Beverly Hoffman
Living respectfully on the land
Published on Wed, Jun 30, 2010 by Beverly HoffmanRead More Hoffman
A month ago we traveled with friends to Orcas Island for a weekend workshop on permaculture, a relatively new buzz word in the agricultural/food movement.
The essence of permaculture is to observe nature and to understand the intelligence that nature has worked out over the years so that we can copy it to sustain permanently, its eco-systems.
It's grounded on an ethical stance of being kind to the planet, to people and to the process of gardening.
The class was held on the 10-acre property of Sam and Doug Bullock, where their two families reside along with a third brother and his family.
For more than 30 years these two brothers have observed the sun, wind and growing habits and have created their little Eden.
Their property isn't a tidy garden with every weed pulled out; in fact, it's quite messy in areas. Their work is always in progress as they harness solar energy to pump water uphill, as they build a new shed or as they work their piles of compost. They have created a self-sustaining piece of land that is fertile and loved.
Not only do the three families live off its bounty, but about 10 interns who want to study under the Bullock brothers, as well as any workshop participants, are privileged to eat greens picked an hour or so earlier and to feast on vegetarian meals garnished with fresh herbs.
The Bullock brothers and interns are curious. They like to think. They study. They collaborate. They dream. They hope.
The term permaculture became popular in Australia in the 1970s where agronomists grappled with poor soil and drought conditions. Bill Mollison worked with Dave Holmgren to develop ideas about stable agricultural systems. Mollison further refined their ideas about sustainable human habitats and lectured in more than 80 countries.
In 1991, ABC produced "The Global Gardener," still available online through YouTube.
Permaculture has evolved and now includes designing and experimenting with anything - berms, composting, wells, pumps, water habitats, terracing, water conservation - that reduces stress on a system or on people.
Many permaculture organizing principles are applicable to many tasks unrelated to gardening, from organizing closets to running a business, to working on a marriage because of its ethical underpinnings of honoring those things that sustain us - the earth and relationships.
Permaculture attempts to reverse a downward slope of degeneration of resources to a restorative state, which means that we self-regulate our consumption and choose how to live in a way that is respectful of the land and its people.
A few ideas from the class might stimulate new thinking:
1. Design a garden so that it works for you.
Have an herb garden near the front door. Compost bins need to be by an area
that makes it the most efficient.
Keep tools near the areas where you need them rather than storing them all in a shed far away.
2. Use the appropriate technology for the job.
Sometimes we arm ourselves with a gallon of herbicide, a sprayer, gloves, etc., and marshal forward to kill weeds. A dandelion digger does the same thing ... and serves the double purpose of whittling down the waistline and improves our own cardiovascular system.
Can we fix the tools we buy or are they so high tech that they confound us and frustrate us?
What is the minimum output needed, technologically speaking, to create the maximum harvest?
3. How can we recycle and use resources on our property?
Can we capture rain water? My husband uses a simple method of filling up galvanized 30-gallon trash cans with water and then transferring that water to smaller buckets. He's cut out wood covers so the buckets can be stacked. We also have rain barrels. We use very little tap water.
One of permaculture's principles is to begin small and build on those successes. When boiling water for pasta or vegetables, use the enriched liquid on your plants rather than pouring it down the drain. Also, as you wait for hot water for your shower, save the initial cold water to reuse to water plants. Recycle all plastic bags via our supermarket bins.
4. Look at your property and see how to maximize edges.
Many think of individual compartments - the fence that holds in things, the pond, the house, the straight walkway.
I have one friend who spreads all sorts of seeds on the rocks that line the ditch between her garden and the road. Plant something outside the fence that will soften it. Rather than straight pathways, consider an undulating effect that offers more planting space.
Oftentimes the culture that is between two things - for instance, the marshy area between a pond and land - offers an opportunity for something quite unique - like cattails.
5. What is the yield of our work?
Initially the answer seems simple, but it isn't.
Does our design of our landscape keep people out or invite them in?
Is our bounty only weeds? What is the enjoyment/nutritional/relational aspect of our gardening?
Do we plant everything at once and then have too many radishes and zucchini? Do we waste it or give it away? Should we stagger our planting?
Does a lawn give a yield in comparison to the nutrients it steals from other plants?
6. Plant in guilds ...
a permaculture term that suggests a symbiotic richness in plant grouping.
For instance, if you want to plant an apple tree, plant a nitrogen-fixer next to it, such as ceonothus, lupine, Siberian pea shrub, etc.
Also plant an insectiary plant to attract helpful bugs and butterflies.
Leave the area about 8 inches around the tree open so boring animals won't be tempted to live in the warmth of wood chips or mulch.
Plant something with low, full foliage, such as comfrey (which spreads by weed eaters!) as a barrier to keep grass from intruding.
Toby Hemenway's "Gaia's Garden" is a helpful resource on guilds. See other helpful books highlighted onwww.permacultureproject.com.
Several permaculture Web sites that offer ideas and help are www.permacultureportal.com, which is the Bullocks's Web site.
Seattle Permaculture Guild (www.seattle
permacultureguild.org), Seattle Tilth and its hotline (www.seattletilth.org) and Permaculture Now (www.permaculturenow.com) all offer further information.
Recently I was in Port Townsend and was on my way to Far Reaches Garden/Nursery and on the corner of Hastings and Discovery, I saw several models of potager cottages for sale.
These were a great example of permaculture because the builder used many recycled materials.
By the houses, he had designed raised beds so the owners could grow their own vegetables and fruit right outside their front door.
I'd love to live in one!
Permaculture creates dreamers who want to restore fertility to our land, who want to share bounty with others, who want to live in a modest and sustaining way.
After the class, both my husband and I feel we, too, have become dreamers.
Beverly Hoffman can be reached via e-mail at
columnists@sequimgazette.com.
The essence of permaculture is to observe nature and to understand the intelligence that nature has worked out over the years so that we can copy it to sustain permanently, its eco-systems.
It's grounded on an ethical stance of being kind to the planet, to people and to the process of gardening.
The class was held on the 10-acre property of Sam and Doug Bullock, where their two families reside along with a third brother and his family.
For more than 30 years these two brothers have observed the sun, wind and growing habits and have created their little Eden.
Their property isn't a tidy garden with every weed pulled out; in fact, it's quite messy in areas. Their work is always in progress as they harness solar energy to pump water uphill, as they build a new shed or as they work their piles of compost. They have created a self-sustaining piece of land that is fertile and loved.
Not only do the three families live off its bounty, but about 10 interns who want to study under the Bullock brothers, as well as any workshop participants, are privileged to eat greens picked an hour or so earlier and to feast on vegetarian meals garnished with fresh herbs.
The Bullock brothers and interns are curious. They like to think. They study. They collaborate. They dream. They hope.
The term permaculture became popular in Australia in the 1970s where agronomists grappled with poor soil and drought conditions. Bill Mollison worked with Dave Holmgren to develop ideas about stable agricultural systems. Mollison further refined their ideas about sustainable human habitats and lectured in more than 80 countries.
In 1991, ABC produced "The Global Gardener," still available online through YouTube.
Permaculture has evolved and now includes designing and experimenting with anything - berms, composting, wells, pumps, water habitats, terracing, water conservation - that reduces stress on a system or on people.
Many permaculture organizing principles are applicable to many tasks unrelated to gardening, from organizing closets to running a business, to working on a marriage because of its ethical underpinnings of honoring those things that sustain us - the earth and relationships.
Permaculture attempts to reverse a downward slope of degeneration of resources to a restorative state, which means that we self-regulate our consumption and choose how to live in a way that is respectful of the land and its people.
A few ideas from the class might stimulate new thinking:
1. Design a garden so that it works for you.
Have an herb garden near the front door. Compost bins need to be by an area
that makes it the most efficient.
Keep tools near the areas where you need them rather than storing them all in a shed far away.
2. Use the appropriate technology for the job.
Sometimes we arm ourselves with a gallon of herbicide, a sprayer, gloves, etc., and marshal forward to kill weeds. A dandelion digger does the same thing ... and serves the double purpose of whittling down the waistline and improves our own cardiovascular system.
Can we fix the tools we buy or are they so high tech that they confound us and frustrate us?
What is the minimum output needed, technologically speaking, to create the maximum harvest?
3. How can we recycle and use resources on our property?
Can we capture rain water? My husband uses a simple method of filling up galvanized 30-gallon trash cans with water and then transferring that water to smaller buckets. He's cut out wood covers so the buckets can be stacked. We also have rain barrels. We use very little tap water.
One of permaculture's principles is to begin small and build on those successes. When boiling water for pasta or vegetables, use the enriched liquid on your plants rather than pouring it down the drain. Also, as you wait for hot water for your shower, save the initial cold water to reuse to water plants. Recycle all plastic bags via our supermarket bins.
4. Look at your property and see how to maximize edges.
Many think of individual compartments - the fence that holds in things, the pond, the house, the straight walkway.
I have one friend who spreads all sorts of seeds on the rocks that line the ditch between her garden and the road. Plant something outside the fence that will soften it. Rather than straight pathways, consider an undulating effect that offers more planting space.
Oftentimes the culture that is between two things - for instance, the marshy area between a pond and land - offers an opportunity for something quite unique - like cattails.
5. What is the yield of our work?
Initially the answer seems simple, but it isn't.
Does our design of our landscape keep people out or invite them in?
Is our bounty only weeds? What is the enjoyment/nutritional/relational aspect of our gardening?
Do we plant everything at once and then have too many radishes and zucchini? Do we waste it or give it away? Should we stagger our planting?
Does a lawn give a yield in comparison to the nutrients it steals from other plants?
6. Plant in guilds ...
a permaculture term that suggests a symbiotic richness in plant grouping.
For instance, if you want to plant an apple tree, plant a nitrogen-fixer next to it, such as ceonothus, lupine, Siberian pea shrub, etc.
Also plant an insectiary plant to attract helpful bugs and butterflies.
Leave the area about 8 inches around the tree open so boring animals won't be tempted to live in the warmth of wood chips or mulch.
Plant something with low, full foliage, such as comfrey (which spreads by weed eaters!) as a barrier to keep grass from intruding.
Toby Hemenway's "Gaia's Garden" is a helpful resource on guilds. See other helpful books highlighted onwww.permacultureproject.com.
Several permaculture Web sites that offer ideas and help are www.permacultureportal.com, which is the Bullocks's Web site.
Seattle Permaculture Guild (www.seattle
permacultureguild.org), Seattle Tilth and its hotline (www.seattletilth.org) and Permaculture Now (www.permaculturenow.com) all offer further information.
Recently I was in Port Townsend and was on my way to Far Reaches Garden/Nursery and on the corner of Hastings and Discovery, I saw several models of potager cottages for sale.
These were a great example of permaculture because the builder used many recycled materials.
By the houses, he had designed raised beds so the owners could grow their own vegetables and fruit right outside their front door.
I'd love to live in one!
Permaculture creates dreamers who want to restore fertility to our land, who want to share bounty with others, who want to live in a modest and sustaining way.
After the class, both my husband and I feel we, too, have become dreamers.
Beverly Hoffman can be reached via e-mail at
columnists@sequimgazette.com.
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