Permaculture & The Rewilding Stick

Part of the appeal of permaculture is that it brings so many things together into a cohesive, interdependent whole. It’s success has been partly attributed to the way it can incorporate indigenous knowledge and traditions along with modern views and techniques.

I first heard of permaculture during a talk by Bill Mollison, it’s founder, at the Findhorn community some time around the late seventies. It has since evolved beyond it’s original conception to now include the interconnection between how we can grow healthy communities as well as how we can grow healthy food. It is permaculture’s ability to adapt and incorporate the traditional along with the innovative in the different aspects of life which has allowed it to flourish so well.

A handy piece of innovation which can fit within the realms of permaculture is what is a called a “Rewilding Stick”. A Rewilding Stick lets you plant around 500 seeds per hour directly into rough ground, while walking upright at a normal pace. There is no need to bend over while planting with a Rewilding Stick, so less chance of a sore back at the end of it.

The Rewilding Stick was originally developed with the idea of planting tree seeds, and also seeds of under-story plants, out in the wild to assist with forest regeneration. However, as it is simply a tool for planting seeds “while walking upright” it can be used much more widely than specifically for Rewilding. The Rewilding Stick could be very useful for planting strips of trees or bushes around the edges for shelter and so on. It can also be used for planting seeds into prepared ground as well is into rough ground, or minimally prepared ground without having to stoop down.

One of the first questions people often ask is “What are the survival rates?” They want to know the survival rates of things planted by this method. This is understandable, but is somewhat misses the point. From a Rewilding perspective, which is where the Rewilding Stick originated, the true “survival rate” is not just about the survival of what is planted; it is also about the survival of the animals which ate those plants. Within this point of view, it is not a problem if a percentage of what is planted is consumed by local indigenous animals as this contributes to the survival of the whole system. However, you do not need agree with this in order for it to be worth your while to evaluate using a Rewilding Stick.

Just “translate” the ideas in the videos, linked to from this page, into your own situation to see how a Rewilding Stick an be useful to you.

-William
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William Fergus Martin, Founder: The Global Rewilding Initiative.
& The Global Forgiveness Initiative.