Redesign- Week 5

After finding out that two of our honors students dropped the class, it was vital to rearrange our groups in order to accomplish our ultimate task. Therefore, instead of having three seperate teams, the Aquatics/Nitrogen fixers merged into one team, while the Fruits and Veggies acquired more team-members. That being said, this new blog consists of both teams which includes Samantha, Rebecca, Alexandra and Maria. This allows us to work with more of our classmates and acquire more knowledge of the other plants in the data-base. This week I learned various concepts concerning permaculture and gardening. It seems very logical that traditional gardening is not efficient and must be tweaked in order to really supply food. This is demonstrated in the traditional rows that are implemented in most gardens, which decreases the area of food being grown.Also, I learned about the basic structures of soil, and how it should not be referred to as dirt- a derogatory term previously unthought of. Permaculture's ideals seem so logical and easily sustainable, and it baffles me why this hasnt been implemented on a grand-scale. Monocultures are easily susceptible to various diseases and as a result get wiped out on a regular basis from pests. The topic of invasive species was also brought up, but the term invasive carries such a heavy connotation that it should be thrown out. Humans are the top invasive species on the planet, depleting resources at an astronomical rate and we throw this word out interchangeably as if it's going to solve something. Invasive plant species may indeed cause a problem, however some may thrive and nourish others in the area. Although this isn't my area of specialty, I truly feel like I am getting alot of knowledge and awareness out of this class.

-Rebecca

There is always an equilibrium that Nature keeps between all things - a web of life where everything is interconnected.In this week's class we took a step forward to understanding the process of designing our own permaculture garden. We were introduced
to the the big picture of creating ecological garden and began taking apart its components.There is a powerful quote from Chapter 3 of Gaia's Garden that really stood out to me : "A place designed according to principles deeper than those of surface appearance can still be beautiful but will also shelter wildlife, feed people and animals, purify air and water, store carbon, and be an asset to Earth".
-Alexandra