Permaculture and Substainabilty
Permaculture is a system designed to make agriculture obtainable, to improve soil quality, save water, and avert waste streams. Permaculture design looks at the relationships that naturally occur in nature. The principal reason for permaculture is to provide opportunities for anyone whether you live in an urban setting, or in the country with many acres, to move to self-sustainability in your own food production. The range of different techniques that permaculture follows as listed below.
Agroforestry combines food crops trees and shrubs with livestock. Forest gardening/food forest is a good example of Agroforestry. These gardens are designed to look like a forest you would see in nature and include processes and affiliations that would be of importance to the ecosystem.
Suburban and Urban Is the idea of making the most out of useable space for the purpose of food production gardens. One example of this method would be community gardens.
Hügelkultur In this method, burying wood for soil retention is used. This method is very useful if you live in an area where the rainfall amounts are low. Because wood becomes porous, it absorbs water and can be enough to sustain crops through a dry garden season.
Vermicomposting The use of earthworms and red wigglers to break down organic waste, such as refuse from the garden, grass clippings, leaves, and kitchen scraps. These items are rich in nitrogen and can help with the composting processes, and also help feed your nitrogen-loving plants. These worms also break down hay, straw, sticks, corn cobs, and leaves which are carbon-producing that are needed in the composting process. Worm castings are very helpful in the garden to fertilize the garden naturally, increase plant growth and reduce heavy metals that are in the soil. Worms aerate the soil and help with water retention.
Natural building Uses natural building materials and building systems that utilize permaculture conventions. These materials include renewables, recycled, and salvaged items.
Rainwater harvesting This method involves using a rain catchment system to catch rainwater. This rainwater can be used as drinking water for the family, livestock, or can be used for irrigation purposes.
Domesticated animals The use of domesticated animals is important to support an ecosystem. Without animals, the ecosystem would decline or cease to exist. Animals help to recycle nutrients by forging, weed clearing, spreading seeds, and exterminating pests.
Sheet mulching Grazing doesn't have to be destructive to your pastures, when done right, following after the principle of nature, it can have a beneficial outcome. Joel Salatin has shown that grazing can prepare your ground for planting crops. There are a number of grazing techniques that can be used. Cell grazing is where you move your herd regularly and in a systematic order to increase forage quality and quantity. The use of conservation grazing is when you use the animal to graze for environmental effects. For example, using goats to eat invasive plants.
- Agroforestry.
- Suburban and urban permaculture.
- Hügelkultur.
- Vermicomposting.
- Natural building.
- Rainwater harvesting.
- Domesticated animals.
- Sheet mulching.
Agroforestry combines food crops trees and shrubs with livestock. Forest gardening/food forest is a good example of Agroforestry. These gardens are designed to look like a forest you would see in nature and include processes and affiliations that would be of importance to the ecosystem.
Suburban and Urban Is the idea of making the most out of useable space for the purpose of food production gardens. One example of this method would be community gardens.
Hügelkultur In this method, burying wood for soil retention is used. This method is very useful if you live in an area where the rainfall amounts are low. Because wood becomes porous, it absorbs water and can be enough to sustain crops through a dry garden season.
Vermicomposting The use of earthworms and red wigglers to break down organic waste, such as refuse from the garden, grass clippings, leaves, and kitchen scraps. These items are rich in nitrogen and can help with the composting processes, and also help feed your nitrogen-loving plants. These worms also break down hay, straw, sticks, corn cobs, and leaves which are carbon-producing that are needed in the composting process. Worm castings are very helpful in the garden to fertilize the garden naturally, increase plant growth and reduce heavy metals that are in the soil. Worms aerate the soil and help with water retention.
Natural building Uses natural building materials and building systems that utilize permaculture conventions. These materials include renewables, recycled, and salvaged items.
Rainwater harvesting This method involves using a rain catchment system to catch rainwater. This rainwater can be used as drinking water for the family, livestock, or can be used for irrigation purposes.
Domesticated animals The use of domesticated animals is important to support an ecosystem. Without animals, the ecosystem would decline or cease to exist. Animals help to recycle nutrients by forging, weed clearing, spreading seeds, and exterminating pests.
Sheet mulching Grazing doesn't have to be destructive to your pastures, when done right, following after the principle of nature, it can have a beneficial outcome. Joel Salatin has shown that grazing can prepare your ground for planting crops. There are a number of grazing techniques that can be used. Cell grazing is where you move your herd regularly and in a systematic order to increase forage quality and quantity. The use of conservation grazing is when you use the animal to graze for environmental effects. For example, using goats to eat invasive plants.
Permaculture gardening where to start
First of all, know your surroundings. Look at nature around you what are native plants to your area? What insects do you deal with? Do you have garden predators? Study how your land lays, which areas get the most sun and shade? Do you have a problem with water runoff that could cause problems with your garden plants?
Identify plants that do well in your area. Don't always go by zones because a zone can be widespread throughout several states, one size doesn't fit all. Explore companion planting. Many plants are beneficial to one another as far as helping with pest control, attracting beneficial pollinators, adding beneficial nutrients to the soil, and being able to support one another by trellising upon each other.
Raised beds are what I use in my garden, and have many benefits when it comes to permaculture. The ideal raised bed should be 12 inches from the ground. A no-till garden helps keep all the nutrients in the soil unharmed. Sheet mulching could also be used as an alternative no-till method. This method incorporates wood chips, straw, or cardboard over the garden area to develop the soil without wrecking your previously tilled garden.
Taller plants must be planted first to establish the shade for smaller, shade-loving plants. Be sure you are planting plants with the same sun/shade and water requirements in the same area in your garden.
The permaculture principle maintains the use of only organic fertilizers and weed killers. After planting, add a layer of organic mulch to keep your garden free of weeds, and help retain moisture to your plants. Natural fertilizers would include table scraps, manure, and teas made with worms, or rabbit manure.
If at all possible, use fresh water to water your garden. A rain barrel catchment system is ideal for this.
Permaculture equals good stewardship
- Care of the earth and its resources, renewing, recycling, wildlife habitats.
- Take care of each other, having the well-being of others in mind.
- Sharing, we don't take more than we need.
Permaculture Ideas to initiate on your homestead.
- Make a chicken run or chicken paddock near your garden area. This will help reduce feed costs and help keep pests down in your garden space.
- Let your chickens free-range in your orchard, this will help produce future fruit trees.
- Let nature and the animals on your homestead do most of the work for you. A good example of this is to let your pigs prepare the garden bed for you, they are natural tractors, and an added benefit is they fertilize as they till, it's a win, win.
Why should I practice Permaculture?
Pros
- Reduce cost. When we plant a garden using standard gardening methods we spend money on herbicides to keep the weeds at bay, and new topsoil to re-soil the garden bed, buy garden seeds, and pay for water to water the plants. When we use permaculture principles, we save money by regeneration and reusing resources which cut costs. For example, using chickens beside the garden can help alleviate pests without herbicides, save rainwater in barrels cut the cost of using city water, and saving seeds from heirloom plants replenishes your seed stash and cuts the cost of seed buying.
- Reduce waste. Reusing, redefining, and upcycling items you already have on your homestead to take care of a problem or need that you have saves you money and saves needless items in the landfills.
- Increases yields. Permaculture principles seek to increase yields in various ways. First of all, by using natural techniques such as rainwater catchment systems, guild planting, forest gardening, animal husbandry, sheet mulching, and land contouring, the soil stays at a healthy level. This will encourage bigger crop yields and richer soil.
- Increased resilience. Permaculture ecosystems are designed to integrate countless plants that help each other in multifaceted ways which are imitated in nature. An example of these would be beans providing needed nitrogen for the soil, as well as providing shade for shade-loving plants.
- Time-saving. Permaculture lets nature do the work, so you don't have to. For instance, allowing chickens or pigs to till the ground for planting, letting the chickens clean the garden at the end of the garden season and harvesting rainwater, and creating an irrigation system from it to water your garden.
- Creates growth, expansion, and self-reliance. Not only does Permaculture help us grow personally on our homesteads, but it also is about helping the community. Help others in your community learn permaculture by creating community gardens, and teach them how to become self-sufficient through education of these techniques.
Cons
- Information Bias. There are some who take permaculture principles as the last word of truth and are not willing to look outside the box, at other viewpoints which restrict innovation.
- Overdoing it. Utilizing some permaculture techniques can be beneficial and not too distressing, trying to run a full permaculture homestead is a big undertaking. However, there may be a few farms that have a full permaculture model and they require certain lifestyle choices such as doing with less monetary gain to pursue that lifestyle.
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