“Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex,the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.”― Bill Mollison
We’ll incorporate these principles into lessons throughout the course. To orient yourself these are from: Principles from “Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison and Reny Mia Slay.
Relative location - By placing elements that can exchange energy near each other, one is working with the natural predilections of those elements to increase yield.
Each element performs many functions - Choose and place elements in the system to have as many uses as possible, for higher yields. Stack elements in time and place.
Each important function is supported by many elements - Build redundancy for important elements. Example: Water is necessary for life; have more than one source.
Efficient energy planning - Use zones, sectors, elements and slope to increase energy flow efficiency and capture more energy.
Using biological resources - Must not use these in a way that depletes limited resources.
Cycling of energy, nutrients, resources - Creating circular systems (food, compost, soil, food) in a system creates a higher yield and less input. (Waste is food).
Small-scale intensive systems - including plant stacking and time stacking. - Small scale allows maximum interaction and awareness, thereby efficiency.
Accelerating succession and evolution - This is how we are able to create productive systems in a concentrated time period, instead of decades or longer.
Diversity, including guilds - Beneficial connection makes diversity work. Diversity creates resilience.
Edge effects - Explore how higher yields can be gotten at the edge.
Attitudinal principles,everything works both ways, and permaculture is information and imagination-intensive - Look for solutions in problems (“The problem is the solution”), gather more information if the design is not working, and use creative, non-linear methods to think outside the box.
These last set are often referred to as the philosophy behind permaculture and are from Permaculture, a Designers' Manual by Bill Mollison.
Work with nature, rather than against her - Higher yields, less work.
Cooperation, not competition, is the very basis of existing life systems and of future survival - It is also easier to get things done when there is cooperation.
The problem is the solution - Another way to say this is “solve abundances with scarcities, and scarcities with abundances”. If you have too much of something, what does it feed? If you have too little, what is there too much of that you can use to remedy?
Make the least change for the greatest possible effect - Less inputs and waste, more yield. Test your theory before making huge changes to a system that might not work.
The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited (or only limited by the imagination and information of the designer) - When you start designing from this premise, instead of from a premise of limitation, you are likely to end up with higher yields.
Everything gardens (or modifies its environment) - A design is never fixed - you are working with living energies that continue to evolve.
Hands On Activity
Read Chapter 1 of Introduction to Permaculture.
Hands On Activity
Go through each of Mollison’s principles and try to think of an example of something you’ve seen that would illustrate that principle. Don’t worry if you can’t think of one for some of them - we’ll share multiple examples of these at work during the rest of the course. Write down 2-3 examples in your journal.
Further study
Interview with Bill Mollison.