6 Core Permaculture TechniquesProducing Food Sustainably and Naturally

Presented by Jack Spirko

So What is Permaculture

Permaculture is a system of design, driven by a prime directive and three ethics,

that draws from the methodology of natural systems to create solutions that are self

replicating, evolving and infinitely sustainable.

The Prime Directive – The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for

ourselves and for that of our children

The Three Ethics

• Care of the Earth

• Care of People

• Return (not redistribution) of Surplus

Collectively this definition, the directive and the ethics drive 100% of our solutions

and decision making in the design of any system.

While I will discuss agricultural applications today, Permaculture can be applied to

any system be it economic, energy, business, etc.

• Son never listen to anyone about anything unless they are doing better then you

at it. But, please remember if you agree with everything you hear you are not

leaning a damn thing. ~ Jack Spirko Sr.

I Want to Ask You a Favor – Keep an Open Mind Today

I Want to Ask You a Favor – Keep an Open Mind Today

This Is From a Video Shot on March 2nd, 2013This Photo Was Taken on April, 24th 2013 – Only 52 Days Later

I Want to Ask You a Favor – Keep an Open Mind Today

I Want to Ask You a Favor – Keep an Open Mind Today

Who Waters, Tills and Fertilizes the Forest and Prairie let Alone the Deserts

Big Bend National Park, Texas in August Nigeria in the Sahel Region – Photo Credit to Permaculture Magazine

Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas in July Llano Texas in May

Two Primary Aspects of Permaculture

• There are two primary aspects to permaculture

• Design Science – How the system functions and mimics nature which are

driven by “principles of design”

• Techniques – The methods compiled within the design which are an

assemblage of new and ancient techniques

• In this presentation I will focus on techniques because

• They are more interesting in a 2 hour “academic” session

• I want you to take action on some level after hearing me

• I know that is what you came to get

• I will cover some design science and principals because

• They provide the only means of self sufficiency

• They provide the only means of advancement

• Every technique is derived from them

• I can blend them into the techniques and trick you into learning them

6 Techniques For Use in Permaculture Systems

• Forest Gardening / Food Forest Establishment

• Creating and Using Seed Mixtures

• Lawn to Pasture Conversion

• Zone Planning and Implementation

• Mob Grazing / Small Livestock Paddock Shift Systems

• Developing Regionally Adapted Seed Strains

• Contour Based Wood Core Beds

• Tying these systems together

The Forest as Our Teacher

Lesson One – The Forest Floor is a Lake

The Forest as Our Teacher

Lesson Two – Nature NEVER Monocrops

The Forest as Our Teacher

Lesson Three – Slower Water Creates More Life

The Forest as Our Teacher

Lesson Four – Fungus are the Teeth of the Forest

The Forest as Our TeacherLesson Five – A Forest Grows on a Fallen Forest

The Forest as Our TeacherLesson Six – There are Seven Primary Layers in a Forest

Food Forest Establishment With Chickens

Food Forest Establishment with SwalesDitches Move Water Swales Slow it Down

Photo from The Permaculture Design Manual by Bill Mollison

Swales Follow the Exact Contours of the Land

Photo From Harvesting Water the Permaculture Way DVD

Food Forest Establishment with Swales and Chickens

Forests Gardens Can be Small

• One or Two Semi Dwarf Apple (Canopy)

• Two or Three Dwarf Peaches (Sub Canopy)

• Several Black Berry and Blueberry Plants (Shrub)

• 2 Goumi Bushes (Shrub and fixes nitrogen)

• Mix of herbs, flowers, vegetables can be annual/perennial (Herbaceous)

• Beans and Cucumbers (Vining layer + Ground Cover + Rhizosphere)

• Strawberries and sweet potatoes (Ground Cover)

• Horseradish and comfrey (Herbaceous and Rhizosphere)

• This System (Guild)

• Can be installed even is a small yard

• Could even use a small swale and garden pond

• Has all seven layers

• I would establish it along with a mix of buckwheat and cowpea

• Could be easily established with a chicken tractor, over and over

Forests Gardens Can Last 2000 Years in a Desert!

Creating Seed MixturesQuestions to Ask in Making Your Own Seed Mixtures

• What is your end goal?

• What is your climate type?

• Can I irrigate?

• What is my average annual rain fall?

• What is the ground like?

• Can I till or disturb the soil?

• Will it be harrowed (covered)?

• What livestock do I wish to support?

• Will I reseed annually, if so why?

• What season is it?

• What plants will winter or summer kill, do I want that?

• How will the seed be spread?

• How large is the area?

• What is my budget?

• Is the existing ground compacted or loose?

Primary Used for Seed Mixtures

• As cover crops to protect beds and fields during non cropping seasons

• To build organic matter and improve soil

• To provide support to other main crop species

• To provide crops in and of themselves

• To attract and encourage pollinators and other beneficial insects

• To fix nitrogen

• To act as feed crops for livestock

• To prevent and or reduce erosion

• To prepare the ground (tilling with roots)

• To restore balance to areas that have been monocroped

• To convert your “lawn” into a low maintenance pasture

Some Useful Seeds for Making Mixtures

• Oats

• Cowpeas

• Buckwheat

• Daikon Radish

• Mustards

• Clovers of all Types

• Annual Rye Grass

• Perennial Grasses

• Plantain

• Chicory

• Vetch

• Barley

• Wheat

• Triticale

• Rye

• Crown Vetch

• Birdsfoot Trefoil

• Bell Beans

• Millet

• Fenugreek

• Wildflowers and “Weeds”

• Vegetables and Herbs

Zone Planning and Implementation

Considerations and Advantages of Zones

• Leads to a logical design rather then a hap hazard implementation

• Maximizes effort by taking normal activity into consideration

• Creates a “flow” in daily work cycles that become second nature

Mob Grazing – Most of What We Know About Land Management is Wrong

This Is Hard to Believe So Let’s Let Pictures Tell the Story

How Does Grazing Occur in Nature?

Mob Grazing – Most of What We Know About Land Management is Wrong

This Is Hard to Believe So Let’s Let Pictures Tell the Story

Mob Grazing – Most of What We Know About Land Management is Wrong

This Is Hard to Believe So Let’s Let Pictures Tell the Story

Mob Grazing – Most of What We Know About Land Management is Wrong

This Is Hard to Believe So Let’s Let Pictures Tell the Story

Mob Grazing – Most of What We Know About Land Management is Wrong

This Is Hard to Believe So Let’s Let Pictures Tell the Story

What Does this Teach us Other Then We are Doing it Wrong?

• Animals are necessary for a sustainable ecosystem

• Mimicking nature works

• Large scale damage and unusual land can be restored

• We have been lied to about “protein being unsustainable”

• If we can mimic nature we can also mimic large systems on small scale

How We Can Utilize Mob Grazing as “Paddock Shift” and or “Tractoring”

• It is all about understanding Animal Behavior and Using it to our Advantage

• Chicken – Omnivores, Scratchers, Predators, Diggers

• Ducks – Predators, foragers, borers, muddy clowns

• Rabbits – grazers

• Geese – Heavy bodied grazers, soft on gardens, like a tiny cow in a way

• Goats and Sheep – Small ruminants, behave like cattle

• Quail – Seed eaters, minor predators, do little real work

• Guineas – foragers, highly insectivorous, alarm systems, can be mean

• Small Hogs – diggers, compactors, omnivorous, many sizes

Developing Regionally Adapted Seed StrainsThe Best Seed for your Land is Produced on Your Land

Saving Seed is Easy, What to Select For Is Up To You

• Size of the end product

• Time of production

• Survival of harsh conditions

• Flavor Characteristics

• Color

• Days until germination

• Resources for Seed Saving

• Seed Savers Exchange - www.seedsavers.org/

• International Seed Saving Institute - www.seedsave.org/

Seed Saving Myths

• Hybrids are GMOs – THEY ARE NOT! (Yes I am yelling at you, LOL)

• GMO is genetically modified with unnatural methods

• Hybrids are natural crossing of species, like say a Shepard x Collie Dog

• Most “heirlooms” began as hybrids, hybrids can become heirlooms

• Cross Pollination is a major concern

• Time staggering for crops like corn and sorghum

• Hand pollination for crops like squash

• Seed must be stored in some special way

• Keep it cool

• Keep it dry

• Keep it out of harsh light

• Remember seed saves itself in the harsh reality of nature

Why We Need to Save Seeds

• It is the only way we can be self sufficient and sustainable

• Locally adapted seeds get stronger every year

• Locally grown and saved seeds over time develop unique characterizes

• Seeds have value, local adapted seeds are a store of wealth

• Large quantities of seed for your mixes are expensive

• The GMO threat is real, the goal of the Mega Corps is total control

• The Big Reason, restoring genetic diversity

Value in 1900 Value in 2013

Some Call it Hugelkultur I Call it Wood Core

Brilliantly Simple and Made Famous by Sepp Holtzer

All Photos on this Page Credited to Paul Wheaton of RichSoil.com

Remember the Forest is Our TeacherThe Forrest Teaches Us All About Hugelkultur

Wood Core Beds – How and Why they Work to Eliminate Irrigation

• The original explanation, the rotting wood core becomes a spongy reservoir of water. This doesn’t pass a critical thinking test!

• If a 12 foot bed has a wood core that is 4’ x 4’ the total volume of water that could exist in the same space of the wood would be only 1400 gallons.

• We know that the wood can’t hold 100% of its volume in water or no wood would be left!

• If the wood core could hold say 20% of its volume we are talking about 280 gallons of water, this is not enough to explain how well wood core beds work.

Something Else is Going On Here!

Wood Core Beds – How and Why they Work

• Wood core gardening is “carbon farming” which creates resiliency

• Wood cores promote fungal activity speeding up the formation of hyphae

• Wood cores are not reservoirs but wicks that access subsurface water

• Wood cores are nutrient and nitrogen traps

• Wood cores provide “food” for soil organisms

• Wood cores mimic natural forest formation

• Wood cores hold the structure of the landscape and reduce erosion

This is Called Stacking Functions

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Wood Core Beds – Building them on Contour

Resources

To Make this Simple and Keep it Constantly Updated I have Put the Resources online at

www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/permaculture

On that page you can also get this entire power point deck (latest version) for free.