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What is permaculture? Search in books for definitions of permaculture and you will find many variations; permaculture means different things to different people. I think that worries some, who would rather add rules and regulations, checks and balances, to make sure that permaculture is the same wherever you happen to be, like a Holiday Inn hotel.
What is permaculture? Search in books for definitions of permaculture and you will find many variations; permaculture means different things to different people. I think that worries some, who would rather add rules and regulations, checks and balances, to make sure that permaculture is the same wherever you happen to be, like a Holiday Inn hotel.
But
permaculture is site specific, so why not person specific? In order to find out what permaculture means to you you have first to learn a bit about it and for that, there's no better
starting place that a well-run Permaculture Design Course, run by
someone with loads of experience. You will learn about its ethics and
principles.
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Patrick
demonstrates how to use an A-frame
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You'll
also learn about the practical tools you'll need to employ, such as how to
measure your land topographically for level and contour, and then map
that information. You'll learn how to design using permaculture
principles and will probably leave the course inspired,
impatient to get designing and eager to tell everyone else what a
wonderful thing permaculture is.
Permaculture
courses and books will provide you with an ambitious wish-list of
things you'd like to include on your land. However, there's another part to all
this learning, made more difficult if, like us, you haven't come from
a background of horticulture and agriculture and that's learning
about all the individual plants that you want to include in your
permaculture design and all the animals that will be involved (both
the planned domestic ones and the ones that just turn up, on wings,
feet or just wriggling on their belly).
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An
idealised layout (© Mollison's
Intro to Permaculture, p.102)
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Books
can give you neat, mandala-like suggestions of how to arrange your
site but real life doesn't really work like that. If you want to
avoid making some of the mistakes we've made—having plants die and
having to relocate others a year after planting—it's best to learn
about their needs, what conditions they require to thrive. In this
way, once you've surveyed your land and its soil, discovered the
microclimates and how they change through the year, you can plant
something where it'll be happy. In the windbreak at the bottom of
the field at the exposed end of your property, you'll choose
something that is hardy to cold temperatures and harsh winds and
doesn't mind its feet wet in winter and plant blueberries only in
soil that's acid enough for its taste. Make no mistake, this is a
long journey, requiring you to delve deep into plant encyclopaedias, nursery
catalogues and conventional garden design books.
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screenshot
from Patrick's online course
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Returning
to Permaculture Design Courses (PDCs): we both did our PDCs with
Patrick Whitefield, I did my course residential at Ragmans Lane Farm
in Gloucestershire and Gabrielle studied online for hers.
