Charity with fewer mechanisms of control from the donator

Definitely a valid critique of Mondragon in the modern era, its commitment to the 10% ratio has atrophied somewhat. It’s still something that ebbs and flows, for example there is a current push to transfer 35,000 non-member workers in their retail coop into full members (from a total of 50,000 workers). From numbers I’ve seen, 85% of employees are still members, which is pretty good.

Regarding irrigation, while it’s not automation related, I enjoy Water for Every Farm: Yeomans Keyline Plan. In terms of charting and weather monitoring, I can share some different formulas and methods for calculating and tracking water budgets. I’ve written some R scripts to automate modeling water availability in my yard and can share how I did so if you’re interested!

Also, I write a blog about agriculture, landscapes, and sustainability, if you’re interested!

That’s awesome! What sorts of lessons have you learned in navigating that transition?

That’s kind of what I was getting at, I think both have their strengths and weaknesses, and I think the discourse should reflect that.

Municipal scale infrastructure to capture waste, treat it, and extract nutrients to be redistributed or sold as fertilizer. This is usually an activity undertaken by and fit into existing municipal waste infrastructure.

For sure. I think trying to preserve these tools is a bit of a waste of time. But extending their lifespan is always a win in my book

Ooooh interesting, good to know! I suppose inoculation is a process that is not particularly complex that a localized society could also achieve.

I like to chop it up, fry it with onions, and put it in burritos. Breakfast burritos especially with egg, bacon or sausage, and cheese. It can also substitute for turnip or collard greens in a recipe if you’re looking for a place to eat it. Since its more of a bitter plant, you’ll want to use it much differently than spinach (whoever told you it tastes like that deserves a stern talking to)

Wait until you get into food preservation!

That’s a great point, I didn’t consider the tech tree that leads to bikes also makes cars more likely :/

The only disease to be fully eradicated, 5 million people can live every year who otherwise would have died had we not defeated this disease

Lawns certainly have a role; hard to picnic or play soccer in tall fields of native grasses. Keeping a small patch as a part of ones landscaping is fine imo

If you ever find yourself with small logs or large branches, I recommend looking into Hugelkultur, which similarly involves building mounds of compostable organic material around large pieces of wood, which allows for the slow breakdown and release of nutrients over time