A BRIEF HISTORY OF PERMACULTURE
People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of doing things.
~ Buckminster Fuller
In 1974, young people around the world were asking questions about the way we lived. Hippies, back-to-the-land movements, and communes cropped up all over the world. In Australia, a young David Holmgren was in his final year at the University of Tasmania, and he happened to meet Bill Mollison, a lecturer with a similar interest in ecology and human systems. Inspired by discussions with Bill and experiences in the garden and field sites around Tasmania, David wrote a treatise on how he thought the world should work. It contained the seeds of a groundbreaking design system that managed to combine ecology, human communities, and agriculture into one cohesive whole. The manuscript became part of his graduate thesis, but even more importantly, Bill encouraged David to publish his ideas. The thesis became the book Permaculture One, which was released in 1978. The book Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture by Russell Smith (1924) inspired the word Mollison and Holmgren coined, permaculture, but it came to mean much more than just permanent agriculture.
Bill Mollison became highly involved in permaculture when the book grew very popular. He eloquently described their philosophy: “[Permaculture] is the harmonious integration of the landscape, people and appropriate technologies, providing food, shelter, energy and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.”
“Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions rather than asking only one yield of them . . .”
—Bill Mollison
Today definitions of permaculture differ. It has been described as a way of life. A culture. A philosophy. At its very core, permaculture is a way of designing all human systems so that they integrate harmoniously with ecology. It grew to include community systems, cultural ideologies, business, art, . . . every facet of human life. What had originally started out as permanent agriculture ended up meaning permanent culture because the idea encompassed much more than just agriculture.
Cieba trees host thousands of organisms and were considered the navel of the world by ancient Mayans.
David Holmgren defined permaculture as “consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationship found in nature, while yielding the abundance of food, fiber and energy for provision of local needs.”
One great permaculture teacher, Toby Hemenway, described it even more simply: “Turn every liability into an asset.”
Permaculture is practical but imaginative too.
After Permaculture One was published, Mollison was asked to speak at various educational institutions about he and Holmgren’s revolutionary ideas, and he jumped on the opportunity. To his great disappointment, he quickly realized he was only invited to these bastions of learning in order to debate and tear apart permaculture, and he became disillusioned by the university system. In response, he founded the Permaculture Research Institute and an experimental farm in Australia to practice and teach the principles of permaculture. As the movement grew, he designed a course that offered certification. This course has been so popular and mimicked in so many ways that Mollison at one time tried to trademark the word permaculture without success, although he did finally succeed in copyrighting the word for educational use. If people want to earn a Permaculture Design Certificate, then they must take the PDC course from someone else who has one.
There was a time when the organization maintained a teacher registry, but that is no longer the case. Mollison and Holmgren disagreed on the best way for permaculture education to continue. Mollison wanted to retain complete control of the curriculum and keep it scientific, while Holmgren wanted to allow free reign and the inclusion of religion. In the end, both scenarios played out. Curriculum is controlled, but the delivery of the courses is completely up to the individual, and the community has done what it wants. This makes it sometimes difficult to find an experienced and knowledgeable permaculture teacher, but as Mollison wrote in his book Travels in Dreams (1996): “Finally, with hundreds of itinerant teachers turning up anywhere, the system is beyond restraint. Safe at last, and in geometric growth rate—we have won! Permaculture is permanently ungovernable.”
PERMACULTURE ETHICS AND PRINCIPLES
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
~ Albert Einstein
Sustainability Has Been Lost
Most of the continents of the world now support many more people than they did a thousand years ago. There was a time in man’s history not so very long ago when there were only enough people for the land to support. People ate what grew in their own region and no more than that. For example, the North American continent only supported about one million native people, while today there are more than 300 million people living in the same area. When fossil fuels were finally tapped at the beginning of the industrial revolution, an intense population explosion occurred, followed by an even more extreme advancement in technology. Food could come from warm places thousands of miles away and supply fruits and vegetables to hungry people during the winter. Mechanical devices used in farming increased production dramatically. Children survived longer and grew up to have more time to research medical technology, which extended people’s lives even further.
Cities could avoid smog with proper planning.
Many people will argue about the ethics of having more children, but that is not the issue here. The population is high, but it is still not intolerable or impossible to sustain. The real problem is the manner in which industrialized nations live. All of these people take resources from the land, through farming, mining, forestry, oilfields, and dams, and they change these elements into something usable, by consuming massive amounts of energy. Then, after people use them, the waste is released into the air, thrown in the water, or buried in the land. A bottle of shampoo is made of plastics and chemicals which were mined and grown (using energy and making waste), refined in factories (using even more energy and creating even more waste), then used to wash our hair (where the chemicals are released into our water supply), and the bottle is most often thrown into a landfill (to which it is transported by a big truck using more fuel and making more smog). Even the so-called “botanical” shampoos didn’t come from the renewable fruits of the land but are made using an exhaustible supply of fossil fuels.
Energy consumption of factory egg farming versus home laying hens.
There is only so much energy potential available on the earth. It is a static number that will never increase or decrease, unless some amazing principle is discovered which magically changes that law. For now, we are stuck with the amount of energy we have. Much of that energy is locked up underground in the form of oil or other materials, and much of it has already been used. It is particularly troubling that most of the people in the world don’t use any energy to speak of. The rest of us use it as if it will last forever: inefficiently and wastefully. On top of this we have little care for the environment. This has become a dirty word in many circles, but the environment is simply a place where humans live. All other animals care for their own habitat, because polluting it carelessly can make them sick or even kill them. Humans have shortsightedly already done this, and have thus created a variety of problems, including:
Tornados are becoming more violent and more frequent every year.
• Climate change. Dramatic changes in temperature and weather, resulting in human deaths, damage to human homes, and destruction of crops.
• Soil degradation. Loss of soil fertility and of precious topsoil due to development and erosion.
• Resource depletion. Running out of resources on which humans depend, like oil or fish.
• Breakdown of human groups. Families and communities losing cohesion and support.
• Increase in addictive behaviors. Cell phones, television, food, shopping, and games replacing relationships and meaningful endeavors.
• Economic and political upheaval. Recession, depression, wars, and oppression.
• National and household debt. Governments and people buying more and more on credit until nothing is worth anything.
In an effort to fix these problems, society has turned to technology, rather than going to the root cause of the issues. We try to fix symptoms rather than considering the events taking place when the resources were gathered and changed in the first place. We use technology to reduce smog, or we build better power plants, not even thinking that this building process itself uses even more energy—energy that simply doesn’t exist in sufficient amounts. We’re buying energy on credit by using nonrenewable fuels.
People also want to believe that being more conscientious about their environment will change everything.
“If I just ride my bike to work more . . .”
“If I install a water saving shower head . . .”
“But I use fluorescent lights . . .”
The idea that technology or being “good” will save humanity from our problems is a fantasy.
The solution . . .
People in most developed countries are stuck in their high-energy systems, but most of us can agree on some level that this approach is just not working. Whether it is the energy used in our food production, our power sources, or even our political system or economy, the energy we put into it is not sustainable. There are only two outcomes to this scenario. Either everything will continue in its own mediocre way on a gradual downhill slope until it eventually fails, or it will cause a sudden and complete collapse of society. Based on what has been happening in the last decade, mediocrity sounds just as frightening as social collapse.
There is only one clear course of action. When something doesn’t work, it’s time to try something new. The real solution is a low-energy system. Permaculture makes it possible for humans to switch gracefully to a low-energy system without discomfort. Humans in so-called “civilized” countries could actually make do with 40% less energy without having to sacrifice much. Currently, all of our needs are met by energy that came from somewhere else. Our food comes from faraway farms that get their fuel and nutrients from even farther away places, the things we use, the cars we drive—everything comes from far away. A sustainable society is localized. All of the energy used must come from under our own feet.
Working with the terrain and existing ecology is less work and more productive in the long run.
VALUES OF PERMACULTURE
Ethics is nothing other than reverence for life.
~ Albert Schweitzer
Permaculture Ethics
An ethic is like a code of honor, but more specific. Ethics guide our behaviors and are the vehicles by which our destiny manifests itself. There are three ethics of permaculture, and they are fairly simple:
Care for the Earth: All things, living or non-living, have intrinsic worth.
Care for people: Humanity is cared for through self-reliance and community responsibility.
Give away the surplus: The surplus must be shared to fulfill the other two ethics.
In the current system, everything is used once or twice and then thrown away into the water and air, never to be seen again. This is sometimes called a linear system because everything makes a straight line from the source to the landfill. Sustainable systems, by contrast, are circular. The used items go back to their source, where they can go through the natural recycling process of the earth and be used again, using very little energy. The same is true of permaculture ethics. When each resource or living creature is valued rather than exploited or destroyed, and people care for themselves as well as their community, an excess of resources is the natural result—and the surplus can then be used to care for the earth and people again.
Principles of Permaculture
Every design system has principles guiding it. For example, in typography, there are a variety of rules that guide the typographer towards good design. A typographer must make the letters appealing to look at, and yet also easy to read. Not only that, but the style of the letters must fit with the overall feel of the document presented and be appropriate to the audience. Permaculture may be a very creative and imaginative method of design and work with some highly variable pieces, but it still follows some basic principles. Different permaculture groups may phrase these principles differently, but the meaning is the same. Most will include twelve principles or more, but I have combined some of these together for simplicity.
1. Every thing is connected to and supported by everything else.
2. Every thing, or element, should serve many functions. Students of design usually learn to make things look nice and be functional at the same time, but permaculture focuses on function alone.
3. Functional design is sustainable and provides a useful product or surplus. If it doesn’t, it creates pollution and work. Pollution is an overabundance of a resource, or something that is simply not used. Work results when one element doesn’t help another element.
4. Permaculture maximizes the useful energy in any system (or, put another way, decreases the waste of energy).
5. Successful design serves the needs of people and provides many useful connections between elements, or diversity.
6. If there is pollution, then the system goes into chaos.
7. Societies, systems, and human lives are wasted in disorder and opposition. To stop this vicious cycle, we only use what we can return to the soil and build harmony (cooperation) into the functional organization of a system.
To fulfill these basic principles, permaculture draws from many old and new ways of doing things, many of them considered “fringe.” Organic agriculture, alternative building methods, passive solar design, renewable energy, people-powered vehicles, home education, alternative medicine, homebirth, WWOOFing, ethical and socially conscious business, consensus and nonviolent communication, forest gardens, and seed sharing are only a few of the activities that already exist to provide solutions for each of these principles. While many aren’t considered “normal” now, most of them were the only way to do things not too long ago, and could be again.
SUSTAINABILITY
To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.
~ Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
Sustainable Land Goals
When you set out to design a system for a plot of land, the task may seem a bit overwhelming. Sustainability can be a daunting goal, but we can approach it from a logical step-by-step process. The first step is setting achievable goals:
1. The system should become self-sustaining and productive in the long term. This means that every creature that lives on the land also gets all of its food and personal demands from that land.
2. About a third of the land should be used for growing food for humans, and the rest should be for animal living space and animal fodder (food).
3. The land should produce more than one needs. The extra can be sold or given away.
4. A single person can reasonably manage less than 25 acres (10 ha). More than that is too much work, and in fact, the smaller the piece of land area that is needed and used, the better.
5. The area should be able to provide a full income to the workers that live there. This does not necessarily mean food production—it just means there should be no commute to work.
6. Any processing of farm products (like cheese or bread), should be done on site.
7. The beauty of the design should come as a benefit of its functionality.
8. Some areas of the land should remain wild and preserved in their natural beauty.
9. Use low-energy, simple technology.
10. Soil fertility and water quality are your number one concern through every activity that takes place on the land. Those are what keeps you alive.
11. Native species should be used whenever possible. The second option is exotic (foreign) species that have been proven to have little impact on your local ecosystem.
12. Use local materials for building projects.
13. Systems should require low maintenance and very little work, and they should take into consideration the culture, society, economy, and legal rights of the people.
How can success be measured?
For the land to be considered sustainable, it needs to produce at least as much or more than it consumes. Rather than measuring success in terms of the pounds of food the land can put out, it is much better to measure the energy that is available in the system and the intangible benefits that are reaped.
1. Water storage should take up 10–20% of the land and should result in greater animal and plant production. Adequate water also creates habitats for ducks (which have their own benefits) and microclimatic changes which ripple out to benefit other elements.
2. Production increases when irrigation is steady and the soil is healthy. Roots can then penetrate deeper and get essential nutrients.
3. Using gravity fed water saves energy, and the setup can be used to recycle water. Electricity usage is a measurable energy (and money) expense, and the less you use it to pump water, the better.
The difference between a “normal” backyard and a permaculture backyard.
4. Tree windbreaks and forests for animal forage should cover 20-30% of the land and will increase production simply by providing shelter and microclimates for plants and animals. They will also provide food and homes for predators that eat pests.
5. Natural areas and wildlife corridors conserve water by trapping condensation and provide usable timber, materials and shelter for wildlife.
There are also non-tangible ways of measuring success:
1. When the farmer, despite not having a tractor, is able to perform less physical labor because of the interconnectedness of the system.
2. When the land has recreational value for people to enjoy.
3. When future generations can enjoy the land.
GETTING STARTED
There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives.
~ Gandhi
Patterns
Almost all of the design strategies in permaculture are directly drawn from the recurring patterns found in nature and mimic the ongoing processes of the natural world. The wilderness may seem chaotic, but in reality there is an ordered method to everything, from the physical structure of organisms to the invisible chemical cycles that keep them alive. Water, nitrogen, seasons, birth, and death are all part of the patterns we live within as human organisms, whether we are aware of them or not. We must become intensely observant of the natural world and clever enough to use what we discover. Cycles exist in both space and time, taking up area on land and spanning months of the year. The growth of life on a piece of land is also not flat but vertical as well.
Patterns in nature also repeat. The Fibonacci series of numbers is the most well-known pattern, a mathematical sequence that creates a proportional spiral found in everything from snail shells and sunflower heads to the leaf patterns of oak trees. Intertwining coils are found in the stems of plants and the structure of our own DNA. There are predictable patterns in the way that birds flock and fish school together. These patterns exist in nature because they work. The life we enjoy today would not exist without them.
Mathematical patterns and formulas exist behind every natural structure.
What is ecological succession?
When an area of ground is cleared of plants in the natural world, without interference from humans (for example, as a result of fire or storms), it begins to repopulate itself through a series of stages. We want to speed up these stages or succession and use them for our own benefit. This saves time and energy for humans and benefits the ecology of the environment because one is still using the natural cycles. These stages are:
Fibonacci spiral based on sequence of numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and 34.
Even a fern follows the spiral pattern.
This area experienced a forest fire that cleared the vegetation. Pioneer plants have moved in.
Stage 1. Broad-leaved plants that spread very quickly to cover and protect the soil, sometimes called pioneers. Usually these are thorny and inedible, like thistles, and don’t live very long. Others are thorny and edible, like blackberries. These also tend to add important minerals to the soil.
Stage 2. After the broad-leafed plants, herbs and shrubs begin to grow, some of which are edible. These last longer. They compete with each other and the Stage 1 plants for resources like water or light, and they eventually win out over the pioneer plants.
Stage 3. Trees begin to grow when the shrubs and herbs have created an environment that is beneficial to them. Some of these trees will bear edible fruit. They will begin to shade the pioneer plants, which die and fertilize the soil.
What ecological succession is not . . .
Companion planting is not the same as ecological succession. For example, if you plant clover under a fruit tree thinking that you are stacking the stages and adding nutrients to the soil, you are actually inhibiting the soil from absorbing water and thus can kill the tree. Putting plants from Stage 1 with plants from Stage 3 is not always a good strategy, and not every species works out. Ecological succession is a process by which bad and cleared soil fixes itself through certain species of plants that grow one after the other, or succeed each other. This happens over a period of years or even decades. Companion planting is a system of growing plants close to each other that happen to have beneficial properties for each other, over a single growing season.
The Importance of the Edge
Squares and rectangles are very rare in nature. Instead, we find spheres, circles, cylinders, and especially spirals. From the tiniest perfect shell no bigger than a fingernail to massive hurricanes and awesome galaxies, the spiral is the preferred shape of the universe. The edge of a forest gets more light and nutrients than the center, and because of this the edge is much more productive. Even more important is the relationship between edges. The line between the ocean and the shore, or the mountain and the valley, is as diverse as the two areas on either side. To take advantage of this edge effect, we use circles, spirals, curves, vertical growing space like trellises, and zigzags to create more edge space. The space between the orchard and the chickens or the house and the garden is designed to maximize the potential production power of the additional light and diversity.
The edge of a bioregion has more organisms than the center.
Spiral: An herb spiral is five and a half feet (1.6 meters) across and shaped like a snail shell with a ramp leading up to the center. Herbs that like sunshine are planted on the sunny side, and herbs that prefer shade are planted on the other side. An herb spiral is often placed in the kitchen garden.
Lobular: Lobular describes a shape that is roundish and hangs out, like an ear lobe. It is an edge that is put alongside a pathway or the side of a garden.
Spiral herb garden.
Chinampa: This ancient system was used in Mexico for thousands of years. Chinampas are land banks built up between ditches of water. Fish are raised in the water, which fertilizes the plants, and the plants also have easy access to the water because they are so close to the ditch. The fertilizer from the bottom of the ditch is periodically brought up to the garden beds.
Strip cropping: Several types of plants are grown in strips next to each other for mutual benefit. This doesn’t mean straight lines but rather curves, zigzags, keyholes, or following the contours of the land. Strips can also follow a pattern.
Lobular garden.
Trellising with a shade garden underneath.
Chinampa of Central America from L’Illustration, Journal Universel, Paris, 1860.
Permaculture words to know . . .
Polyculture: Monoculture is the type of picturesque farming that one typically sees in North America, with long rows of a single crop grown over a large flat area. The “amber waves of grain” in America is monoculture, the complete opposite of polyculture. Polyculture exists when a variety of plant and animal species are mixed together for mutual benefit. Orchards can be clumped closely together, rather than spread out in neat rows, and have herbs and ducks under them. A climbing plant can be grown with a tall plant, such as corn.
Aquaculture: Water systems have the potential to produce much more protein per square foot than an equivalent area of land. A successful aquaculture system is patterned after productive land-water edges such as swamps and coral reefs. While some aquaculture systems are simply an aboveground tank with plants growing off the dredged fertilizer and look very similar to hydroponic systems, in a permaculture design aquaculture looks more like a natural pond. The pond would contain fish and have a very curvy edge with plants and animals thriving together.
Elements: Any feature on a piece of land is an element, whether you intentionally placed it there or not. This could be a clump of trees or herbs, a pond, or a pile of rocks. These elements are part of an overall design, each one thoughtfully used to make the land more productive. Each element is also connected to everything else in as many mutually beneficial relationships as possible. This wide variety of connections, or diversity, increases efficiency and also places value on elements that formerly might have been seen as annoyances. Every “problem” can be turned into an advantage. For example, weeds are simply Stage 1 plants (or pioneers) and can be turned into mulch. A big immovable rock can be used as part of the supporting wall of a house.
Elements as goals:
Before you move on to the next phase of design, you should first think about your goals. What do you want the land to do for you? What do you need to live? Write these goals down and turn them into elements:
| A place to live = | a house |
| A place for friends and family to stay = | a guest house |
| A way of growing food in winter = | a greenhouse |
| A solution to drought and irrigation = | water storage |
| A way to stay organized = | a tool shed |
| A place for animals to live = | a barn |
| A place to grow food = | a garden |
| A place for food and yard waste = | a compost pile |
| A place to store fuel = | a wood pile |
| A source of protein and manure = | a chicken coop |
| A source of fuel = | a woodlot |
| A way to stop the winds = | a windbreak |
| A way to control water flow = | a dam |
Self-reliant cabin with living roof.
1. Now that you have a list of goals, or elements that you want to have, you also need to take an inventory of the elements you already do have. Any characteristic of your land, whether you see it as positive or negative, must be written down. This includes large rocks, hills, marshy places, existing structures, trees, etc. Of course, to create a map like this you will have to carefully inspect every corner of the land and use every sense you have to observe the finer details. This may mean taking notes for an extended period of time. Through your own observation, record:
• Temperature changes from one area to the next
• How much effort it takes to go from one place to another
• Where prickly plants tend to grow
• Where insects seem to group or swarm together
• Where different species of trees are growing and in what conditions
• How water moves across the land when it rains or snow melts
• Where there have been fires (even long ago)
• Which trees have been shaped by the wind, and the direction the wind comes from
• Where the sun is warmest and where shadows move
• Signs of animals moving, eating, and sleeping
• Signs of sources of groundwater, such as deep-rooted trees
• Plants that produce fruit before other plants
• Poisonous or unpleasant plants
• Erosion or ditches caused by erosion
• Damp or boggy ground, which may yield peat or clay
• Dead wood or logs that can be harvested
• Slopes and hills, their height, and which sides are sunnier
• Cliffs, rocky places, and rough areas
2. Categorize all of the resources you have mapped and list them into three groups: life, energy, and social. Life resources are the plants, animals, and insects growing there. Energy is the potential wind, wood, water, or gas energy you can utilize. Social resources are the teaching, recreation, and gathering possibilities for people. There are also resources off the land, such as restaurants and markets for selling products, sawdust from sawmills, schools, and a population of people who might be a potential market for your farm produce.
3. Analyze each element. Think about what it needs to live and what it needs to be useful. What are its characteristics, its behavior? What does it produce and what beneficial functions does it provide?
4. Categorize these by input, characteristics, and output. Input is what the element needs to function; anything that allows it to be useful or keeps it alive. Output is what it can provide to other elements. Characteristics are the attributes that make that element what it is. Make sure you number the element for reference later. It is easiest to write each element on a 3 x 5 card:
| 2. | Herb Garden |
| Input |
Sun Water Mulch |
| Characteristics | Variety of perennial herbs (comes back every year) |
| Output |
Medicinal herbs Cooking herbs Bee forage |
| 3. | Chickens |
| Input |
Food Water Grit Shelter Other chickens |
| Characteristics | Barred rock, dual-purpose breed for both eggs and meat |
| Output |
Eggs Meat Feathers Manure Methane Foraging |
| 4. | Deer |
| Input |
Food Water Forest Other deer Marked territory/path |
| Characteristics | White-tailed deer |
| Output |
Meat Manure Methane Foraging |
Pond: irrigation, animal water, aquatic plants, fire control, bird or fish habitat, passive light reflection, firebreak, bamboo garden.
Plants: windbreak, food, privacy, fuel, trellising, erosion and fire control, wildlife habitat, mulch, microclimate buffer, food, soil improvement, shelter, warmth, friendly insects.
5. Once you have taken an inventory of all of the elements you have and that you plant to build, you will need to match the outputs with the inputs of other elements. For example, if bees need to eat and the herbs can provide food for them, they should be planted in proximity to the bees. The chickens need food every day, and so the coop should not be too far from the house. At the same time they produce manure, and so it should be near the manure pile. To save space and work, the chickens can be placed in a side room of the barn, for easy access. The woodlot can provide forage for chickens, and so their pen could open out into the trees. Lay the cards out next to each other on the table so you can visualize these connections.
A gulley providing irrigation for climbing plants and trees.
6. If you can’t leave the cards undisturbed as you go on to the next phase of design, draw a flowchart of how the elements are organized and connected.
THE ZONES
Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more.
~ Edward H. Harriman
The easiest way to start the design process is by dividing the land into zones. Zones are areas classified by how much human intervention is needed to maintain them and are placed according to their distance from the center of human activity.
Zone 0 is the house (or on a larger scale, a business or village). This is where you live, but it is also very connected to the garden and the greenhouse. This is where you will process food from the garden, host dinner parties, and produce human waste. You will spend the most time here, and so everything else branches out from this zone. Things that you do very frequently need to be near the house, and things that you do only once a week or once in a season should be farther away. These elements include the kitchen, shade room, greenhouse, trellises and their attached vines, composting toilet, and house pets.
Zone 1 is the area immediately surrounding the house, although it may extend down walkways or driveways into other zones if you use those places very often. This is where you will grow plants very intensively in a sheet-mulched garden. It may also have a small pond, various outbuildings that you use frequently (such as a tool shed), small fruit trees, and a low windbreak. The trees here are dwarf varieties, or perhaps you might have multiple varieties grafted onto one tree. Water in this zone comes from a well or rainwater tank and is fully controlled with pipes and hoses. This area should be able to produce most of the food a family needs to live.
Zone 2 is the area that extends slightly beyond the gardens surrounding the house. It has plants in beds like Zone 1, but these are bigger and used for major crops that make up the staples of your diet (like grains or potatoes). Worms, rabbits, chickens, ducks, or fish can be raised in a small yard, just beyond the proximity of the Zone 1 gardens. This is also where you would keep fruit and nut trees and the compost heap and use hedges and trellising to maximize the edges. In a suburban area, this is as far as the land would extend, although you could incorporate a very small Zone 5 into one corner. On a larger piece of land, you might also keep a few goats here, or a single milk cow. The zones are not classified by what is in them, but by how close they are to your house.
Well-mulched pathways of a kitchen garden.
Most of Zone 2 is mulched with straw and other materials.
Zone 3 is for rural areas and properties that are larger. This is where you would have a larger, unpruned orchard and other trees that act as a windbreak for the house. The goat pen and beehives are placed here, and the area is full of living mulches, plants for animal fodder, and firebreaks. Water is stored in the soil in swales, or it is caught with small dams and sent through ditches rather than pipes. The barn would be located here, and this is where you would raise cash crops and animals that are going to be sold for profit.
Mulched beds with drip irrigation and cover crops.
Zone 4 shows the benefit of having a large piece of rural land. This is an area of long-term development through a woodlot, dam, and extensive tree planting. Windmills and large animal stock are placed here, along with large-scale water harvesting. Pigs work well in a forest zone like this. No mulches are used, and hardy edible plants are foraged from the edges of the forest where they need very little ongoing care. Water is managed with small dams, rivers, and windmill pumps for irrigation into Zone 3.
Zone 5 can, and should, be placed on any sized property. This is a wilderness area, the nature preserve. This is where wildlife corridors and forest growth can be fostered. This is where you can observe the untamed wilderness and have fun in the woods. In an urban backyard, this would simply be a back corner that you leave to the birds and bunnies.
Creating zones and sectors:
1. Now that you have taken an inventory of all the assets and elements of your land and how they can benefit each other, you can place them in zones. Putting the elements in the right zone saves human energy, which is essential to being productive and efficient. First you need a detailed map of the property, which should show water, major existing plants, geological formations, roads, paths, fences, structures, and power sources.
2. Using the “bull’s-eye” of the zone as a template, draw lines on your map designating your zones. They shouldn’t be perfect circles but should follow the contours of the land and its various characteristics. It is a good idea to color code everything on the map for easier visualization.
3. Positioning the house is largely dependent on access. Materials must be brought in to build the house, and usually you would need to be able to bring a large truck in to transport those materials, and a road must be built that can accommodate the large truck. You probably have a car that you will want to park near the house in a driveway, and you will have to maintain that driveway. It’s a good idea to build the house close to the main road rather than set back away from it, so that the driveway is shorter. It is cheaper and easier to have a short driveway, and you will be less isolated.
4. If you have the option of positioning a house that you will build in the future:
• Build it halfway up a slope, rather than at the top or at the bottom (ideally, water storage can be located above the house on the slope, to be gravity fed down to the house). At the top it will be buffeted by winds, and at the bottom you will be fighting vegetation and waterlogging.
• If possible, choose the side of a slope with the most exposure to the sun, unless you are in an extremely warm place, in which case the side with the cool breezes should be chosen instead.
• The house should be very close to the supply of power, whether it is your own wind or solar, or city power. Wiring and piping electricity any distance is difficult and expensive.
• While any soil may be improved, avoid putting the house on any very good soil. You should, however, make sure the soil has good drainage by digging a hole three feet deep and filling it with water. If it doesn’t drain at all within one minute, there’s a problem, and your house will have moisture and flooding issues. You will have to either improve the drainage or find another spot.
Barn and well sit uphill from the house.
• Noise, pollution, and privacy may require that the house be farther back from the road or away from the neighbors. These are important factors and worth making the driveway a little bit longer, because you don’t have control over the highway or the people next door. But you can still build up an embankment and grow hedges to provide noise control and privacy.
• The view is not a good enough reason to put a house somewhere. Sacrifice the view for all of the above factors and build a small outdoor guest area somewhere else for a better view. If you really want a view from your house, build a tall house.
• One serious, but maybe not so obvious, issue is disaster prevention. Don’t build the house on a floodplain, or on a slope so steep that you may become the victim of a landslide, or on an eroding beach, or near a rising sea or an active volcano. In a tsunami area, build above the reach of even the worst tidal wave. In tornado and hurricane areas, look at the past weather patterns and find out if you are in the path of these storms. Is there a sheltered area on your land that works better?
4. Refer to your map to arrange the elements into zones, beginning with Zone 1. You can start off by simply arranging the cards into piles, based on your map and the definitions of what works best in each zone.
5. Now you can divide the zones into sectors. Sectors are the outside influences (sometimes called energies) that have an effect on the land and how it is used. You already inventoried many of these when you categorized your elements. Sectors include:
• The direction the wind blows and where it is the windiest.
• The amount of rain that falls and where it rains the most.
• The direction of the sun and how long it shines in all seasons.
• Prying neighbors.
• A beautiful view to preserve, or an ugly view to be blocked.
• Swampy areas and places that flood.
• Hills and slopes.
• The angle of the sun in all seasons.
• The location and proximity of the greatest fire danger.
6. You can outline the sectors on the map of your property like this:
Arranging the elements:
1. Since you already numbered each element on your 3 x 5 cards, you can draw a circle with a number on the map for each one. You will need to keep in mind where they will have the most beneficial relationships to all of the other elements, which you already thought about when you arranged them in piles or drew your flowchart. For example, if you are placing a large tank or pond for raising fish in Zone 2, it needs to be near a water source, which might be in Zone 1. You would also want to put it somewhere with easy access to the house (where you would process the fish and eat it) and also near a compost or manure pile to collect the manure. The best spot would then be on the edge of Zone 2, backing the Zone 1 garden to offer heat reflection and next to the compost pile.
Sectors intersect the zones.
2. Keep in mind the sectors. If a place is windy, you will add a windbreak there. If it gets flooded, add trees that tolerate lots of water. If the house is slammed by rain, add more trees next to the house. Put the garden where there will be the right amount of sunlight.
3. Small roads and trails should be worked into the design now, rather than trying to figure out access to more remote areas later. The road leading immediately to the house from the highway should be sloping uphill slightly, even if you have to build the grade yourself. This is to drain water away, and the slope gives the road better access to the sun in a wet or snowy climate. On the other hand, roads should never be built with steep slopes but should follow the contours of the land. The road can be part of a swale or dam, with rainwater runoff benefitting either structure, but even if it can’t drain the water directly into a swale or dam, it should drain into a ditch with a pipe going under the road and diverting water to the right place.
4. Zone 2 may have chickens and an orchard and should have heavy duty wire mesh fencing and possibly barbed wire, electric wire, and thorny shrubs. A thick hedge is an ideal goal to work towards, because it will keep out most animals and needs less maintenance than a wire fence. Use hedge species that are appropriate for your area and will benefit the most inhabitants of the land by feeding chickens or bees and providing homes for birds.
5. If you hadn’t noticed in the previous steps, slope is the deciding factor for the placement of most of your elements. Water flow, passive solar heating, solar photovoltaic panels, exposure to the weather, the view, the angle of the sunshine, the effects of erosion, all of these are determined by the slope. Use the slope as an asset in each phase of planning. The top of a slope is in the greatest danger of erosion but is also the best place for catching and storing water. The middle of a slope is the best place for a house, since it is the most sheltered, and the bottom of a slope is perfect for gardens and animals. Flat areas at the bottom are easily converted to water storage but can also be prone to high salt levels through evaporation.
6. When you get to Zone 5 in your planning, you won’t be doing anything with it. You might need to remove any man-made problems in that zone, but once you are done, you will simply fence it off and leave it alone. All of your zones would return to their natural state when left alone, and Zone 5 is no different. Planting native species is the same as planting a garden, which misses the point of what Zone 5 is supposed to be.
These design examples work with the terrain and crowd elements as closely as possible.
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
~John Ruskin
Climate as an Asset
Weather is one of the top complaints of all gardeners: too much sun, too little sun, too much wind, or too much rain. Conditions are never perfect. North America has almost every climate represented from the driest places in the world to full tropical rainforests, which not only increases the difficulty in growing plants but also provides tremendous opportunity to grow just about anything.
Most people cut a square out of their backyard and plant perfect rows of the same varieties of species that you might find at a grocery store, which is a very narrow view of gardening. Not surprisingly, they often meet with failure and give up. Not only are those species developed for a specific type of commercial farming, but the chances that those species were designed for your climate and weather are very slim.
The real extremes of weather and climate can be used and defended with a little planning. The importance of choosing the right species is emphasized throughout this book, and it starts with climate. A hardy, heritage species developed by home gardeners specifically for your climate is likely to do better, obviously. You must set up microclimates using trellises and water diversion, either to retain moisture and coolness in the desert or to reflect heat and store water in a colder climate. The key to this is remembering that weather isn’t a problem; it is an asset to be used.
This trellising creates a shady, cool microclimate in an otherwise hot, sunny area.
Climate Zones
Most people are familiar with the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. These zones are useful in a general sense, but in that case we might as well consider our land in relation to the whole climate rather than through plant hardiness. There are three general climate zones (at least, three in which humans live):
Pink = sub-tropical, green = temperate, yellow = arid.
Temperate: The temperate zone is where most people in North America live. In the winter the temperature drops below freezing, and in the summer it gets warmer than 50°F (10°C). There is a polar zone as well, but since it never gets warmer than 50°F, not much grows there.
Sub-tropical: In North America there are very few true tropical areas: at the bottom tip of Florida and some parts of Mexico. Instead, the humid, warm climates are sub-tropical, with winter temperatures that never drop below freezing. Unlike the temperatures in tropics, temperatures in sub-tropical areas do drop below 64°F (18°C).
Arid: There are many arid regions of North America, with an average rainfall of less than 20 inches (50 cm), or even deserts with rainfall under 10 inches (25 cm).
These zones are also at the mercy of the weather, and with the very real effects of climate change, people will experience greater extremes. Rain will fall more and create flooding, or rain will fall less and cause droughts. Temperatures will be record-breakingly hot or cold, and wind will become violent. More frequent deadly storms will occur. This means that a humid, subtropical climate may have even more hurricanes, or maybe the normally humid weather will be uncharacteristically dry. Even if these changes are subtle, they have far-reaching effects on ecosystems and plant growth. What may have worked in a garden for many years may not be as successful in the future. This is why plant hardiness zones are somewhat useless. Being flexible and smart in creating microclimates is a better strategy.
Managing Microclimates
You have a great deal of control over the climates of small areas (microclimates) through the use of windbreaks, irrigation, and terraces. You could grow just about anything, anywhere, if you set up a microclimate for it. Some of the goals you wrote down may need to be managed as microclimates, and you probably already observed that many different microclimates are already in existence on your land, most of them related to slopes or water. Again, species are important not only in the greater climate but for microclimates as well.
Rain:
Rain may be one of the most important sources of water that you have, but it’s not the only source of precipitation. Snow and hail fall from the sky, and condensation or dew collects on the earth. Water is a recurring subject in this book because it is the single most critical resource that is necessary for survival.
1. Awareness of the yearly average rainfall is important, but what is even more useful is being familiar with where it rains the most and how much of it you will get at one time. If all of the rain happens in the spring and none in the summer, you will have to plan accordingly. If it tends to fall over the forest and not over the cleared areas, you need to know.
2. Trees planted above the house on a slope shouldn’t need much water and should be able to thrive independently. Their purpose is to stop erosion due to rainfall.
3. Too much rainfall also limits the amount of sun. Cloudy skies block the light, and this is much more difficult to counteract than dry conditions which can be addressed through adequate water storage. Reflective plants and surfaces can be used to increase the sunlight that falls on sun-loving plants like tomatoes or peppers so they will ripen.
4. Dew is most easily collected in the desert where there are clear skies and a gentle breeze. You can stack some stones, which will collect moisture for the ground below. Several stacks surrounding a plant can keep a grape vine or small tree alive.
Tree is watered with an olla pot, shaded by a screen and insulated with rocks around a drip hose.
Frost:
Frost happens when the land loses heat rapidly, usually just before the sun comes up. You need to understand your region’s yearly frost dates and the lowest and highest temperatures the plants and animals will have to tolerate. Mulching the soil can prevent heat from being lost, and the frost will settle on top of the mulch rather than on the soil. But, if there are plants coming out of the mulch, this can also cause them to freeze. The best way to prevent frost is to stop water vapor from condensing by keeping the air moving. Try not to create any blockage that would cause cold air to pool in one spot. In the southern hemisphere, the south side of a slope is usually colder, and in the northern hemisphere, the north side is usually colder. Situate your house and gardens on the other side.
1. Some plants require frost to produce fruit, and frost also adds water to the soil. It’s just not possible to stop frost everywhere on your land, and nor would you want to. If you are situated on a slope or hill, you can locate the Zone 1 or 2 elements above the frost line (an area known as a thermal belt). This was discussed briefly in the previous section about placing your house. The reason this is important is because cold air settles on the tops of hills, causing frost, and also flows downward, pooling in valleys. This leaves the thermal belt a little warmer.
2. A wall built with dark stones absorbs heat and can prevent frost by radiating heat at night. Plants will grow faster next to a wall like this, but a light-colored wall will assist some sun-loving plants to ripen, so use whichever color works best for plants that will be growing there.
3. A large body of water will warm and cool more slowly than the surrounding environment and thus serves to modify the temperature of its immediate vicinity. This creates a small microclimate, and this is why there is less frost near the ocean.
4. Trees insulate the earth and trap heat in, preventing frost. One of the easiest ways to protect your gardens from frost is to create a canopy of trees surrounding a clearing no wider than half the height of the trees. The clearing allows a little bit of sun in, and the ring of trees around it will keep the frost out. This must be built up over time, by first planting a quick-growing fruit variety which can shelter a frost-hardy legume species. When the frost-hardy canopy has grown, you can trim back the other trees. This canopy also acts as a rain gutter, directing water to the plants below. In very cold climates, use evergreen varieties to provide biomass (which holds in heat), and in very warm climates use light-colored and shiny trees to reflect the heat.
Tree canopy insulates a clearing, protecting it from frost.
Wind:
Too much wind can harm wind-sensitive plants, blow away seeds, lower the temperature of the soil, dry up moisture, kill young animals, and make work and life intolerable. Winds of 15 mph, which in some places is the average wind speed, are strong enough to reduce production. Winds of 20 mph are enough to cause physical damage to plants. A windbreak can either block winds or channel them in the direction you want them to go. It can also ensure that plants produce and animals gain weight. Windbreaks are made of almost anything, can be edible for animals and bees, and can provide a home for beneficial birds. Near the ocean, a windbreak is the first priority in establishing an orchard.
Strategic tree and species placement makes a good windblock.
1. When planning your sectors, take note of the direction of the prevailing wind or the direction the wind blows most often. You can do this by tying a streamer or flag on a tree or stake. Plant windbreaks all over the place, but make sure you take advantage of the wind for energy generation, either with a turbine for electricity or by pumping water.
Successful natural windbreaks:
• Choose pioneer species that are easy to grow.
• Plants should have fibrous stems, like palms.
• Plants should have fleshy, fuzzy, or needle leaves.
• Use an earth mound or tall solid fence to protect the plants as they grow.
2. Because cool air always goes downhill, a slope can create a wind that sweeps through a valley. In some large valleys, the wind will flow uphill during the day and downhill at night. The side of a hill with the prevailing wind will experience faster wind speeds going uphill, and as the wind reaches the other side it will be disrupted and slow down as it goes down again. A similar effect happens near large bodies of water: During the day, warm air rising creates a breeze that circles towards the land, and at night as the air cools, it reverses direction and circles towards the water.
3. A small shelter can be built around plants to protect them from wind, such as an old bag wrapped around stakes, a metal drum, old tires, or straw bales. Traditional structures like cold frames (wood frames with a glass top), cloches (capes or bells that sit over the plant), and milk jugs with the bottoms cut off can all work. A building can be protected with bushes and vines planted around it. Even snow or dirt piled up can be an effective insulator.
Tiny bamboo shade screens for fragile seedlings.
4. When choosing the material of your windbreak, remember that trees are both a benefit and a competitor. They provide firewood, stop erosion, create privacy, and are a habitat for animals. They also have large roots that need lots of water, and windbreak trees won’t give you much fruit. The best way to start a windbreak is to plant fast growing species of trees and shrubs mixed in with some slower growing trees. The slower growing hardwood trees will live longer but the quicker growing ones will do the job as others mature.
5. In coastal areas, choose tree species with rough bark. They should also either be hardy pine or have very thick leaves which hold in moisture. The easiest way to choose is to see what is already growing in your area.
6. The quickest way to shelter the Zone 1 garden from wind is to build a trellis extending from the corners of the house and plant climbing vines that grow up and cover them. These will create a nice living space around the house, insulate structures, control the wind flow, trap the sun, and provide something to eat. These grow fast enough to provide wind shelter as trees are growing, but make sure to pick the right species as they can quickly take over and embed themselves into structures permanently.
7. Keep in mind that many people run into a serious and dangerous problem because of their tree windbreak. In rural, forested regions, you might create a clearing in the trees to build your house, which effectively shelters you from the wind. However, because the trees were sheltered by each other, their root systems are weak and their new exposure to the wind may be enough to knock them over onto your new house.
Trellising holds up a kiwi tree and provides a garden space for shade-loving plants.
Temperature:
Every 330 feet (100 meters) of altitude away from sea level is equivalent to a temperature change of 1° of latitude from the equator. For example, if you are hiking exactly on the equator, and you climb to a height of 1,650 feet, the temperature will be the same as it would be 5° from the equator. This is why a tropical region can have snow in the mountains. A body of water also modifies the temperature of the surrounding air through evaporation. In very hot areas, even a small body of water, or a fountain, can cool the surrounding area. There are various means of modifying the temperature:
1. The most obvious way to create a warm microclimate is with a greenhouse, which is particularly valuable in the winter.
2. An earth mound can be built near the house on the west side, protecting the house (and the garden on the other side) from the hot evening sun. It can also provide insulation, because earth will slow down temperature changes.
3. In the spring, remove mulch from the soil in your intensive growing areas that the dirt can warm up, because mulch doesn’t have any heat conducting properties. Mulch (and living ground cover) should be used at almost every other time in the Zone 1 gardens to help the soil retain moisture, reduce erosion, maintain a stable temperature, and stop weeds.
This house isn't underground, but has an earth mound to insulate it.
4. Plants release water vapor, cooling the air and causing humidity. Filling a porous earthenware pot with water and covering the top with a heavy, wet fabric can create a similar effect. Place these around in the area you want to cool.
5. Plants absorb energy from the sun, and forests are tremendously efficient at it. The canopy absorbs the heat during the day, shading the forest floor, and cool air is drawn in. At night, warm air flows out. This effect should be enjoyed and used through planting forest gardens and placing animals within it.
6. Blocking the sun is a very quick way of cooling something down. A very thick hedge on the west side of a house blocks the hottest sun and also blocks the wind. A tree planted on the sunny side of the house shades the wall and roof in the summer but allows the sun to shine in the winter. One strategy is to plant shiny trees (like poplar) in an arc around the house or orchard, facing the sun. If planted on a slope, this has the additional benefit of warming the cool air pooling at the bottom.
A ring of deciduous trees reflect light and heat back onto a pasture.
Light:
1. Plants need light, and redirecting sunlight can mean the difference between green tomatoes and red ones. Any plants that have a high need for light and warmth can be placed on the sunny side of banks or on a small hill behind a pond.
2. Trees with light-colored leaves can be used to reflect heat and light. A sun-facing wall can be used in a similar way, and it can reflect the sun in winter. Plants will ripen faster and more completely if they have a reflective surface behind them.
3. A temporary shelter made out of fabric or other material can be used to provide shade and prevent sunburn during the hottest parts of summer.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.
~ Chinese proverb
Planning Ahead for the Unexpected
Nature has its own way of disrupting our plans. The only way to prepare for this is to plan ahead for extreme climate changes and natural disasters.
Fire: Fire usually comes from one direction, dictated by the topography of the land and the general wind flow. This is why planning a fire sector is so important. There are no guarantees, however, so if fire is a common local disaster, protect all of your vital elements no matter where they are located on the property.
The fire sector should be kept clear of litter and dead logs, and grass should be kept short. The pond, or any element (or any animal grazing area) that keeps the earth bare of vegetation, such as a road or rock wall, can be placed between the fire danger and the house. A windbreak of fruit trees or willows (which aren’t as flammable) should be planted at the bottom of hills since fire travels faster uphill. Avoid pine trees, which catch fire and leave flammable litter everywhere. By creating a series of bare ground and deciduous tree barriers, you can slow or even stop fire from reaching the house.
The house is the most valuable item on your property, and so extra precautions should be taken. Build a brick or stone walkway around the house at least three feet wide. Keep it clear of debris or even a doormat. Use window frames and screens and a metal roof. If you are very concerned, build sprinklers around the house with their own supply of water that runs without electricity.
Fire zone with deciduous trees, swales, water, and brick.
Earthquake: A single level home is safer, but the real secret to an earthquake-proof house is the materials with which it is built. Steel beam construction bolted into the ground is more likely to stay standing but may not be feasible for many people. The alternative is flexible construction made of wood or bamboo that is bolted securely to the foundation. The foundation should be steel reinforced concrete (or rebar). Every home, whether you built it yourself or not, should have one central room designated as a safe room that will stay standing if the rest of the house were to collapse. This room should not have any windows or heavy things hanging on the walls, and it would be quite small in order to withstand the force of an earthquake and the shifting of the house. Usually a closet or bathroom can serve this purpose. It is a good idea to store nonperishable food and jugs of water in this room.
Flood: Be informed about the history of the flood level and learn the history of flooding in your area. Be smart and don’t put your house in a floodplain, but also avoid a steep slope that can become a mudslide during severe rain. If you find that you do live in a floodplain already, build your house on stilts even if people think you are crazy. An existing house can be protected from flooding by using dams, swales, and runoffs to effectively direct excess water away from the house. Extreme flooding can be controlled by the use of dykes made of sandbags. It is also important to prevent contamination of drinking water by sewage. If you have a composting toilet as this book recommends, that is not a big concern, although a multitude of composts and fertilizers will compromise the water supply should they flood. Electrical systems should be set far above the flood line, and there should be an easy cut-off switch to turn everything off quickly. Propane tanks are an additional hazard as they float and crash into things, and so they must be securely anchored.
A house built on stilts in a floodplain.
Hurricane & tornado: Buildings should be flexible, as for earthquakes, and the roof should have a very sharp 45° angle. The wind force will be more likely to push the building down, rather than pick it up. A bamboo windbreak can prevent major damage if planted on the side of the house where there is usually the most wind. It is also a wise idea to plant a small backup garden in a sheltered place, away from the Zone 1 garden, so if things go wrong, you will still have some food and seed stock. Even more importantly, a storm cellar or safe room should be built to escape into and to store food. A safe room is for people who can’t build an underground cellar, and it is a small room built of stone or concrete in the center of the house with a solid door installed with a drop-down bar lock. A storm cellar is an underground room, either in the basement with an inside door or built separate from the house with an outside door. A root cellar often doubles as a storm cellar.
Example of a storm cellar
Snow creates mud instantly when it melts.
Snow: While snow is an inconvenient and dangerous winter hazards that causes power outages, driving accidents, and isolation, the biggest problem around your house will be roof damage and flooding. The snow melts and tends to pool on your roof and Zone 1 areas. The worst damage happens when snow melts on your roof on a warm day, only to freeze again at night or during another cold front. The water forms a pool at the edge of an older roof, or drips down to form large icicles, which freezes again and expands. This causes stress to your roof and eaves and can create cracks in your walls. Prevent this by using a metal roof and making sure the slope is steep enough for snow to slide completely off. Ground surface flooding can be prevented with swales and drainage ditches leading to the pond.
6 rules of design
• Is it the appropriate size?
• Is it in the right order?
• Does it minimize wasted space?
• Does it utilize the edge effect and communities?
• Does it use simple and easy species?
• Does it use appropriate patterns?
How do I double-check my positioning?
Placement of elements is always relative. Where is this element in relation to the house in Zone 1? Where is it in relation to the wind sector? Where is the chicken coop in relation to the other animals? How will it benefit them? A chicken coop is placed in Zone 2 but bordering Zone 1 very closely because you must go there every day to collect the eggs. It should be placed away from the fire hazard sector, but because chickens pick the ground clean, the pen itself can be used as a firewall between the fire sector and the house. It should be next to the vegetable garden so you can easily move the manure, but it should also connect to a forage garden where the chicken will eat. When starting out, it is important to crowd everything in as much as possible. Cram plant life up next to the house and stick the chicken coop as close as you can to the house. Zone 2 might only be fifty feet away, because this saves you time and labor. It is easier to thin things out than wait for them to grow, and you can branch off to the farther zones later. Each element is placed in relation to everything else and to you—next to, close by, behind, away from.
Drawing a grid of the elements in relation to each other can help you check your positioning.
Besides the zones and an element’s proximity to something else, which saves your own energy, you should also consider an element’s energy consumption and needs. Your goal is to stick them where they will generate energy or at least conserve energy, rather than consume it. For example, a greenhouse should be up against the house not only to radiate heat into the house but to absorb it during the winter as well. A windbreak should be a fast-growing tree or shrub if possible, rather than a rock wall or embankment, because it takes less work to grow a tree than to build a wall.
Off to a running start:
It is pretty obvious that the ultimate goal of permaculture is to build up a system that relies on plants and animals, but mechanical and non-natural devices sometimes come in handy for certain tasks in the beginning. A solar panel isn’t made of sustainable materials, but it is still a low-energy and necessary part of building up a relatively sustainable system. It is good to use a backhoe once to put in a pond and get things going quickly. You will want to prioritize what you are going to focus on in the beginning and divide the tasks into phases:
Phase 1—Place the most vital elements. This includes access, water, and power. You will probably not be able to implement all of your power-generating dreams at once, but install the most necessary power supply, even if it comes from the city. Build road access and implement your water collection and storage system designs.
Phase 2—Build the housing, fences, windbreaks, and gardens. This phase includes many different aspects that all need to be done at around the same time, which may seem overwhelming. Get your house up first, or on a property that has an existing house, work on modifying it to suit your needs. To establish the gardens quickly, put together a plant nursery to start the thousands of plants you will need for transplanting later. You can do this just before doing your house so that you will have a head start.
Phase 3—The last phase is a time of refinement. Implement your fire and erosion control, begin repairing damaged soil, and build more energy production systems. If you think you may want to put in a wind turbine at a later time, make sure that you planned it out in advance and preserved the space for it.
Self-Regulation
Finally, the permaculture process is a very long-term investment. Each piece of land is unique, and each design will be different. While the design process may seem a little complicated, it’s just not possible to “do permaculture” wrong. Almost anything can be moved around to where you want it later. If some plants aren’t doing very well in one spot, move them. Try another species and see if it yields more. The point is to observe, experiment, and learn from the natural world. The goal is to create a system that is self-regulating. That is, eventually you should reach a point when you can leave for a while, and when you come back, everything is still thriving. No water, no weeding, no hand was needed to keep it all alive. It should become a self-contained ecosystem that cares for itself.
• High biomass production. Biomass is the volume of living organisms in an area.
• Lots of organic matter. Even if it is not alive, the organic matter in and on the soil should be tremendous.
• Living organisms provide minerals rather than rocks and rain.
• Retains minerals over time. Consumption and erosion have little impact.
• Allows fungus and bacteria to play a central role to the cycles of life.
• Has a majority of perennial plants, keeping replanting to a minimum.
• Has a huge variety of species and massive diversity.
• Has complex food chains rather than simple ones.
• Uses big organisms rather than many tiny ones: trees, cows, and large plants.
• Sees relative sameness over time. Very little or very gradual change.
• Uses species that are useful in as many ways as possible.
NATURAL CYCLES
You will die but the carbon will not; its career does not end with you. It will return to the soil, and there a plant may take it up again in time, sending it once more on a cycle of plant and animal life.
~ Jacob Bronowski
Everything makes a circle.
Working with Cycles
Many of the cycles of nature will continue around you without your notice, even as you become more attuned to your gardens and the various creatures that inhabit it. However, some awareness is necessary. The water cycle is the most obvious, with the wind and rain reminding us frequently of its processes. The soil goes through cycles that are evidenced by the plants that grow, the pioneer species fixing the nitrogen in the soil and preparing the way for other plants. Then there is the nitrogen cycle itself, which is just as crucial as the water cycle for life on earth. The atmosphere is ripe with nitrogen, but plants are unable to use most of it. Nitrogen must be chemically altered by bacteria (like rhizobium) or by lightning. Once it changes, it is fixed. The volume of fixed nitrogen in the soil decides how much will grow, and when those plants die, they release the nitrogen. There are also cycles of harmony between species. The ducks forage in the gardens in the fall after the harvest, which fertilizes the soil, removes pests and weeds, and feeds the ducks. They live and grow, providing eggs and meat for people.
Chicken of the woods is an edible fungus and plays an active role in the garden.
• Remove the ducks from the gardens and put them in the marsh.
• Remove the geese from Zone 2.
• Prune the orchard trees.
• Check the rice paddy for thin spots and sow more seed if necessary.
• Remove mulch from Zone 1 gardens to allow soil to warm up.
• Check on the bees and make sure they have enough food and pollen.
• Watch for baby animal births.
• Shear sheep.
• Plant your earliest garden and harvest the last of the winter garden.
• Tap maple trees for syrup.
Late Spring
• Harvest rye or barley.
• Check on the bees to see if they have enough space and split them if you need to.
• Harvest your early garden.
Summer
• Trim back more orchard trees as needed.
• Flood the rice paddy.
• Plant more garden transplants.
• Harvest the summer garden and plant more transplants.
Early Fall
• Let ducks into the Zone 1 gardens.
• Let geese into the Zones 2 and 3 fields.
• Sow rice seed in the rice paddy.
• Harvest the last gardens and plant fall transplants.
Late Fall
• Harvest last year’s rice and lay it out to dry.
• One month after rice harvest, plant next year’s rice crop.
• Harvest your honey and possibly start feeding bees.
• Breed sheep.
• Harvest the fall garden.
Winter
• Check on the bees and make sure they have enough food.
• Dry up pregnant cows.
• Order new bees and seeds.
• Watch the ewes for lambing.
