Permaculture Soils DVD – It’s a Wrap!
Compost, DVDs/Books, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Salination, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Ecofilms September 6, 2010
 Geoff Lawton and Frank Gapinski |
I just came back from filming all the links to Geoff Lawton’s Permaculture Soils DVD over the weekend. It’s a wrap – finally – with all principal photography completed and now it’s just a matter of finishing off the edit. Squeezing it all down to 90 minutes will be difficult as there’s heaps of good Permaculture information in this DVD. From Compost Teas, Kitchen Gardens to Ripping the Soil, working with cows, ducks, chickens and worms – and in the middle of it all, Geoff’s 18 day Compost formula – Geoff was in top form. Despite not drinking any water all day and being exhausted from nursing a cow the previous evening that was expecting to calf at any moment, Geoff was able to stay awake, stay focused and deliver on queue.
As Geoff privately said to me, “Making something like a Soils DVD sound interesting can be very difficult.” Geoff has studied soils all his life and read many books on the subject and the topic can appear to be seriously dead boring. I know, when people ask me what I’m working on and I say “Soils” – their eyes glaze over. I can sympathize. Once you get into text book science – you really can get lost in the tedium of it all. But Geoff has a way to make the most dull subject appear interesting and relevant to your life and really, learning about the organization of soil life diversity can be very exciting – particularly if you have Geoff Lawton explain it in a holistic way. This has been a great project to be involved with.
 Fungal Hyphae – the Internet of the Plant Kingdom |
Plunging his hands into a woody compost pile, Geoff explains that there are different compost heaps that you can make for growing either forest trees or kitchen garden vegetables. We never thought that such a thing as “designer compost” existed. But with Geoff you never know where he is taking you. At his peak Geoff confesses he had about 18 compost heaps all on the boil – all a metre in diameter composting away in on his old farm. He fanatically gathered as much “inoculum” or biological diversity (from human hair gathered at hairdressers and exotic fruits that he gathered from around the world), a benefit from globalization he says, to organise the mother of all compost heaps – a compost ferment with as much biodiversity as he could gather. Whats the point you say? Well it’s a bit like making a fine home brew – the more diversity of microbes in your compost, the finer the garden, the better the food, the richer the tapestry of life.
That’s Permaculture.
“Focus your camera on the top of that compost heap” says Geoff as he lifts the top six inches of mulch. The woody mulch underneath soon appears as if wrapped up in white cotton string. “Fungal Hyphae!” says Geoff who explains the intricacies of how trees communicate with one another through the long white strand of fungi – the internet of the forest kingdom. “If you don’t have Fungi on your farm – you may need to locate and source it.” he says with a knowing smile.
Geoff Lawton’s Permaculture Soils DVD will be released very soon. Worth viewing.
Frank, why squeeze it down to 90 minutes if the content is interesting? It’s an educational movie and I guess the DVD will have a menu with chapters. It seems to me that it’s the content that matters not the lenght, so even 120 minutes is fine (one can always watch it in several parts). Thanks goodness Peter Jackson didn’t squeeze Fellowship of the Ring into 90 minutes
Comment by Marcin Gerwin — September 6, 2010 @ 4:42 am
I agree with Marcin…every bit we learn from Geoff is priceless!
Comment by Julie Pagliaro — September 6, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
I agree with Marcin – if it’s not made for TV (with the limited attention span of most viewers in mind)then give us everything.
You could always include an “extras” with all the bits cut from the final edition.
Comment by Don Hansford — September 6, 2010 @ 2:20 pm
Yes totally agreed with Martin. As someone who would buy such a dvd, i would want it packed full of as much nutritional information as possible
Comment by Peter — September 6, 2010 @ 4:53 pm
Marcin I agree!!! I would watch 20 hours of Geoff Lawton.
Comment by SadDayBoxxing — September 6, 2010 @ 7:04 pm
I also agree with Martin – cut as little as possible, would be sad to leave any space on the DVD. I will order it as soon as it is out and available.
Comment by Matt Luthi — September 6, 2010 @ 9:52 pm
I love the towel flicking into the air at 1:49 – hahaha.
Comment by Hamish — September 7, 2010 @ 8:32 pm
90 minutes is fine, so long as there are hours of special features
Comment by Fredd — September 13, 2010 @ 10:09 am
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