A Very Brief Overview, as told by an un-trained, much-researched, minimally-practiced newbie…
This permaculture thing is a system of growing food (and doing lots of other stuff!) that takes nature’s lead, rather than fighting it, for the purpose of living more healthy, more sustainable, more vibrant lives that not only leaves something for future generations but actually provides them with more!
Even though the word itself is a mash-up of “permanent” and “agriculture” it needn’t only apply to agriculture/gardening. Just like the word “culture” means a range of stuff from ’tilling and growing’ to ‘values and practices of an organization’ to ‘arts and wisdom of a society’ permaculture also applies to running a household, conducting business, engaging in relationships, and more. It’s about seeing things as interconnected parts of a larger whole and finding and using the connections between them to enhance our lives and the lives of others.
Permaculture is a complete system based on 3 guiding Ethics~ Earth Care, People Care, Returning/Sharing Surplus. When your actions are driven by these 3 Ethics, bammo, you’re permaculturing!
Ok, ok, so how do we get our permaculture on??? Here are some nuts and bolts ways to get going (mostly garden oriented)~
- OBSERVE and interact with nature and its processes. How is your site oriented to the sun, is there any slope, how can you catch and store water, what’s around to help create healthy soil, what so-called weeds are food or living mulch?
- Minimize waste. Pretty self-explanatory.
- How is some “waste” a resource? Some packaging is good for starting seeds or sheltering seedlings. Meat bones are good for making broth and soil amendment.
- “Stacking functions”. Work toward making most things serve at least 2 purposes.
- Use hand tools. Saves gas/electricity, reduces pollution, exercises your body, can be meditative.
- Use polyculture/guilds. Interplanting different types of crops such as the Native American “three sisters”- corn, beans and squash.
- Learn this mantra- Problems are Solutions!
And PLEASE, don’t take my word for it! Go look this stuff up! Here are a few people to search- Bill Mollison, David Holmgren, Geoff Lawton.
Here are a few great websites-
https://permacultureprinciples.com
Now go out there and get your permaculture on!
