Ultimate Guide to Natural Farming and Sustainable

The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.

~ Aristotle

What Community Is (and Isn’t)

Historically, permaculture has been heavily focused on the building of community. The phrase “community” in the permaculture sense is not the type of neighborhood that springs up on its own, a group of standardized houses built in subdivisions with cul-de-sacs to play basketball in. You had friends and acquaintances in your neighborhood, but very few of us experienced that sense of community that so many people crave.

Community, as it should be, is intentional. It is a more connected way to live, encouraging greater involvement with people outside of your immediate family. It is also intended as a support system that takes care of basic human needs outside of what a family can provide—business and income, emotional needs, services and products, child care, insurance against disaster, etc. This type of community requires better communication and more time investment than the fenced-off chitchat neighborhoods we have today.

Permaculture encourages experiments in alternative social constructs, political policy, banking, as well as religion and relationships, but these experiments have been less successful than the establishment of a village. There are now many well-established small communities, or eco-villages, that have been built on the ethics of permaculture, with varying degrees of communal sharing.

We are not talking about communes, however. A commune is an organization of people who share all of their income and sometimes their homes. Every commune ever established has either failed or changed its structure, which does not necessarily mean that communalism is wrong or somehow doomed, but it does mean that it would take a special group of humans to pull it off. The villages described by permaculture are more akin to a regular town but described with utopian ideal. A permaculture village has all of its energy and resources provided locally through agrarian projects, and all of the people are able to work at employment that is meaningful, localized, and ecological. All ages are provided for adequately, and social services are run locally and independently. At its heart, permaculture tends to lean towards anarchism in its purest definition: the abolition of a centralized government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion.

It is for this reason that many scoff at permaculture as optimistic, idealistic, and extreme. These doubters are probably right. In my opinion, humans cannot, and will not, ever create thousands of totally autonomous communities of people that are independent from any outside resources or influences. That’s not very optimistic of me, but it is practical. Jobs, health, income, and technology like Internet and computers, these all at some point have to come from somewhere else. A certain percentage of people in a village will be injured or get sick. Modern medicine may have its problems, but we can’t ignore the fact that it is responsible for the long lives we enjoy today. These injured or sick people must see a doctor at some point for something, and that doctor has to be trained by a school in another place. Whether the student’s tuition was paid for by his own labor or through social programs, a village doesn’t have the kind of resources to train a doctor for ten years and is unlikely to possess the knowledge of treating serious injuries and diseases. When that person becomes a doctor, can the village even build a hospital with all of the state-of-the-art equipment needed?

It is interesting and fun to experiment with our culture and social constructs, but in order for permaculture to succeed as a solution to the various ills of society, it must let go of political and religious ideology as part of its overall goals. Permaculture is about designing a healthy, sustainable manner of living for a family or a very small community, and that’s it. When the lifestyle of enough individuals becomes conscious and deliberate, it is not necessary to branch out into the bigger picture. The world will inevitably change on its own.

And that brings us back to community. Today, it is very difficult to purchase land, or to use land in an urban environment for permaculture activities, without great expense or annoyed neighbors. To this end, a community must be built up of like-minded people who can pool their resources to acquire land or create protection around the activities of the individual who practices them in an urban environment. This community will never become autonomous (and in fact is most likely to be in the middle of a city and completely dependent on that urban environment), but its level of self-reliance will be much higher than it was before. The community will also be able to more effectively follow the third permaculture ethic: Share the surplus. Individuals will share with their small community of friends, who will share with the greater community of not-so-like-minded neighbors. That is when real social change begins.

To summarize, permaculture applied to community has three goals:

• Create a support and teaching network for like-minded people to be able to change their lifestyle.

• People do not have to live together or have anything in common other than the belief that humanity should live sustainably and self-reliantly.

• Self-reliance does not come from independence from people, but rather from independence from business and organizations that keep you alive by bringing products and resources from far away places.

Starting a Community

Campfire meals build community.

One effective method of making communication more efficient is ensuring that groups stay small. That first core group of people was brought together by a common purpose, but as soon as more people join, things get complicated. All of those extra people have their own reasons for being there. These people should be formed into small groups according to their individual personalities and interests, so that each has something smaller to manage. Each group should have a spokesperson and a secretary. The secretary keeps meticulous records of everything said and done, and the spokesperson reports to the greater community. This may seem very formal and traditional, but this “committee” structure has proven itself to be functional even when individuals aren’t very experienced with it or have personalities that are difficult to work with.

Not everyone gets along, and no one communicates effectively all of the time. Creating an environment that is honest about this basic fact and works around it is the key to success. Flexibility is part of this. When a job is done, people can move on to something else. When two people aren’t working well together, rather than taking it personally, they should recognize that sometimes personalities clash, and they need to move on. One of the greatest tools for helping people learn to do this is through a common mission. A mission is more than a goal—it embodies the values and direction of the group. The mission must be decided as a community and written down, and everyone should be reminded of it frequently. Every decision made by the community should be held up to the mission statement to make sure the group is sticking to its values.

Dissent is expected. Group consensus is difficult because if someone disagrees with the group, the whole group cannot move forward. However, there are very few decisions in permaculture that must be made immediately. A single individual may slow down a decision for quite a while, but that is one of the drawbacks of community that must simply be tolerated. It is very important that the founders of the community have communication and consensus decision-making training so that they can facilitate the communication of the group. There are many invaluable courses available that are specifically tailored to consensus organizing for intentional communities.

The other greatest tool in community is food. Just because you are getting together for a business meeting to discuss difficult topics doesn’t mean you can’t do it over an amazing potluck dinner of homegrown food.

VILLAGE DESIGN

In the end, poverty, putridity and pestilence; work, wealth and worry; health, happiness and hell, all simmer down into village problems.

~ Martin H. Fischer

The Decision to Live Together

Today the most common reason for people to decide to live together in North America is for land access. Urban agriculture is on the rise, but there are limits to what you can do. Some of those limits are imposed by the city to keep the town clean, and people push those boundaries, but simply having rural land is much easier. Land is expensive, and also a lot of work, and so sharing it makes sense.

Once a group of people decide to buy a piece of land together, they must then hire a lawyer. The land is divided into areas for living, agriculture, business, and wilderness, and some of these areas are put into a legal trust. A trust is a way of preserving land without an individual having to be alive to own it, and the trust must be registered like a non-profit organization. The areas for living are often rented out to the people of the group or bought as shares, like a corporation.

The decision to live together shouldn’t be taken lightly. Once you invest in a trust, there is usually no way to recoup your money should you decide you don’t like these people after all. Some very lucky people have been able to convince their city to provide acreage for farming as a benefit to the community. In comparison to the organizational and legal struggles of forming a trust, a city land gift is incredibly less difficult to envision.

Placement of Houses

Groups of houses for a community should be placed in the same way that any house would be in a permaculture design. Consideration should be made for the wind and sun, the temperature, etc. However, because you are dealing with more than one house, space becomes an issue.

1. Houses in a community should be placed in the shelter of warmer sides of hills and follow the contour of the land.

2. There should also be a balance between privacy and community. This is possible by making small clusters of houses grouped around a common area. Usually, about 5 to 8 houses per cluster works well for people.

3. Every house should face the sun and be built according to passive solar principles.

4. All water runoff from the houses should lead to swales planted with trees and shrubs.

5. Rather than large front yards divided by fences, clusters of houses should have tiny front yards with tall hedges for privacy facing a narrow street. The space saved by crowding these aspects together can be put towards the common area, which can be a small park, an orchard, or a garden.

Central community garden.

BUSINESS

To practice Right Livelihood (samyag ajiva), you have to find a way to earn your living without transgressing your ideals of love and compassion.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Right Livelihood

Buddhism has coined a term that accurately sums up how to apply permaculture ethics and principles to one’s means of employment. Right livelihood is part of the principle teachings of Buddha, as one of the key components of the Noble Eightfold Path. It means that people should refrain from occupations that either directly or indirectly result in harm to another living being. In permaculture, this is taken one step further to include jobs which have no meaning or take unnecessary time away from one’s family. It is true that not everyone can leave the job he or she is unhappy with (and it is probably true that not many people like to work at all), but with effort, it is possible for creative and hardworking people to achieve a career goal that could be described as right livelihood.

First we have to redefine career, however. People must let go of the idea of having a “career” for the sake of having a career. Anything that contributes to society and the welfare of the community should be considered a successful career, whether someone is a doctor or the person who dumps the sawdust in the compost toilet. Today, especially since a real-life community is so difficult to establish, we have the Internet. On the Internet, the whole world is at your fingertips, there are no real rules, and you are free to capitalize on knowledge and services that you have. I believe that using all of the tools available on the Internet is the first step towards an independent career.

Many people reading this book may be interested in utilizing permaculture for profit, through growing food, or offering education, especially if they are trying to form a community. Once again, the Internet is the place to start. See what other people are doing, then offer something unique that they are not.

Cash Crops

One person alone can’t maintain a true productive farm that is growing a serious cash crop, which is why this section is in the Community chapter. An entire family has to be involved, or at least a group of seasonal helpers. In choosing a cash crop, pick one that is low in bulk, such as honey or berries. It should also be easy to process without much equipment, or be value added. Value added products are jam or butter—raw materials like berries and milk that are processed into something people want, which adds value. It’s a good idea to have a second cash crop that is something non-perishable, like firewood or nuts, which can be sold throughout the year. Some cash crop ideas are:

Herbs are a very profitable agricultural business.

Aquatic nursery: Fish, bee and duck forage, friendly insect plants, or ornamentals.

Berries: Fruit, u-pick service, or plant nursery.

Rare plants: Useful permaculture plants or bee, bird, and beneficial insect forage.

Seeds: Rare or unusual heirloom seeds.

Animals: Geese, silkworms, earthworms, bantams, milk or mowing goats, draft horses, heritage cows, specialty sheep, or quail.

Hedges and trees: Specialize in local species, trees for regenerating forests, windbreaks, animal forage, bamboo, or food crops.

Organic food: Typical fruits, vegetables, nuts, milk, eggs, wool, meat, or flowers.

Value-added food: Smoked meat, dried fruit, jam, feathers, dried flowers or wreaths, or pickles.

Craft supplies: Willow, bamboo, natural dyes, or wool.

Natural pest control: Prepared powders or sprays, or nursery plants like marigold or yarrow.

Herbs: Natural medicinal and beauty preparations, teas, or dried herbs.

Tourism: Farm holidays, camps, retreats, workshops, or classes.

Marketing

Organic farms today sell most of their products in three ways: at farmer’s markets, direct to consumers through u-pick or community supported agriculture (CSA), or direct to restaurants. The CSA is by far the most rapidly growing method of direct sales, and its principles are simple. Each family purchases a share every year, usually priced somewhere around $300–$500 for the season, and in return receives a weekly box of fresh-picked vegetables and fruits, and often some value-added products. These are delivered to their door or to a set delivery spot for pick-up.

The struggle with starting a CSA is managing quantity and quality of the product. Some CSAs start out the first year hoping that the weather will be good and they can fulfill their promises, only to produce much less food than they expected. They end up providing very little food weekly, and customers feel as though their up-front investment was not worth it. A startup CSA can’t get greedy by overselling shares to too many people. Start out by providing food to your family, and then expand to a couple more families. Make sure the weekly food box you provide is overflowing with food, with extra surprises thrown in for good measure. These should be high quality and fresh as well.

The same strategy holds true for any business. Start small and make sure you can provide a good product so that customers will recommend you. If a customer isn’t happy, do anything it takes to make him or her happy.

Commercial Greenhouses

Commercial high tunnel.

While you already have a greenhouse by your house for your own food, a low-effort but somewhat more expensive cash generator is a commercial greenhouse. It is much cheaper to build one, but take into consideration the work and potential risks if you do. It is common for businesses to start out by building a high tunnel, which is simply a long framework, made of PVC piping, that holds up a light plastic cover. This plastic cover must be removed in the winter, so this is not for year-round growth. This type of greenhouse is cheap, but it is also very susceptible to wind damage.

It is much easier to buy a real commercial greenhouse than to build one which will have built-in features like ventilation and be sturdy enough to function all year round. One feature it needs to have in a cool climate is a separate entry room. Every time the door opens, heat is lost, so an entryway with two doors is crucial. The first crops you grow should be designed to pay for the greenhouse, which means growing high value products like tomatoes, peppers, and fruit.

Of course, while running a commercial greenhouse business is most often done with a single high-value crop, in a permaculture system you would still follow the principles of community growing and polyculture. Pick at least three crops that can work together, and consider using aquaculture tanks or birds as well. This kind of business is more labor intensive than your ultimate goal with your personal food production, but that is the nature of large-scale agriculture.

Urban agriculture is a necessary part of future city planning.

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

~ T. S. Eliot

Food Production

At a community level, food production should be divided into two categories: family and community. One of the reasons why communal systems fail is lack of ownership. When individuals don’t feel any personal investment in something, they don’t work efficiently or well. Each family should be mostly responsible for its own food production, with room for its own garden and animals. However, this will only provide food enough for each individual family for the summer. It will not provide enough to make a profit, and probably not enough to get everyone through the winter. The community garden and orchard will provide winter storage and cash crops. Animals can be kept together, even if each family has its own animals. It is common to require each family to contribute a certain number of hours to the community in return for the privilege of living there.

Recycling

The management of waste is a tremendous task even in a small community. It is a massive waste of energy to sort all of the different materials generated by all the households of a community in one place, so all waste material should be sorted at the source. Each family should be responsible for sorting its own waste (glass, paper, metal, plastic, etc.). Each family should also have its own composting bins for organic materials from the kitchen and small yard waste. The community should also have a facility for large materials like tree branches where these can be chopped up and composted. Once all of the waste has been sorted and collected, it can be sold to manufacturers for recycling or repurposed for other uses.

Access to Land

Each community should promote access to agriculture, no matter how urban the community may be. This includes community gardens, farm co-ops and CSA membership, garden clubs, and urban farming.

Precious agricultural land is subdivided and sold.

Land access is one of the most worrisome situations facing North America today. There are acres and acres of empty land, but very little of it is currently arable. Arable land can be used for agriculture because it has been cleared of trees, the soil is fertile, and it is relatively free of rocks. The current amount of available arable land is rapidly decreasing due to urban sprawl and environmental damage. Some land can be made arable, but the process is difficult and takes a long time. This is why farmland prices continue to rise to astronomical levels that, ironically, only developers can afford. This problem is made worse by the fact that half of the farmers in America are retiring very soon and are not passing their land on to their children. Without a retirement fund, they have to sell off the land to pay for the right to rest in their old age. This vicious cycle has resulted in the outsourcing of many food staples to other countries like China and Mexico, leaving North America’s food security in great jeopardy. Every person with arable land, no matter how small, should be growing food or sharing that space with someone who doesn’t have the same resources.

Big suburban houses encroach on arable soil.