A little intro to Permaculture ~ Mariella

Permaculture is a big word. And I never quite understood what it meant. In all honesty I’m still in the process of understanding its meaning! But this is what I have gathered thus far:

It has to do with more than just gardening; Permaculture is a philosophy of working WITH rather than against nature, of thoughtful observation rather than thoughtless action, of looking at systems in all their functions rather than only one facet or possible outcome. In other words, it is the implementing of an entire system that works for you, considering everything so that in the end the thing you’ve created works for itself! 

This is a universal need. 

And this is where the concept of sustainability comes in, if the system that you have designed for your garden or your business or your lifestyle requires a disproportionate amount of input and resources, and creates a lot of waste, then it’s not sustainable over the long term. 

I’m going to be chatting about Permaculture a bit over the next few weeks as it’s something that I’d like to learn more about, but I promise that I’ll try not to bore you! I’d like to intro with Permaculture Ethics or principles:

Care for the Earth – All things, animate or inanimate, have an intrinsic worth and shouldn't be overlooked.

Care for people – Through self-reliance and community responsibility we care for ourselves and our fellow human beings.

Give away surplus – This fulfills the above. It’s plain to see in a garden situation, when food is ready to eat, it’s really ready! Everything ripens at once and this harvest needs to be shared. When we have too much of something in the garden for our family to eat, we give some to my husband’s parents and his brother's family. This perpetuates a habit where they also do the same, and we receive yummy gifts from time to time from a crop that we were not growing ourselves. 

This can apply to more than just gardening. If you’re building and there is material left over, swop it out or gift it, you’ll see the turn around when things come back to you. Trust the process.

In today’s current system, everything has one or two uses and then it ends up as landfill, this is called a linear system, as the resource makes a straight line for the dump! Sustainable systems are circular. The used item gains further use or ends up back at the source, where it can be naturally recycled and help make new things grow. Not a drop of energy is wasted and in such a system, where every little thing is cared for and considered, excess of resources is the natural result and the surplus can go toward care for the earth and people again!

It’s a system which focuses on humanity grounded in the same functions that make the planet a place which sustains life opposed to one slowly becoming inhospitable because of exploitation. Take some time today and think about the systems you have in place in your life and if they work for you as they are. Like, does it make sense to throw the compostable off cuts from cooking in the trash just to buy compost from the nursery when you want to work in the garden over the weekend? Have a good think, and I’ll be covering some ways to implement Permaculture in your home soon!