earth user’s guide to Rosemary Morrow Illustrated by Rob Allsop Kangaroo PressCHAPTER 1 Starting permaculture Before you start permaculture, it is useful to know something of the history and foundations upon which it is built. Permaculture was developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s in response to Earth's soil, water and air pollution by industrial and agricultural systems; loss of plant and animal species; reduction of natural non-renewable resources; and destructive economic systems. Bill and David reassembled! old wiseom, skills and knowledge of plant, animal and social systems, and added new scientific knowledge. Permaculture was born, The result was a new way of sustaining and enriching life without environmental and social degradation, Although many of the parts of permaculture were familar, it was the overall interlocking framework and pattern that was new, exciting and different. Unlike modern science, which is reductionist, reducing everything to its smallest components, permaculture places itself squarely on the shoulders of ecology, the study of inter relationships and the interdependence of living things and their environment, Permaculture affers an understanding of how biological processes are integrated, and it deals primarily with tangibles: plants, soils, water, animal systems, wildlife, bush regeneration, biotechnology, agriculture, forestry, architecture and society in the areas of economics, land access, bioregions and incomes tit! to right livelihood. How do you make sense of these and weave them into a design? Your tools are observation, analysis and synthesis, and the result is applied design for sustainable living. ‘There are many definitions of permaculture. Here is ome: ‘Permaculture is about designing sustainable human settlements through ecology and design. It isa philosophy and an approach to land use which weaves together microclimates, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, water management and human needs into intricately connected productive communities’ (Bill Mollison and Reny Mia Slay fatroduction fo Permaculture) ‘And, as Mollison goes on to say, "Permaculture is... working with natute rather than against nature ... of looking at systems in all their functions rather than asking only one yield of them; and of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions, The main features of the permacuttuse approach are summarised as follows © Itisa synthesis of traditional knowledge and modern science applicable in both arban and rural situations, % ttworks with nature and takes natural systems as models to design sustainable ‘environments that provide for basic human needs and the social and econornic infrastructures that support them. © (encourages us, and gives us the capacity and opportunity to become a conscious part of the solutions to the many problems that face us locally and globallyWhy practise permaculture? For you permaculture can be the ereative alternative that our society is not offering. It opens doors to a simpler, better-quality life and it is empowering because anyone can do! it. There are no barriers of age, sex, religion, education or culture, You start small, so the scale and costs are not prohibitive, and whether you have 1 square metre oF J million hectares, permaculture will work, The act of working closely with the earth and taking responsibility for how you treat it gives you greater and greater rewards as you respond to the positive environmental changes. f, over your lifetime, you build or rettofit a simple, non polluting home and grow your own food, build soil, and care for natural vegetation, then you will have lived a full, ereative and interesting life with great personal freedom, satisfaction and autonomy. To become a permaculture designer, you will need to complete four main tasks as you work through this book: 2. Camy out an inventory of your house and land, 2, Makea site analysis of your land, showing its strengths and weaknesses in dtl ‘5, Make your final step-by-step design for the lanl to achieve permaculture goals 4, Record your observations regulatly in your observation journal Understanding patterns Pattern language is basic to the study of pesmaculture, All life exists within patterns of birth, «growth and decay. Life patterns are in motion and act element has its own lifecycle, from minutes to thousands of years. Stones, wind, sun, seas, stars and rivers also exist within patterns. Patterns are embedded within other pattems; patterns overlap in time and space Some patterns are more prevalent than others. Because of pattesns life perpettates itself and exists sustainably; for example, the pattern of ocean currents bringing changes of seasons, the patterns of fruit ripening and seed scatter. Nature is a repetitive series of time and space patterns. You can learn to read these patterns and understand how they work by a cea eas observing your land. When you notice a pattern, watch how it functions and evalves. For example, after clearing land, weeds emerge to protect and change bare sol ‘All patterns have mathematical relationships, Animals build nests and hives, rivers flow and trees branch according to mathematical relationships the honeycomb has hexagonal cells, for example. Nature has several main patterns: circles, spirals and networks, and all of these have mathematical interpretations. Interestingly architecture and music, ike patterns in nature, are also ‘mathematically underpinned. Often the mathematical relationships are expressed in ratios, Elements of patlerns which lead 10 good design are: symmetrical, and asymimettical, balance in shapes and patterns 6 proportion (ratios) in nature play of patterns on patterns and patterns within patterns © repetition of patterns © perception and integration of existing patterns, Al patterns in nature have a time component, The patterns are a sequence of events which are repetitive and often predictable, Some examples are the annual movement of the earth around the sun, seasonal rainfall, seed dispersal and the migration ‘of animals. Figure 1.1 shows the sun movement and shadow pattern in a day. Patterns can be dimensional, such as lines of weeds along roads, swales, along contour lines, river flow down valleys, the deposition of alluvial soil