Category: Sidebars

by Trudy Thomas

Westcliffe, Colorado can be deceiving. The sweeping landscape, rugged Sangre de Cristos and big open sky seem devoid of complexity. The endless grassland’s only colorful residents are the wildflowers – unobtrusive plants easily crushed underfoot by the careless walker.
But if one stops and looks closely enough one sees a vast network of life, where a flower is a not only an individual organism but part of the earth and everything attached to it. The wildflower I was looking at had two tiny cacti growing in its shade. The plant itself had grown up from the base of a large rock which protected it from wind and sun. Each one needed another to survive and they were all part of something else, something big. “Don’t you see,” it seemed to say, “that I’m more than a flower, that I’m one of the many colors celebrating this season in the life of the planet?”

I suddenly felt a little embarrassed, like I hadn’t been paying attention in class and didn’t understand the simplest of terms.

I was in Westcliffe with the July Permaculture Design Certification class, learning how to observe (the first Holmgren principle). We had practiced using our peripheral vision to look at the world, we had sat alone for 15 minutes making notes about what we heard and saw. Now I was touching and sensing this beautiful orange-blossomed flower, hoping to notice something other than how squatting hurt my feet.

This was serious! Soon I would join a team of my classmates and, over the next four months, develop a design for a designated site. At the end of those four months we would present our design to the rest of the class. I suddenly felt completely unworthy and unprepared for such a task. How could I possibly know what was best for the earth, even a very small part of it?

What I thought was a class about growing an abundance of food in a sustainable way had morphed into a calling. I was now responsible for integrating human needs into that web of life already moving gracefully and efficiently before my eyes. Carelessness was unthinkable. Too much was at stake.

Related: Photo gallery from our Westcliffe weekend

I looked down at the flower before me and felt sad that it and all the other wildflowers would soon die, taking the color with them. But the brilliant orange blooms were bursting with joy. They would change, yes. But they were part of that bigger something and that, would continue on forever.

So here I am, embarking on the second half of this PDC, sobered by this new responsibility, filled with a new respect and walking ever so carefully upon the face of the earth.

When’s the last time you raked leaves and put them in the garbage? Well, stop it, just stop it.

Permaculture co-founder David Holmgren would tell you leaves are a valuable resource. They make great mulch, protecting plants in the winter and maintaining soil moisture in the summer.

Leaves, manure, bugs, birds, and yes, weeds are welcome in a permie garden. That’s because everything is part of a living system where the inputs (needs) of one are met by the outputs of another. “Produce No Waste” is one of 12 guiding principles articulated by Holmgren, who has been practicing permaculture for more than 30 years.

The June Permaculture Design Certification class saw Holmgren’s principle put to practice by guest instructors Marco Lam, Avery Ellis, Nikko Woolf and lead instructor Becky Elder.

Lam talked about animal systems; Ellis, aquaponics; and Woolf and Elder, natural building.

Lam pointed out that animals such as chickens, ducks, pigs and geese have important outputs that are generally ignored in commercial and traditional animal systems. Sure they produce eggs, meat and other products – but what about work they perform that benefit the whole system?

“Efficiency in permaculture means the multiple outputs rather than simply the production level of the animals,” Lam said. “Chickens scratch and forage, produce manure, etcetera.”

Related: June PDC photo gallery

In aquaponics, where food plants are grown in a fish tank, inputs and outputs are met in very specific ways. Fish waste provides nutrients to the plants which, in turn, purify the water. Ellis described the process as a “nitrogen cycle.” Fish waste produces nitrogen ammonia which bacteria turn into nitrogen nitrite. Bacteria then turn the nitrite into nitrogen nitrate which helps plants grow.

No waste.

Natural building utilizes materials produced by nature to fulfill the human need for shelter. Woolf described several types of natural building including cob, which uses clay soil, sand, water and straw. Globs of the material or “cobs” are piled on top of each other and worked together to form walls.

Reused materials are incorporated into the rest of the structure. Windows, doors and other discarded building material can be repurposed, making it cost effective and gentler on the planet. Sunlight and wind are harnessed for passive heating and cooling, reducing dependence on petroleum-based energy.

Reduce, reuse, recycle, no waste.

“In permaculture, we’re trying to get away from fossil fuels,” Elder added. “Having an energy efficient house in the future is going to be critical.”

Permaculture strives to imitate natural systems so that human activity provides for our needs and our ecosystem rather than simply consuming it. Here lies hope for a better, more sustainable future.

So the next time leaves start falling, put the rake away and take a nap instead.

Holmgren’s twelve principles

Visit Holmgren Design for more on the principles.

Observe and interact

By taking time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.

Catch and store energy

By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need.

Obtain a yield

Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.

Apply self-regulation and accept feedback

We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.

Use and value renewable resources

Make the best use of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior and dependence on non-renewable resources.

Produce no waste

By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.

Design from patterns to details

By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go.

Integrate rather than segregate

By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.

Use small and slow solutions

Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes.

Use and value diversity

Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.

Use edge and value the marginal

The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system.

Creatively use and respond to change

We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.