Pantry Paratus Radio, Episode 011: Interview with Paul Wheaton of Permies.com Part II

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Pantry Paratus Radio, Episode 011

Interview with Paul Wheaton of Permies.com Part II

 

 

This is part two of my conversation with Paul Wheaton editor of Permies.comClick here to listen to Part I  Paul was very generous with his time, and so we divided up this interview into two parts.  Whether you have been gardening for years or have been wondering what Permaculture even means, pull up a chair and listen in as we continue with our chat with this great thinker.  Here is the second part of getting to talk to the mighty, the glorious, the amazing Paul Wheaton. 


 

Pie Fixes Everything

 

 

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We talk about:

-I ask Paul to go back to the summer he read the hundred or so gardening books, did he think that at the time he would have this kind influence on a virtual world?

 

-Observe, try, observe, it is that constant experimentation

 

-“Never lose a holy curiosity.” –Albert Einstein

 

-Refering back to Paul’s commentary on Joel Salatin’s speech at Google.  What would Joel do if he were king for a day, and he would not shut down Monsanto.  I ask Paul what can Permaculture do to correct the food system without making more laws or making other people illegal?

 

-Why does the bacon cost $12 a pound?  Answer: because it cost $9 to get the bacon.

 

-Polyculture as a food source, what would that do for health?  If it worked, who could deny the positive effects then? 

 

-Rather than sell food, you can sell admission to your land and people can eat or pack food out.  If there is a crime of theft, then that is between them and the government.

 

-At this moment in time, it is not illegal to have a garden.  When you cannot depend on traditional channels, then you can grow your own food and safety. 

 

-Can a generation of Permies farmers make the word “carbon” cool again?  Can Permies turn the industrial ag system around?

 

-If you take Sepp Holzer’s techniques, you would be able to feed 21 billion people without any petroleum. 

 

-Do you feel like you have woken up in an alternate universe where squirty cheese in a can is safe, but farm raised bacon is dangerous.  MSG, BPA, Round-up are all good, but raw milk is dangerous?

 

-“Whole” grains and veering off the plan

 

-If bacteria do not want to eat it, neither do I. 

 

-Currently it takes 10 calories of petroleum to produce 1 calorie of food, how can we reduce that further to say 2 calories of petroleum to one calorie of food.  Why do we not just eat oil?

 

-Artificial manures (prehistoric sunlight) and the green revolution

 

-Paul takes questions from his devotees from the podcast thread on Permies.com

 

-First question: “Could you ask him to define what he thinks are the characteristics that differentiate a philosophical Permaculture adopter from an ardent big black-book landscape trotting designer.
I think we do not hear enough about the different depths Permaculture can take people in so many ways in their lives. I think allot of people could find themselves and see where they fit in by hearing about the different character traits that Permaculture is inclusive of.”

 

-Wheatonian Permaculture vs. Permaculture cookbooks.  The philosophy and art and not just the mechanics and the “recipe” for how to get Permaculture.

 

-The more that you know about Permaculture the more you see is available to you in nature

 

-Reiterate the safety in Permaculture and how awesome you can make things for your future self

 

-Second question: “I was wondering what permie people really do when they get a horrible invasion of squash bugs, pick, squash, or other means. Wondering if any permies use soap on them?”

 

-Permaculture thinks about this age old problem of insects in the garden completely differently—grow plants apart from each other so if nature wants to take it out, then so be it

 

-I ask Paul about raising the Brix level in a plant to help the plant to defend itself.   Paul highlights Sepp Holzer’s method—how you know your progress of taking care of the plant. 

 

-Third question: “Once people are convinced Permaculture is awesome, what do you advocate people do with leftover bottles of toxic lawn weed sprays and such? If I throw it in the trash it will wind up back in the soil, if I burn it, it will be in the air, if I give it away to someone I can not convince to go organic, I am enabling putting more poison into the soil/water table but at the same time am I preventing more money entering the chemical companies pockets?”  

 

-Toxic waste round up (thanks Jocelyn for the assist!)

 

-If Paul Wheaton had an intern at the Permies.com Center for World Domination (located in a hollowed out volcano with submarine access in Missoula, MT) that could only bake one kind of pie—what would it have to be?

 

-Chaya’s checklist for the PDC

 

-Wrap up with Paul

 

 

 

Links:

http://www.permies.com/

http://www.richsoil.com/paul-wheaton.jsp

 

 


 

 

 

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