Nature operates on a fundamental, interconnected pattern, referred to as the "core model," which can be understood by observing the life cycle and nutrient flow of a tree, and is mirrored in the fractal branching of watersheds.
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Buckle up, folks, because we're about to
dive deep and learn how to decode the
secret patterns of nature that are
surrounding you at all times. Because
when you look to nature, you see
mountains, rivers, trees, clouds,
animals, and they may seem like
unrelated and separate forms, but there
is an underlying pattern that connects
it all. And it all starts with an apple
core. This is the beginning. And this
form is called the core model. The core
model is considered a master pattern.
That's the basis for understanding how
natural systems work. I'm going to
explain this starting with a tree. Now
imagine the entire lifetime of a tree.
It begins with the germination of a
seed. And that event is like a
detonation of energy sending branches to
the sky and roots underground. The
branches grow in a fractal branching
pattern which means that as you go from
the trunk to the outer branches, the
same pattern of branching repeats its
smaller scales. And we find the same
fractal pattern in the root system where
big roots branch into smaller and
smaller roots until there are just root
hairs at the tip. So the tree grows and
grows until it dies and breaks down and
eventually returns back into the soil.
So imagine for a minute that the tree is
not just a static form that you see when
you look at it in a moment, but try and
visualize its whole lifetime. And you'll
see that the tree is really an event
which happens from seed to death. And
within that tree, there's movement
through its vascular system. The roots
bring minerals and water up from the
earth to form the leaves and branches.
And then the leaves send sugars from the
canopy down to be stored in the roots.
But the sugars and minerals do not just
travel up the tree in a straight line.
There are streamlines made by the
xyllemin phe in the vascular system
where the minerals actually travel from
one side of the roots to the opposite
side of the canopy. And the same goes
for sugars traveling down. When we look
from the side view, the streamline of
these nutrient flows forms this pattern.
But you have to imagine this
three-dimensionally and not just flat
like my drawing because this nutrient
flow is not flat and two-dimensional.
The minerals, water, and sugars actually
travel in a spiral around the tree.
Here's a top-down view that shows a
pathway that nutrients take to get from
the roots to the crown, spiraling around
the trunk. This is not just a single
pathway, but when you imagine all of the
nutrients and water moving in this
fashion, it means that the entire tree
is actually a spiral.
Look, I am not just making all this up.
This is from the permaculture designers
manual, which is the Bible of
permaculture, written by permaculture's
founder, Bill Mollis. And here on page
73, he takes a deep dive into all of
this. I'm just scratching the surface
and giving you a tiny bit, but there's
lots more in this book. Anyway, let's
get back to spirals. Bill describes the
tree as a slowm moving vortex, like a
tornado or a whirlpole moving in both
directions, but moving so slowly that we
can't perceive the movement. But have
you ever seen a tree that's visibly
growing in a spiral? Well, now you
understand why it looks like that. The
tree also has an enormous surface area
of leaves and branches in its canopy
that collects dust and particles that
settle from the atmosphere. It's like a
giant net for everything around. Pollen,
bug skeletons, bird droppings, mushroom
spores, seeds, soil particles, you name
it. And then when it rains, all of that
material is washed down to the ground,
guided down the tree by the branches and
dripping to the ground at the canopy's
edge. So the tree itself is collecting
all that material and depositing it into
its own root zone where it enters the
soil and becomes nutrients for its own
growth. The leaves fall from the tree
and also break down into the soil. So
the tree is recycling its own biomass
from the canopy into the soil and then
back into the tree. This is represented
by the taurus pattern where we see the
slowm moving vortex of the tree is
dynamically accumulating and recycling
nutrients and minerals.
Is your mind blown yet by how genius
trees in nature are? Well, now we're
going to look at the tree from a
completely different perspective because
the tree is the same form as the
watershed. Now, let's replace the
treere's canopy with the mountain range.
Just like a tree collects dew and rain
and snow in its canopy, a mountain
collects rain and snow and dust, but
just on a way bigger scale. When rain
and snow melt flows down a mountain, the
water moves through the landscape in the
same pattern as the trees branches.
Small springs and streams combined to
make larger creeks which combine into
rivers. Rivers converge with each other
and some of them end up in a lake. But
for those that find their way to the
sea, they spread out into an estuary.
Water travels slowly through the estuary
and then the fresh river water is
dispersed out into the ocean. You can
see now that the tree pattern is the
same pattern of how water flows through
a landscape from mountains to estuary
and into the ocean. Just like the
branches of a tree have a fractal
pattern, the branch pattern of streams
in a watershed is also a fractal
pattern. The same form of branching
exists in whatever scale you look at it
in. So when we take this watershed
pattern and we place it in a sequence,
we have an undulation between the forces
of concentration and dispersion. The
concentration is when water is flowing
down through canyons, creeks, washes,
waddies and picking up speed and picking
up particles of soil and organic matter
into the water. But then at a certain
point the pattern of the water flow
changes and water goes from
concentrating its energy to dispersing
its energy. When water is moving fast it
can cause erosion and pick up a lot of
soil materials and then eventually it
hits flatter ground and slows again and
the soil settles out of the water as deposition.
deposition.
And this process goes back and forth
scouring soil and deepening the river
channel in one bend and then settling
out that soil in the next bend. This
pulse between the forces of
concentration and dispersion, erosion
and deposition scouring and settling.
This is the nature of water and land.
And this is where the core model becomes
a map of the whole landscape. In fact,
the entire land mass of the planet is
made up of interlocking core model
watersheds. That's the big secret.
That's the invisible pattern that
everybody on the planet lives within.
Once you realize that the tree pattern
is the watershed pattern and that the
earth's land mass is made up of a matrix
of interwoven watersheds, then you
realize that the core model is a map
that you can use to understand where a
site that you're designing is positioned
within the landscape and what the
dominant forces are that you need to pay
attention to. Are you in a location
where soil is depositing and water is
moving slowly? Are you in a place with a
bad erosion potential? Are you high or
low in the watershed? And what does that
tell you about your soil, availability
of water, wildlife, and your farming or
gardening potential? In the permaculture
system, we use this information as the
foundation to design a life that
actually works harmoniously with natural
patterns. And that's exactly where Bill
Mollis went with all of this when he
founded permaculture. So, I will never
stop reading this book, and I'm going to
link to this book down below. And what I
just showed you here is just the tiniest
tip of the iceberg of what you'll find
here. Now, when you take our online
permaculture design courses through
Oregon State University, you learn how
to apply this information to the actual
design of a permaculture site.
Are you ready to transform deserts,
create lush backyards, and feed
communities? In my almost 30 years as a
permaculture designer traveling the
world, I've put everything I learned
into Oregon State University's online
permaculture design course or PDC. The
PDC and PDC Pro are the ultimate way to
begin mastering permaculture. Me and my
team guide you through over 20
assignments with more than 100 hours of
top quality video lectures and
resources, all focused on developing
your own property or project. Throughout
the course, you'll get personalized
feedback from a dedicated instructor in
a small group setting. People are always
asking me, "How can I be part of the
solution?" This is your starting point.
Check the link below for upcoming
courses and join us in creating a better
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