WHAT IS PERMACULTURE?

Permaculture is a DESIGN SYSTEM for creating “Permanent (Agri-) Culture.”  

Ethical Prime Directives:

• Take responsibility for ourselves & our children
• Care of the Earth & People
• Cooperation, not competition, supports these goals;
  2 ways to ask a question;
  Work with Nature, not against her. Use nature as a model.
• Setting limits to Population & Consumption

Design Principles:

• The Problem is the solution; or turn a problem into a resource
• Before we look for answers, be sure we are asking the right questions
• Multiple functions for single elements: Living fences/windbreaks; Mulch
• Analysis and matching of needs and yields.
  Make connections between elements to avoid work
  Pollutants are unused yields
  Create many products and no pollutants versus 1 product plus some pollutants.
• Zones: Designing a site for efficiency and saving work
• Sectors: Design for making use of and protecting from energy flows entering and leaving the site.
• Do the least work for the most effect; the roles of humans are designers, planters, and harvesters.

Resources/Assets:

• Degenerative: These degrade and need maintenance: houses, cars, etc. Limit these to our needs.
• Generative: Tools which create wealth if used; if you don’t use them, recycle them.
• Procreative: Living assets; they gain value with time. Fruit trees, livestock, fish stocks; invest in these for true wealth.

Invisible Structures:

• Community and Conservation land trusts
• Money analysis: What can we do with it? Physical, social, spiritual values!
• Revolving loan funds; LETS: Local Exchange Trading Systems
• Coop businesses;
• Ethical investments: Life supporting firms that produce durable, repairable, and re-usable products
  (Green Century, Patagonia, REI, etc.)