permaculture

[Clint Popetz <clint@cpopetz.com>]

On Tue, May 23, 2006 at 05:43:09PM -0500, Kathy Evans wrote:
> Thank you all for your kind and welcoming responses to my earlier question,
> am I at the right party. I live on less than half an acre in the city. I
> have been organic gardening for over twenty years, raised beds and
> trellises, about a thousand square feet, letting the edible weeds go and
> eating them, and I have a small flock of hens, for eggs, and use the manure
> on the garden. I know and use wild edibles. The rest of my yard is shaded
> and has clay soil. Five people to feed. What are some next steps I can take
> to move in this permaculture direction under these conditions, given that I
> won't be moving out to the country any time soon? What's the difference
> between what I've been doing and permaculture? What form does permaculture
> take in the city, if any, when self-subsistence is not possible, not even
> close? Kathy

You'll get lots of more informed opinions than mine on this list, but
I'll add my two cents because I'm in a similar situation.  I have
almost a half acre (two lots) in the city.  We have lots of raised
beds, fruit trees, a pond (as of yesterday!), chickens, ducks,
compost, a greenhouse, etc.

My guess is what you're doing is already on the path towards
permaculture, as a big chunk of it is about observing what works in
your ecosystem and designing the work you in the hopes of guiding the
ecosystem towards higher production, more diversity, better soil, and
more connections.  If you've been organic gardening for over 20 years,
you could teach 10-year gardeners like me a lot :)  So my advice would
be "keep on keepin' on," and read a few permaculture books (see below)
for more ideas to try.

There are a few main permaculture concepts (and I don't have a
certificate, but I have a good friend that has one and teaches me a
lot, and I have read Mollison and Hemenway and a few other) that have
helped me in my backyard farm.

(1) Connect the dots.  Find the cycles of energy and inputs/outputs of
the things you already have or are planning to have, and hook them up
together where possible.  So for instance the roof of the garage
funnels rainwater into the pond, the greenhouse shades the
mushroom-inoculated logs, which also float in the pond (now!) to
shock them into production.  The chickens are in a tractor that we put
on raised beds when they aren't in use.  The ducks are supposed to eat
the slugs out of the potatoes (jury is out on that one), the chickens
I sometimes pasture under the fruit trees to eat japanese beetles that
I shake off the trees).

(2) Make maps.  Make maps of where the sun will be and where the water
will be and find the most efficient system.  That's helped me a lot.
Think about where things are going to be in 1/3/5 years, for instance
in terms of shade dynamics.  

(3) Plant guilds.  This used to be called "companion planting."  It's mostly
voodoo as far as I can tell, but every once in a while you hit on
something.

(4) If it's not a problem, let it go.  This is the "Garden gone wild"
pattern from Christopher Alexander, and it works!  When I let weeds go
in one area, I learn what grows well there.  Sometimes I eradicate
them before they go to seed (or cut the seed heads off), but sometimes
they turn out to be an amazing find.  Even if I don't find a
medicinal/culinary use for them, they are holding soil.

(5) Integrate yourself into the design.  By that I mean thinking about
your own use patterns, where you walk, what you like to graze, how far
you want to go to get kitchen herbs, where the tools should be stored,
so where to build the storage shed, etc.  Our soul's delight is as
important to our health as our food, so don't shy away from plants
that flower beautifully and not much else.  For example, my pond will
hopefully hold a lot of stacked functions (water storage for
irrigation, beneficial insect attraction, amphibians, duck forage,
watercress), but it's also very soothing to sit by.  The sound of
splashing water is a wonderful addition to my life.

(6) Integrate your neighbors into your design.  As city folk, we've
got to think about it, and it's been a hard lesson for me.  For
example, chickens make a great topic of conversation and a way to
introduce your neighbors to sustainable topics.  Sharing eggs
increases that effect, and when the chickens eat their grass seed,
well that decreases the effect :)  So now there is a good fence going
up, the compost is on the side of the yard away from the less tolerant
neighbor ("Mice!" she yelled), and the beds are a little neater.  The
conversations my garden inspires are half the fun, and the main reason
I haven't packed up and moved to the country.

I do recommend Toby Hemenway's book  Gaia's Garden, because it's
about small scale projects like yours and mine.

Oh, and the other thing becoming interested in permaculture has given
me is a community of people interested in the same things I am, and a
mailing list loaded with great discussions!

                        -Clint