Permaculture
Permaculture is a system of agriculture and social design principle that aspires to emulate or utilize ecosystem patterns occurring naturally. This term was first coined by David Holmgren, then a graduate student, and his professor, Bill Mollison, in 1978, which was originally referred to Permanent Agriculture but slowly evolved into Permanent culture. Permaculture has multiple branches like environmental design, ecological design, water resource management, sustainable architecture, ecological engineering and construction. It translates ideas into realities through sustainable living and architecture, rainwater harvesting, agroforestry, sheet mulching, rotational crop growth and grazing patterns, key-line design and water resource management.
Permaculture is a manner of developing infrastructure around natural systems instead of overriding natural systems to human advantage. It also helps eliminate dependency on non-biodegradable products, denudation of fertile topsoil from vast landscapes and reduction of dependency on manmade chemical.
Permaculture Principles
Permaculture stresses on interaction with natural habitats to find and create sustainable lifestyles and propagating crop and MAPs growth. It favours renewable energy as opposed to fossil fuel energy owing to the distress it cause in the environment. It actively discourages excess waste production, putting a limit on single use products and consumption patterns. Permaculture aims at fostering ecological and economic symbiosis between all elements that form a larger design in order to ensure that every step that goes into creating a plan is financially and ecologically viable. It values the challenges and solutions that intersection of elements bring and helps use the diverse and productive parts of these intersections.
Permaculture asserts that by observing natural patterns from a distance, we can identify changes and react as well as prepare ourselves in accordance. Its ways and principles are completely based on nature and is still beyond scientific acceptance, but it is widely acknowledged since it has been a part of human cultures since the dawn of civilization and continues to gain mainstream acceptance as people increasingly embrace natural living. Permaculture aims at turning waste into resources and problems into solutions by simply working in ways that align with natural cycles.
Successful and practical implementations of Permaculture, are building MAPs and Food Forests, Silvo-pastures, Rainwater harvesting, Zero waste living, Seed Banks, Off-the-Grid (OTG) etc.
MAPs Forests
Permaculture emphasizes on creating a Food or MAPs forests instead of monoculture, because its self-sustainable, symbiotic, natural and permanent. Yields are more from Food and MAPs Forests than Mono-cropping with less labour, and Forests are less vulnerable to climatic adversities. Creating a Forest is labour intensive in the initial months, once the Trees and plants are matured the system keeps running on its own with or without human intervention. For further Details Refer Agroforestry
Silvopastures
This is symbiotic combination of trees, forage plants (Grazing materials) and livestock; intensively managed. Silvo-pastures provides economic opportunities of timber and non-timber products in addition to Livestock revenue. Grazing and maintaining livestock in open area is beneficial for the soil, as well having big shade trees provides suitable micro-climate for the livestocks. Thus we have healthy life stocks, healthy soil and an healthy economy.
Farmers and Herders instead of grazing the livestock in the open fields and risking the erosion of top soil, can now build eco-system where trees provide a shade and prevent soil erosion, livestocks enrich the micro-nutrients in soil and healthy forages is consumed back by the livestock.
Zero waste Living
Recycling daily human and live-stock wastes and zeroing on non-biodegradable wastes in Zero-waste living. First stage to this life-style is giving up on plastic, chemical fertilizers, pesticides etc. Kitchen and Food wastes are recycled in composts pits to create manure. Compost Toilets collect and process human faeces into manure, similarly live-stock excretes are added back into the soil. In very ideal Zero Waste life styles, only recycled clothes are worn and non-degradable wastes are reused as building materials. E.g. plastic bottles filled with sand being used as bricks to build houses. Soil from the area of construction is mixed with husk and hay to create bricks which are used for construction of the building, thus cutting down on the costs of Cement, Bricks and mortar.
Free Seed Bank
Seed is the source of life. It is the very foundation of all living organisms and specially for those who depend on plants. Hence we must protect seeds and ensure that we have pure, safe, and genetically stable seeds for the future generations.
Seed Bank and Free Seed distribution is permaculture initiative to preserve the authentic natural varieties of all plants in seed banks and distribute seeds to the needy free of cost, because we cannot produce seeds nor do we own seeds, we can only procure them from nature.
These permaculture seed bank only deals with the original natural strains and are against genetically modified varieties.
Off-the-Grid (OTG)
OTG is a life style which has been getting prominence over the decade. People are embracing Permaculture principles of using Renewable energy preferable Solar and wind to meet their daily energy needs. Houses are build using natural principles in food and MAPs forest ecosystems to keep them insulated from the surrounding climate having Solar powered batteries for energy needs. Compost Toilets are used to manure for the farms and agroforests. Mostly kitchen wastes is also mixed with human and animals composts. Water needs are met from Rain water harvesting and collection from nearby natural water source, to avoid dependence on underground water. Essential component of OTG is animal husbandry to nurture live-stocks, fouls and sometimes a pond is dug to cultures fishes and meet daily water needs.
Consumers and Patrons
Permaculture Principles
Consumers and Patrons
MAPs Forests
Consumers and Patrons
Silvopastures
Consumers and Patrons
Zero waste Living
Consumers and Patrons
Free Seed Bank
Consumers and Patrons
Off-the-Grid (OTG)
