependent upon the life

00:36:36.813 --> 00:36:39.449
in that soil, the bacteria, the fungi,

00:36:39.449 --> 00:36:41.584
that decomposed organic matter,

00:36:41.584 --> 00:36:44.821
and help assimilate nutrients for plants.

00:36:44.821 --> 00:36:48.858
So aerated compost teas
popularized by Elaine Ingham,

00:36:48.858 --> 00:36:53.697
whose seminal work has really
moved the movement forward

00:36:53.697 --> 00:36:56.265
in our ability to utilize compost teas,

00:36:56.265 --> 00:36:59.401
aerated compost teas are systems where we

00:36:59.401 --> 00:37:02.805
utilize different
material, say worm castings

00:37:02.805 --> 00:37:05.108
or highly fungal compost,

00:37:05.108 --> 00:37:08.279
and we put them in aerated
water for a particular

00:37:08.279 --> 00:37:11.413
period of time, say 24 to 36 hours,

00:37:11.413 --> 00:37:14.217
we provide food for those microorganisms,

00:37:14.217 --> 00:37:17.820
and we are literally producing and growing

00:37:17.820 --> 00:37:22.408
high populations of
beneficial microorganisms.

00:37:23.393 --> 00:37:26.829
When we grow these microorganisms
out in the compost tea,

00:37:26.829 --> 00:37:29.231
then we can apply them to the landscapes

00:37:29.231 --> 00:37:31.567
either through spraying on
the leaves of the plants

00:37:31.567 --> 00:37:34.237
or through soaking the soil around plants.

00:37:34.237 --> 00:37:38.908
And we essentially are
inoculating, we are colonizing

00:37:38.908 --> 00:37:41.911
these landscapes with these
beneficial microorganisms

00:37:41.911 --> 00:37:43.880
and then they get to
provide all the benefit

00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:46.405
that they've been known to provide.

00:37:46.405 --> 00:37:48.668
Here's one of our aerated
compost tea brewers.

00:37:49.852 --> 00:37:53.323
And we just fill this with
water, and then we put

00:37:53.323 --> 00:37:56.860
either a bacterial kind
of compost worm castings

00:37:56.860 --> 00:37:58.594
or a fungal compost.

00:37:58.594 --> 00:37:59.929
It has an air pump.

00:37:59.929 --> 00:38:02.766
It actually vortexes this water around.

00:38:02.766 --> 00:38:06.402
We add specific elements
that allow the microorganisms

00:38:06.402 --> 00:38:10.274
to feed inside this aerated environment.

00:38:10.274 --> 00:38:14.710
And after 24 to 36 hours we
have very high populations

00:38:14.710 --> 00:38:18.148
of microorganisms and we can
put that out on the garden,

00:38:18.148 --> 00:38:20.282
around the plants, on the leaves.

00:38:20.282 --> 00:38:24.469
(upbeat Reggae music)

00:38:38.134 --> 00:38:41.370
- [Voiceover] Is it possible
to convert a conventional farm

00:38:41.370 --> 00:38:45.542
into an organic permaculture
farm and make good money?

00:38:45.542 --> 00:38:48.210
Warren Bush's farm in Southern California

00:38:48.210 --> 00:38:50.563
seems to be a good example for that.

00:38:51.813 --> 00:38:55.033
It has apples, persimmons, and avocados.

00:38:57.619 --> 00:39:00.206
There's also an integration of animals.

00:39:01.824 --> 00:39:03.792
He has chickens and pigs,

00:39:03.792 --> 00:39:06.379
a production of high quality pork meat.

00:39:07.230 --> 00:39:09.699
The manure coming from the chickens, pigs,

00:39:09.699 --> 00:39:13.102
and worm castings, are
all going back to the soil

00:39:13.102 --> 00:39:14.821
to create fertility.

00:39:22.478 --> 00:39:24.647
The production surplus of the farm

00:39:24.647 --> 00:39:27.016
can be sold on the roadside store

00:39:27.016 --> 00:39:28.533
and some is processed.

00:39:47.069 --> 00:39:48.838
The pit where you see the pigs

00:39:48.838 --> 00:39:51.056
will eventually be a squash garden.

00:40:09.959 --> 00:40:12.896
One of the ways that this
farm enriches its soil

00:40:12.896 --> 00:40:14.763
is by building the mulch.

00:40:14.763 --> 00:40:17.567
The chickens are helping
by eating the insects

00:40:17.567 --> 00:40:20.669
and contributing to the soil biology.

00:40:20.669 --> 00:40:24.223
They convert what they've
eaten into eggs and meat.

00:40:28.210 --> 00:40:32.081
Here the pigs are eating a
part of the walnut production.

00:40:32.081 --> 00:40:33.916
- There's something about
the nut when you finish

00:40:33.916 --> 00:40:36.686
a pig with that, that changes
the dynamic of the meat

00:40:36.686 --> 00:40:38.921
and there's actually a big market for it.

00:40:41.321 --> 00:40:44.662
As we're using our pigs to
build our fertility here

00:40:44.662 --> 00:40:46.329
we need good foraging species

00:40:46.329 --> 00:40:49.665
so the more wilder species
are better foragers

00:40:49.665 --> 00:40:51.734
and so that's who these are.

00:40:51.734 --> 00:40:52.467
I just love her.

00:40:52.467 --> 00:40:54.220
She's about to give birth any day now.

00:40:55.571 --> 00:40:57.807
Amazing, probably 14 babies will come

00:40:57.807 --> 00:41:00.208
from this beautiful lady in the next

00:41:00.208 --> 00:41:02.062
24 to 48 hours.

00:41:04.314 --> 00:41:06.549
- [Voiceover] A lot of
apples are fed to the pigs

00:41:06.549 --> 00:41:09.101
to break the cycle of the coddling moth.

00:41:10.019 --> 00:41:13.924
They do this by eating the
bad apples and the insects

00:41:13.924 --> 00:41:17.660
are then digested in the guts of the pigs

00:41:17.660 --> 00:41:21.146
preventing the birth of the
next generation of moth.

00:41:25.234 --> 00:41:28.437
- So for our long term stability
and resilience of this farm

00:41:28.437 --> 00:41:31.508
we need redundancy in our
water delivery systems.

00:41:31.508 --> 00:41:34.610
When we bought this
farm, we had one pipe in

00:41:34.610 --> 00:41:38.414
from the municipality that
was a highly chemified water.

00:41:38.414 --> 00:41:41.985
And it was literally
killing the soil biology

00:41:41.985 --> 00:41:45.522
that was our hardest workers for our farm

00:41:45.522 --> 00:41:49.158
is our soil biology and the
water itself was killing it.

00:41:49.158 --> 00:41:52.695
And so we had to dig a
well, and one of the things

00:41:52.695 --> 00:41:56.531
that this well we decided to do,

00:41:56.531 --> 00:41:58.568
to have long-term stability in it,

00:41:58.568 --> 00:42:01.871
is to have it be that the
water is pumped by the sun.

00:42:01.871 --> 00:42:06.275
So we've put this whole system
together where the photons

00:42:06.275 --> 00:42:09.445
from the sun are converted
into the power that runs

00:42:09.445 --> 00:42:12.783
the pump and the pump
only runs during the day,

00:42:12.783 --> 00:42:17.186
and pumps up to three 10,000
gallon tanks at the very top

00:42:17.186 --> 00:42:20.188
of our property, hundreds of feet up.

00:42:20.188 --> 00:42:22.539
And then from the gravity from that,

00:42:23.479 --> 00:42:25.895
the water comes down and
feeds all of our orchards.

00:42:25.895 --> 00:42:29.765
And this is just the second
system and we hope to have

00:42:29.765 --> 00:42:32.768
even a third system which
is a horizontal well

00:42:32.768 --> 00:42:36.021
that we'll put up above the
key point in our system.

00:42:45.181 --> 00:42:48.317
- [Voiceover] The permaculture
milieu generally believes

00:42:48.317 --> 00:42:52.288
that our societies should
provide a very strong

00:42:52.288 --> 00:42:56.759
eco-literacy, not only about
farming and water conservation

00:42:56.759 --> 00:43:00.496
but also about cities
and water management.

00:43:00.496 --> 00:43:04.884
(upbeat music)

00:43:10.773 --> 00:43:14.611
Historically, in the 20th
century, a particular mindset

00:43:14.611 --> 00:43:17.112
surfaced and focused on the preservation

00:43:17.112 --> 00:43:19.381
of buildings and roads.

00:43:19.381 --> 00:43:22.818
Water became a negative
element to be drained away

00:43:22.818 --> 00:43:25.221
as quickly as possible.

00:43:25.221 --> 00:43:29.608
All that valuable rainwater
is going in rivers and oceans.

00:43:31.093 --> 00:43:34.030
In many cities around
the world, we went as far

00:43:34.030 --> 00:43:37.884
as integrating our storm systems
with our sewerage systems.

00:43:38.784 --> 00:43:42.705
- This has caused an entire
series, a domino effect,

00:43:42.705 --> 00:43:45.874
of ecological catastrophes
and health issues

00:43:45.874 --> 00:43:48.277
for the communities that
live in those areas.

00:43:48.277 --> 00:43:53.277
So on a macro level,
we made a huge blunder.

00:43:53.582 --> 00:43:57.219
On a micro level, every
new house that gets built,

00:43:57.219 --> 00:43:59.488
every new road that gets built,

00:43:59.488 --> 00:44:03.526
still has been utilizing
this same misguided approach

00:44:03.526 --> 00:44:05.361
to drainage.

00:44:05.361 --> 00:44:07.898
And I say it's misguided, not
only because we integrated

00:44:07.898 --> 00:44:09.765
stormwater with sewer water,

00:44:09.765 --> 00:44:14.103
but because we have
dehydrated the landscapes.

00:44:14.103 --> 00:44:16.172
There are really great solutions,

00:44:16.172 --> 00:44:18.407
and that is the plus side here,

00:44:18.407 --> 00:44:21.676
is that for every new
development that we design

00:44:21.676 --> 00:44:23.546
and implement from here on,

00:44:23.546 --> 00:44:27.215
we have the opportunity to create what

00:44:27.215 --> 00:44:30.719
we may call bioswales,
infiltration systems,

00:44:30.719 --> 00:44:33.856
catchment systems, adjacent and associated

00:44:33.856 --> 00:44:37.960
to our roadways and our
building developments.

00:44:37.960 --> 00:44:41.297
- [Voiceover] In California,
a big question remains.

00:44:41.297 --> 00:44:44.200
How can we help the Central Valley?

00:44:44.200 --> 00:44:45.635
- We're not talking swales now,

00:44:45.635 --> 00:44:47.903
we're not talking rain
gardens and terraces.

00:44:47.903 --> 00:44:51.040
Now we need to focus on the soil itself.

00:44:51.040 --> 00:44:54.110
We need to focus on
how do we build topsoil

00:44:54.110 --> 00:44:57.480
in such a way where the
soil itself becomes a large

00:44:57.480 --> 00:45:00.516
infiltration system, a
large absorption system,

00:45:00.516 --> 00:45:02.151
and a large sponge.

00:45:02.151 --> 00:45:07.151
One solution is we can
utilizing grazing animals

00:45:07.389 --> 00:45:12.160
in such a way that we can
build soil very, very rapidly.

00:45:12.160 --> 00:45:16.066
So if we can mimic the way
grazing animals used to roam

00:45:16.066 --> 00:45:19.268
in the Central Valley,
which is we would have

00:45:19.268 --> 00:45:21.871
herds of thousands of elk,

00:45:21.871 --> 00:45:24.372
and those elk as they move through

00:45:24.372 --> 00:45:27.310
those grassland prairies,
they would literally

00:45:27.310 --> 00:45:28.444
aerate the soil.

00:45:28.444 --> 00:45:29.712
They would plant seeds.

00:45:29.712 --> 00:45:33.082
They would push organic
matter into the soil

00:45:33.082 --> 00:45:35.384
in such a way where it could decompose

00:45:35.384 --> 00:45:37.387
and turn into very healthy topsoil.

00:45:37.387 --> 00:45:39.922
Again, healthy topsoil has an amazing

00:45:39.922 --> 00:45:43.091
capacity to hold, absorb water.

00:45:43.091 --> 00:45:45.460
You see if we don't focus on soil as the

00:45:45.460 --> 00:45:49.430
number one harvest, the number one yield,

00:45:49.430 --> 00:45:51.266
in our agricultural systems,

00:45:51.266 --> 00:45:53.769
then we will continually kill the soil

00:45:53.769 --> 00:45:56.539
and we lose our farmlands
at the alarming rate

00:45:56.539 --> 00:45:57.806
that we've lost them already.

00:45:57.806 --> 00:46:02.278
So utilizing a natural,
rotational grazing system

00:46:02.278 --> 00:46:04.080
is solution number one.

00:46:04.080 --> 00:46:07.349
Solution number two is, in
many agricultural systems

00:46:07.349 --> 00:46:10.620
they are either hauling
away or burning off

00:46:10.620 --> 00:46:13.622
all of the surplus biomass that these

00:46:13.622 --> 00:46:16.358
agricultural enterprises create.

00:46:16.358 --> 00:46:19.794
You grow 50 acres of squash,

00:46:19.794 --> 00:46:21.229
and when you harvest the squash,

00:46:21.229 --> 00:46:25.168
a lot of that biomass is not
incorporated back into the soil

00:46:25.168 --> 00:46:28.837
in a way that allows for the
appropriate decomposition.

00:46:28.837 --> 00:46:32.674
So recycling and incorporating

00:46:32.674 --> 00:46:35.043
biomass surplus material

00:46:35.043 --> 00:46:38.247
back into our agricultural
systems is solution number two.

00:46:38.247 --> 00:46:42.417
Solution number three
is, we need to get off

00:46:42.417 --> 00:46:46.722
of the synthetic petroleum-based chemical

00:46:46.722 --> 00:46:51.293
agricultural system,
because when we are hooked

00:46:51.293 --> 00:46:55.030
on herbicides and
pesticides and insecticides,

00:46:55.030 --> 00:46:59.368
we are damaging and killing
the organisms in the soil.

00:46:59.368 --> 00:47:01.470
So it becomes a vicious cycle.

00:47:01.470 --> 00:47:03.205
We kill the organisms in the soil

00:47:03.205 --> 00:47:05.642
by utilizing these chemical products,

00:47:05.642 --> 00:47:09.145
and then the soil is devoid
of life and is unable

00:47:09.145 --> 00:47:13.283
to decompose biomass, and
so therefore the biomass

00:47:13.283 --> 00:47:15.083
can't get integrated in that material,

00:47:15.083 --> 00:47:16.853
and we have to burn it
off or haul it away.

00:47:16.853 --> 00:47:18.821
Solution number four.

00:47:18.821 --> 00:47:21.557
There is a plow called the keyline plow.

00:47:21.557 --> 00:47:24.025
This is a plow that was
developed in Australia

00:47:24.025 --> 00:47:28.463
and it is a very specially
designed plow that,

00:47:28.463 --> 00:47:31.967
when pulled across a
broad acre enterprise,

00:47:31.967 --> 00:47:35.005
hundreds of acres, thousands of acres,

00:47:35.005 --> 00:47:38.006
it actually patterns the
landscape in such a way

00:47:38.006 --> 00:47:41.676
that when a rainstorm
comes water can infiltrate

00:47:41.676 --> 00:47:44.512
into the ground because this plow creates

00:47:44.512 --> 00:47:47.515
a series of subsurface furrows.

00:47:47.515 --> 00:47:50.118
It's very different than
a ripper which is a tool

00:47:50.118 --> 00:47:53.255
often used in agricultural
enterprise to loosen soil.

00:47:53.255 --> 00:47:55.157
What a ripper does when
it pulls through the soil,

00:47:55.157 --> 00:47:58.061
it actually takes subsoil and
throws it onto the surface.

00:47:58.061 --> 00:47:59.661
That's called inversion.

00:47:59.661 --> 00:48:02.497
So when a keyline plow
is pulled appropriately,

00:48:02.497 --> 00:48:05.844
it keeps the soil structure intact,

00:48:05.844 --> 00:48:07.603
keeps the soil profile intact,

00:48:07.603 --> 00:48:10.059
so we're not damaging
soil in an adverse way,

00:48:11.149 --> 00:48:15.211
but it creates a small
furrow under the ground

00:48:15.211 --> 00:48:17.847
that allows water to catch and infiltrate.

00:48:17.847 --> 00:48:22.417
Now if we sow our agricultural
crops into these furrows,

00:48:22.417 --> 00:48:24.994
those crops can root at a deeper depth

00:48:25.987 --> 00:48:29.525
and help build soil that way as well.

00:48:29.525 --> 00:48:32.795
So it's important to
understand that there's

00:48:32.795 --> 00:48:36.565
no silver bullet to
transitioning industrial ag

00:48:36.565 --> 00:48:39.034
into a water-conserving soil-building

00:48:39.034 --> 00:48:41.203
agriculture enterprise.

00:48:41.203 --> 00:48:44.539
It's a variety of different techniques,

00:48:44.539 --> 00:48:47.009
a variety of different
tools and implements

00:48:47.009 --> 00:48:48.477
that are going to get us there.

00:48:48.477 --> 00:48:50.980
And we need to have the will to do this.

00:48:50.980 --> 00:48:53.565
But the truth is time is running out.

00:48:54.449 --> 00:48:56.952
Time is absolutely running out.

00:48:56.952 --> 00:48:59.721
The Central Valley is
drying up like a prune.

00:48:59.721 --> 00:49:03.358
The ability for that landscape
to provide agricultural

00:49:03.358 --> 00:49:07.762
products is decreasing
at an alarming rate.

00:49:07.762 --> 00:49:12.167
So I don't see any reason
not to have the will

00:49:12.167 --> 00:49:16.221
and the investment to make
these transitions happen.

00:49:23.111 --> 00:49:27.576
(ominous music)

00:49:32.755 --> 00:49:36.929
(heavy footsteps crackling on dry ground)

00:49:40.929 --> 00:49:43.499
- I'm in the flat bottom land here,

00:49:43.499 --> 00:49:46.235
kind of a penny plain
in the Senora Desert.

00:49:46.235 --> 00:49:49.772
And there's not much fertility around.

00:49:49.772 --> 00:49:52.140
It's pretty sparse vegetation actually.

00:49:52.140 --> 00:49:55.944
This here is an 80 year old swell bank

00:49:55.944 --> 00:49:58.180
put in in the Great Depression

00:49:58.180 --> 00:50:00.148
in the Roosevelt era.

00:50:00.148 --> 00:50:01.400
And it's a big one.

00:50:02.517 --> 00:50:07.189
As I walk over the top, then
you see this obvious event

00:50:07.189 --> 00:50:08.590
start to happen.

00:50:08.590 --> 00:50:10.760
The trees get green and big,

00:50:10.760 --> 00:50:13.462
and the vegetation gets really lush,

00:50:13.462 --> 00:50:16.655
and this is something that
you need to really understand.

00:50:16.655 --> 00:50:20.419
It's not every day that
you see a scene like this,

00:50:21.270 --> 00:50:25.140
an oasis of lush verdant
green created by nature,

00:50:25.140 --> 00:50:26.993
facilitated by good design.

00:50:28.910 --> 00:50:32.311
This a very special scene.

00:50:33.281 --> 00:50:37.619
No maintenance, 80 years
of fertility accumulated

00:50:37.619 --> 00:50:41.257
by water, designed to infiltrate

00:50:41.257 --> 00:50:43.208
into this arid landscape

00:50:44.359 --> 00:50:46.277
and create that scene.

00:50:47.996 --> 00:50:52.618
Outside there's a hot, dry, dusty desert.

00:50:53.770 --> 00:50:57.506
In here, you couldn't
believe you're in a desert.

00:50:57.506 --> 00:51:01.409
This is all green, lush and fertile

00:51:01.409 --> 00:51:04.540
and beautifully shaded and cool.

00:51:04.540 --> 00:51:08.476
(dramatic music)