permaculture

A portmanteau for “permanent agriculture,” permaculture is a holism approach to land management that attempts to build useful, self-sustaining ecosystems modeled after naturally-occurring ones. It’s a systems thinking approach to agriculture. While approaches to permaculture date back millennia, the term itself emerged in the 1970s through the work of Bill Mollison (Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual) and David Holmgren (Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability).

The 12 Permaculture Design Principles

1. Observe and interact
2. Catch and store energy
3. Obtain a yield
4. Apply self-regulation & accept feedback
5. Use & value renewable resources & services
6. Produce no waste
7. Design from patterns to details
8. Integrate rather than segregate
9. Use small and slow solutions
10. Use and value diversity
11. Use edges & value the marginal
12. Creatively use and respond to change

Source: https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/

This video illustrates each of the 12 principles as applied on a small farm.

The Three Ethics

1. Earth Care
2. People Care
3. Fair Share

From https://permacultureprinciples.com/ethics/

Components

• Hydrology is the foundation of permaculture, since all living things need water to grow
• Soil
• Life, including plants of course, but everything from bacteria to mammals plays a role

Further Watching/Reading

• Permaculture Principles YouTube playlist from Oregon State University, which offers online courses in permaculture design
• Edible Acres YouTube channel covers permaculture gardening, some earthworks, cooking, and more
• Permaculture Food Forests 101, an introduction to food forests
• Shade Garden: Permaculture in Dark(ish) Yards on how permaculture design principles can help you make the most of where the sun don’t shine (as much) by drawing on patterns from food forests