The lessons from nature

 (You have to wait for about 35 seconds for the film to appear)

This is a documentary about one of the pioneers of permaculture. Sepp Holzer, an Austrian mountainside permaculturalist, from before the term was invented, Together with his wife Veronica, he has created a living example of the possibilities that this way of tending the soil can contribute to us, and is a positive riposte to the outmoded and destructive methods of modern intensive farming. it shows the benefits of working with nature instead of trying to destroy it. 

The Holzers and their farm the Kramaterhof, became well known only after publicity in 2000. Sepp Holzer narrates the history of synergistic ideas that have made his farm a high production combination of agroforestry, aquaculture, terraces and raised beds, water heat exchange, self-produced electricity, pig raising, and fish farming without toxic pesticides, herbicides, or having to buy additional foods to feed the pigs and fish. The Kramaterhof farm is more biodiverse than his surrounding "pine tree desert" landscape and it generates its own Mediterranean microclimate through ingenious techniques--despite being 1500 meters up in the Austrian Tyrol.

The Tyrol, with some of the finest skiing in Europe, under Sepp's care can grow lemons and kiwis. The film and his discussion provide a treasure trove of abstract techniques you can use. Learn how to integrate these techniques based on his 40 years of experimental expansion across 45 acres. He has turned marginal, erosion-prone mountain lands with poor, acidic soils into a stable Eden on Earth with rich soils, high biodiversity, and high productivity. This is done without irrigation, without expensive pesticides and herbicides, and without any imported fish, cattle, or pig feed. Instead it utilizes well chosen ecological cycles to expand production naturally. Sustainability and high productivity are elegantly conjoined.

For more infomation about the work of Sepp Holzer, visit his site:
 http://www.krameterhof.at/en/index.php?id=veranstaltungen