What are the characteristics of permaculture and how does it work?

On characteristics of permaculture, we can mention that permaculture is a science of design in order to generate sustainable natural settlement systems. With careful observation of healthy natural systems, we make patterns that provide large food, energy, water, and shelter systems with minimal labor. Permaculture can be used by all the people who want to, regardless of where they are or economic situation.

Premacultura means “permanent agriculture” that allows a “durable culture”.

In permaculture we are taught how to simplify our lives and lead a lifestyle that is more fulfilling. Permaculture shows us how to quickly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and industrial systems which are destroying our ecosystems. This is also more than just a new and simple way of gardening; it is a sustainable way of living on planet Earth. The incredible thing is that we create permaculture wherever we live, you can also read our post about social permaculture.

Bill Mollison (co-founder with David Holmgren of permaculture in 1978) says that permaculture is “conscious design that sustains productive agricultural ecosystems that have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems and the harmonious integration of landscape and people. The dynamic is being able to look out the back door and see your friends and family picking up organic food.”

The good news is that you have probably already practiced or practice some permaculture principles.

Permaculture is an integrated and self-sustaining system of perennial agriculture… Involving a great diversity of plant and animal species. It is a completely self-contained agricultural ecosystem that is designed to minimize maintenance input and maximize product yield. In permaculture, little wheels or cycles of energy are set up…and the system pretty much goes on! Essentially, it’s a living clock that should never run out… At least as long as the sun shines and the earth turns.

We like to call permaculture a “human technology”, because it is human capabilities. By that we mean that it is a very basic way that consists of simple and vivid elements, so it is available to all men and women. Permaculture does not involve any complicated technology. On the contrary, it is a biotechnology, where people can handle it intuitively. After all, permaculture aims to deal with living systems… And since man himself is a living organism, he can easily understand it.

A permaculturist’s skills may include building their own home that uses almost no energy or installing a gray water system and pond. We may make a forest of edible food. Also that we have created a rainwater harvesting system, or that we turn our fences into a generating source of food. All this and more are part of a design concept that takes its forms from nature, while innovating systems that require less work than conventional agriculture and are very abundant.

Characteristics of permaculture

Permaculture is a design process with a special focus on the analysis of holistic (constant interactions) and integrated systems to create productive and sustainable ecosystems and to recover landscapes degraded by conventional agriculture.

The characteristics of permaculture are based on traditional experience, and include sustainable agricultural practices, acceptable technology, techniques and land management strategies from around the world.

It also embraces and supports organic farming. One of its objectives is to maximize the symbiotic and synergistic relationships between the components of the space that we are going to use. Systems that have annual and perennial crops increase the biological variety and present other characteristics which are lacking in monoculture systems. Eco-friendly manufacturing methods such as soil building practices, organic pest control, and composting are essential to permaculture.

Other features of permaculture are organic farming and gardening techniques using cover crops, manures, crop rotation and mulches are what permaculture systems emphasize. The decision as to which “system” might be employed is site-specific and up to management. Common gardening and recycling practices in permaculture include edible landscaping, keyhole gardening, companion planting, trellis, chicken tractors, solar greenhouses among others.

How does permaculture work?

Permaculture is a holistic design process and includes us planning the entire farm. Appropriate techniques can be used and applied, such as agroforestry, ditches, contour planting, soil and water management, rain harvesting, hedgerows and windbreaks, and constructed wetlands, aquaculture, intercropping among many more. .

Some features of permaculture are recycling resources and nutrients as a key action of permaculture models.

Appropriate technologies recommended by the permaculturist community include solar and wind power, dry toilets, solar greenhouses, energy quality housing, solar cooking and drying of food, biodiesel and many other alternative fuels.

As well as providing many solutions, permaculture design can be applied to urban and social planning.

Other functions of permaculture

Permaculture is not limited to the farming of plants and animals, but also incorporates some features of permaculture such as community planning and development, the use of appropriate technologies, and the assimilation of concepts and philosophies that are both ground-based and ground-based. in people.

Due to the sustainability related to perennial cropping systems, permaculture puts in place a great emphasis on tree crops. Systems that are part of annual and perennial crops, such as alley crops and agroforestry, employ the “edge effect”, increasing biological diversity and offering other characteristics that are missing in monoculture systems. Thus, multiple cropping systems that bring together annuals and woody perennials are suitable as viable techniques for larger-scale agriculture. Ecological ways of brewing for any specific crop or farming system (soil building, organic pest control, composting) are just as fundamental to permaculture as they are to sustainable agriculture in general.

Since permaculture is not a production system, but rather a philosophy of land use and community planning, it is not limited to any particular production method. Also, since permaculture principles can be adapted to faraway farms or villages anywhere in the world, it is site-specific and therefore can be applied to locally adapted production techniques.

What techniques does permaculture use?

A clear example would be, the current organic farming and gardening techniques using cover crops, organic manures, crop rotation and mulches are emphasized in permaculture systems. In addition, there are many other possible methods and technologies for sustainable farmers working within a permaculture framework (chisel plows, no-tillage implements, spacing objects, compost turners, rotational grazing). The determination of which “system” to employ is up to the site and the administration.

The processes of collecting, managing and reusing water according to Keyline, greywater, rainwater harvesting, artificial wetlands, aquaponics (the incorporation of hydroponics with recirculating aquaculture) and solar water ponds have a very important role in the thoughts of permaculture.

We may make a forest of edible food. Also the fact that we have created a rainwater harvesting system that collects and stores the rain that falls on our roofs, or turns our fences into a generating source of food. All this and more are part of a design concept that takes its forms from nature, while innovating systems that require less work than conventional agriculture and are very abundant.

Characteristics of permaculture: the 12 principles of permaculture

1 – Observe and interact

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, if we take the time to interact with nature we can design solutions suitable for our particular situation.

2- Capture and store energy

Dry the grass while the sun shines, through the creation of resource harvesting systems during times of plenty, we could use them in times of scarcity.

3- Get a performance

You can’t work on an empty stomach, make sure you’re getting really useful rewards as part of the work you’re doing.

4- Self-regulation and feedback

The sins of the fathers are punished in the children until the seventh generation, we need to discourage inappropriate activities to ensure that the systems continue to function well.

5- Use and value renewable services and resources

Let nature take its course, take advantage of the abundance of nature to reduce our consumer behavior and dependence on non-renewable resources. Excessive use of resources and high technology is not only expensive but can negatively affect the environment.

6- Stop producing waste

By avoiding producing waste, we avoid generating shortages, “prevention is better than cure”, valuing and using all the resources that are within our reach, nothing is wasted.

7- Design from patterns to details

If we take a step back, we can observe patterns in nature and in society. These can form the basis of our designs, with details filled in as we go.

8- Integrate more than segregate

Many hands lighten the work, putting the right things in the right places, relationships develop between those things and they complement each other to support each other.

9- Use slow and small solutions in social permaculture

Slow and steady wins the race, small and slow systems are easier to maintain than larger ones, make better use of local resources and produce more sustainable results.

10- Use and value diversity

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, diversity reduces vulnerability to a range of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.

11- Use the edges and value the marginal

Don’t think you are on the right path just because it is a known path.
What is most common, obvious and popular is not necessarily what is most significant or influential.

12- Use and respond creatively to change

The vision is not to see things as they are but as they will be in What is social permaculture, we can have a positive impact on inevitable change by observing it carefully and intervening at the right time.