Some Permaculture Thoughts

Last fall, I went to a basic permaculture training. It was two weeks in New York state. I loved it. It is time for me to revisit some of the ideas I learned and I thought I would do that through this blog so I could share the thoughts and information. This is the first installment.

First of all, there is a lot of misconception about what permaculture is. Most people conjure up images of fanciful gardens and maybe a composting toilet when they hear the word permaculture. And although these may be part of a permaculture design, they in no way encompass it. Permaculture is a design system. A way of looking at something, thinking about something and planning something. It is applicable to anything that you design. And we are arranging and planning things all the time. You could apply permaculture principles to arranging your desk, planning how your kitchen is set up or use it to design an intentional living community. Only your imagination limits the ways to use design principles of permaculture.


There are a couple of questions that should be asked when planning a system. The first of which is, is what we're doing something that cares for the earth? Permaculture is designed to help you create systems that are not only sustainable but that aim to be regenerative. If you are planning a garden, your goal will be to actually help to restore the soil and ecosystem. This will become more clear as we discuss the principles in more depth. A second question that needs to be asked is, will this design care for people? Again, in permaculture, ethics is an important consideration when designing a system. It is imperative if we are to create sustainable caring communities that we consider how we are impacting both the earth and other people. Currently the way most systems are designed, they are created without these two concepts in mind. Think of your local grocery store, it is not set up in a way to care for the earth or people. It is designed to illicit a shopping response and to manipulate the way you shop. It's goal is to get you to buy more groceries. Think about how local communities are planned. Again, it becomes pretty clear, pretty fast that these systems are not designed with people or the planet in mind. I think this will be a necessary shift in focus for us to create the kind of place where most of us would want to live if we were to have a choice. It will also be a necessary shift as we move towards sustainability and not the plunder of people and the earth.

Grey Water

One of the principles of permaculture is to look at things that would commonly be thought of as a waste product and instead, view it as a resource. You are always looking for the next best use out of everything. In our present day system, we pipe clean, potable water into our house. We use it to drink, to wash clothes, to take showers, to flush toilets and to water plants. After this initial use, we pipe the water, now called gray water (with the exception of the water from the toilet which is called black water) out of our house and into the sewage system. Within a permaculture system, you would look for other ways to use this grey water instead of letting it be taken away.

There are a couple of different options that involve using what is called a gray water system. These systems are what I'm currently researching. In most metropolitan areas, grey water systems are illegal or at least restricted and you should contact your local municipality to see what restrictions there are in your area. Eventually, when we move to our acreage, our house will be off the grid and we will reuse all of our grey water. I would like to begin some of the process in the house I live in now. I would like to capture the water from our washing machine and contain it in a barrel reservoir, to later use to irrigate my gardens.

If you have any desire to install a gray water system, or are even just interested in learning more, you absolutely need to get the book Create An Oasis with Greywater by Art Ludwig. What I am researching now is how to capture the water from our washing machine and save it in a barrel. I can later use this water to help water my garden. It is necessary to be careful what kinds of cleaners I use to wash our clothes because I don't want to be putting chemicals onto my plants. This goes right along with what I'd like to do any way because I'd like to be making my own soaps.

I'll keep you posted on how our project goes and give you some pictures of our progress. The big challenge will be to cut a hole in our laundry room and reroute the water outside the house to be stored. Our laundry room is on the second story from the back of the house, so, there will be some challenges. I highly recommend you get this book, check out your local library. You can also get lots more information from the Oasis website.

Welcome

This is my first blog - ever, anywhere. so, bear with me while i learn and stretch those rusty writing muscles, which were never particularly nimble to begin with. Why have I brushed away the cobwebs to start a blog? Why even a blog, when i'm not that enamored with technology and may not even have anything very relevant to speak of? Well, I'm kind of on a quest. I believe i may have started it a long time ago but wasn't even aware of it. Or perhaps, i'm finally making a commitment to start it today. My goal is to learn to do as many things as possible for myself. To become as self sufficient as possible. This includes earning a living not working for others, learning and practicing permaculture, organic and sustainable agriculture, alternative building, animal husbandry, sewing, cooking, canning, and i could go on ad naseum. all the things i will need to learn has not even dawned on me. Along the way, my goal is to make as much art as possible, drawing, painting, ceramics, making music, and functional art such as clothing. And to build as much community as possible. I do not claim to be any kind of an expert on any of the above mentioned topics, or even any topics that i will dream of once i go to bed tonight. However, i thought there may be someone out there in cyber world or the real world that may share some of the same interests. They may be following a similar quest and that i could use this blog to swap information. To learn out loud, so to speak. to take notes of my quest and to process some of my learning. Please, eaves drop in on the process, comment, question, post suggestions and ideas. Most of all, consider walking along with me. There can not be too much learning, there can not be too much art, there can not be too much caring about our community of people, animal and plant life. And it is probably time that we left the womb of wal-mart and learned to do some things for ourselves and in such a way that we feel good about our choices.

Stay tuned - I've gotten my seed catalogs, i'll share with you some of the catalogs i've gotten to order seeds for this spring (it's coming faster than you can imagine), and i'll tell you some great places you can look for seeds yourself.