PERMACULTURE: AN EARTH-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE
By Mark Krawczyk
Plant and Soil Science Department
Special Topics Student University of Vermont
The world is changing at an unprecedented
rate. Human populations are soaring. Resources are being
consumed faster than they ever have before. We are quickly
overextending the earth's ability to sustain our species.
How can YOU help to resolve these problems
through your gardening practices? A number of alternative
agricultural and gardening approaches have been developed
over the past few decades as possible solutions to these
concerns. A popular one is permaculture.
Permaculture is a term that was coined
by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the
mid-1970s. It is a contraction of the words "permanent"
and "agriculture." This approach is based
on three primary principles: care of the earth, care
of people, and the setting of limits on population and
consumption. Together, these concerns help to guide
the development of permaculture systems.
Mollison describes permaculture as "the
conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive
ecosystems that have the diversity, stability, and resilience
of natural ecosystems." Permaculture is not a fixed
school of thought. It is a way of thinking about elements
within a landscape so that we can use their products
and processes to provide for our own needs and the needs
of the landscape. It is the very first design system
devoted to the development of sustainable human settlements.
Permaculture systems can be as simple
or as complex as the designer chooses. The main intention
is to provide ways for individuals to take some responsibility
for their own food, shelter, energy, water, and more.
As gardeners, many of us are already
attempting to do some of these things. As permaculturists,
we are constantly looking for ways to minimize work
and maximize yields. In doing this we can look to natural
landscapes as a model. They provide us with examples
of diversity, productivity, and stability that we can
try to reproduce in our own gardens. Traditionally,
we tend to think of gardens as organized rows of plants
separated by species. A permaculture garden, on the
other hand, may be an intensively planted space with
both cultivated and wild plant species mixed in with
This type of garden much more closely
resembles a natural grouping of plants and brings with
it a number of benefits. Because plants are spaced much
closer together, the same area of land will provide
Mixing plant species helps to deter pests
and protect against disease. This mixture of plants
also ensures that the mineral resources of the soil
will be used much more evenly.
In permaculture, the emphasis is on perennial
plants. Because perennials do not need to be replanted
year after year, they allow us to create a stable landscape
that will grow and evolve over time.
Another important aspect of permaculture
design is diversity. Diverse systems are much more resilient
than monocultures and can provide for many different
needs. Permaculture systems also focus on elements that
have multiple uses so that they all benefit the system
in a number of ways.
An example of this might be a fruit tree
that provides shade, beauty, and food for humans and
wildlife. Or consider an evergreen hedge, which provides
visual screening, a habitat for birds, and a windbreak.
"Permacultural living" is not
a new concept. It is a series of common sense approaches
applied to everyday living. Though the idea was born
more than twenty years ago, permaculture is slowly beginning
to take hold in the United States.
If we truly hope to make the world a
better place, it is up to each of us to do what we can.
We all have the capacity to be designers. Finding ways
to provide for our own needs on our own property through
the development of integrated permaculture landscapes
is one initiative we all can take.
A good reference for more information
about permaculture is Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway,
which was published in 2001 by Chelsea Green Publishers.