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Re: Scope or focus of newsgroup
Jeff Owens wrote:
>
> I've been reading posts to rec.gardens.ecosystems and can not determine
> what it is about. Is there a FAQ or has there been a discussion of
> what this newsgroup covers?
The home page for rec.gardens.ecosystems can be found at
http://sunsite.unc.edu/rge/ where you can find the original charter for
the newsgroup as well as the faq and archives of past articles.
> When I see the words ecosystems and garden together I think of the
> following characteristics:
>
> 1. Diversity of plants, animals, and other living organisms.
> 2. Synergistic relationships between all the components of the
> garden.
> 3. Limited human adjustment in the natural cycles once they
> are established.
> 4. High interest in native/local ecosystems and integration with
> the local ecology.
> 5. Acceptance of change and chaos.
>
> Someone transforming an urban lot from asphalt to a garden would
> probably view ecosystems differently than someone working with a small
> forest. So, I guess the definition can be quite varied. In the case
> of lawns, the ecosystem is usually marginal, unstable and involves
> lots of intervention. My first reaction is to say lawns would not fit
> on this newsgroup. But, in todays world most of us (around 80
> percent) live in urban areas and have a very limited view of ecology.
> Possibly this requires that the discussion change to fit what everyone
> is familiar with?
I can't speak for the moderators, but I would think those subjects would
fall well within the scope of the newsgroup. A few lines from the
charter for the newsgroup reads:
[start quoted material]
Reasonable expectations in terms of scope and content:
Rec.gardens.ecosystems is intended as a newsgroup for the discussion
of the ways nature works within the garden. Successful organic
gardening is more demanding than non-organic gardening because it
requires a working knowledge of the ways the total natural community
interrelates with the physical and chemical environment of the home
garden. This is the basic meaning of the term, ecosystems. The reason
for selecting the name, "rec.gardens.ecosystems" was to emphasize that
the focus of this newsgroup is on gardening in cooperation with
nature. Michael Pollan said, "... the garden is a middle ground
between nature and culture." That middle ground should be a place
friendly to both sides.
[end quoted material]
I would think lawns could be a subject for discussion here *if* it is in
the right context, that being how to organically control grubs, what
types of lawns would be suitable for xeriscaping, etc. A discussion of
varieties of buffalo grass would certainly be on topic, a discussion on
how to have a perfect gold course lawn would not be on topic in my
opinion. I'd think that rather than to say we will/won't talk about
given subjects it would be better to leave a lot of open room here and
consider the relevance to the impact on the ecosystems and how we can
improve what we have.
> My personal interests are diverse gardens nudged towards food
> production and habitat. This includes an emphasis on perennials
> (trees, bushes, vines), plants that reseed themselves (grains,
> clovers, tubers) and small animals (geese, ducks, birds, sheep,
> people).
>
> Things like mono-cropping, hybrids, soil amendments, and all external
> inputs of energy or material are signs of a strongly manipulated
> ecology which is not of much interest. These things seem to lead to
> dominance of nature and not to the more humble attitude of being a
> part of the ecology.
>
> Does this viewpoint fit here?
I'd think it does fit in here, but the group can also have room for
people in urban or suburban situations who simply don't have the land to
have a natural ecosystem so want to learn how to use a low impact
approach to gardening. Soil amendments are demanded by the homeowner who
had the soil stripped to the subsoil by the builders, with some
intervention we can accomplish in a few years what would take nature
alone decades to do. The end result is much the same, a healthy soil
full of life. I think there is room for discussion on both ends of the
issue, the true ecosystem and the people who want to come as close to it
as their circumstances will allow.
Sorry I haven't been very active here recently everyone, got caught up
in some ongoing net abuse issues but I'll try to make more time for it
in the future. Looks like I missed a bit.
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