Gearing Up for Permaculture

Permaculture is perhaps best known as a set of agricultural principles and techniques that best promote sustainability. First developed in Australia by Bill Mollison, who later co-authored a book in 1988 on the values, principles, and techniques of permaculture with Reny Mia Slay entitled Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, permaculture has emerged as an effective way of land management for (aspiring) farmers. As ecology lay-persons and scholars grew familiar with its values, permaculture courses have emerged around the globe to combat the environmental degradation conventional agricultural has imposed on nature. Below is a quick description of permaculture and a brief review of its principles and applications. Following, a list of permaculture courses is provided for those interested in getting certified.

Sustainability through Permaculture

Concerned about the growing aridity of Australian soil and the shrinking availability of arable land, Mollison devised an agricultural technique that best conserved a limited resource – water – in some of Australia’ s barren places. The term permaculture comes from the conjoining of two words, “permanent” and “agriculture” to denote a more sustainable method of utilizing land and consuming resources.

What is significant about the permaculture way of approaching farming is in its intimate relationship with the intricate patterns of nature. In fact, employing permaculture successfully in the practice of agriculture is the underlying reason behind permaculture’s development. As such, the permaculturalist pays strong attention to the natural resource features available to the design of a permaculture farm in tandem with the resounding patterns of ecology.

Reading Nature and Its Complexities

How does the wind blow through the open land? How does the sun gaze down on the tree tops? Is there sufficient shade, but how does its shadow lay? What is the slope of the land? Where are the creeks, brooks, and streams? How does water flow onto soil in the aftermath of a rain? What insects pay you a visit as you labor on your farm? These are the types of questions normally asked when observing nature’s operations across your farm land.

Permaculture divides up your farm space in zones; it promotes stacking your plant implements the further you move away from your first zone – your house – and maneuvering your plant and animal food stock according to wind flow and the sun’s movements. Shrubs should surround your first zone and selection should be based on what beneficial insects they attract. Large trees should frame your internal zones. Vegetation swales should be carved out along the side of a mountain, at the bottom slope of the land gracing your house zone. Biodiversity is key! And, by all means, use only organic methods when feeding your soil and caring for your animals. Composting and mulching, using food scraps and yard waste, are preferred to synthetic fertilizers; free range is better than crowding your chickens in a pen; grazing your cows on expansive grass land is preferred to the muddy pits characterizing conventional dairy farms.

How Do I Get Certified?

Do you need a background in organic farming to appreciate the virtues of permaculture? Perhaps, but some knowledge of organic gardening might be sufficient. If in doubt, those wanting to get a stronger grounding in organic farming before moving onto permaculture might want to review the training program at Michigan State University. It is short and cheap, especially for Michigan residents.

Next up – permaculture training courses. For this, you have a wide range of programs to choose from. The duration and costs differ, but most range from one week to one month and cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. The program you select would obviously depend on how much you want to spend and on how long you can commit. Courses also differ by theme. Some are spiritual, while others are purely technical. Some are comprehensive, while others narrow in on strictly principles, ethics, and design models. Before deciding on one, think about what you want to get out of it and how you want to apply it to your lifestyle and to your career. The programs named here are by no means exhaustive; they are only the beginning:

Midwest Permaculture Design Certification Course

Permaculture Institute

Occidental Arts Ecology Center

Alderleaf Wilderness College

Urban Harvest

Permaculture at Sirius

Last and certainly not least, one of my favorites (but only because I was fortunate enough to participate in it in conjunction with the eco-agriculture graduate program at the now-closed, New College of California) is the Commonweal Farm Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas, California. This program keeps you updated on job openings related to permaculture at Commonweal and elsewhere if you join their alumnae list.

Any of these training courses prepare you to teach permaculture and spread the joy of living sustainably.