12/10/2014 1 Incorporating P lt Permaculture into Organic Land Care What is Permaculture? (1 t ) (1 sentence) “Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design, construction and integrated water resources management that develops sustainable Some Good Answers management that develops sustainable architecture, regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.” - Wikipedia
Transcript
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Incorporating P lt Permaculture
into Organic Land
Care
What is Permaculture? (1 t )(1 sentence)
“Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design, construction and integrated water resources management that develops sustainable
Some Good Answers
management that develops sustainable architecture, regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.”
- Wikipedia
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Some Good AnswersBill Mollison:
Permaculture. A copyright word, owned as a common copyright by the Permaculture Institutes & their graduates. Derived from ‘Permanent’ and ‘Culture’, as follows:Permanent: From the Latin permanens, to remain to the end, to persist throughout (per = through, manere = to continue)
Culture: From the Latin cultura - cultivation of land, or the intellect. Now generalized to mean all those habits, beliefs, or activities than sustain human societies.
Thus, Permaculture is the study of the design of those sustainable or enduring systems that support human society, both agricultural & intellectual, traditional & scientific, architectural, financial & legal. It is the study of integrated systems, for the purpose of better design & application of such systems.
“Permaculture is applied common sense”.
Bill Mollison
Less Good Answers
– Bill Mollison
“… the art of not shitting where you sleep”. - Bill Mollison
“Permaculture is an ethically-based, ecological design system”.
- Me
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Permaculture Basics Design System
My Current Project
Outline
Specific Techniques
Plants of interest
My Current Project
What are some global issues permaculture might permaculture might
seek to solve ?
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What are the mental models that t h ?got us where we are?
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In our culture, there is a separation between humans separation between humans
and nature.
“We are nature working.”– Penny Livingston Stark
Permaculture Basics
Ethics: EarthcareEarthcarePeoplecare
Fairshare
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Principles:Permaculture Basics
Mimic NatureSlow, Spread & Sink Water
Find Leverage Points
There are many, this is just a few to focus on for today.
Find Leverage Points
Fultiple Munctions
RedundancyRedundancy
Closed Loop/Decreasing amount of outside inputs
Design System
Goals ArticulationSite Analysis and Assessment
Evaluation
Conceptual Design
Schematic Design
Implementation and Maintenance
Evaluation
Goals Articulation
Concrete and quantifiable q
Mission Statement
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Site A&A
ClimateScale of Permanence:
LandformWater
Access and CirculationAccess and CirculationVegetation and Wildlife
MicroclimateZones of Use
Soil Fertility & ManagementAesthetics
Conceptual Design
Use Site A&A map overlays to identify patterns and overarching themes.
Make as many different designs as possible, there is no right or
wrong
Stay away from specifics
Schematic Design
Use Conceptual Designs to create specific, scaled maps.
Work down the scale of permanence
Incorporate realistic budget, timeline and maintenance goals
Refer to the goals articulation
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Design System
Goals ArticulationSite Analysis and Assessment
Evaluation
Conceptual Design
Schematic Design
Implementation and Maintenance
Evaluation
Permaculture Basics Design System
My Current Project Specific Techniques
Plants of interest
My Current Project
Techniques
Water:RainwaterCatchment, Keyline, Swales and ponds.
Composting & Compost Tea 101
Building Polycultures
Propagation
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Rainwater catchmentDo the math!
(Surface Area) X (Annual Rainfall)
How much are you storing? Where does the overflow go? What is the soil’s ability to store that water? How much water do the plants
need that are receiving that irrigation?
Currently, about 80% of the world’s agricultural land suffers moderate to severe erosion, while 10% experiences slight erosion (Pimentel, 1993; Lal, 1994; Speth, 1994). Worldwide, erosion on cropland averages about 30 t/ ha- yr and ranges from 0.5 to 400t/ha/yr (Pimentel et al., 1995). As a result of soil erosion, during the last 40 years about 30% of the worlds arable land has become unproductive and, much of that has been abandon for agricultural use (Kendall and Pimentel, 1994; WRI, 1994).
Keyline DesignThe keypoint is located in the highest
primary valley of a landscape where the slope changes from convex to concave slope changes from convex to concave.
The Keyline is the contour that intersects with the keypoint.
Subsoil Plowing or swales are implemented parallel to the keyline
Catch water in the valleys and spread it to the ridges.
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Swales
A ditch on contour or slightly off contour (<2% grade) designed to catch and
integrate water into the soil.
Slow, Spread & Sink Water
Plan for overflow
Don Tipping Video
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Building PolyculturesNiche analysis
Attract beneficial insects and pollinators
Accumulate nutrients
Food for people and animals
Increase biodiversity
Use space more efficiently
Mimic Nature
Composting
When starting a pile:
Carbon:Nitrogen Ration = 30:1
Moisture = 60% maximum
5’-6’ Maximum height
Carbon:Nitrogen Ration = 30:1
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Compost Tea“Stretches” Compost nutrients
Increases organic matter and feeds microscopic life in soil
Can be manupulated to meet specific fertilization needs
Save money on other fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, miticides, herbicides, etc
Propagation
Don’t waste time on dying plants
Playing a role in evolutionPlaying a role in evolution
