An inspiring story about an Austrian Farmer with REAL solutions for world hunger. If more people, governments and farmers followed his advice.........

In the coldest part of Austria, a farmer is turning conventional wisdom on its head by growing a veritable Garden of Eden full of tropical plants in the open on his steep Alpine pastures.

Amid average annual temperatures of a mere 39.5 Fahrenheit, Sepp Holzer grows everything from apricots to eucalyptus, figs to kiwi fruit, peaches to wheat at an altitude of between 3,300 and 4,900 feet. Once branded a fool, fined and threatened with imprisonment for defying Austrian regulations that dictate what is planted where, he is now feted worldwide for creating the only functioning "permaculture" farm in Europe. Permaculture, an abbreviation of permanent culture, is the development of agricultural ecosystems which are complete and self-sustaining.

"Once planted, I do absolutely nothing," Holzer told Reuters. "It really is just nature working for itself -- no weeding, no pruning, no watering, no fertilizer, no pesticides."

His 110 acres of land in the mountainous Lungau region in the province of Salzburg are classed by European Union directives as unfit for agricultural cultivation due to the steep gradient and poor soil. When Holzer inherited the farm - then 44.5 acres - 39 years ago, it was only used for the grazing of the family's cows and sheep. He carved terraces out of the steep inclines - like the ancient Incas and Maya of South and Central America - to stop erosion and trap rainfall. He rejected the use of pesticides and fertilizers, which he considered poisonous, and the concept of mono culture - the cultivation of just one plant type over an expanse of land - because he believed it sapped the soil of all nutrients. Instead he began growing a host of timber and fruit trees, shrubs and grasses all mixed up together.

"Everyone said I was mad and I had to pay numerous fines because the authorities said that it was illegal to plant such a combination," Holzer said. "When I bought this patch of land off a farmer, it was not fit for the cows and sheep grazing on it. People scoffed that I was neglecting my land -- but now they come to harvest cherries from June to October." "This is the worst type of soil, which just goes to prove that there is no bad soil, just bad farmers," he added.

PROOF IS IN EATING OF PUDDING

Most of the plants Holzer and his wife Vroni grow at his "Krameterhof" holding are not meant to flourish in Alpine conditions, according to experts. In winter, the temperature can fall to below minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit and a blanket of snow lingers into May. Snow can even fall in the height of summer. Holzer said he found agricultural textbooks and his own years at agricultural college virtually useless. "I followed their advice initially, but my trees started dying off. I then realized that I had to eradicate from my memory all that I'd learned at college," he said.

Enlightenment came one winter during one of Holzer's routine moonlight strolls, when he noticed that the only apricot tree faring well in the harsh winter conditions was one he had forgotten to cut back according to ministerial regulations. Unlike the pruned trees whose main lower branches snapped off under the weight of snow, the "neglected" tree's branches were intact. Their unrestricted length had allowed them to droop with the tips touching the ground for support while the snow slid off, Holzer found. Allowing natural vegetation to grow around the trunk provided further support and nourishment for the tree. "If people would only realize that if one leads a life in cooperation with nature and not against it, then nobody in the world need die of starvation," he said.

LET NATURE TAKE ITS OWN COURSE

Holzer's philosophy is that nature knows best and needs negligible interference from Man. "We're born into paradise, but are destroying its foundation, the soil. The soil can look after itself, there's no need for Man to tamper with it." Giant stone slabs pepper the landscape and serve as incubators by absorbing the sunlight and giving off warmth. The trees do their part as well in keeping the ground warm. Fallen foliage helps keep frost from reaching the roots. Tree stumps dot the plantations to regulate irrigation. Like a sponge they soak up water and later distribute it. Animals too have a role in the Holzer ecosystem. Scavenging pigs till the soil in place of a tractor, while grass snakes were reintroduced to keep voracious slugs and mice in check. Holzer is modest about his achievement which has led to projects in more than 40 countries and lectures on "the elimination of poverty in agriculture." He has rejected suggestions that he should have his method of permaculture patented. "I would consider that as theft from nature. It's not my possession, I got it from nature and have an obligation to pass this knowledge on," the bearded 59-year- old said.

INSPIRATIONAL, BUT ECONOMICALLY VIABLE?

Holzer says his method of organic farming produces a much higher quality of crops than conventional farming, and at a fraction of the cost and effort. He says his rare strain of grain contains 12 times the goodness of conventionally grown grain and as a result fetches a price 100 times higher. His success means that he no longer lives directly off the crops in his sprawling garden, or the rare fish in his Alpine ponds and lakes. People pay to pick their own fruit from his land, experts visit to study "Holzer Permaculture," and the man himself regularly holds seminars when not in a far-off country such as Colombia solving chronic problems of the soil. And only one thing has so far stumped the man with green fingers. "Bananas," he said with a shrug of his burly frame. "They froze. It's no surprise as they need an average temperature of 30 degrees. But I'm still working on it."

Visit Hepp Holzer's Website

http://www.krameterhof.at/Englisch/anzeige.htm

Hello My Dear Brother Iain,

Thanks for getting in touch. Hope you are doing well

and all at Permaworld foundation.

A lot of great things are happening at KITA.

I will be updating you on most of them soon.

However KITA and Permaculture Network Ghana is set to

organise an International PErmaculture course in May

2008. The facilitator is Gregg Knibbs of Australia and

PAul Yeboah a graduate of KITA and Director of

PErmaculture Network Ghana.

We are doing extremely well. Will be getting in touch soon with more news.

Good luck and thanks for forwading the email to me.

Please can you renew my email address. I will be recommending some more features onto the website soon.

Thanks for everything and have a good weekend

Regards

Bro Lovans

****************

The Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kumasi (KITA) in Ghana is a Permaculture based organization that Permaworld assists with their technical needs including web hosting and the design and maintenance of their website (thanks to Iain of the PW team :-) Please visit KITA Today.....

http://kita-ghana.org

Why does the Canadian Government support the largest killing of a single defenseless species of animal on the planet today?

2008 Seal Defence Campaign

Warning: Graphic Footage in some video's

Please help support the Seal Defence Campaign of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

As the world's water supplies are being used and exploited, are the rivers where you live being managed by corporate interests. This enlightening video shows what is happening in British Columbia, Canada. Go to www.ourivers.ca and click on the link to the video!

Yesterday and today we are in the process of upgrading security on the server and have installed the latest Apache V2 and PHP. There may be a few issues with add-on domains which we are resolving for all accounts. If you have an add-on domain problem you can easily do a 'fix' with the following:

1. Login to your account via CPanel or FTP and go to your /public_html directory and locate the directory that contains the files for your add-on domain.

2. Rename the directory to a different name.

3. Go to CPanel Add-On domain link and locate the add-on domain that is linked to the directory you just changed. Delete this add-on domain.

4. Proceed to add the same domain again as it was originally setup.

5. Now refresh the list of directories in the /public_html directory. You should see the directory that you changed and the new directory for the add-on domain. Delete the NEW add-on domain directory and then change the name of the directory in (step 1) to the name associated with the add-on domain.

Please contact us via the Help Desk with any problems you may be experiencing and we will work to resolve them ASAP.

Admin Team !!

We have changed the look of the Permaworld.org website and added a new Permahost.com website for all members. The new PermaHOST site focuses primarily on Web Hosting. Both websites are fully replicated so that anyone you refer to your site who orders web hosting, you will receive commissions..

You can now easily include your email address, phone number, city and country along with your first and last name on each page of your site. Simply login to the member's area and edit your member profile.

With the new look Permaworld.org and PermaHOST websites, all the latest news will be included in this section of the site. You can comment on the news at any time. You are also able to subscribe to an RSS Feed so that any time news is added, you will receive the information instantly.

We have also installed new mailing list software with a double opt in/out subscription. Subscribing/Un-subscribing to the PermaNEWS mailing list can be done from this page and un-subscribing can be done from a link at the bottom of each email sent. If you are already a Permaworld member, you have been added to the list, and if at any time you want to unsubscribe, you can do so at any time.