permaculture

["Graham Burnett" <gburnett@unisonfree.net>]

>
> Yeah.  The trouble is, then you get people telling you that permaculture is
> "all theory" and demanding to see some concrete
> data/examples/recipes/whatever.  If you don't provide these, everything you
> say is dismissed as "impractical", or your level of "real world" experience
> is questioned.

I describe my allotment (UK) as 'Permaculture', but there's not much that 
differentiates it from a
standard 'organic' allotment in many ways- I use techniques that are 
appropriate for my situation-
bed systems, perennial plants in the form of fruit bushes & herbs, recycling 
urban waste & junk in
useful ways (plastic bottles used as cloches, irrigators, bird scarers, etc), 
shed built out of old
scrap timber found on skips (or 'dumpsters' as I believe our US counterparts 
call them), old baths,
bits of tubing & plumbing etc used for water harvesting/irrigation, pond dug 
& flowers planted as
pest predator attractants, comfrey grown as liquid feed, etc, etc, etc... So 
do many of the other
organic (and even non organic) plot holders who have never heard of the 'P' 
word. I've largely
rejected (at least for the last couple of years) PC 'holy cows' like no 
dig/sheet mulch beds 'cos
in our current damp conditions they are nothing but slug- party venues, they 
love 'em, and from the
rate they multiply under mulch, they find 'em a total turn on too! Also, as I 
no longer have
motorised transport, importing sufficient mulch material is no longer 
practical... So what makes my
allotment 'Permaculture'?

I'd say because it fits into a broader system/design of trying to create a 
more sustainable urban
lifestyle, being vegan, tying in with activities like promoting Local Agenda 
21 and community
building, being part of the LETS system, supporting local organic food 
outlets & farmers markets
rather than supermarkets, living without a car, creating green space and a 
wildlife friendly
environment in a city (well, town actually), being a good place to take my 
kids or drink a beer and
generally developing awareness and taking some degree of responsibility for 
some of the production
of the food that my family eat. I'm by no means self sufficient in food from 
my allotment, but some
years I grow quite a bit of veg, others less. i've got a full time job, and a 
family of four kids.
At the moment due to circumstances I'm in, my allotment is far more about 
being a therapuetic place
to chill out than trying to maximise (quantifiable) yield. In fact in terms 
of potatos or onions or
carrots or gooseberries grown, my 'outputs' are probably much less than 
'conventional' plots. But
in OVERALL 'yield' terms, what I get out of my allotment is imeasurable. 
Relaxation, fresh air,
observation, wisdom,  socialising, spotting a frog amongst the beans....

So when i'm asked to show off what makes my plot so 'different', I can't 
really 'cos where it's
'different' is more about the 'invisible structures'.

Personally i feel there is a bit of a misnomer about at the moment in that 
many people seem to be
looking to measure outputs of 'permaculture systems' in purely 
numerical/quantifiable terms in
order to prove that 'permaculture' is a viable alternative to 'conventional' 
practices- this makes
the mistake of seeing PC as a bunch of techniques rather than a design & 
ethical philosophy... As
Judith points out in her posting, what works in one situation would be a 
total mistake in another,
techniques that are appropriate in the outbacks of Australia or home gardens 
of Kerala are bound to
be irrelevant in 'Cool temperate' (read damp, windy & miserable) UK...

The question 'is permaculture sustainable?' is to me a tautology- 
Permaculture is BY DEFINITION
about utilising the techniques and systems that do work and are sustainable 
for future generations
in your particular locality...


Last words to Sylvia, Site Manager at Westcliff Land Cultivation Society 
Allotment Site( in
reference to guess whose plot...); "Huh. Permaculture he calls it. Bloody 
mess I call it...."


Cheers,

Graham Burnett
35 Rayleigh Avenue
Westcliff On Sea
Essex, UK
SS0 7DS

South East Essex LETS
http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/