How you can solve world problems in your backyard?

(A series of article about gardening the permaculture/sustainable way)

"The key to the future of the world lies in gardening.  One individual with a digging fork and a small garden can make a difference".1.

 In my garden I have a cast of thousands (even millions---perhaps billions) of workers;  keeping busy, working non-stop----while I sit under a tree and sip tea.  And get this, these workers don't require health insurance, workers comp or even a living wage.  Labor relations for conflict resolution - not a problem, overtime pay - no way.  WOW---what a concept you say!   Who are my composters, tillers, fertilizers?  Well, read on and you too can utilize these workers in your garden by applying Permaculture Principles which I will introduce to you over the next few months.  This first article is an over view of the concepts.

Permaculture is an ethically based system for designing sustainable lifestyles.  It was developed by two Australians: Bill Mollison and David Holmgren about 30 years ago.  It is a practical and creative approach to the problems of diminishing resources and threatened life support systems now facing the world.  It is a holistic sustainable solution to human culture - an integration of biology, ecology, agriculture, architecture, technology, and building.  It requires that what is learned about sustainable systems be applied to everyday life.  Wherever you live you can, by applying the Principles of Permacultrue, working with, rather than against nature, actually improve your quality of life, while reducing your impact on the ecosystem of which you are a part.  While permacultrue encompasses all of the above, I will be mainly focusing on application in the garden

Such a manifesto might well create skepticism, or feelings of guilt, anxiety, and fear of deprivation, if, Permacultrue required people to make radical changes based purely on faith.  But Permaculture is not a belief system.  It is the practical application of design principles derived from observation of natural systems.  Bill Mollison says: "We can teach philosophy by teaching gardening, but we cannot teach gardening by teaching philosophy."  And in the garden, on the balcony, in the home paddock, on the farm, or even on a pile of dirt in a neglected corner of a city street, is where Permaculture begins.

Permacuture is a way of looking beyond a single-product system and a means to leave the earth richer than we found it.  It aims to create self-maintaining, efficient, and highly productive agriculture ecosystems which have diversity, stability, and resilience.

There are three Permaculture ethics:

- Earth care:     Take care of the earth that takes care of your offspring.  anonymous
- People care:   Never worry about numbers.  Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.  Mother Teresa
- Fair shares:    Use all the surplus for the above two purposes

The following are Permaculture Principles---these are guidelines to use when you are looking at garden design---they help keep you focused.  As we move through the articles I will show practical applications for your garden

Mollisonian Principle (Bill Mollison: co-originator)
  - Work with nature
  - The problem is the solution
  - Make the least change for the greatest possible effect
  - Everything gardens of everything has an effect on its environment
  - The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited

 Principles used in Permaculture Design
  - Principle of Unknown Good Benefit
  - Principle of Cooperation
  - Principle of Holism
  - Principle of Cyclic Opportunity
  - Principle of stability
  - Principle of Functional and Energy Conserving Design
  - Principle of Self Regulation
  - Principle of Beneficial Edges

Phew-----enough concepts for now.  In subsequent months I will talk about ways you can apply these principles to create your own backyard ecosystem.  We'll explore how to easily divert water, build an herb spiral, learn about plant guilds and many more techniques for a living and riotously abundant landscape.


Candis is a homegrown Champaign county farm girl, who gardens between here (St. Paris) and northern California.  A nurse by profession, a concerned citizen of the world, and a former master gardener with a certificate in Permaculture design.

1.from the forward 'Gardening for the Future of the Earth', Seeds of Change, 2000

Books

'Introduction to Permaculture’ by Bill Mollison with K. Slay

'Permaculture:  Pathways and Principles Beyond Sustainability’ by David Holmgren

'Cradle to Coracle; Remaking the Way We Make Things' by William McDonough and Michael Braungart

'Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture' by Toby Hemenway

Websites

www.permaculture.com

www.ecocitycleveland.org

www.sustainabilityinstitute.org