Permaculture literally means "permanent agriculture". When you type "What is permaculture" into google, you get a lot of complicated and very wordy phrases which collectively make you more confused. Here's some examples:
"Combining the best of natural landscaping and edible landscaping, permaculture aims for a site that sustains itself and the gardener. The ultimate purpose of permaculture is to develop a site until it meets all the needs of its inhabitants, including food, shelter, fuel, and entertainment".
"Permaculture is an innovative framework for creating sustainable ways of living. It is a practical method of developing ecologically harmonious, efficient and productive systems that can be used by anyone, anywhere."Errrr, what? The easiest single quote I found to grapple with is this:
"Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labour; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system". - Bill Mollison.Maybe some history will help explain a bit. In the early 1900's Dr. King, former chief of the Soil Division of the US Department of Agriculture, went to Asia to find out how farmers in China could farm the same fields for thousands of years without applying artificial fertilizer. He learned about how they used the principles of permaculture such as building soils, sharing the abundance and waste reduction to maximise their farming and lifestyle. King then brought these ideas back to North America.
But even with all those quotes and information; how do you do it? Here's some examples of what it looks like on a practical level on Laurica Farm.
Some plants promote growth of other plants or repel bugs/diseases. It seems logical then to plant these 'friends' together to aid growth and as an alternative to artificial fertilizers or insecticides. An example of this companion planting was something we read about First Nations people doing. They planted corn, peas and squash together. The corn provides a structure for the peas to grow up. The peas put nitrates into the soil that benefits the other plants, and the squash crowds out the weeds. Seems sensible, right?
Things like salad like shade. Again, we embrace logic and the resources we have here. Instead of planting them in straight lines and prescribed beds, plant them near trees. You get fertile soil under trees as the leaves fall on it all Autumn and decay all winter into a natural compost. No human effort required. Once you have observed the land for a while, you can plant your shade loving produce in the appropriate place under the canopy.
We're planning a food forest. I won't try and describe this in detail, here's a self explantory diagram:
The herb spiral here is another practical example of permaculture practice. The spiral has it's history rooted in Mayan culture. The design also creates microclimates allowing you to plant a diverse range of herbs in a variety of positions(sunny, sheltered and shady). In a typical garden bed or pot, all plants are grown on the one level, so the growing conditions are the same. This design offers you multiple options in a compact space.
I talked in an earlier post about agriculture not being sustainable. As an example, the idea of using fertilizers that have been made elsewhere and transported to our farm seems a ridiculous resource-laden practice. And using fuel & time to plough a field in a tractor seems silly when it can be done by a couple of pigs for less money and you get free, organic fertilizer and bacon as bi-product. Generally, you can only till a patch of land for 7 years before you have 'killed' it and need to add resources. So why do it?
Permaculture teaches you landscape design and management that promotes building and protecting the soil for us and for future generations. We'll manage the grazing of the animals here and plant winter cover crops that we can mulch into the land as opposed to sourcing it off-site. The chickens are great assets in composting. Our compost bin is in their run. I empty compost into it. They scratch through it everyday, eating what interests them but turning it over everyday. Saves us the effort.
These are just a few examples, but the focus is on putting less in and getting more out. By getting more out we are also able to share the abundance. We do this by selling some of our produce at reasonable prices but also by supporting the food bank.
Recently, I had to explain permaculture to a group of children. I did this by turning the language into child-friendly wording. I'm glad I did, it really helped me too. Put simply, the ethics read like this:
- Earth Care
- Fair share
- People Care
- Build thing up - give something back to the earth and to people
- Look after things; protect agricultural land for future generations
- Save some for later
- Plan - mistakes are ok but better on paper
- Observe and interact - let nature lead you
- Turn problems upside down; find solutions
- There is a lot to share!
- Small changes have a big effect
- Include a bit of everything
- Produce no waste, use what you have
Permaculture is not just about how we farm, it's about how we choose to live. For me, it's about making farming easier. If you change your perspective and let your environment guide you have instead of pre-determining what you want to grow, nature will do the job for you. It's also very much about sustainability, intuitive approaches, building communities, embracing tradition and protecting the future.
Has that cleared anything up for you? At least next time someone asks you what permaculture is, you'll might have a couple of quotes on hand!
Love it and thank you Cathy. Brillantly explained. Can't wait to see it for real! Well done to you and Ian x
ReplyDeleteThanks Megan. Looking forward to your visit, will certainly put you and Ash to work on the farm. ;-)
Delete