0:06 Buckle up, folks, because we're about to
0:09 dive deep and learn how to decode the
0:11 secret patterns of nature that are
0:13 surrounding you at all times. Because
0:15 when you look to nature, you see
0:18 mountains, rivers, trees, clouds,
0:20 animals, and they may seem like
0:23 unrelated and separate forms, but there
0:26 is an underlying pattern that connects
0:29 it all. And it all starts with an apple
0:32 core. This is the beginning. And this
0:36 form is called the core model. The core
0:38 model is considered a master pattern.
0:40 That's the basis for understanding how
0:43 natural systems work. I'm going to
0:46 explain this starting with a tree. Now
0:48 imagine the entire lifetime of a tree.
0:50 It begins with the germination of a
0:53 seed. And that event is like a
0:56 detonation of energy sending branches to
0:59 the sky and roots underground. The
1:02 branches grow in a fractal branching
1:04 pattern which means that as you go from
1:07 the trunk to the outer branches, the
1:10 same pattern of branching repeats its
1:12 smaller scales. And we find the same
1:15 fractal pattern in the root system where
1:17 big roots branch into smaller and
1:19 smaller roots until there are just root
1:22 hairs at the tip. So the tree grows and
1:25 grows until it dies and breaks down and
1:29 eventually returns back into the soil.
1:32 So imagine for a minute that the tree is
1:34 not just a static form that you see when
1:37 you look at it in a moment, but try and
1:40 visualize its whole lifetime. And you'll
1:43 see that the tree is really an event
1:46 which happens from seed to death. And
1:48 within that tree, there's movement
1:51 through its vascular system. The roots
1:53 bring minerals and water up from the
1:56 earth to form the leaves and branches.
1:58 And then the leaves send sugars from the
2:01 canopy down to be stored in the roots.
2:03 But the sugars and minerals do not just
2:06 travel up the tree in a straight line.
2:09 There are streamlines made by the
2:11 xyllemin phe in the vascular system
2:13 where the minerals actually travel from
2:16 one side of the roots to the opposite
2:18 side of the canopy. And the same goes
2:20 for sugars traveling down. When we look
2:23 from the side view, the streamline of
2:26 these nutrient flows forms this pattern.
2:27 But you have to imagine this
2:30 three-dimensionally and not just flat
2:32 like my drawing because this nutrient
2:35 flow is not flat and two-dimensional.
2:37 The minerals, water, and sugars actually
2:41 travel in a spiral around the tree.
2:43 Here's a top-down view that shows a
2:45 pathway that nutrients take to get from
2:48 the roots to the crown, spiraling around
2:50 the trunk. This is not just a single
2:53 pathway, but when you imagine all of the
2:55 nutrients and water moving in this
2:58 fashion, it means that the entire tree
3:01 is actually a spiral.
3:04 Look, I am not just making all this up.
3:08 This is from the permaculture designers
3:10 manual, which is the Bible of
3:12 permaculture, written by permaculture's
3:15 founder, Bill Mollis. And here on page
3:18 73, he takes a deep dive into all of
3:20 this. I'm just scratching the surface
3:22 and giving you a tiny bit, but there's
3:25 lots more in this book. Anyway, let's
3:27 get back to spirals. Bill describes the
3:31 tree as a slowm moving vortex, like a
3:35 tornado or a whirlpole moving in both
3:38 directions, but moving so slowly that we
3:39 can't perceive the movement. But have
3:42 you ever seen a tree that's visibly
3:44 growing in a spiral? Well, now you
3:47 understand why it looks like that. The
3:50 tree also has an enormous surface area
3:52 of leaves and branches in its canopy
3:54 that collects dust and particles that
3:57 settle from the atmosphere. It's like a
4:01 giant net for everything around. Pollen,
4:03 bug skeletons, bird droppings, mushroom
4:05 spores, seeds, soil particles, you name
4:08 it. And then when it rains, all of that
4:11 material is washed down to the ground,
4:14 guided down the tree by the branches and
4:16 dripping to the ground at the canopy's
4:19 edge. So the tree itself is collecting
4:22 all that material and depositing it into
4:25 its own root zone where it enters the
4:28 soil and becomes nutrients for its own
4:30 growth. The leaves fall from the tree
4:32 and also break down into the soil. So
4:36 the tree is recycling its own biomass
4:39 from the canopy into the soil and then
4:41 back into the tree. This is represented
4:44 by the taurus pattern where we see the
4:46 slowm moving vortex of the tree is
4:49 dynamically accumulating and recycling
4:52 nutrients and minerals.
4:55 Is your mind blown yet by how genius
4:58 trees in nature are? Well, now we're
4:59 going to look at the tree from a
5:01 completely different perspective because
5:04 the tree is the same form as the
5:06 watershed. Now, let's replace the
5:09 treere's canopy with the mountain range.
5:11 Just like a tree collects dew and rain
5:14 and snow in its canopy, a mountain
5:16 collects rain and snow and dust, but
5:19 just on a way bigger scale. When rain
5:22 and snow melt flows down a mountain, the
5:24 water moves through the landscape in the
5:27 same pattern as the trees branches.
5:30 Small springs and streams combined to
5:32 make larger creeks which combine into
5:35 rivers. Rivers converge with each other
5:37 and some of them end up in a lake. But
5:39 for those that find their way to the
5:43 sea, they spread out into an estuary.
5:46 Water travels slowly through the estuary
5:48 and then the fresh river water is
5:50 dispersed out into the ocean. You can
5:53 see now that the tree pattern is the
5:55 same pattern of how water flows through
5:58 a landscape from mountains to estuary
6:00 and into the ocean. Just like the
6:03 branches of a tree have a fractal
6:05 pattern, the branch pattern of streams
6:08 in a watershed is also a fractal
6:10 pattern. The same form of branching
6:12 exists in whatever scale you look at it
6:15 in. So when we take this watershed
6:18 pattern and we place it in a sequence,
6:20 we have an undulation between the forces
6:23 of concentration and dispersion. The
6:26 concentration is when water is flowing
6:29 down through canyons, creeks, washes,
6:32 waddies and picking up speed and picking
6:34 up particles of soil and organic matter
6:37 into the water. But then at a certain
6:39 point the pattern of the water flow
6:41 changes and water goes from
6:44 concentrating its energy to dispersing
6:46 its energy. When water is moving fast it
6:48 can cause erosion and pick up a lot of
6:51 soil materials and then eventually it
6:54 hits flatter ground and slows again and
6:56 the soil settles out of the water as deposition.
6:58 deposition.
7:01 And this process goes back and forth
7:03 scouring soil and deepening the river
7:05 channel in one bend and then settling
7:08 out that soil in the next bend. This
7:10 pulse between the forces of
7:12 concentration and dispersion, erosion
7:15 and deposition scouring and settling.
7:18 This is the nature of water and land.
7:20 And this is where the core model becomes
7:24 a map of the whole landscape. In fact,
7:26 the entire land mass of the planet is
7:29 made up of interlocking core model
7:32 watersheds. That's the big secret.
7:33 That's the invisible pattern that
7:36 everybody on the planet lives within.
7:39 Once you realize that the tree pattern
7:42 is the watershed pattern and that the
7:45 earth's land mass is made up of a matrix
7:48 of interwoven watersheds, then you
7:51 realize that the core model is a map
7:53 that you can use to understand where a
7:55 site that you're designing is positioned
7:58 within the landscape and what the
7:59 dominant forces are that you need to pay
8:02 attention to. Are you in a location
8:04 where soil is depositing and water is
8:06 moving slowly? Are you in a place with a
8:09 bad erosion potential? Are you high or
8:12 low in the watershed? And what does that
8:14 tell you about your soil, availability
8:17 of water, wildlife, and your farming or
8:19 gardening potential? In the permaculture
8:22 system, we use this information as the
8:24 foundation to design a life that
8:26 actually works harmoniously with natural
8:28 patterns. And that's exactly where Bill
8:30 Mollis went with all of this when he
8:33 founded permaculture. So, I will never
8:35 stop reading this book, and I'm going to
8:38 link to this book down below. And what I
8:40 just showed you here is just the tiniest
8:42 tip of the iceberg of what you'll find
8:45 here. Now, when you take our online
8:46 permaculture design courses through
8:48 Oregon State University, you learn how
8:51 to apply this information to the actual
8:54 design of a permaculture site.
8:57 Are you ready to transform deserts,
8:59 create lush backyards, and feed
9:02 communities? In my almost 30 years as a
9:03 permaculture designer traveling the
9:06 world, I've put everything I learned
9:08 into Oregon State University's online
9:12 permaculture design course or PDC. The
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9:23 assignments with more than 100 hours of
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9:27 resources, all focused on developing
9:29 your own property or project. Throughout
9:31 the course, you'll get personalized
9:33 feedback from a dedicated instructor in
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9:38 asking me, "How can I be part of the
9:41 solution?" This is your starting point.
9:43 Check the link below for upcoming
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