Permaculture
Permaculture or permanent agriculture, is the design construction and maintenance of productive environmentally conscious systems which have the diversity and longevity of natural ecosystems. An integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility of stable society.
The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature. Through observation rather than thoughtless action functional systems are created. Permaculture systems are allowed to determine their own evolutions.
Permaculture as a design system is primarily the development of plant systems in a minimalist way.
We highly recommend the following books for further reading and information on Permaculture…
Introduction to Permaculture
PERMACULTURE: A Designers’ Manual
Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability
5 Responses
Permaculture to me is a practical and elegant way of manifesting the beliefs I hold at my core. It is a the physical way in which I can express Who I Am (my soul if you like) in a spiritual, mental and emotional sense. It’s really the only way I can BE that will keep the voices (metaphorical) inside me from going on and on about what I should be doing differently – it is in line with my conscience. When I practice permaculture, I am happy, and the more I implement it the happier I get. And to me that is what life is about
It is yoga (or union) with mother earth.
To me, Permaculture is embodied in the ethic to live one’s life in concert with the Earth instead of in conflict with the Earth.
Permaculture, to me, just makes a whole lot of sense – it’s in the ethic “Earth care, people care, fair share.”
I consider myself a Quaker by religion, a lot of people would think this means I’m Armish or a Brethren but it’s not. My beliefs are in Simplicity, Peace (not war), Integrity, Community and Equality.
For me permaculture reinforces these beliefs:
Care for Earth
Co-operate not compete
Accept Feed back and self regulate
Care for People
Distribute surplus
let alone all the other principles that are intwined and fit in around the edges.
It is very comforting when my work and my religion fit together as one. I am more fortunate than many!
Permaculture to me means making my garden as productive as possible in the nicest way possible. It means making my garden into a type of Garden of Eden. A paradise. As an earlier poster said, permaculture makes him happy. It makes me happy in the same way. But i am not planning to give a way my produce. I need the money so if i can sell the excess I most certainly will and don’t feel it necessary to apologise for doing so.
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