00341 A Permaculture Fable

If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. — Barry Lopez, in Crow and Weasel

Appropriate Scale, Entropy, Affinity, and Diversity walked into a bar owned by Permaculture Designer.

Diversity ordered a drink with 24 liquors, many of which were made in the bar by the Designer’s family from materials grown in the area. It poured into a glass made from recycled bottles, stirred with a spoon made from recycled metals, on a bar made with recycled wood, while sitting in a chair made by the same folks who made the bottles. They financed their operations with a loan from a credit union in which — thanks to Affinity — Permaculture Designer, Appropriate Scale, Entropy, and Diversity were all members.

Appropriate Scale wondered if that was too much Diversity, especially since they hadn't had anything to eat? Affinity replied that the drink was perfectly balanced in its flavors so we shouldn’t be worried, and Diversity piped up and said, “Look at all those beneficial connections!”

But the question was moot because Entropy went behind the bar and spilled the drink on the counter!

Never fear! This bar’s designer knew that Entropy would be a regular guest.

So the liquor flowed into a little gutter . . .

. . . which dripped the liquor into a jar . . .

. . . in which the Permaculture Designer candied some peaches . . .

. . . which the family harvested from the Designer’s orchard . . .

. . . which the family ate with great relish . . .

. . . even though Entropy tried to make the peaches go bad and had made an attempt to break the canning jar by arranging things so that while carrying the peaches, the Permaculture Designer slipped on a banana peel that had not made it to the kitchen compost pail . . .

. . . which had been nicely designed by Permaculture Designer except . . .

. . . that Permaculture Designer didn’t listen to Appropriate Scale or Affinity and being more under the influence of Entropy . . .

. . . Permaculture Designer designed the mouth of the container so that it wasn't quite wide enough to catch something thrown at it from the counter. Oops.

This was obviously a Type 1 error so Permaculture Designer immediately went to work and consulted with Affinity and redesigned the jar and added some other functions to reinforce the container element.

Anyway, as stated, the family enjoyed the candied peaches and as such things go went on to have great bowel movements . . .

. . . which went into a biogas digester designed by Appropriate Scale to make household methane.

They resisted Entropy's urging to get away from the stink and just flush the toilet with the assistance of Diversity's reminder of their need for beneficial connections and Affinity’s reminder of how useful methane would be.

So they decided to use onsite yields to meet onsite needs, and thus increased the resilience of the entire system.

The methane heated a still, to make more alcohol, which permaculture designer sold in her bar. The family enjoyed the rest of the ethanol, who (as a result) urinated into jugs which, after being diluted with ten parts water for each one part urine, fertilized vegetables for the bar's antipasto appetizers and side dishes.

After composting, the family distributed the solids from the digester around the Diversity-designed orchard, where with the assistance of Entropy and Affinity, it contributed to the fertility of the soils. Thanks to Diversity, Entropy, and Affinity, they produced an even better crop of peaches the following year, also plums, apples, apricots, mulberries, but not boysenberries or elderberries because they didn't make a crop that year which was not a tragedy because this was a redundant orchard so they had other fruits available.

Entropy had something to do with that crop failure although it wasn't as much of an issue as might have been the case if Diversity and Affinity hadn't been in on the orchard design team.

Rain watered the orchard, since Permaculture Designer had placed patterns to capture the rainfall and direct it where it was needed. Entropy, Affinity, and Gravity assisted in this process. They are always around, even if not mentioned in the beginning. When it rained, the water rolled off the roof into a Diversity-designed and Appropriate scale/Affinity-influenced series of swales. The swales fed ponds and wetlands, where again with the assistance of Gravity, Affinity, and Entropy, the water loaded up with various nutrients and in that way Entropy and Affinity fertilized and watered the fruit trees . . .

. . . which fed the people,

. . . who made the alcohol,

. . . which filled the drink,

. . . which Entropy spilled back at the beginning. (See how things connect?)

The name of the bar?

The House Ouroboros, of course!

How could it be otherwise?