Many people have heard the term, but have only a vague idea of what it means. It can feel like a very woolly concept, and I've heard it talked about as 'sustainability', 'organic gardening' and even just 'common sense'.
I'm often asked about permaculture and I don't always know what to say. I'm hoping that writing about it here will make me more confident to talk about it, and hopefully make things a little clearer for others too.
Where does it come from?
The term permaculture came from 'permanent agriculture', and was originally conceived in terms of creating 'edible ecosystems' - ways of growing food that mimic a natural forest environment, with trees, shrubs and smaller plants all growing together, rather than acres of a single type of crop. The term itself is a fairly recent development, being coined in a 1978 book calledPermaculture One: a perennial agriculture for human settlements, by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren.
These days the permaculture movement talks about more than agriculture, and people often think of the term as referring to 'permanent culture'.
What is it?
One of the best short explanations I've found is from Bill Mollison himself.
Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system (Bill Mollison (1991) Introduction to Permaculture)
It's about designing things using principles from the natural world to getting the maximum out for yourself, others, and the world in general, without putting in a load of unnecessary effort.
Sounds like a good philosophy to me.
Permaculture principles
One of the main concepts in permaculture is to use principles found in the natural world to design better systems. These 'systems' might be gardens, farms, businesses, relationships, homes - anything really.
The wording of the principles has changed over the years, but the Permaculture Association (Britain) is currently using those set out by David Holmgren, one of the authors of the original Permaculture One book in his new book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability
1. Observe and interact
2. Catch and store energy
3. Obtain a yield
4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback
5. Use and value renewable resources and services
6. Produce no waste
7. Design from patterns to details
8. Integrate rather than segregate
9. Use edges and value the marginal
10. Use and value diversity
11. Use small and slow solutions
12. Creatively use and respond to change
There is more detail from the Permaculture Association and from David Holmgren himself. In an abstract list they can feel a little strange, a little sterile, and in the coming weeks I'll write about how they apply to different areas of my life.
Permaculture ethics
Another key concept in permaculture is ethics. There are three:
1. Earth care
2. People care
3. Fair shares
Again, there's more information here and here, and I'll write about these individually in the near future.
In terms of how these things fit together, I find it helpful to think of the ethics as overrarching guidelines (look after the earth, don't take more than your fair share), while the principles are more specific 'lenses' or ways of looking more closely at things.
Isn't it just organic gardening?
No. Organic gardening is growing plants without chemicals, and while many permaculturists do garden organically, not everyone who does organic gardening uses wider permaculture principles of imitating natural systems.
Sometimes it all feels a bit vague
I think some of the confusion arises because it's difficult to see permaculture sometimes. The essence of permaculture is the process of design, which isn't always on show once the system is up and running.
So, for example, I might use all of those principles above to design my back garden, but you might walk past and think 'ooh look, she's growing a few vegetables' - you wouldn't see the thought process that had gone behind me deciding to grow those particular vegetables in that particular way.
Can people 'do permaculture' without realising it?
Permaculture is a design process, so that does require a bit of conscious thought! But some of the things that people might do during that design process, like observing their land for a while before acting, or trying to get the best yield they can from a small space, aren't unique to permaculture at all.
All kinds of techniques have become associated with permaculture over the years - for example gardening without chemicals, leaving areas of garden for wildlife, putting a mulch around plants to keep moisture and nutrients in the soil - but none of these are unique to permaculture. People have found them useful, and they can fit well with permaculture principles, but there aren't a list of techniques that you have to use, and plenty of other people use these techniques without ever having heard of permaculture.
Finding out more
Sometimes the more you read, the more confusing things become. But I think with permaculture, the more you read, the more you build a picture of what it's about.
Have a look at what other people have written - here's some basic info from the Permaculture Association. Go on an introduction to permaculture course, or, better still, a permaculture design course (I'll write about mine soon). Green Shopping has an excellent selection of books, and you can download a free electronic copy of Permaculture Magazine here.
There are also lots of people writing blogs about their own experiences of bringing permaculture into their lives, and I think this is one of the best ways of seeing how it works in real life. Have a mooch round, see who's doing what, and if you find something interesting feel free to share it in the comments!