The Journal of The New Alchemists 7

175 Pages·2010·20.6 MB·English

THEJOURNALOF
th"��;�: e. New:Alchetn.i. sts7NUMBER .
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Em��:.;r, Agrioulture,.·Aquacutture, Housing, Landscapes
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Text and illustrations copyright 1!:> 1981b y the New Alchemy Institute EditoT NANCY JACK TODD
All rights rese111ed. No part of this book may be rep.-oduced without wrillw
permission f.-om the publisher, txcept by a reviewer who mav_ quote brief MembeTShip CHRISTINA C. RAWLEY
passages or rtproduct illustrations itt a rtvinv; nor part of this hook
11la)' GPI)'
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or tmnsmilled in anv_ form or by
CoveT and DivideT ATtist JEFFREY PARKIN
any means tltclronic, 1ntchanical, photocop�vi11g, rtcordiug, or othtr, n'itltoul
written permission from the publishtr.
Dmwings JAN ADKINS
This book has been produced in the United States of America. It is
published by The Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, Vermont 0530.1 ). BALDWIN
EARLE BARNHART
RICHARD C. BARTLETT
HENRIKE KROEKER
BOBBIE FORTUN LIVELY
MAlA MASSION
JEFFREY PARKIN
PAUL SUN
VANRYN, CALTHORPE
&
PARTNERS
LIBRARY Of CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA MALCOLM WELLS
The Journal of the new alchemists.
t-
Woods Hole, Mass., New Alchemy Institute, ctg73- Photography HILDE MAINGAY
v. ill. 31e m. RON ZWEIG
Key title: The Journal of the new alchemists, ISSN 0162-833X DENISE BACKUS
1. Human ecology-Periodicals. 2. Environmental protec- RICK BECK
tion-Periodicals. 3·N ew Alchemy Institute-Periodicals. BILL McNAUGHTON
4·
Organic farming-Periodicals. 5·F ish culture-Periodicals. t.
New Alchemy Institute.
Typing CYNTHIA KNAPP
GISFBsNo .Jo6-88 289-300410.63-ts' os 78-645501 JANE RUNGE
Journal of the New Alchemists 7
CONTENTS
7 The New AlchemyI nstitute
9 IntroductioNna ncy Jack Todd
13 New Alchemy
1 6 Adventurienst heM ailT rade Denise Backus
1 7 Reflectioonns A pprenticeshSicpot t Stokoe
19 ValentiSneea sonR:i verdaleT homas Beny
19 Poem Tyrone Cashman
20 ReachinOgu t Robert Sardinsky
2 3 AnotheEra rthG ypsy Tyrone Cashman
26 New Alchemya ndE codevelopmiennC to staR ica William McLarney
0.
35 Energy
37 Greasintgh eW indmill Sietze Buning
39 Scalaen dD iversiitnyE nergyS ystemsJ oe Seale
42 The Forminogf t heC apea ndI slands Self-Reliance CoGorepg eWraatstoni vaned
Michael Greene
45 Autologic]. Baldwin
Land and Its Use
53 GardenN otes Susan Ervin
56 A ReporFtr omt heT reeP eople
56 IntroductiJoonh n Quinney
58 Surveyianngd G raftiLnogc aaln dA ntiquFer uiTtr ees Mavis Clark
58 RecycliLnega fN utrientsEd Goodell
6o Nitrogen-FiTxrienegsa ndS hrubs John Quinney
62 Hedgerowasn dL iving FencJeohsn Quinney
64 Birdsa ndB iologiPceaslt C ontrolL oie Urquhart
68 TreeC ropsf orS tructuMraatle rialsSc ott Stokoe
70 WeavingW ithW illow Maryann Fameli and Earle Barnhart
71 Aquaculture
74 AlternatitvoCe osm merciaFle edsi nt heD ietosf C ultureFdi sh William McLarney and
0.
Jeffrey Parkin
83 Defining and Defyintgo S oLliamri-tAsl Pgoaned F ishC ultureD avid Engstrom, John Wolfe,
and Ron Zweig
88 ModelinAgl gaGlr owtha ndD eclinien S olar-AlPgoaned s David Engstrom, John Wolfe, and
Ron Zweig
9s Bioshelters
97 LogginTgh e Coursoef t heA rk
97 IndooGra rdeningC olleen Armst1·ong
104 ControllingW htihtee fly Colleen Annstrong
108 ToxicM ateriailnst heB ioshelFtoero dC hainasn dS urroundiEncgo systemsD r. Han Tai,
Colleen Armstrong, and John Todd
1 1 o Regl azingJ ohn Wolfe
11 2 Modelinagn dD esigonf F uturBei oshelteJrose Seale and John Wolfe
1 19 PuttinOgu rselvoens t heL ine
119 TheB AM GreenhousHeo:m emadeT apestryH ilde Maingay
1 20 TheB AM GreenhousIet:' Gsr eat Ate Atema
122 The BAM GreenhousNeo:t eso n IntenFtu,n ctioann dF orm Earle Bar·nhart
123 We Scroungeadn dR ecycledD enise and Dick Backus
125 Fromt heG roupU p Christina Rawley and Ron Zweig
126 Why Not Sao laGrr eenhousoen theS econdF loor?B m·bara Chase
128 NotesF roma ProfessionRailck Beck
129 We ThrewC autiotno t heS un Nancy Jack Todd andJohn Todd
133 Explorations
135 The VillagaesS olaErc ology
135 PrologueN ancy Jack Todd
1�7 The VillagaesS olaErc ologyj ohn Todd
139 ConceptualitzhienV gi llage
139 The Needf orV illagesW illiam Irwin Thompson
141 Ourkind Keith Critchlow
142 Feng-shuAin: A ncienTth eoryo fV illagSiet ingP aul Sun (Sun Peng-Cheng)
145 A SinglSeh areWdo rld Mary Catherine Bateson
14 7 Energya ndA rchitecture
147 SolaVri llagPer incipalnedsC onstructIidoena s Malcolm Wells
149 Soft-EnerPgayt hFsr omH eret ot heV illageA mory Lovins
151 A Dome Bioshelatesar V illagCeo mponent ]. Baldwin
154 Noteso n An AgricultuCruallt urSaoll aVri llagient heA mericaSno uthwestJ ohn Todd
156 Ecological Cycles
156 SomeC onsideratfioonrAs g ricultiunra e S olaVri llageS usan Ervin
15 7 The Needf orT rees L. Hunter Lovins
158 WasteW aterR eclamation Through EcPorloocgeiscsaelsS t eve Serfiing
162 TheS ustainaFbalrem Wes Jackson
164 LookinBga ckt oN ow Wes Jackson
1 70 EarlMya nifestations
1 70 Project
1
The CathedrCahlu rcho fS t.Jo hnt he Divinjeoh n Todd
172 Projec2 t
A MaineC oastaVli llagej ohn Todd
1 7 4 Project
3
MarinS olaVri llageJ ohn Todd
175 Index

THE JOURNAL OF THE NEW ALCHEMISTS NO. 7
8
This Journal of The New Alchemists, our seventh, into the future. Having encapsulated our discov­
perhaps more than any of its predecessors reflects eries in energy collection and storage, aquaculture,
a tension between the actual and the conceptual, soils, and organic vegetable production in the
between the present and the future, between being bioshelter, we began to ask ourselves, What next?
and bringing into being. Were one searching for It was in response to such mental questing and
a descriptive thematic title, something like "New more specifically to prompting from Margaret Mead
Alchemy and Beyond" would be fairly accurate. that New Alchemy convened a conference entitled
The journal remains, as it always has been, an on­ "The Village As Social Ecology: A Generic Design
going report by New Alchemists on our most recent Conference." The entire Explorations section of this
work in various fields of ecological research. Still, journal is devoted to ideas engendered by the con­
journal is a better name than report for such an ference and written by many of the participants.
eclectic collection of writings because in the journal So it is that although we continue to live and work
we have always tried to avoid the fallacy of much in the present, adding solar greenhouses to our
of orthodox science and not to overlook the fact houses, tending gardens and fish, recording and
that we, as people, with our various insights, prior­ analyzing data, and searching for underlying pat­
ities, and prejudices are a part of the paradigm. terns and connections with the natural world, watch­
In sum, the Journal offers its readers not only the ing our trees and our children grow and mature,
song but its assorted singers as well. we are at the same time living in a dialectic with
That explains the present, or "New Alchemy,"
part of this issue. The "and Beyond" is a bit more
complicated, involving, as it does, two roughly de­
finable categories or stages. We have, of course,
always been conscious of the larger picture, know­
ing that our work had little meaning in a vacuum
and that without our fellow travelers in the antinu­
clear, disarmament, alternative technology, envi­
ronmental, and eco-feminist movements, our activ­
ities, however rewarding to ourselves, were largely
esoteric. Still, that horizon is rather removed and
part of processes less in one's own hands. It has
only been within the last few years, and the last
year in particular, that we have formulated a tan­
gible effort in outreach. What began long ago with
Farm Saturdays has evolved into an active edu­
cational program. Besides our own efforts in out­
reach we have joined forces recently with the Com­
munity Action Committee based in Hyannis,
Massachusetts, and three other local groups to
form the Cape and Islands Self-Reliance Cooper­
ative. Should the co-op be a success, we shall have
become part of a decentralized regional political
network, as we always hoped to be. We have begun
to be consulted in our area on other issues like
waste treatment and energy policy as well. If in the
beginning we were somewhat isolated from our
community, we no longer are.
Now New Alchemy, which began as a concept,
or vision, and became embodied in a physical real­
ity that had a context in its time, sixties born and
seventies bred, has a context of community, of
place, as well. It becomes increasingly difficult to
set precise boundaries between New Alchemy and
that which is beyond it.
Perhaps it is because we live in such an extraor­
dinary and dangerous time that we are constantly
being tugged at to envision our work still further
THE JOURNAL OF THE NEW ALCHEMISTS NO. 7 9
the future, fantasizing and planning our Platonic involved in the transition, it seems natural and
village of the sun, knowing that the vision will both smooth."*
form and inform us. According to Gary Snyder, Coyote, Old Man (old
There are times in this decade of escalating mil­ with the oldness of once upon a time), who was the
itarism, frequent outbreak of war, the arms race, wonderful archetypical trickster of Native American
and the omnipresent nuclear threat, not to mention myth-when myth was, as it should be, a way of
the continuing devastation of the natural world, understanding life and our place in the universal
when we see our efforts as quixotic at best, or even pattern-spoke of a Dream Time that is outside of
as absurd. But Gregory Bateson has written that history. Dream Time surrounds us, and out of
a fantasy is made real or validated by the actions Dream Time comes the healing. In this journal we
that it dictates and that in such a process the fan­ have included a description of the time that is now
tasy can then become morphogenetic, and as such and a glimpse of the Dream Tmi e.
a determinant of society. A tenuous hope perhaps,
but reassuring coming from a mind with the stature N.J. T.
of Bateson's. Richard Grossinger, writing in Plant
Medicine of our work and that of others, observed,
". . . healing and farming have tended to take on ·Richard Grossinger. 1980. Planet Medicine: From Stone Age Sha­
a small piece of the cosmic vision and for many manism to Post Industrial Healing. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor/Doubleday.
THE JOURNAL OF THE NEW ALCHEMISTS NO. 7
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