permaculture

["Scott Pittman" <scott@permaculture.org>]

Falling hard on the heels of Z00 discussion I would like to talk about
Zone0.

Zone 0

I took my first Permaculture Design Certification course from Bill Mollison
and was taught that there were 5 zones in a permaculture design.  Years
later I kept hearing that there was a zone 0 and even later on there
appeared zone 00.  I could never understand why these two new
classifications were necessary.

The zone system is primarily a system of placing various elements and
activities in a design so that they match the amount of time that is
dedicated to maintaining those elements and activities.  Therefore zone 1
was the area surrounding the house, since we spend most of our time and
energy near the house.  Most of us eat, sleep, raise children, have a
kitchen garden, grow medicinal and culinary herbs, dry our clothes, and
other daily activities within five minutes of our front or back door.  Other
activities such as the daily collection of eggs, or milking goats would sit
on the edge between zone 1 and zone 2.

Zone 2 was for those elements and activities that demanded less of our time
such as small livestock for meat, milk, and fiber production, orchards, and
larger production gardens for household canning and storing.

Zone 3 was a place further away from the home used for commercial cropping,
grazing, large livestock which take less oversight and management.

Zone 4 Even further from the house allocated to managed range land, forests
and wetlands which are long term production areas which need little
management or attention.

Zone 5 Is reserved as a wild zone or an area that gives us ecological
reference and is our model of regeneration.

This seems a pretty complete list that covers most of a homesteads
activities,  of course many of us will never be troubled with zones 2, 3, or
4 in an urban or suburban situation ( I always insist on a zone 5 however).

So, a few weeks back, I was sitting at the kitchen table with my wife and
some visitors and the question of zones came up, particularly zone 0.  For
once I decide to keep my mouth shut and my ears open!;  For the first time I
started to get a glimmer of the why of a zone 0.

My wife, Arina, belongs to a local organization called "Radical Homemakers
of New Mexico" - a group that is striving to bring back a sense of pride and
self-worth to the many women who have chosen to become masters of
homemaking.  Much of this art has to do with those activities within the
home like cooking, canning, weaving, sewing, child care, herbal medicine,
home economics, not to mention creating an embracing and welcoming
environment for all who enter this space.

This is the role of keeping the hearth which used to mean maintaining and
providing for the family center.  This suddenly makes sense to me as an
appropriate space and role for a zone 0.  In a healthy family this is where
we go for succor and healing.  The hearth is a place of sharing and caring
for one another, where we can express our triumphs and fears.  Where we
share our love for each other and for our bounty from the other zones.

I suppose it took me a long time to see this as a zone because I always
think about the home as part and parcel of zone 1.  If I want to get into
more specific details of the home I discuss it during that part of the
course devoted to construction but now I realize that I was just talking
about the bones or skeleton of the home.  If I look at the home with more of
a zone attitude I began to realize the potential as a design tool and a life
tool.

How does zone0  qualify as a zone?  It is all about placement and time spent
on activities.  It seems to me that the kitchen is the most often visited
space in the home and therefore should be easily be reached from all parts
of the house as well as from outside the house.  The arrangement within the
kitchen should facilitate the process of preparing food with the least
amount of effort and movement.  In my household the kitchen also serves as
the dining area and is therefore the primary gathering spot for the whole
family.  The family gathers in in the kitchen and living room where there is
more ambient heat from cooking and from solar collection of the south facing
windows.

Sleeping areas in my temperate zone are located on the north side to provide
an insulating space from cold winter winds.  These rooms require less heat
as we are protecting by warm bedding.  Of course the fewer doors and windows
on the north the better.

The layout of the interior of the home should facilitate ease of movement
from one area of activity to the next and provide those things necessary for
the accomplishment of the task assigned to each area.

Years ago, in Abiquiui New Mexico  I had the good fortune to work on a
mosque and madrassah (school for Islamic studies) with renowned sacred
architect, and author Hassan Fathy.  Hassan made a statement that has always
stuck with me regarding building.  He said all human space is sacred space
and should be built as one would build a temple because it houses the human
spirit.  He insisted that the building materials be harmless to humans and
for this he preferred adobe brick.  He reasoned that since adobe brick in
handled over and over by human hands, from mixing, to molding, to placing in
the wall that the materials are imbued with human intentions.  These
intentions had to be "good" intentions and he would stop construction  if
there was dissension among the builders.  Construction would resume once we
had settled whatever issue had caused the disagreement.

This experience has stayed with me these many years since that time with
Hassan Fathy and continues to guide me not just in construction but in all
of my activities.  I certainly believe that Hassan would have applauded the
concept of zone 0.

Scott Pittman

"To change something build a new model that makes the existing model
obsolete"  Buckminster Fuller