What is Permaculture?
I’m so glad you asked. Great Question! Well, it depends, since this profound set of principals could be applied to just about anything. It all starts with first asking, “What is the problem you’re attempting to solve?”
I first heard the term Permaculture in the Summer of 2022. In an attempt to solve a recurring water issue in my basement, I burrowed down the YouTube rabbit hole on a quest for answers. I suppose one might just hire a contractor, plumber, or excavator to put a solve together, but for some reason this time I felt compelled to really understand what was going on with the earth beneath our nearly 200-year-old bluestone house in the Hudson Valley.
After a few videos that showed me typical storm water and drainage engineering applied to urban sprawl and track home developments, all interesting stuff but didn’t quite apply to my situation, the algorithm Gods sent down a lightening bolt. That next video, I can honestly say, changed my life. The Oregon timber industry had depleted large swaths of the landscape and a Permaculture group had stepped in to rehabilitate the whole eco system using very simple, natural techniques. My situation wasn’t exactly comparable, but they had my attention. The timber groups had been planting and harvesting large sections of a hillside with one species of tree, then clearcutting large sections and replanting. This dramatically depleted the area of nutrients and topsoil with rainfall bringing only mudslides. The Permaculture team created a cascading series of ponds throughout the hill that captured water, stored it, and allowed it to seep slowly into the soil. They also planted a diversified swath of native plants to hug the soil in and live in concert with the timber crops. Alas, the barren and starving hillside became an oasis of birds, butterflies, turtles and native species who had left long ago due to lack of habitat. This is regenerative agriculture, a whole systems design approach, and the circular premise behind Permaculture.
What I didn’t know at the time was that Permaculture solves for so much more. Simple, nature-based solutions for literally every problem.
Within a year of having first heard the word, I received my Certification in Permaculture Design and now see the world through a very different lens. A good start is to read Bill Mollison’s Introduction to Permaculture.
Thank you for tagging along on my journey. I think we will learn a little something, have some fun, and make a massive impact through surprisingly simple solutions….
One lawn, one house, one person at a time.
