The Principles of Permaculture: How to Make Permaculture Work For You
Permaculture. It’s been a buzz word in the garden world for a while now, but what exactly does it mean?
I’ve been curious about permaculture for a while now, but I’ve struggled to understand how permaculture really works in the garden. To be fair, it’s a simple enough philosophy, but one with many complex layers, principles and interpretations. In other words, it’s not easily explained.
That being said, I’m going to do my best to break it down in a way that most people can understand and apply. To help me do that, I turned to my friend Jesse Bowen who has studied permaculture in depth and applied it to his own thriving garden.
Jesse first became interested in permaculture when he began researching eco building and natural homes.
“I originally started thinking about all this permaculture stuff after I was researching eco building and I wanted to build cob homes. My friend had built a straw bale house with posts and beams and a green roof and all of that seemed interesting to me, so I wanted to learn about that. But they were always talking about permaculture at the same time as eco building,” said Jesse.
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As he began to discover how closely related eco building and permaculture were, Jesse decided to enroll in an online permaculture design course. As he studied the principles from start to finish, he began implementing his new found knowledge on his own property and now has a thriving, largely self-sustaining garden to show for it.
So, what is permaculture?
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Permaculture comes from the root words ‘permanent’ and ‘agriculture.’ This rightly suggests that permaculture has a lot to do with developing agricultural systems that, once established, continue to regenerate and produce year after year without having to replant or needing a lot of tending to. In essence, it’s the practice of setting up a farm, garden and/or homestead that is by and large self-sustaining once the initial work of setting it up is done.
This is appealing for many reasons, not the least of which is that traditional gardens, quite frankly, take a lot of work to maintain. Imagine planting your garden once and then rarely worrying about weeding, watering or resowing seeds, and yet still getting a massive harvest at the end of each season. This is sort of what permaculture aims to do.
While annuals do very much have a place in permaculture, the more perennials you can plant and relationships you can create between your plants (and animals), the less work it will be for you in the long run.
Jesse Bowen shows off the stairs he built out of old tires. One of the principles of permaculture is to “produce no waste,” which means repurposing old things to create something new like Jesse’s done here.
“[Permaculture] is about getting the most amount of function and benefit for the least amount of work,” Jesse explained.
I think of it like this: I’m a teacher, and as a teacher, I know that in order to make the whole year run smoothly, it’s incredibly important to establish systems, routines and expectations up front during the first few weeks of school. This is when students learn what is expected of them, what behaviour is acceptable and how to transition from one activity to another easily without wasting time.
Once these systems and routines are established, they become habit and students start following them automatically. The teacher does not need to spend any more time on this stuff and can instead concentrate on academics and other teaching-related duties. However, if the teacher does not take the time to establish clear routines and expectations up front (and remain consistent), the whole year will be a struggle just trying to get students to behave, pay attention and do their work.
In the same way, permaculture is all about establishing intentional, clear systems up front, in and around one’s garden, homestead, property and even the larger community. These systems should be set up with the intention that once they are established, they will be self-sustaining so the gardener/homesteader can focus on other things like expanding the garden, adding new livestock or learning new skills instead of constantly struggling to keep up with maintaining what’s already there.
But what does that look like?
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How do you establish a self-sustaining garden? Where should you begin?
“The first step is observation. That’s where you start,” said Jesse.
“Then if you’re just patient, and you look at something and try to understand what it is or what it wants or what it needs, then you can work with nature and just try to do it the easy way.”
This could mean observing where the sun hits your property at different times of day. What areas of your property get better drainage? What areas are hotter or cooler than others? Which native plant species are already growing on your property and where are they growing? What is the soil like? Discovering, creating and utilizing microclimates is a big part of permaculture.
What’s a microclimate?
A greenhouse is just one way to create a warm microclimate on your property.
A microclimate, in short, is exactly what it sounds like: It’s a small space on your property that has it’s own climate within the much larger climate or gardening zone that you live in. So for example, you might have one area on your property that gets direct sun all day, and another that stays shaded most of the day.
You might also have a hilly area that gets very good drainage and stays fairly dry, as well as a water feature such as a pond or a creek. Maybe the area close to the pond has sandier soil while the soil in another part of your property is more loamy. Each of these areas has its very own microclimate within the larger climate of where you live, and different plants will do better in different microclimates depending on what they need to survive and thrive.
If you can, take the time to just observe your property for a full year (4 seasons) before planting anything. By taking the time to observe and take notes on what grows and happens naturally on your property at each time of year, you’ll be better equipped to make smart decisions about where to plant what in your garden when it comes time.
Permaculture is all about working with nature, not against it. So it makes sense that, through observation, you can learn what your area already provides naturally and you can begin to harness that energy to help create a thriving garden instead of working against it and struggling to keep a garden alive.
So for example, if you are looking to grow plants that do best in a cooler, wetter climate, you would plant those plants in an area of your property that remains moist and shaded throughout much of the day instead of planting them in direct sunlight and then struggling to keep them watered every day. Likewise, if you are growing something like tomatoes that need full sun, you would plant them in the area that gets the most direct sunlight, not next to the large trees that shade out the sun for half the day.
You can also create your own microclimates, which we will talk about a bit further down. Using a greenhouse is one popular way to create a warm microclimate on your property.
The ethics, principles and design of permaculture
While we often think of permaculture as being directly related to agriculture, it is actually more of a design concept than an agrarian one.
Permaculture design can be applied to everything from our gardens to our homes to our communities and even ourselves. It’s all based on a code of ethics that can be applied to everything we do and how we do it.
Permaculture is based on 3 main ethical standards: Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share
Earth Care is all about making sure that our actions improve (or at least maintain) the earth and the natural environment. So for example, when it comes to gardening that means we are using organic methods to make the land more productive and diverse and steering clear of herbicides, pesticides and GMOs.
In the home, Earth Care could mean using natural cleaning products and practicing good habits like turning lights and taps off when we’re not using them. In the community Earth Care could mean walking or cycling instead of driving or picking up litter.
People Care is all about making sure the needs of the people around us are met in sustainable, self-sufficient ways. Feeding ourselves, our families and our community members with the food that we grow is one way of caring for people, but it is certainly not the only way.
Fair Share is all about taking only our fair share. In other words, take only what you need from nature and allow renewable resources time to regenerate. Cut down on consumption and waste as much as possible and harness the power of natural energy from sun, wind, rain and biomass instead of relying on the grid to support all of your activities.
The 12 principles of permaculture
One of the founders of modern permaculture, David Holmgren came up with 12 key principles of permaculture that fit within the realm of the 3 main ethics discussed above. These 12 principles are sort of like the 12 steps of permaculture: If you do each one of them in order, you will succeed at setting up a permaculture system on your property and in your life.
Without going into too much detail, the 12 steps are as follows:
1. Observe and Interact with Nature
Observe the land and the systems that are already functioning naturally to help you decide how to make these natural systems work for you.
2. Catch and Store Energy
Collect natural forms of energy when and where they are available to use when needed (ie. collect rainwater in the wet months for irrigation in the dry months, chop wood in the summer to heat your home in the winter, etc.)
3. Obtain a Yield
All plants (and most animals) should serve a purpose on a homestead. Try not to plant purely ornamental plants or to have animals that are just pets (although pets are wonderful!). Instead, plant plants that will produce a yield of something you can eat or use in some way (like herbs or flowers for medicine or trees for wood). And keep livestock for food, or if you do have pets, perhaps they can do double duty. For example, we have a pet rabbit but we use his waste as manure. Perhaps you have dogs that could help herd other livestock or cats who could control the rodent population.
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4. Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback
Be conscious of what and how much you consume. Reflect on your consumption patterns and make adjustments where necessary. Always assess and reassess what is and isn’t working and make necessary adjustments.
5. Use and Value Renewable Resources
Try to use resources that are renewable over those that aren’t (ie. using wood fuel over oil). Don’t take too much, use only your fair share and allow these resources the time to regenerate.
6. Produce No Waste
While it is difficult not to produce any waste at all, try to make use of the waste you do create (ie. use grey water to irrigate, repurpose old packaging, fix old tools, compost, etc.)
7. Design From Patterns to Details
Be intentional with the way you design your garden, homestead and property. Observe first and then design your property to take advantage of the naturally occurring systems already in place. (ie. you can create microclimates on your property where ones don’t exist by taking advantage of what already does exist. So for example, you could construct a pond at the bottom of a hill where runoff will naturally filter down and collect).
8. Integrate Rather Than Segregate
Set things up to work together and benefit each other. Companion planting is a great example. Instead of segregating crops and making them susceptible to pests and disease, planting different mutually beneficial crops together will help them to take care of each other without you having to take care of them on your own.
9. Use Small and Slow Solutions
Focus on establishing plants and systems that take time to set up and produce up front, but will produce massive yields later on. For example, fruit and nut tree trees take a long time to start producing, but once they do, they produce abundant harvests year after year with little to no input.
10. Use and Value Land Diversity
Plant lots of different crops. Plant the same crops in different areas (microclimates) on your property. If one system fails, chances are others will succeed.
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11. Use Edges and Value the Marginal
Utilize as much of the space on your property as you can. The edges of your property are great for planting fruit-producing shrubs and bramble or trees for harvesting wood. Don’t neglect or overlook the far corners of your property.
12. Creatively Use and Respond to Change
Climate and geography can change. Our climate is currently changing on a massive scale, and this can affect small-scale changes on our properties. Or perhaps a system you set up has some unintended consequences, like maybe certain trees you planted have made the nearby soil more acidic. Find a way to adapt to the changes instead of fight them. Grow things that thrive in your new environments. Start at square one again. Observe and then design. Always work with nature, never against her.
For a more comprehensive understanding of these 12 principles of permaculture, check out David Holmgren’s book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.
Permaculture Design and Zones
So we now know about the ethics and principles that guide permaculture design, but what is permaculture design exactly? What does it look like?
Jesse explained how permaculture is based on the design of a spiral, and each part of the spiral (from the centre outward) makes up a different zone.
“[Permaculture] tries to get the most amount of function and benefit for the least amount of work. That’s why you work on a system of zones, and that’s the way you think about things in permaculture,” said Jesse.
Here Jesse stands at “Zone 0” with his wife, Virginia and their daughter Bronwyn. Your house is the first zone at the centre of your permaculture spiral on your property. From there it spirals out into other zones and keeps going out into the community and beyond.
Zone 0
“You think okay, my house is Zone 0 (inside the house). Around the house is Zone 1 because I go there every day and it’s easy to deal with all that stuff. So [for example] you want your herbs really close to your kitchen so you’ll actually use them, because it’s not gonna be a hassle.”
Zone 1
“For Zone 1, you want your herbs, lettuce… you know, a little kitchen garden somewhere close. You could have pots on your deck or whatever and that’s all zone 1,” said Jesse.
Zone 2
“You’d probably put your chickens in Zone 2. You might do some animals or raised beds or other gardens you need to go work in so they’re not too far away.”
Zone 3
“Zone 3, you might have a pasture area for sheep or goats or something, or just let it go to meadow or some natural thing that you don’t have to take care of much… Maybe a food forest.
“Food forests are kind of a permaculture word for ‘establishing things that don’t take a lot of maintenance or work together.’ Companion planting, things that come back every year or self-seed… Things like that. [This way] you can go and harvest from it but you don’t have to spend a lot of time in it. Get your fruit trees in zone 3,” he explains.
Zone 4
“Depending on how big your property is, Zone 4 might be like the back trail in the woods [around] your property. [For us] it’s the trail and the beach that’s a 5-minute walk away.”
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Zone 5
“Zone 5 is probably the grocery stores and stuff in my community where I can go and get stuff.
“[Permaculture] is about [spiralling] out from your centre of what your designing for (or whom you’re designing for). Spirals are a natural system. Everything grows in spirals in nature, or at least a lot of things do.”
Zone 6, 7, 8, 9 and so on…
As is the nature of a spiral, the zones could keep going forever, and that’s sort of the point. You want to start at ground zero (Zone 0) and then work your way out. Once you’ve set up Zone 0 and then Zone 1 to work for you, then focus on designing Zone 2, 3, 4, etc.
If Zone 5 is your community, Zone 6 might be the city or region where your community lies. Zone 7 might be the state or province. Zone 8 might be the country, and so on. There are no hard and fast rules about what constitutes what zones. The spiral can be applied anywhere, even to an individual person (your consciousness being Zone 0, your thinking mind being Zone 1, your physical body being Zone 2, your environment being Zone 3, etc. It’s sort of up for interpretation.
The spiral effect
Spirals are the basis of all design in permaculture because spirals are a recurring design element found in all facets of nature from flowers to forests and flora to fauna.
It all has to do with some pretty fancy mathematics involving the Phi Ratio (Golden Ratio) and the Fibonacci Sequence. As fascinating as I find all of this, it is certainly not my area of expertise, so I won’t bother trying to elaborate here. But I highly recommend doing some independent research to learn more about the mathematics of nature as it is indeed quite interesting and enlightening!
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What’s important here is that we understand that permaculture is intentionally based on the spiral design for good reason. And we can incorporate the spiral design in our own gardens. Jesse did just that with his herb spiral, which is often the first project a permaculture practitioner takes on in his garden. (A permaculture gateway drug of sorts!)
“For my herb spiral I just put in all the things that I would like to be able to pick and eat for my kitchen,” said Jesse.
“The spiral I built up so I could get different levels and everything will be pickable because it’s only a 6-foot diameter circle. So I can reach the middle from any side. And you get little different microclimates within the herb spiral because some will get more sun, some will be more protected from the wind so you can put things where they’ll be most comfortable. So you can read up on whatever you’re trying to plant and then pick the spot where it would do best.”
In this sense, the herb spiral makes perfect sense: It follows the spiral design found in nature, it creates and makes use of different microclimates, it makes things accessible, produces a yield and fits the Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share ethics model.
Jesse’s prized herb spiral. An herb spiral is one of the first garden projects many permaculture enthusiasts attempt. It incorporates many aspects of permaculture, including creating microclimates, easy access to a diverse yield of crops, integration and companion planting and, of course, the spiral design.
Jesse also made use of other materials he found on his property to create his spiral, which made use of natural systems already in place and cut down on his consumption and waste production.
“So this was really cheap to build. I used chopped up maplewood as the base, so I actually used Hügelkultur, which is basically rotting wood mounds that you put dirt on and then grow on. As [the wood] decomposes it’s gonna feed the plants and the pile will just keep nourishing itself with rotting wood. Because the centre’s built up higher, all the centre has the wood in it to build it up so I didn’t have to spend so much money on compost and soil and manure and stuff that I mixed and put in.
“I just had rounds [of maplewood] and I just stacked the rounds in as tightly as I could, and then I just put peat moss all over it and mulched up leaves that I had collected that were all fungus-y (which is really good because it gets a micro-biome going in the soil). Everything I planted in here did really well,” he said.
“I built [my herb spiral] out of wood that I had trimmed from a hedge next to it. It was a Laurel hedge and I was reading up on it and laurel supposedly has cyanide in it and I was a little bit worried about poisoning my plants with cyanide. But now I think it’s totally fine. It’s better to just try something than to worry about it and do nothing. If worst comes to worst at least you’ll learn something.”
Try something new
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At first it might seem as if permaculture is a complex and complicated design process that is vague and unspecific at the same time. Indeed, it is all of these things. But at its core it is actually quite simple: Permaculture is based on the same designs found in nature, and aims to work with nature rather than against it to create a self-sustaining garden, homestead and lifestyle that benefits both the people that depend on it and the earth and ecosystem(s) around it.
To begin practicing permaculture in your own life, start by keeping the 3 main ethics in mind and make sure that you constantly reflect and reassess to make sure your actions and your design planning adhere to these ethics.
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From there, follow the 12 steps laid out in David Holmgren’s book. Start by observing. Think longterm and don’t rush the process.
But don’t wait forever to start either. It may seem daunting at first, but as they say, all great journeys begin with a single step. And permaculture may just be one of the most noble journeys one can embark on in our time.
At the end of the day, it can’t hurt to give it a try. Maybe permaculture won’t inform your every decision or dictate how you live every minute of your life. But maybe it will make some aspects of life just a little bit easier, better and more fruitful for you, for your family, for your community, for the planet.
As Jesse said, “it’s better to just try something than to worry about it and do nothing. If worst comes to worst at least you’ll learn something.”
What can permaculture teach you?
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🐛 I’ve heard it said that “if something’s not eating your garden, then you’re not part of the ecosystem.”
These little caterpillars are ALL OVER our red currant bush. There are so many we can actually HEAR them chomping on the leaves!!!
I’m not sure if they’re a pest or some sort of future butterfly, but they seem to only like the currant leaves and the currants are still growing just fine.
(UPDATE: I’ve now learned that these are Gooseberry Sawfly larvae and are harmless to our other plants:)
We gathered some of them and fed them to our chickens, but otherwise we’ve just left these guys to do their thing. I figure if they’re not harming my main crops then no foul.
We should always remember that even “pests” serve a purpose, and having an organic garden means we’ll be sharing at least some of what we’re growing with the critters around us. And that’s perfectly natural and okay!
So long as your crops aren’t being destroyed, ain’t no shame in sharing a little bit with the other creatures that make our world go round:)
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#catterpillars #gardenpests #abugslife #chickensnacks #organicgardening
🍅 If I had to choose the most valuable crop in our garden, it would have to be tomatoes.
They're so versatile in the kitchen, so we grow tons of them every year, not just to eat fresh, but to preserve and provide us with most of our tomato-based needs all year long!
Last year we got well over 300 pounds of tomatoes off of our plants, and were able to preserve most of the tomato-based products that we use in a year from our bounty. (I just finished our last jar of homemade tomato sauce last week and we're on our last jar of salsa now!)
But we've had our share of struggles with tomato plants in the past. Common problems like blight and blossom end rot plagued our plants for a good two or three years until we started trying out different "hacks" that we'd learned from our own online mentors.
Now we've got our tomato game down pretty much to a tee, and we get BUMPER CROPS of tomatoes from our garden by following a few simple steps to ensure healthy, productive tomato plants every year.
So today I'm sharing my top 6 hacks for growing a bumper crop of tomatoes in your garden every year!
They're all simple tips and tricks that anyone can follow, but you don't know what you don't know!
So if you've ever struggled with growing tomatoes before or death with common diseases or poor fruit production, then this one's for you my friend:)
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/grow-a-bumper-crop-of-tomatoes/ to get my top 6 hacks for growing healthy tomato plants at home!
What about you? Do you have any tomato-growing “hacks”?
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If you’d have told me a decade ago that I’d be growing and producing a good portion of my own food at home, I don’t think I would have believed you.
At this time in my life, I was in my early twenties and carefree, living and working in the city, travelling the world with only myself to worry about.
But a love for good food plus a passion for the environment and a burning desire to live a self-sufficient life led me down this rewarding, albeit unconventional life path, and I’m so glad it did!
When I finally had a family of my own, I became even more passionate about growing and producing my own food at home so that I could put good, healthy meals on the table without breaking the bank.
Now, as we face this pandemic and the uncertainty that it’s brought, I am so thankful for the security that our homegrown food provides.
My life’s mission has become helping others to achieve this same kind of food security and self-reliance, and I’m so happy to see more and more people taking food security seriously and learning how to grow their own at home!
If this is the year that you’re ready to learn how to grow your own food at home, or you’re ready to learn a new self-sufficiency skill that will help you weather whatever storms may be ahead, then you’ve gotta check out the Gardening & Sustainable Living Bundle from @ultimate_bundles: A $600 library worth of gardening, preserving and homesteading resources including 33 eBooks, eCourses, digital planners and more to help you take the best step toward self-reliance, and it’s all on sale now for less than $20! I speak from experience when I say that the investment is worth the return on this one!
You can grab your bundle by clicking the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://bit.ly/2WUwGQl and get growing more of your family’s food at home today!
Hurry though! This bundle is only available for this price for two more days.
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👩🏻🌾 This week has been a busy one!
We spent at least 4 hours last Saturday weeding the garden beds that were, quite frankly, embarrassingly overgrown with weeds😳
Then we cleared some space in the front yard and made way for two new raised beds that will help us grow even more food at home this year!
Of course then we had to build said garden beds, fill them with about 2o heavy wheelbarrows full of soil, construct tomato shelters to protect our plants from blight, and, and...
Some days the work seems like it’s never ending. But we’ve found that if you work together as a family and remember to take time to stop and marvel at the plant and bug life, play with the chickens and enjoy a nice cold bevy at the end of the day, the hard work is more than worth the payoff in the end.
Come join us in our very first “episode” on YouTube where we take you behind the scenes of our lives here on our little 1/4 acre homestead! And what better time to open up our garden gate to the world than in the spring:)
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://youtu.be/j0MH0TJ07vc to watch the full episode.
And remember to hit “like” and subscribe while you’re there so you never miss a video:)
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💐 Happy Mother’s Day to all the hardworking mamas out there!
The homestead mamas and homeschool mamas...
The working mamas and the stay-at-home mamas...
The single mamas and the mamas still trying to conceive...
The mamas of Earth angels and Angel babies, mamas yet to be and grandmamas of generations...
To all the mamas out there, this is your day. Celebrate yourself. Love yourself and allow yourself to be loved. Take care of you so you can continue to take care of everyone else who depends on your strength...
Happy Mother’s Day from our House & Homestead to yours!
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🥖 Mother’s Day is in two days! Which gives you just enough time to make a loaf of this DELICIOUS buttery brioche bread to enjoy with Sunday brunch!
Brioche is different from other breads because it’s loaded with butter and eggs, which makes it light and flaky, like a pastry, but soft and sponge like a soft sandwich bread. And trust me when I say there is no better bread to make French toast with! Which just so happens to be what my dear husband and child will be making for Mother’s Day brunch this Sunday;)
But perhaps the best part of all is that it’s actually really easy and fun to make brioche at home! If you want to learn how, I walk you through the whole process (including how to hand-knead it using the French fold technique), with a little help from the good folks over at @nielsenmassey vanillas, who challenged me to attempt this recipe in the first place!
But hurry! Because this bread requires an overnight rise, so if you want it in time for Mother’s Day, you’ll want to get started soon!
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/honey-brioche-bread-recipe/ to get my recipe!
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