Permaculture

What is permaculture

„Creating sustainable human habitats by following nature’s patterns.“ (Burnett,2008)

The term “permaculture“ was coined by the Australian ecologist Bill Mollison and his student David Holmgren and is derived from “permanent agriculture“ (1978). A permaculture system is a system that resembles nature and is based on natural cycles and ecosystems (Holzer, 2004, p. xvi).

„What aspect of nature could I improve upon when nature already functions perfectly?“ (Holzer, 2004, p. xvii)

The core tenets of permaculture are (Greenblott, Nordin, 2012):
– Care of the Earth. Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply.
– Care of People. Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence.
– Setting Limits to Population and Consumption. By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles.

The primary agenda of the permaculture has been to help (or encourage) people to become more self reliant through the design and development of producitve and sustainable gardens and farms. The design principles are very important and are based on the sience of system ecology, experience with sustainable land use and personal experience of many „permacultural“ people.
Permaculture follows patterns of landscape, its function, and species assemblies. The permaculture is trying to maximize useful connections between nature components and synergy of the final design. It is based on the realitonships in the nature and cooperation among them to get the benefit for all of them, for all the system. By taking into account these relationships and elements can become extremely complex systems that produce a high density of food and materials with minimal input.

The basic principles of permaculture are (Holzer, 2004, p. xvii):

– All of the elements within a system interact with each other.
– Multifunctionality: every element fulfils multiple functions and every function is performed by multiple elements.
– Use energy practically and efficiently, work with renewable energy.
– Use natural resources.
– Intensive systems in a small area.
– Utilise and shape natural processes and cycles.
– Support and use edge effects (creating highly productive small-scale structures).
– Diversity instead of monoculture.

Important! In permaculture design practical experience is indispensable. There are many teories but to gain full understanding of nature is a lot of practice needed. Only those with personal experience can give a professional consultation (Holzer, 2004, p. xvii).

The permaculture landscape in general

A permaculture landscape is designed so that all of the plants and animals living there will work in harmony with each other. All available resources (springs, ponds, marshes, cliffs, forests and even buildings) are supposed to be used and included in the plan. If you will cooperate with nature and not against it, you can properly use all available natural resources.

The best care you need to take of water sources. Areas with wet soil should be used in different way than areas with dry soil. Some plants requires wet soil, some prefer dry soil. At the area of wet soil you can also buit a pond to retain water and support more plants there.

Important in permaculture system are terraces. They make possible to cultivate in steep areas and use maximum of the land. They help to stop valuable humus from being washed away and prevent landslides (Holzer, 2004, p. 5). You should avoid straight lines, corners, steep slopes (except raised beds, see below) and minimise the number od dead ends. Only like this you can cultivate with the minimum amout of energy.

Permacultural spiral of herbs, Art Madeira festival, Funchal, 2012 (Source: author´s personal gallery)

It is also important to break up the landscape by creating plenty of forms and features. These help to create numerus microclimates, which give the lan den even greater potential for cultivation. Creating dry areas, wetlands, hedges, windbreaks or raised beds in different locations results in special climatic conditions. In these places can grow a large variety of plants that would otherwise not be able to survive (Holzer, 2004, p. 5-6).

But the most importat think you need to do in very beginning. Ask yourself what do you want and what do you expect from your land. Than you can start to looking for a best permacultural method. Be sure to take into consideration general soil conditions, altitude and climate of the area.

Hummus and water storage ditches

In terraces system is important to hold humus and ether going down. By using the ditches you can collect any surplus water from heavy rain and the humus which goes down together with the water. Storage ditches should be long and wide throughout the entire permaculture landscape. The terraces and raised beds below can be than constantly supplied with water (Holzer, 2004, p. 31).

The ditches are supposed to be closed in the ends to not to let the water go away. Only like this the water can be than spread into the ground. If you cover the ditches (for example by branches), you will avoid evaporation but keep the circulation of oxygen (covering is good for very dry areas).

Mandalas, Mandala garden

You can her about mandalas in relation to eastern art or art in general and even in relation to gardens, nature or permaculture. Everything in this world is connected and so as mandalas and permaculture.

Mandalas in in philosophy and art

Mandala means “circle” in Sanskrit (Rodale), or even “sacred circle“ or can be understand as “container of essences“ (Wooten, 2008, p. 55). Mandala forms are characterized by a circular shape, a symmetrical design, and a visible center. There is meny versions of them across different cultures. The most known is propably Tibetan (Buddhism) mandala made of colored sand, which is at the end of many day’s work dispersed as a sign of the impermanence of our lives and of the entire world (Reeves, 2009).

The circle is common to all of them and i tis a symbol of wholeness or completion and of the eternal (Wooten, 2008, p. 55). Usualy is done in vibrant colors. In this part you can see the connection with arts. Different colors affects different moods or can help express different feelings. That is why mandalas are used in some kinds of art-therapy. Even C. Jung was used to work with mandalas in trying to find “unconscious self“ of his patients (Wooten, 2008).

Making mandala can be part of rituals to promote health or to remove negative energies. It can be method how calm the mind or express yourself. It is a mediative process during which you are deply focused on the task. The creation is the pleasure, not the result. And that is why mandala is destroyed in the end. You can you anything to create mandala – sand, stones, food, old things and even plants. You can strictly follow the instructions or you can just create your own, just start in the middle and continue to the sides.

Mandalas and nature

For creating mandalas you can use nature sources and you can also see many patterns in the nature itself – flowers, spider webs etc. And you can also create your whole garden by following the patterns of mandala.

Non-linear gardens are more productive than linear ones. They provides more space for gardening. You can use every litle space, you can plant at different heights (see charter about “Spirals“). You need to know something about permaculture and have armful of creativity. Linear gardens are made for agriculture and make mechanical cultivation easier. But this is something we do not need.

Good tip is to plant only those plants which requires climate and conditions you can provide. Focus on them. Even in a small garden you can provide different conditions and varios places for cultivating. By following mandala design you can use all the free space you have and create something beautiful and useful in one time.

Raised beds

Raised beds have a substantiv advantage over normal beds that are at ground level. They create microclimates, which according to thein position, relative to the course of the sun and the prevalling wind direction, provide very different plants with the conditions they needed (Holzer, 2004).

The raised bed is filled up with wood and other material to soak up and retain water. Upper parts are more dry than parts below. The results in both dry and wet arease for different kind of plants. Upper part salso warms up quickly – it is advantage for colder climates and high altitudes (Holzer, 2004).

The shape of the raised bed provils a larger area for cultivation. Even on small places you can get a lot of space for different kinds of plants. And if you put inside the raised bed organic material it will start decompostion and nutrition of the ground without using fertilisers.

The benefits of raised beds:

– Increased Productivity. Raised beds are more productive per square foot because plants can be spaced more closely together. This is because you don’t need to leave spaces to walk throug or step on the bed. Where the plants grow very close one to another there is very hard for Leeds to grow there. Raised beds are supposed tobe twice more productive than conventonal garden.
– Better soil conditions. By not having to step on the soil, you avoid soil compaction. Incompacted soil i tis hard to move and sprej for water, air and for roots of the plants which are also limited in the access to water and nutrients. When you have a raised bed you are practicing „no dig gardening“. By filling up the bed with the needed type of soil and with organic matter you strengthen the poor soil enough.
– Incereased flexibility. You can built up raised bed everywhere. Just a little bit adapt to certain area.
– More efficient irrigation. The construction of raised bed allows better water retention and constant supply by the organic matter.

Raised bed contruction step by step:

1. Dig a hole of required size and smooth the surface inside the hole.

2. Put a layer of geotextile.

3. Put a layer of plastic.

4. Put a layer of gravel.

5. Put inside the tube – you can check the amount of water then.