PERMACULTURE CONCEPTS AND PRACTICES: A LEXICON
Compiled by Linda Buzzell lbuzzell@aol.com
In addition to the permaculture ethics and principles, the following are some useful permaculture concepts and practices that can be applied in many of the different sectors of society like land care, people care, community practices and even psychology and spirituality:
BERM. A area of elevated soil, usually on the downhill side of a swale. (see “swale”)
CHOP AND DROP. The practice of not moving resources far from their source. In garden care, chopping up trimmings and leaving them in place as a mulch.
ENERGY FLOWS. Careful observation of natural energy flows on a piece of land or in social or economic situations can help us make decisions about where to place various elements.
GABION. Rocks contained within a wire or other porous container to divert or block a stream.
GUILD. A community of elements working harmoniously together to perform a function or various functions.
KEYLINE. Wikipedia: “a technique for maximizing beneficial use of water resources of a piece of land. The Keyline refers to a specific topographic feature linked to water flow. Beyond that however, Keyline can be seen as a collection of design principles, techniques and systems for development of rural and urban landscapes.” Some say that land above the keyline should be considered sacred land.
NEEDS & RESOURCES. In assessing any situation, it is wise to make a list of needs and available resources before beginning a redesign.
LOW TECH SOLUTIONS. Exhaust biological solutions before using technological solutions.
NATURAL SUCCESSION. Design for harmony with natural succession: the pattern whereby pioneering plants (or people) are naturally followed by other species, leading up to a climax forest.
PATTERNS. Observing the patterns in nature, we can then apply these to new situations. The circle and the spiral are key patterns for this purpose. For example, time is a spiral based on the movement of the earth around the sun and the movement of other celestial elements. The straight line is not a common natural pattern.
REDUNDANCY. It is wise to include multiple elements to perform a single function. Good backup creates resilient systems.
RESILIENCE. The ability of a system to survive various shocks. See “redundancy.” Permaculture teacher Rob Hopkins' "The Transition Handbook" is based on applying the concept of resiliency to community systems.
SPIRAL. A common natural pattern used in many permaculture designs.
STACKING. Stacking functions involves a single element in a design performing multiple functions. This element could be a plant, an animal, a person or a social system.
SWALES. On-contour ditches which capture and hold water, making it available to trees and perennials planted on berms built up on the downhill side of the swale with the soil from the ditch. (see “berm”)
ZONES. Designing by zones involves starting at Zone 0 (the self), expanding to Zone 1 (the habitation), and outwards to Zone 5 (wilderness). This pattern can be applied to psychological and social systems as well.
ZONES. From Wikipedia: in permaculture design, “a method of ensuring that elements are correctly placed. Zones are numbered from 0 to 5, and can be thought of as a series of concentric rings moving out from a centre point—where human activity and need for attention is most concentrated—to where there is no need for intervention at all…
* ZONE 0 — The house, or home centre. Here permaculture principles would be applied in terms of aiming to reduce energy and water needs, harnessing natural resources such as sunlight, and generally creating a harmonious, sustainable environment in which to live, work and relax
* ZONE 1 — The zone nearest to the house, the location for those elements in the system that require frequent attention, or that need to be visited often, such as salad crops, herb plants, soft fruit like strawberries or raspberries, greenhouse and cold frames, propagation area, worm compost bin for kitchen waste, and so on.
* ZONE 2 — This area is used for siting perennial plants that require less frequent maintenance, such as occasional weed control (preferably through natural methods such as spot-mulching) or pruning, including currant bushes and orchards. This would also be a good place for beehives, larger scale home composting bins, and so on.
* ZONE 3 — The area where maincrops are grown, both for domestic use and for trade purposes. After establishment, care and maintenance required are fairly minimal (provided mulches and similar things are used), such as watering or weed control once a week or so.
* ZONE 4 — A semi-wild area. This zone is mainly used for forage and collecting wild food as well as timber production. An example might be coppice-managed woodland.
* ZONE 5 — A wild area. There is no human intervention in zone 5 apart from the observation of natural eco-systems and cycles. Here is where the most important lessons of the first permaculture principle of working with, rather than against, nature are learned.
This pattern can be applied to psychological and social systems as well. Articles have been written about “Zone 00” – the self.
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