Permaculture
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is a holistic, living-in-harmony-with-nature worldview, as well as technical approach for how to do so.
Bill Mollison who first coined the term in 1978 defined permaculture as:
“The conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive systems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of the landscape with people providing their food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.”
Guiding Ethics
Ethics act as constraints on survival instincts and other personal and social constructs of self interest that tend to drive human behaviour. ethics give us a more inclusive view of the whole and allow us to see long term effects of both negative and positive choices.
this focus in permaculture on learning from indigenous cultures stems from these cultures having existed in relative balance with their environment and surviving for longer than any more recent experiments in civilisation.
Any system that provides for its own energy needs is inherently sustainable and independent This theory can be protracted beyond inputs such as food, fertilizer, biofuels and solar power. For instance, rather than purchasing fertilizer to the farm, the farm structure could be arranged to provide for its own fertility needs; Perchance from livestock manure or cover crops. If you’re raising livestock, you should absolutely aspire to provide all the food for your animals from on-site, whether growing grain, forage crops, or recycling kitchen waste as animal feed. Any permaculturist worth their word would point out that a prosperous closed loop system ‘turns waste into resources’ and ‘problems into solutions.
“You dont have a snail problem, you have a duck deficiency.”
Closed Loop Systems
Stacking Functions
One integral underpinning of permaculture is that every part of a structure or landscape should serve more than one function. The idea is to create a unified, independent system through the thoughtful design and employment of its components. A fence to contain animals, might also be used so that it also functions as a windbreak, a trellis, and a reflective surface to direct extra heat and light to nearby plants. This stacking of functions not only is resourceful and economical for farmers but makes the most out of their space while connecting them more to their land. To stack functions a farmer must be mindful of all elements in the environment.
Tilling the ground once or twice a year isn’t good for the soil. The downside of tilling is that it destroys the natural soil structure, which makes soil more prone to compaction. By exposing a greater surface area to air and sunlight, tilling reduces soil's moisture-retaining ability and causes a hard crust to form on the soil surface.
Which is why permaculturists promote the use of perennial crops that are planted once, rather than annual crops which require constant tillage. This incorporates some elements of Agroforestry, the cultivation of edible tree crops and associated understory plants which can also be seen as another way of Stacking Functions. There is no doubt that if we could replace all the monocultures of corn, soy, and wheat in the world with agroforestry systems, agriculture which be much more sustainable
Perennial Crops
Some examples of Perennial Crops
- Strawberries - Artichoke - Turnip - Leek
- Potato - Sweet Potato - Avocado - Pears
- Apple - Curly Kale - Shallot - Rhubarb
Working With Nature
In the words of Mollison: “Working with rather than against nature”, and of engaging in “protracted and thoughtful observation, rather than protracted and thoughtless labor.”
These ideas are carried out with things like chicken tractors, where the natural scratching and bug-hunting behavior of hens is harnessed to clear an area of pests and weeds in preparation for planting. Planting certain species of trees such as Locust trees, which are known for adding nitrogen to the soil. Therefore, the natural attributes of the locust eliminate the need to bother with fertilizer or building a trellis, while providing shade, serving as a nectar source for bees and looking pretty. By letting nature do the work of farming. Permaculturists know that nature has an easy way of doing things, and working alongside the environment we are seated in will be easier and more fruitful.
Water conservation is a leading focus on permaculture farms, where the farms surface is thoughtfully sculpted to direct every last drop of water toward a useful purpose. This may take the form of terraces on steep land, taking form of broad, shallow ditches created to capture runoff and cause it to soak into the ground around plants; or a system of canals and planting berms on low swampy ground. The latter is modeled on the chinampas of the ancient Aztecs, an approach to growing food, fish, and other crops in an integrated system, often heralded by permaculturists as the most productive and sustainable form of agriculture ever devised.
Water Conservation
Learn More
David Holmgren Interview
This rare and candid interview with David Holmgren, co-originator of the permaculture concept was obtained by Sam Collins during a Permacuture Design Certificate course David taught at The Food Forest in April 2010. David reflects on the future of human occupation on the planet and permacultures template for survival and abundance.
David Holmgren Interview on Permaculture, Energy Descent & Future Scenarios
David Holmgren is the co-originator, with Bill Mollison, of permacuture. This is the full interview we shot with him for the film "A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity"
Global Gardener with Bill Mollison
This series shot in 1992 was one of the first times Permaculture and natural gardening came to the forefront of mainstream media. Its nostalgic and easy to watch while still being informative about the structures and principles of permaculture.