Health, Hope & Happiness
Integration is a so important aspect of permaculture design. Nothing is more productive than two systems working together – unless it’s three or four or five systems working together. The more support a component of a permaculture design has, the greater the success it will have.
Having systems that support each other is one of the mainframes of permaculture design. Continue reading “Permaculture Principle #8: Integrate rather than segregate, for permaculture design function”
This concept can sometimes be difficult to grasp. What is a pattern, and how can we use it in our designs? We think of patterns as symmetrical, repeating designs that we can print on cloth, wall paper or sheets. But that is just one kind of pattern. Continue reading “Permaculture Principle #7: Design from patterns to details, for functional permaculture design plans”
To some, this principle might sound impossible. I mean, there’s always going to be some waste, right? Well, yes. Zero waste has more to do with your choices, rather than some magical way of making waste disappear into thin air.
Continue reading “Permaculture Principle #6: Produce no waste”
This is another one of my faves. Renewable resources are all around us, although we don’t always recognize them. But once you put your mind to it, you can become quite creative in your hunt for resources to use in your permaculture system. Let’s start with the obvious one: compost. Continue reading “Permaculture Principle #5: Use and value renewable resources and services”
If you’re anything like me, you have done a considerable amount of leaping without looking, and jumping in with both feet. It’s how I roll. But, as I have learned from experience, that is quite often not so brilliant. By applying self-regulation, we just might save ourselves from making painful mistakes when setting up our permaculture system. Continue reading “Permaculture Principle #4: Apply self-regulation and accept feedback from our permaculture systems”
This is the most exciting part of the whole permaculture design process for me: obtaining that yield. Whether it’s harvesting vegetables from your permaculture garden, picking apples from your food forest, or storing the energy from solar panels, obtaining a yield is pure excitement. Continue reading “Permaculture Principle #3: Obtain a yield, with good permaculture design”
Most people consider energy to be only something that you buy, to turn on your lights or heat your house. But electricity is not the only renewable energy floating around in the world. The natural energies are everywhere, and with ingenuity and knowledge, we can learn to harness these energies in a sustainable and low-impact way, to provide for our needs without damaging our earth. Continue reading “Permaculture Principle #2: Catch and store energy – renewable energy”
Observation is one of our most important tools in planning our permaculture landscape. Whether we’re building a full on permaculture homestead, or setting up a backyard permaculture garden, we need to know what we have in order to know what we can do with it. Continue reading “Permaculture Principle #1: Observe and interact, for good permaculture design”
Besides the 3 Permaculture Ethics – Earth Care, People Care, & Return of Surplus – the visionaries of permaculture, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, created 12 Permaculture Principles.
These principles help guide practitioners of permaculture in building the most abundant, ecologically sound, stable, and self-regulating landscapes possible. Continue reading “The 12 Permaculture Principles, and how to apply them”
There isn’t just one way to build your own vegetable garden. Sorry. I know people often want a blueprint that they can follow that will give them the perfect permaculture garden design.
But here’s the thing: there is no such thing as a perfect garden blueprint that works for everyone, everywhere. Continue reading “Build your own vegetable garden”
