What is Permaculture?

Our good friend and collaborator Mollie Caitlin Brigid offers this:

“There are many different definitions of “permaculture” and this is because it is not a system with a static, set in stone definition of what it always will be.  It is adaptive, it is changing, it depends on its environment.

Simply, permaculture is an ethical design system with a set of principles and concepts that guide design and promote whole systems thinking.  This ethical, principled system can be used to design anything:  social living spaces, business models, economic models, educational curriculum.  It is most commonly used to design and think about ecological systems, gardens, farms and landscapes.

There are three ethics to live by in permaculture.  They are:  Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share.  The principles may vary depending on your teacher or which authors you read.  Mollie  generally follows David Holmgren’s 12 permaculture principles, and add’s Ben Weiss’ 13th:  Design With Beauty in Mind.  Some of Holmgren’s principles are:  Observe and Interact, Catch and Store Energy, Apply Self Regulation/Accept Feedback and Use and Value Diversity. ”

- Mollie Caitlin Brigid
www.paradisefarmpermies.org

Check out what the Susquehanna Farm School has to say about permaculture!

Food for thought:   “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.” Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, also known as the ‘Bishop of Corum’