Permaculture Basics as Applied to Plants

Permaculture Basics

Sustainability- Nature is a vast sustainable system that has the ability to self-renew thus it continues on indefinitely. Ecosystems regenerate season after season, year after year creating food and habitat without any help from us. Sustainable agricultural practices seek to emulate the patterns in nature through companion planting, crop rotation, the use of animals for manure as well as other duties like sheep and goats for weeds or ducks and geese for snail patrol. Maintaining wildlife habitat can be very helpful in keeping the destructive pest populations down and the land productive.

Permaculture; permanent agriculture or permanent culture; Cultivated Ecology

Permaculture and sustainability go hand in hand and are not mutually exclusive. Permaculture is a site-specific approach to agricultural. Observation of the key elements native to the location are used to create systems of healthy ecology. The concept was defined and developed in 1978 by Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist, along with one of his students, David Holmgren. he concept of permaculture continues to grow and now has moved beyond the fields and into financial, community and personal disciplines.

Basic steps to creating permacuture;

1) See the system as a whole.

2) The elements or parts are always in connection. Observe how they relate.

3) Build a healthy system based on ideas learned from time tested working systems found in nature.

4) The connections and synergy created by the parts is the key to understanding healthy sustainable systems.

The creation of a true permacultue is a formidable undertaking, and there are the naysayers who think it can’t be done. Few things even in nature are permanent so yes the concept is somewhat idealized, and yet when a healthy balanced system is in place it can be self sustaining, and so a semi-permanent culture can be established.

So how do we apply this to self?

Beginnings...

Traditionally used in reference to Permanent Agriculture, I became interested in the permaculture model as a way of integrating my lifetime of work with mystic non-linear realms with my life as a farmer, partner in green construction, and work in the Organic Certification Industry. Personal Permaculute was a happy solution to merging these diverse bodies of knowledge and understanding.

The rules for creating sustainable Permaculture can be applied as easily to a person as a plant, after all what are we if not advanced interactive bio-logical units? Our bodies are of the earth, fed by her plants and animals.., water bubbling, streaming, raining, forth.., air still, blowing, abundant breath, temperatures within the limited realms which we can thrive and survive, mobile plant units...with a mind capable of logical thinking...a heart capable of love...a spirit able to perceive the Divine...and creativity to birth forth our dreams.
A brilliant creation with the ability to create! Sweet.

Permaculture begins with wholeness. Wholeness of self, a plot of land, family, community, or the planet. Wholeness is made up of diverse elements (or parts). The Elements have a wholeness unique to themselves but not all parts operate under the same rules or support the same fields of play. Learning to identify and observe the elements, in self or a field of crop is essential to creating permaculture. With a strong understanding of the supporting elements, the field of life can be sculpted into a a dynamic sustainable system.

Keeping in mind the four foundational elements, Earth, Air, Fire, Water and the fifth element, the quintessence... or that which animates them all. All things of body, mind, spirit, family, community and planet are relevant elements to feng shui-ing personal permaculture. Which means there is so much fun and potential to be found in exploring, sharing, and mapping all things.