In trying to define the basic principles behind a backyard economy I realized all standard economic measures had to be redefined. Traditional economic systems were designed during the industrial revolution where measures of labor and productivity held little regard for the subtleties of the natural world. My backyard garden is an environment of infinite transactions and systems with the sun, seasons and stewardship all impacting its health for better or worse. The microcosm of the backyard garden should be a model for the larger world even though it is not. I admit, translating the needs of my backyard garden to the workings of the stock market is a stretch however it has taken centuries of economic manipulations to obscure the relationship. Unraveling traditional economic system and giving us new checks and balances is where the principle of embodied energy, true-cost economies and permaculture come in to help. Much good work has been done to interpret these new economies. They are the economies of the natural world.
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