What is Permaculture

Permaculture: the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient.

"Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system." - Bill Mollison

The term Permaculture was originally coined by David Holmgren a student of Bill Mollison in the 1970’s. The term was originally a combination of the words “permanent agriculture”  but has since been changed “permanent culture” in order to encompass more than just agriculture. It became apparent in the later years of Permaculture that this creative methodology can apply to many more systems including social structures and business. Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia often deservingly refers to Permaculture as a “design science.” In designing we make observations of natural systems and use the conclusions of our observations to assist (or create new) the natural system in becoming more productive, regenerative, self-sufficient, and useful.

This philosophy of design science is built on a foundation of these three core ethics:

1.  Care of the earth 
2. Care of people
3. Return of surplus

The first ethic “Care of the Earth” is ahead of the second simply because it is apparent that it is a requirement for the health and survival of people. The earth provides us with everything, and if it is unhealthy, so are we. The second is to be expected, we place it above surplus because ultimately surplus does us no good unless the people are here to manage it. And finally the third ethic refers to surplus. That is returning it to the system from which it came, in order to regenerate and grow that system.

It is not easy to say which of the ethics is most important. Ultimately two and three are not possible without the first, however  the third is required if the first is to be fulfilled , and one and three really don’t matter (to us) without the second. For what then would be our intent for caring for our planet if we were not likewise taken care of.  It is most pragmatic to say that each are of equal importance. These three principles are what mold the philosophy of Permaculture. In the future we will right another post in detail on each.

The design of a Permaculture system traditionally takes into account twelve principles set in place by David Holmgren. In many circles, wording has been changed and ideas have been altered. This is not necessarily a bad thing according to Holmgren’s last principle, but for the sake of a solid foundation of what permaculture design is we will stick with the original. These twelve principles are:

1. Observe and Interact
2. Catch and Store Energy
3. Obtain a Yield
4. Apply Self-Regulation
5. Use and Value Renewable Recourses
6. Produce No Waste
7. Pay Attention to Patterns and Detail
8. Integration over Segregation
9. Implement Small Slow Solutions
10. Use and Value Diversity
11. Use Edges
12. Creativity and Response to Change

Each of these Principles will be further explored in Future posts.

Permaculture has been a steadily growing practice since its fruition in the 1970’s. Geoff Lawton, a student of Mollison, has brought Permaculture to one of the most beaten down pieces of land in the world, Jordan, and helped spawn the greening the desert movement by creating a forest of food in a place that was considered to be completely dead due to overgrazing, poor agricultural practices, lack of water, and salted soil. Watch a video on this particular project here.

There are several other notable examples of Permaculture in practice. A couple of which include:

Beacon Food Forest: In Seattle Washington a community project is under way called “The Beacon Food Forest.” It is currently the most notable public food park in the continental U.S. at present time.

Miracle Farm: In Quebec there is an Orchard that recently converted from traditionally monocrop organic to Permaculture. They do not spray anything there, including organic products, and have an incredibly high harvest of a variety of fruits with a very very small pest population. You would have to spend several hours in this orchard in order to spot a fruit worm.

Designing with the ethics in mind and using zones and sectors(discussed in a later post) to implement principles. Permaculture is a promising solution to destructive agriculture as well as many other non-sustainable systems. Humanity is smart, and has lots of potential. Imagine what we could accomplish if we put that potential towards intelligent and well thought out  productive designing as opposed to systems that force the earth into a breaking point. We are meant to be stewards of Earth.

“All of the worlds problems can be solved in a garden.”  - Geoff Lawton

SBeeN

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” ― Albert Einstein

It is not genius but pure mathematical probability that correlates the extinction of bees to the extinction of man. Almond and apple orchards throughout the US have identified the link between bees and a bountiful crop and successful harvest. The hauling of mobile apiaries cross-country in the name of pollination has become the agricultural industry’s standard.

People all over the world are embracing the use of honey as a substitute for cane sugar, with a lower glycemic index and beneficial vitamins and antioxidants. Honey is also growing in popularity for the treatment of everything from seasonal allergies to wounds.

It would be a challenge to find anyone who isn’t aware of the honeybee crisis that has been taking over the world and most of our national news networks.  For the last 10 years Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is not only on the minds of our country’s beekeepers, but farmers and consumers alike.

What does all this mean for you? Sustainable living requires dependence on all of nature’s little helpers. We rely on microbes for compost to help nourish our gardens; attracting certain insects to your garden can provide organic chemical-free pest management; and it is said “bees are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we eat”

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Owning your own apiary can be fun, easy and relatively affordable. Be it to improve your garden, your health, or the world around you, there’s no denying the benefits of backyard beekeeping.
Contact SBN for more details if you are interested in getting a hive of your own!

-Rachel
 SBN bees

Mountains of Mulch (Too Much Mulch)

Welcome to the first SBN blog.  We hope for this to be a place where you can learn about growing food, catching rain water, sustainable landscaping, beekeeping, community based business and just a fun place to add some of what is going on in the Springfield MO community.  I will dive into the topic at hand today, too many mountains of mulch around trees.


Have you ever noticed while you're walking through the woods that trees do not have a huge mound of organic matter around the trunk of the tree (they do have a lot of organic matter spread out over the roots).  You may also have noticed how healthy the trees are in the woods.  Here is where the problem lies, I do not think that anyone knows why they mound mulch up around the trunk of the tree like a mountain.

Girdling caused by Mulching 

Before I started getting into this industry I didn't know either. I thought the only reason for mulch around trees was for aesthetic value, or maybe it was there to make mowing easier. I have come to learn in the last year about the health of a tree, and what is important to pay attention to. I am afraid a lot of landscape contractors may not know as well because they are only worried about the way things look.  Which I completely understand, when you are trying to make a customer happy aesthetic value is sometimes the only thing that is thought of.

Lets look at what happens when you create mounds around the trunk. The roots will start to make their way out of the soil, this makes the tree more susceptible to stress, wind, and drought because instead of spreading out across the earth, the roots begin to get tangled into a ball right inside of your mulch mound. It can also cause the tree to girdle itself and die prematurely.  While it is good to hold some moisture in the soil around the root system if you hold too much you may cause the roots to rot due to TOO MUCH moisture.  Finally roots need oxygen to work correctly, burying them too deeply in mulch will decrease this supply of oxygen.

What we should do when mulching is mimic a natural system....the forest. Not because we are hippies but because this is how you have healthy trees.  It still looks nice you just make a  large diameter of mulch around the tree between 2-3 inches deep,  keep the mulch away from the base of the tree as much as you can without leaving room for weeds to grow up. It is preferable to have the diameter of the mulch to be the same diameter of width from the trees branches. 

The Wrong Way vs The Right Way

One thing that I feel I have to mention before I finish up here is that rubber mulch does not work as mulch.  It may look nice and never go away, but it also heats up the soil too much, smells like well rubber, and does not have any organic matter that will benefit the tree.  This I believe shows how large the issue is.

Now as you're driving around today try and not notice all of the mountains of mulch around the trees in your area, it's impossible once you are armed with this knowledge.  Thanks for being a reader of the first SBN blog.

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