Introduction to Permaculture
Permaculture is a method of
combining traditional agricultural systems with ecological concepts to
acknowledge the fact that no one gardens in a vaccuum. It's a pretty big idea
which will take decades to fully explore. This week, I'll just
present a smattering of concepts we're
working with at the moment, trying to create a more natural ecosystem
in our garden.
You probably already use some permaculture concepts if you garden
organically. For example, composting is a natural way of
mimicking the formation of soil. You may get some natural pest
control by leaving spots for insect-eating birds to hang out in your
garden. Those of you with honeybees have probably noticed how
they promote good pollination of your crops. On a larger scale,
we leave 90% of our property in a natural state to acknowledge the fact
that humanity has overrun the world and other living things need a
place to grow, slither, and fly, even if they have no obvious use to us.
| This post is part of our Permaculture lunchtime series.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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