Read the Beforeitsnews.com story here. Advertise at Before It's News here.

By 5 Acres and A Dream
Contributor profile | More stories

Story Views
Now:
Last hour:
Last 24 hours:
Total:

Pattern in Permaculture Design

Saturday, August 7, 2021 0:01

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

I’ve mentioned that I’m taking Bill Mollison’s online Permaculture Design Course (PDC) at Udemy.com. But, I also had the opportunity to get Geoff Lawton’s 2013 PDC on DVD for just the price of postage(!) So, Dan and I have been watching that one together, while I fit in the online course as spare time allows. I’m going to have to say here, that until these courses, I didn’t understand what permaculture actually is. Most of what I knew about permaculture was various gardening and landscaping techniques, or a business with services to purchase. From Permies.com, I’ve started seeing permaculture as a lifestyle. But while there are many definitions to permaculture, it’s always best to go to source material, in this case, Bill Mollison himself.

“Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. . . The philosophy behind permacultre is one of working with, rather than against, nature.”

Bill Mollison, Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, page ix.

One of the key elements of conscience design, is pattern. Pattern exists everywhere in nature. Here are my notes from the PDC lectures:

Patterns are events of form.
We’re surrounded by the natural patterns of the universe, from micro to macro.
Design that follows natural patterns is productive, design that doesn’t, isn’t.
There are very few pattern form types but infinite variations.
Partial list of pattern forms:

waves such as water waves and sand dune ripples
spirals – snail shells, whirlpools, sunflower seeds in the flower head
lobes – reefs, lichens
branches – rives and tributaries, tree branches or roots
nets – cracks in mud or skin, honeycombs
scatters – algae, lichen on rocks
cloud forms – clouds or tree crowns
tessellations – turtle shells
Fibonacci sequences – found in the number of sunflower seeds in a flower head or number of pine seeds in a pine cone.

So, some simple examples of using pattern in design would be an herb spiral, making swales that follow land contours, making an herb garden with branching pathways, or circular greywater mulch pits. I guess, contrast with this with how most farming and gardening is done – squares, rectangles, and rows of straight lines, none of which is found in nature!

One way of discovering pattern is with a topographical map. The contours can reveal a specific pattern of one’s property.

Contour lines are in green and spaced every four feet.
Yellow X’s mark the highest elevation on the property.

Our house and Dan’s workshop are located at the highest elevation of our property. This will be important when we begin working on implementing permaculture water conservation. (More on that one of these days.) Interestingly, the tree lines follow the contours, and our existing fences follow the trees. What hasn’t fit this pattern, however, has been my paddock system for rotating goat grazing. Here’s the plan I came up with several years ago.

As I contemplate pattern, I’ve tried to re-envision this with what I’m learning about permaculture design. I started to play around a bit, to see what I could come up with. First, I superimposed the contour lines onto my drawing.

Not perfect, but close enough!

Then I drew in paddock fencelines that follow the contour lines.

Will we actually do this? For now, it’s just an exercise in thinking. But what we’re also considering is digging swales on contour. Capturing and retaining water is a primary permaculture goal, one that I really get. Most of our growing struggles point back to our long, hot, droughty spells most summers. Our current idea is that swales will follow the contour, we’ll plant the swales with edible hedgerows, and grazing paddocks will follow these.

All of this is in the contemplation stage at this point, with many details to work out. Like how to get/pay for the equipment to make the swales! However, one step at a time. First, we strive to understand the concept, then we explore ways to implement it. Hopefully, this is just the beginning.

Pattern in Permaculture Design © August 2021

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Source: https://www.5acresandadream.com/2021/08/pattern-in-permaculture-design.html

Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world.

Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.

"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.

Please Help Support BeforeitsNews by trying our Natural Health Products below!

Order by Phone at 888-809-8385 or online at https://mitocopper.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomic.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomics.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Humic & Fulvic Trace Minerals Complex - Nature's most important supplement! Vivid Dreams again!

HNEX HydroNano EXtracellular Water - Improve immune system health and reduce inflammation.

Ultimate Clinical Potency Curcumin - Natural pain relief, reduce inflammation and so much more.

MitoCopper - Bioavailable Copper destroys pathogens and gives you more energy. (See Blood Video)

Oxy Powder - Natural Colon Cleanser! Cleans out toxic buildup with oxygen!

Nascent Iodine - Promotes detoxification, mental focus and thyroid health.

Smart Meter Cover - Reduces Smart Meter radiation by 96%! (See Video).

Comments

Online:
Visits:	1,605,671,642
Stories:	8,137,992