What is Permaculture?

Permaculture started in the 1970s in Australia and has now gained immense popularity among gardeners and farmers across the world.

It is a combination of words  “permanent” + “agriculture”, which signifies that if we design landscapes in a manner that it supports and improves the local ecosystem then it could turn out to be exceptionally fulfilling for the future generations. The design incorporated in this system can be used to design resilient cultures where people and land are valued as well as recognized.

Bill Mollison who is regarded as the father of this movement recalls that permaculture can help in achieving conscious design and agriculture maintenance across different ecosystems to ensure that they are resilient, diverse and stable.

 

Objective of Permaculture

The main objective of permaculture is to help humans and nature to strive in the current situations so that it becomes easier to take care of ourselves.

This doesn’t mean that we need to be self-reliant or live in isolation, but it means to make the best use of our parts and make optimum use of the resources available to us.

Ethics and Principles

The design theory of permaculture is such that it uses principles and ethics to connect ecology with the potential of the landscape.

The Ethics

Permaculture ethics are required to permaculture designs which also translate to the following:

 

• Care for the earth

It is important to care for the waterways, forests, as well as the diverse life forms across the planet to ensure that our planet is healthy. This can only be achieved if we are able to recognize resources and use them optimally.

For instance, by capturing the stormwater, you will be able to reduce pollution in the nearby local area.

You can also actively seek ways to regenerate biodiversity rather than sustaining the current levels of the water.

With every action that you take, you need to understand whether you are helping or hurting the ecology or is there any other efficient way to achieve your goal. 

• Care for the people

Caring for people includes both caring for the household as well as ourselves. When humans start taking care of their own existence, they start consuming less and producing more automatically. In this scenario, the companies start exploiting the people as products are avoided.

In these times, we need to do our part in helping out others as well as take care of ourselves. That automatically leaves no time for self-sufficiency, and less energy for reducing the consumption level.

Due to this, no effect can be created at all. When we make the best use of resources that are available to us, you will be able to respect our fellow human beings and also take care of ourselves at the same time.

• Reinvest the surplus (share abundance)

When we start caring for the earth, we are rewarded with abundance and more biodiversity and a healthier environment.

In such a scenario, we can also reuse the resources available with us such as compost and rainwater to create an ecosystem that makes use of fewer off-site sources and inputs.

By doing land conservation, you will be able to encourage and honor the abundance of land and focus on importing materials while viewing our resources as scarce.

Once we start becoming responsible consumers, we can ensure a more enriching life and also get access to homegrown and healthy food. Not only this, we also become more resilient towards the available resources. This would eventually help the human race to share skills, food, as well as financial assistance.

 

Principle #1: Observe your Land Resources

By observing the sources around you such as water, sun, and wind, you will be able to save a lot of time and effort when it comes to building your landscape. You can look out for factors such as patterns in seasons, plant species that grow there, and specific reasons for the movement of a certain wildlife species. 

 

Principle #2: Connect Multiple Resources with Each Other

You might be thinking, it takes a lot of time and effort to ensure a super productive homestead garden. But you need to understand that the productivity of the homestead does not necessarily depend on the resources and rather the resilience and the productivity help in improving the components.

By establishing permaculture zones, you can easily understand how the components are connected with each other and the manner in which they can be used to take care of the same.

For instance, if you are a collector of food scraps but you never use them in the compost bin due to the inconvenience issues, then these two resources are not considered to be connected.

By combining these two sources, you can turn food scraps into rich soil amendment, and avoid wasting such valuable resources.

 

Principle #3: Capture & Store Energy and Materials

You are required to catch and identify the useful flows where you can reinvest for ensuring high yield and increasing biodiversity.

One good example of this would be harvesting rainwater which reduces the necessity to irrigate and also improves the soil’s health.

It is important to determine the sites where you can work with the rainwater, the type of soil in the region, slope, and so much more. By opting for the permaculture design process, you will be able to choose a strategy that would match your conditions and requirements.

 

Principle #4: Every Natural Component Has a Definite Role to Play

Natural ecosystems are abundant, resilient, and rich in resources as these are full of flora and fauna which are dependent on each other. You can take the same idea from nature and integrate multi-functional support plants in your home garden. For instance, add a mix of pollinating plants that would attract insects.

Permaculture is an excellent design approach to help in improving the efficiency and productivity of your home garden as it takes inspiration from how nature functions. 

However, such an advanced technique can only come to fruition with practice. You can initiate this in small projects and incorporate different strategies on the go.