Permaculture
Posted: Sun May 01, 2022 12:19 am
If you've never heard of the term, permaculture is a holistic approach to farming, and even more broadly to settlement-building, where the main idea is essentially to create and maintain a micro-ecosystem that both provides for the basic needs of the community (food, water, and shelter) and, like any other ecosystem, replenishes itself instead of requiring excessive maintenance and external resources, like most modern farms do. With permaculture farming you work with the land and the existing ecosystem rather than fighting with it to minimize the maintenance effort and maximize the natural resources you get out of it.
I am just now starting to learn about this and I encourage others to do the same. There are paid courses you can take on permaculture design, but there are also plenty of books and free resources like blogs and YouTube videos on the subject. The videos are especially nice because even though most of them don't go into great detail, they do give a basic outline as well as real-world examples that you can see of how different people operate their permaculture farms. Some of the main approaches involve using organic waste as fertilizer, using natural streams and rainwater as water sources, and using rotational grazing to prevent destruction of pasture and keep parasites in the livestock to a minimum, but these are just the basics, and that's why it is important to study the subject and even more important to put it into practice.
Once I have some land I'm going to get to work on converting it to a permaculture farm. I'll just start with something easy like chickens and growing low-maintenance plants, but as time goes on I hope to be producing more than I can even use. A productive permaculture farm, like any other farm, can provide a source of monetary income or goods for bartering in addition to providing for your own family's basic needs, and that's what I'm going for. I want to be in a position where I'll be just fine if I have no money, or if the grocery store shelves are empty, and I believe a permaculture farm is the only real way to accomplish that goal.
I am just now starting to learn about this and I encourage others to do the same. There are paid courses you can take on permaculture design, but there are also plenty of books and free resources like blogs and YouTube videos on the subject. The videos are especially nice because even though most of them don't go into great detail, they do give a basic outline as well as real-world examples that you can see of how different people operate their permaculture farms. Some of the main approaches involve using organic waste as fertilizer, using natural streams and rainwater as water sources, and using rotational grazing to prevent destruction of pasture and keep parasites in the livestock to a minimum, but these are just the basics, and that's why it is important to study the subject and even more important to put it into practice.
Once I have some land I'm going to get to work on converting it to a permaculture farm. I'll just start with something easy like chickens and growing low-maintenance plants, but as time goes on I hope to be producing more than I can even use. A productive permaculture farm, like any other farm, can provide a source of monetary income or goods for bartering in addition to providing for your own family's basic needs, and that's what I'm going for. I want to be in a position where I'll be just fine if I have no money, or if the grocery store shelves are empty, and I believe a permaculture farm is the only real way to accomplish that goal.