BIOSYSTEMS IN URBAN PERMACULTURE A gardener¹s focus is primarily in growing and determining how issues, like ³pests² are resolved. As a permaculturalist, my focus is to help gardens function as organically and naturally as possible. I tend to soil health above all. I don¹t believe in pests, I believe in the system itself functioning as a whole. I garden, but I want to garden in a permanent-sustainable way that will continue to grow in abundance. What does that mean? Gardens can be places of beauty and style and art-full locations to park a body and tap into the cosmos. BUT they can also be places of food, places of function, places of application along with the beauty. Gardens are resources that can yield so much more than simply flowers and outdoor rooms. Built to function as a whole system, a garden will naturally recycle energy back into the soil and increase in biomass and abundance. Soil, once returned to health, will organically maintain a natural level of fertility. We can create gardens that feed, heal, soothe and shelter. Gardens can help people to sustain themselves. Plants collect energy from the sun and deliver that energy to us fortunate humans as resources and harvest.  Creating more diversity in the plants enhances the returns as a planned permaculture begins working as an ecosystem. Small animals, like rabbits, goats and chickens, speed up the process for the soil. Selectively choosing and consuming fodder from the landscape, animals return the sun¹s energy to the soil. Every farmer and gardener knows that manure increases fertility and boosts crop yield. Biological systems (animal energy-recycling systems) are a permaculture tool. Small animals are a major boon to an organic garden, providing a valuable service by consuming garden debris and producing manure. Composted and fed back into the sun-plants-soil system, manure is soil food. Animals complete a backyard ecosystem. Chickens, for example, are an excellent urban biosystem animal. They eat anything (a real service.) Seriously, chickens will eat anything. They would eat me if I laid down and stopped moving! They clean up the garden leavings and solve many pest problems by simply eating the offending insects. No pollution is involved when free range chickens are on pest control. Guinea fowl are good weeders, whereas chickens will tear a garden to ribbons, so fence them out of where their work wouldn¹t be welcomed. Goats are very intelligent and affectionate creatures. Rabbits are quiet and efficient workers. These small animals recycle the garden through their bodies, returning to the garden fertile manures. Small animals can be integrated into a backyard ecosystem successfully. The soil responds to the manures and the plants respond to the soil. More plant growth means more food for people and for the animals of the urban permaculture. Larger stock can sometimes be found in urban permaculture, too. Although most city lots don¹t allow enough room for animals as big as full-sized goats or cows, some folks manage. Larger animals have different needs obviously. Goats love to jump and climb. They need secure fencing. A strong fence is the first consideration, and storage of supplemental feed is another. Cows are truly big animals and need lots of room. Sheep and exotics such as llamas and alpacas can provide wool fiber as well as manure. Here in Manitou, local llama folks boast big compost piles just waiting for roots to enjoy. Running with their llamas on the street they cause quite the scene. Biosystem on the hoof. Most biosystem animals are a food source themselves. Milk animals are a lot of work, but the lure of dairy products is strong. The promise of meat is compelling for carnivores. Chickens lay eggs and meat. Rabbit meat is very low in fat, yet carries more protein than other meats. Finding a butcher to handle the animals is another consideration. Some people feel that everyone should butcher their own meat. That puts the biosystem carnivore directly into the circle. Personally, I know a butcher who is a total animal lover. He is good at what he does and honors and respects the animals in his care. Perhaps someday I will dress out my own rabbits. I am not against it, I just don¹t have the skills...yet. Now I understand that not everyone will eat their bunnies, goats or chicks! I understand. They can be fun pets as well. People have these animals without eating them. I have friends who keep rabbits simply for the bunny biosystem. Raising animals is serious business. We humans co-evolved with animals and should build any biosystem with respect and appreciation for the animals in our care. We share common needs with them:  food, water, shelter and protection from predators. There are other considerations such as the daily schedules that never take a day off, time and space available, what-will-the-neighbors-say? and noise. The backyard permaculturalist, building an animal biosystem, is blazing a new trail towards sustainable urban communities. Permaculture encourages people to be as self reliant and self sustaining as possible. It is folly to depend on a government-economic-social structure to feed us as individuals. Imagine six billion individuals! Not enough people know how to work with animals, yet eat animal products everyday not understanding where their food comes from. Stockmen and farmers work their fingers to the bone to provide food for our tables. And we let them... without lifting a finger of our own. I say, we should participate in our own survival on the planet, no matter how tiny a part we play. If someone you know has a biosystem, and you are not inclined to create your own, consider helping them feed their stock, or buy meat, milk or eggs from them. That way you still participate in the system, in your own survival, and make a direct connection to the soil that sustains us all. Exploring new ideas for living on the planet and reacquainting oneself with the ideals from simpler times is a worthy pursuit. New ideas braided together with sound wisdom of the past makes a strong cordage. Many already feel that the ³money chase² of this society is not the road to happiness and fullness. Those folks have a head start down a beautiful road to organic, rich living. Like a coral reef building upon the foundations of those that came before, each well-thought perception of sustainable living stands upon the experience and knowledge laid down before. The vision spreads a little further and permaculture moves forward. Everything we do ripples out and affects the world around us. Urban permaculture, including backyard biosystems, is a concept all city and town dwellers need to understand. Urban systems are about feeding people, healing the soil and, ultimately, healing the planet. Each of us participates in our own survival. Gathering up one¹s needs is a basic part of being alive on the planet. We had just forgotten that.       c    8-2003    becky elder