Introduction to Permaculture

Terms to know:

Introduction to Permaculture:

Creating a Permanent Culture

Sepp Holtzer

What is Permaculture?

Ecological Design

Agribusiness - The economic and industrial empire that runs monocultures. Its proponents regard food and the environment not as a resource but as a commodity.

Economy- Eco means "home" - nomy means "manage" - Economy is the management of Home. The scientific study of relationships in land, capital, and labor.

Ecology- Eco means "home" - logy means "to study" - Ecology is the study of Home. The scientific study of relationships of organisms in a bio system.

Chemical Free- Not requiring artificial industrially prepared chemicals such as inorganic fertilizers and biocides.

Diversity- Of a species or variety, having many forms.

Monoculture- A single species crop. They are highly vulnerable to failure or destruction and are energy consuming.

Self-sufficiency- A system that requires only limited input to maintain itself. The biosphere and its natural ecosystems are self-sufficient with inputs of solar energy, rain, wind and other climatic factors. Such a balance is almost impossible for people to reproduce.

Stable- Able to perpetuate itself without loss of species or requiring many external inputs; in equilibrium.

Ethics- The moral system of a particular school of thought; the rules of conduct recognized in respect of a particular class of human actions; the science of human duty in its widest extent.

Integrated- To combine parts or elements into a whole.

Intense- Applied to methods of cultivation, fish farming which increase the productivity of a given area- opposite to extensive

Conservation- Preservation from destructive influences, decay or waste; use of a resource at a lesser rate than its rate of replacement

Principle- Origin, Source, foundation- A fundamental source or primarily element which produces or determines results.

Rehabilitation- The repair of degraded landscapes, habitats, or environments.

Restoration- The action of restoring to former state or position.

Sustainability- Durable over a long period of time, meeting the needs of the present while making sure the needs in the future are met as well.

Permaculture Icon

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that are modeled on the relationships found in nature.

The Core of Permaculture

History of Permaculture

Masanobu Fukuoka

Founders of Permaculture

David Holmgren

Bill Mollison

"Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple"

“Permaculture is defined as consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for the provision of local needs…more precisely I see Permaculture as the use of systems thinking and design principles that provide the organising framework for implementing the above vision”

"...the greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter."

Industrial Agriculture is Inherently Un-Sustainable

“Traditional agriculture was labour intensive, industrial agriculture is energy intensive, and permaculture-designed systems are information and design intensive.”

"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 project system."

De-Forestation and Desertification

Food

Peak Oil

Energy

Permaculture Flower

Climate Change

Gleaning

Keyline Water Harvesting

Natural Construction Materials

Earth, strawbale, lime plaster, round pole, stone.

Culture

Gathering of food wasted by commercial production.

A system of landscape analysis, water harvesting and soil development using dams, channels and soil condition ploughing, developed by P.A.Yeomans.

Holistic Range management

Agroforestry

Passive Solar Design

Water Harvesting & Water Reuse

Sun oriented glazing and shading, thermal mass, passive venting.

A system that uses intensive rotational grazing of livestock to sustainably manage land and provide animal yields, developed and taught by Allan Savory.

Integrated production of pastures and/or crops with timber and/or tree crops.

Water tanks, compost toilets and reedbeds.

Wild Harvesting

Aquaculture

Pattern Language

Gathering food and other yields from wild plants and animals.

Organic design theory and tools of Christopher Alexander.

Aquatic systems that provide most of the food for harvested fish and/or other animals. Integrated system with growing plants hydroponically with fish is called aquaponics.

Local Aquaponics Schools:

Morningstar Fishermen

Green Acres Organic

Organic Agriculture

Biotechture

Commercial agriculture that uses natural fertilisers and pest control methods.

The manipulation of tree form to grow structures and buildings.

Earthships

Natural Farming

A Japanese system of organic agriculture involving minimal or no use of tillage and animal manures, most notably associated with Masanobu Fukuoka.

“Earthships” and other designs that build into the ground.

Natural disaster resistant

Seed Saving

Bushfire, wind, flood & earthquake.

Collecting and storing seeds, often with the aim of maintaining certain strains.

(cc) photo by theaucitron on Flickr

Owner Building

Food Forest Gardening

Empowerment and financial autonomy of residents and communities in constructing their own housing using accessible technologies and materials.

Producing food from trees, perennial and annual plants in a system that mimics a natural forest.

Natural Pest Repellent

Predatory Insects

Fragrant Herbs

Lacewings

Neem

Lemongrass

Ladybugs

Rosemary

Basil

Prey Mantis

Lavender

Bio-Intensive Gardening

Use of compost, double digging, companion planting and natural pest control to produce the maximum amount of food in the minimum area.

Reuse & Creative Recycling

Decentralised and context specific reuse of materials through craft, rather than centralised industrial processes.

Hand Tools & Appropriate technologies

Recovery and maintenance of traditional tools and skills.

Fuels from Organic Waste

Bio-diesel, methanol, biogas and wood gas for local cooking, electricity and transport.

Cooperatives & Body Corporates

Bicycles & Electric Trikes

Legal structures for collective ownership and management of land, buildings and other assets.

Human powered and assisted transport that improves the efficiency of the human body.

Bio-Char

Charcoal soil improver and carbon capture.

Native Title & traditional use rights

Transitional engineering

Re-localisation of the maintenance, retrofit and redesign of infrastructure and technology.

Traditional ways of non-exclusive use of land and resources, recognised in law.

Micro-hydro and small wind turbines

Simple renewable technologies for remote and local grid power.

Cohousing & Ecovillages

Wood gasification

Ecologically designed communities where residents are bound together by some degree of shared ownership and organisation.

Efficient and carbon neutral fuel for local electric power and vehicle transport.

Grid-tied renewable power generation

Transition Towns

Use of the electric grid as a “battery” for localised power generation.

http://www.transitionus.org/

Energy Storage

Heat banks, pumped storage (water), compressed air, and other simple temporary stores of energy.

Efficient wood stoves

Open Space Technology & Consensus Decision Making

Rocket and other stove designs using simple materials and local construction.

Collaborative tools for sharing knowledge and reaching decisions.

Action Learning

A reflective process of progressive problem solving that accepts the observer as a part of the system being studied.Home Schooling

Parents as natural teachers of children within the household economy.

WWOOFing & similar networks

Waldorf Schools

Voluntary exchange of work for food, accommodation and experience of ecological living.

Schools based on the educational methods of Rudolf Steiner.

Life cycle analysis & 'emergy' accounting

Wholistic methods for measuring the full costs and benefits of existing and new technologies and economies.

Partipatory Arts & Music

Reclaiming our place as actors/musicians rather than spectators.

Farmers markets & community supported agriculture (CSA)

Home Schooling

Direct connection and contracting between producers and consumers without the middlemen.

Parents as natural teachers of children within the household economy.

Social Ecology

Philosophy focused on the redesign of society using ecological principles.

Real Permaculture

Local & regional currencies

Interest-free money systems that serve a defined and limited territory.

Carpooling, ride sharing & car share

Transition Culture

Rebuilding community by more efficient use of existing cars and roads.

An evolving exploration of the head, heart and hand of energy descent.

Ethical investment & fair trade

Using the power of investment and consumption to drive equitable economies.

Yoga, Tai Chi & other body/mind/spirit disciplines

The maintenance of health through regular designed exercises based on eastern traditions.

Home birth & breast feeding

Reclaiming birth and infant nutrition as part of the economy of nature and the household.

Dying with dignity

Movement to reclaim dying from institutionalised medicine.

Complementary & wholistic medicine

A wide spectrum of approaches to health care outside of conventional allopathic medicine.

Spirit of Place- Indegenious culture revival

Voluntary Veganism

Reconnection of spiritual and cultural values to place and “country”.

Water

Longer more detailed version

http://priceofsprawl.com/water.html

Geoff Lawton

(cc) photo by theaucitron on Flickr

Toby Hemenway

Jim Kovaleski Permaculture

Market Gardener in New Port Richey

How to make a food forest:

Local Tampa Bay Permaculturist Network

How to design your home

Sectors

Zones

Inputs and Outputs

Patterns

Layers

Work with Nature, not against

See Solutions, not Problems

Edge Effect

“You havn’t got an excess of slugs, you’ve got a duck deficiency”

Start with your nose and work your way outwards

- Bill Mollison