A Beginner Guide to Permaculture

The First Steps Towards Sustainability

Permaculture may be one of the best-kept secrets of agriculture. Unlike most sustainable farming practices, permaculture is all about design. Formatting your farm to behave just like a natural ecosystem. The word permaculture is quite literally the combination of “permanent” and “agriculture”, and while most were turning to industrial farming, its founders were thinking of our future.

Permaculture began in the 1970s in Australia. Bill Mollison and David Holmgren first coined the term in 1978. Mollison would later explain it, 

“Permaculture is a designed system for creating sustainable human environments. Permaculture uses the inherent qualities of plants and animals combined with the natural characteristics of landscapes and structures to produce a life-supporting system for city and country, using the smallest practical area.” 

Food Security By Design

Agriculture in all of its forms is a designed ecosystem. Because of this, in our gardens and fields, almost every species selected is of use or significance to humans or our livestock. Permaculture has united natural ecosystems and cultivated ones, paving the way for sustainability. So many species in nature have the sole purpose of recycling nutrients and energy. By observing these relationships and mimicking them, we can implement these tactics on our own farms and in our gardens, so we can stop using harsh chemicals that in the long run, do more harm than good. 

Working for everyone and everything worldwide, there are essential conditions for following the permaculture movement, three fundamentals in their doctrine.

1. Care for The Earth

2. Care for The People

3. Reinvest The Surplus or Share The Abundance

How Does Permaculture Work?

One of the key aspects of permaculture is that you let nature do the work for you. Any system that provides for its own energy is a closed loop and is inherently sustainable. By turning waste into resources taking problems and making solutions, you can make a continual system on your homestead. For example, if you’re raising livestock you can aspire to grow your own feed. Or you can recycle kitchen scraps as animal feed or compost. 

Another good practice is the use of plant guilds. A guild is a group of plants that all work together and thrive more efficiently. Certain plants deplete certain nutrients but restore others. So by planting these species in the same garden bed, you help them by giving them the space they need to work and grow together. Typically guilds include perennials and trees because you are trying to create a working environment amongst the soil and plant life, so it’s best if it goes undisturbed. Annuals usually require tillage, and tiling the ground once or more a year makes it difficult to create good topsoil, and generally depletes moisture. So if you’re considering adding a guild, edible fruit trees or perennials are a good place to start. Or if this isn’t possible, a simple hedgerow. Hedgerows can have multiple functions, and they will add to the overall biodiversity of your holding, which is a permaculture essential.  

Structural Benefits of Permaculture

One of the biggest ideals of permaculture is that every component of your landscape, down to even the structures, should have more than just a single function. The idea behind a self-sufficient system is the specific placement and design of its components. For example, if you’re building a fence, you can make sure that it functions as a trellis or reflective surface, adding light and heat to nearby plants. 

Water conservation is another major focus in permaculture and all sustainable agriculture efforts. The earth is sculpted in a way that naturally directs water flow towards a purpose, by mimicking that we can start using water systems that are more meaningful and efficient. There’s a plethora of irrigation systems and techniques, some have been used for millennia, like a canal system used on swampy land, terraces on steep land, or swales (shallow ditches that are wide enough to catch runoff) on moderate slopes. 

Permaculture is about having your designs support one another while working together, instead of each working separately. So consider all of the parts necessary, and you can develop a well-rounded ecosystem. Nature has an abundance of renewable resources, so prioritize the use of those instead of non-renewable ones. Consider the concept of zero waste, finding new uses, and making an effort to recycle as much as possible. Or catching or storing the energy you have available, like rainwater. 

 
Applying Permaculture to Your Farm or Garden

There are so many ways to make improvements and if you’re really trying for a more sustainable approach the best place to start is to observe and gather insights on how to design your farm or garden for what is already there. You want to make sure you’re being rewarded for your efforts because you’re most likely trying to grow for food or income, so you want to make sure your solutions are beneficial to your overall cause. If there’s something you’re doing that doesn’t seem to be working, don’t be afraid to ask others for feedback!    

Grow Your Knowledge

Permaculture has so many doctrines that can be learned and used to help your farm, garden, ranch, or orchard grow and be maintained more efficiently. Even if becoming a “permaculturist” or “permie” isn’t in your interest, you can still make sustainable improvements that will help create a more supportable food system, for you, your family, and your consumers. Four Roots offers a wealth of resources for continuing your agricultural education, so check out our blogs and YouTube videos we’ve found helpful to grow your knowledge. No matter who or where you are, there are ways to make our planet a little greener, and our future a little brighter. Because we all have room to grow.