permaculture

["Graham Burnett" <grahamburnett@blueyonder.co.uk>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "len organicpc" <gardenlen@hotmail.com>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 1:43 AM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Permaculture as "organic"?


> g'day marshall,
>
> maybe you could take time out to read 'bill mollisons' 'introduction to
> permaculture', for me permaculture does not take anything away from
organic,
> i use organic principles and permaculture principals in my gardening and
> life style and apart from that permaculture goes one step further than
> organic there is little difference in how food plants are grown.
permacuture
> doesn't use chemicals, so what about pc is not organic? we recycle, we
look
> after the habitat, we look after the soil structure and we try to be
> sustainable within tha natural system.
>
> i saw the post on the other forum, didn't respond as to me organic and pc
go
> hand in glove, there is nothing to debate. from my perspective
permaculture
> can be as simple as you need for it to fit your system or as complex as
you
> want it to be.

Further to what Len says, "what's the difference between permaculture and
organic gardening?" is a question I'm frequently asked, my answer would be
that permaculture is an overall design system/philosophy that utilises
organic gardening methods and practices, along with many other disciplines
and fields, eg, eco- architecture, water management, green economics, waste
management, community building, agro-forestry & woodland management,
personal development and so on... Permaculture also has an explicitly stated
ethical core of 'Earthcare, Peoplecare and Fairshares' (or, using limited
resources sustainably and equitably) which should guide the actions and
thought of any permaculturist at all times.

Secondly, as permaculture is primarily a design system, it offers ways of
thinking about issues and situations rather than prescribed solutions which
can sometimes be inappropriate or dogmatic- one of these 'thinking
templates' as one might call them is the 'hierarchy of interventions' which
basically asks us to look at a situation and decide what level of human
intervention is necessary- lowest effort/impact being preferable of course.

In summary these might be;

1) (most prefered)- Do nothing. Nature has a way of implementing it's own
checks and balances- wait and se what happens. Often situations will resolve
themselves or other beneficial relationships you weren't previously aware of
become apparent. An example might be aphids on a broad bean crop- if they
arn't doing too much harm leave them alone.

2) Biological intervention- Make indirect changes to the environment such as
introducing plants that will attract predators that will feed on the aphids,
or directly introduce predator larvae.

3) Physical intervention- If the situation is becomming truly detrimental to
meeting your needs, physical intervention may be necessary, eg, wiping off
the aphids by hand, spraying with soapy water etc. However be aware that
once such a course has been embarked upon, frequent maintainance (a high
input path) might be necessary.

4) chemical intervention (by far least prefered- only to be considered in
the most extreme of cases)- Using chemical pesticides to control the aphids-
however in permaculture design thinking, if such a drastic step is deemed
necessary, something is fundementally out of balance. It would make sense to
think about major redesign of the system...

There are times when Permaculture designers might consider one-off
application of a non-persistant herbicide to clear a large area of ground in
a hurry in order to plant it up with edible crops to be acceptable- the
'hierarchy of interventions' is a pattern language which in a way says
"Never say never", if you see what I mean...

HTH, Graham
www.landandliberty.co.uk