Permaculture principle - value the marginal (read description below)

I was outside doing Biochar this weekend (and is the reason this video is heavy on biochar). One thing a batch of biochar does for you is it gives you a good block of time to think. I really cherish these moments. Quiet. Not at work. On my land. Time to reflect. And it got me thinking... some people would see something like this as a chore, but if I learn to value it, I can "stack efficiencies" during this time, I can plan, I can live in the moment.

I realized that in doing so, I was actually valuing marginal time by enjoying a chore and making it useful. I was also doing it at a marginal time in the season. I cannot plant. I cannot dig swales and earthworks. I cannot even turn my compost. Everything is frozen. But the cool weather is perfect for doing a batch of biochar. And in doing so, I was also valuing a less-valued and appreciated season of the year. So I reflected what was going on - that I was living one of the permaculture principles, so I took out the camera and shot this video to discuss it.

This video is about the permaculture principle of "Value the Marginal".

One of the best things about the permaculture principles is that they are high level, and thus wide sweeping, applicable to many things. This in my opinion is what the best "quotes" or "sayings" have in common. Many people can apply them to many things.

This video has a focus on biochar, for a few reasons - I have had a few comments lately to do more biochar videos, but also making biochar is "valuing the marginal" in it's purest sense. We are taking a waste stream (here it is my prunings, but it can be anything, from dead plant material to animal feces - definitely marginalized and underappreciated things), and we are not only getting value out of those things, but we are also turning it into an extremely valuable commodity. Long term fertility, nutrient storage, water storage, and soil porosity for our garden.

However that's just one marginalized resource (brush pruning) that I just happen to use in this video. I also value marginal plants or "weeds" such as lambs quarters, which is roughly twice as nutrient dense as spinach per calorie. I value marginal insects that others don't value, such as wasps, who are one of the most valuable insects in the garden. I value marginalized "pests" such as rabbits and voles and moles, who can do tremendous damage to gardens, but also leave behind gifts of manure, or holes/tunnels to break compaction, allow deep water infiltration and oxygen down to roots. Or cardboard and woodchips to create new gardens with, pallets/skids to make compost bins or low-cost sheds with, or waste food to make compost with - these are all waste streams coming from of our damaging consumerism in the Anthropocene.

So whatever the marginal, the underappreciated, the undervalued, find the worth in these things and take advantage of them. Turn an marginalized resource, time of the season, plant, insect, animal, into a benefit.

Because life is so much better when we stop seeing everything as our enemy, and start seeing the inherent value in things that other people see as antagonists.

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Music credits:

Closer by Jay Someday | https://soundcloud.com/jaysomeday
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
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