What is Permaculture

Permaculture: the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient.

"Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system." - Bill Mollison

The term Permaculture was originally coined by David Holmgren a student of Bill Mollison in the 1970’s. The term was originally a combination of the words “permanent agriculture”  but has since been changed “permanent culture” in order to encompass more than just agriculture. It became apparent in the later years of Permaculture that this creative methodology can apply to many more systems including social structures and business. Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia often deservingly refers to Permaculture as a “design science.” In designing we make observations of natural systems and use the conclusions of our observations to assist (or create new) the natural system in becoming more productive, regenerative, self-sufficient, and useful.

This philosophy of design science is built on a foundation of these three core ethics:

1.  Care of the earth 
2. Care of people
3. Return of surplus

The first ethic “Care of the Earth” is ahead of the second simply because it is apparent that it is a requirement for the health and survival of people. The earth provides us with everything, and if it is unhealthy, so are we. The second is to be expected, we place it above surplus because ultimately surplus does us no good unless the people are here to manage it. And finally the third ethic refers to surplus. That is returning it to the system from which it came, in order to regenerate and grow that system.

It is not easy to say which of the ethics is most important. Ultimately two and three are not possible without the first, however  the third is required if the first is to be fulfilled , and one and three really don’t matter (to us) without the second. For what then would be our intent for caring for our planet if we were not likewise taken care of.  It is most pragmatic to say that each are of equal importance. These three principles are what mold the philosophy of Permaculture. In the future we will right another post in detail on each.

The design of a Permaculture system traditionally takes into account twelve principles set in place by David Holmgren. In many circles, wording has been changed and ideas have been altered. This is not necessarily a bad thing according to Holmgren’s last principle, but for the sake of a solid foundation of what permaculture design is we will stick with the original. These twelve principles are:

1. Observe and Interact
2. Catch and Store Energy
3. Obtain a Yield
4. Apply Self-Regulation
5. Use and Value Renewable Recourses
6. Produce No Waste
7. Pay Attention to Patterns and Detail
8. Integration over Segregation
9. Implement Small Slow Solutions
10. Use and Value Diversity
11. Use Edges
12. Creativity and Response to Change

Each of these Principles will be further explored in Future posts.

Permaculture has been a steadily growing practice since its fruition in the 1970’s. Geoff Lawton, a student of Mollison, has brought Permaculture to one of the most beaten down pieces of land in the world, Jordan, and helped spawn the greening the desert movement by creating a forest of food in a place that was considered to be completely dead due to overgrazing, poor agricultural practices, lack of water, and salted soil. Watch a video on this particular project here.

There are several other notable examples of Permaculture in practice. A couple of which include:

Beacon Food Forest: In Seattle Washington a community project is under way called “The Beacon Food Forest.” It is currently the most notable public food park in the continental U.S. at present time.

Miracle Farm: In Quebec there is an Orchard that recently converted from traditionally monocrop organic to Permaculture. They do not spray anything there, including organic products, and have an incredibly high harvest of a variety of fruits with a very very small pest population. You would have to spend several hours in this orchard in order to spot a fruit worm.

Designing with the ethics in mind and using zones and sectors(discussed in a later post) to implement principles. Permaculture is a promising solution to destructive agriculture as well as many other non-sustainable systems. Humanity is smart, and has lots of potential. Imagine what we could accomplish if we put that potential towards intelligent and well thought out  productive designing as opposed to systems that force the earth into a breaking point. We are meant to be stewards of Earth.

“All of the worlds problems can be solved in a garden.”  - Geoff Lawton