#Principles of Permaculture

[hylianengineer]

Part of being a scientist is falling in love with things other people don't appreciate. Part of being an ecologist, in particular, is falling in love with things that other people think of as nuisances or even evil.

Spiders. Weeds. Mosquitoes. I can't even hate ticks, although I really wish they would not bite me.

This morning I told my father I was disappointed because his yard didn't have enough 'weeds' in it - it felt like going someplace you'd expect to run into an old friend and being unable to find them. Where's the speedwell? The chickweed? The perfoliate penny-cress? My parents aren't even the type to spend time, money, or effort trying to have a monoculture lawn, but for some reason there is a marked lack of plant diversity there.

My mom is annoyed about the spiders that keep appearing in the basement bathtub (which, okay, they do keep dying in there which is unfortunate). But I like them and want to see them and learn what kind they are. I found a dead one and scooped it into a petri dish to look at under my microscope. My apartment doesn't have any spiders and I'm jealous that my parents get them, but don't even like them!

If you learn to love the lifeforms we humans share our lives with - often despite people's best efforts to eradicate them - then you will discover a new world of joy and awe right in front of you. The only drawback is that you then have to listen to everyone else talking shit about it, and I have yet to find a way to teach them to appreciate it.

[huntermoonpress]

12 Permaculture Principles 🌳

[zaynmalks]

Inspiration for a classic mid-sized gravel backyard landscaping in the spring.

Inspiration for a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard gravel landscaping in spring.

[dipnotski]

David Holmgren – Permakültür (2025)

David Holmgren imzalı bu çalışma, permakültür felsefesini ve pratiklerini derinlemesine inceleyen temel bir eser. ‘Permakültür: Sürdürülebilirliğin Ötesinde İlkeler ve Yollar’ (‘Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability’), permakültürü sadece bir bahçe tasarımı yöntemi olarak değil, aynı zamanda daha sürdürülebilir ve etik bir gelecek inşa etmek için kapsamlı bir tasarım bilimi…

[scrapxrat]

Gravel Santa Barbara

Gravel Santa BarbaraIdeas for a classic mid-sized gravel backyard landscaping in the spring.

[letslearnanything]

Transform your garden with the magic of edible landscaping! 🌿 Discover how to blend beauty and bounty in your outdoor space with our guide on "How to Incorporate Edible Plants into Your Landscape." Learn tips on selecting the right plants, employing sustainable practices, and bringing permaculture principles to life right in your backyard. Get ready for a garden that's as nourishing as it is aesthetically pleasing! Dive into the green revolution today.

[blurbofparadise]

"The slogan 'refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and recycle' provides us with a hierarchy of strategies for dealing with waste. Refuse means to decide not to engage in the consuming action or task in the first place because it is not necessary. Reduce means to minimize the materials and energy required or the frequency of the consuming action. Reuse means either reuse for the same purpose or put to the next best use. Repair means to use skill and very limited additional resources to restore function. Recycle means to break down into more basic elements or materials before being reprocessed for the same or other uses."

- Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holgren, page 112

[systemy]

Denver Contemporary Landscape Design ideas for a large contemporary full sun front yard mulch driveway in summer.

[elodieunderglass]

Hi! I saw you mention in a post about people being into a thing in a weird way, and you mentioned permaculture. I dont know anything about that, could you elaborate? (serious question, just curious)

(This is in reference to a post that talked about the difficulty of having some interests (like Vikings) that are notorious for being shared with really right-wing people. For example, a tattoo with Norse runes could mean someone is a normal and interesting person who likes history and fantasy fiction, or they could be a vile white supremacist. I added to the post mentioning that permaculture is one of those interests, and that I wasn’t going to talk about it.)

I am not the first or only person to say this about permaculture, but I’ll take a stab at explaining it to an outsider.

What is permaculture? Permaculture is a term coined in 1978 to describe an approach to land management and food production based on how things work in ecosystems, centering the environment, and based on the ethical principles of Earth Care (sustainability, rebuilding of the environment, survival without destruction), People Care (meet people’s needs fairly and simply, build community) and Fair Share (find a balance of consumption, recognise limits around what can be taken from the environment, and share as much as possible.) movements like rewilding, reforestation, self-sufficiency, intentional communities, sustainable food production, regenerative agriculture and so on are all aspects of interest in permaculture.

However, by itself it’s kind of a nebulous term, because it’s applied to everything with a lofty wave of the hand; everything from somebody’s weedy old tomato plants, to a radical commune, can be vaguely described as “permaculture.” It’s possibly most accurate to call it an umbrella term for some loosely related fields, than a political movement or widespread agricultural practice. That’s part of the intention; by coining the term and describing what goes into it, the founders of the philosophy were trying to clarify communications; obviously, forms of permaculture have been practiced historically for all of human history!!! The usefulness of the term and definition is all about clarifying a unified package of philosophies to set against the behemoth of conventional, capitalistic, extractive land-management.

Ok so given that “everyone can do permaculture/ you can do it with your raised beds right now!” there’s a lot of overlap with people interested in individual self-sufficiency, off-grid living, rewilding, etc at home. in terms of online communities those are particularly vulnerable to sharing interests with right-wing people. In particular, isolationists/separatists/sovcits, right-wing preppers, nationalists, and of course, The Fucking Tradwives.

Why? Well, permaculture/self-sufficiency are connected to ideas of alternatives to the current system, and attract people who are interested in that. The most obvious is ecofascism although people are finally more aware of this (sending the ecofash into the coverts of being crypto-ecofash, but whatever, it’s a win that they feel less comfortable.) There may be a distrust of authority/the state which can be quite normal (don’t pledge allegiance to the USA flag!) and can be right-wing (MAGA people storming the capital did so because they claimed to distrust the state.) There may be a distrust of science/medicine, often hand-in-hand with the sort of “back to nature/ the earth is wiser than we are / indigenous practices” rhetoric that sounds quite lofty and righteous, but doesn’t quite explain why you haven’t vaccinated your kids, iykwim? Anything back-to-the-land should be examined carefully, because it CAN be progressive - or white nationalist - and sometimes both. Anything including a withdrawal from society ditto - yes, even if it’s a queer commune of witches growing tomatoes or whatever - because “withdrawing from multicultural/inclusive/tolerant/diverse/public-transport-having cities to a secure place of purity and control” is a necessary pillar of right-wing separatist thought. Anything talking about connection to the land should be considered attentively.

None of those are problematic and most are interests or behaviours that any normal person might have. They have to be considered carefully for context. Often, quite kind people can accidentally repeat unfortunate things, or speak badly.

It also doesn’t mean that all of permaculture is a tar pit - it just happens to overlap at certain points with the right-wing agenda, and often, the left-wing are bad at spotting that. It’s natural to accidentally absorb weird politics without examining them - that’s why propaganda is effective. All of these worries about pipelines/algorithms are based on the fact that that bad politics can form from quite innocuous beliefs. These are just some spaces/words where I’ve noticed it’s worth paying attention.

I’m personally wondering if I’m noticing the use of “indigenous” being slowly pushed into a space that worries me, rather like “traditional, heritage, natural, spiritual” have been? But I have not seen Indigenous people discussing this yet.

Also, other people have written about the tradwives so hopefully you can fold in what you know about that. There are also TERFs in permaculture; my harebrained theory is that radical feminists in general like the idea of having control over the environment, but want it to feel like a wise, sacred feminine thing. I was in some casual Facebook permaculture groups some years ago and the amount of schisms felt entirely like a) eldritch Catholicism or something??? B) fandom drama. There would be incredible stuff happening like the formation of splinter Facebook groups called like “Women In Permaculture 2.3 No TERFs” and “Gender Critical Women in Permaculture 2.3” which were 7 evolutions away from an initial “practicing permaculture” group.

In real life, people are unfortunately weirder and more open about it, but easier to avoid and less insidious. But that’s for another time.

@samwisethewitch has this good post with lots of resources in this space that aren’t pipelines of worrying ideology: https://www.tumblr.com/whovianuncle/773929827585638400 (by looking at the title alone, you can hopefully see some of the reality and scope of the problem enough that it isn’t just Elodie running their mouth!)

[cognitivejustice]

Solarpunk Communities

Aardehuizen in The Netherlands is a beautiful example of what modern living can look like. With 23 houses the village is home to around 70 people, mostly families.

The houses are built according to the Earthship principle partly from sourced waste (tires, bottles and cans). They provide 75% of the people's electricity and 100% of their heating needs and collect and conserve rainwater as well as wastewater for drinking and washing.

There is so much intelligence in these houses, which are surrounded by beautiful permaculture gardens, that they are sure to have a positive impact on the lucky people who live there. A positive impact on the world is ensured on top anyways.

[bumblebeeappletree]

Thirty years ago, a group of permaculture experts purchased 329 acres of degraded land in Western North Carolina with a vision: to restore the landscape while creating a new model of communal living.

What began as an experiment in living well off the land has grown into one of the nation’s oldest cohousing communities, where residents live collaboratively and in close connection with their environment.

The community now spans 13 distinct neighborhoods with over 100 residents, each offering a different approach to shared living. Some neighborhoods function as housing co-ops (North Carolina law requires at least five members for this designation), while others feature apartments, duplexes, or single-family homes.

Earthaven’s infrastructure reflects decades of experimentation and ingenuity. From hydroelectric power generated by mountain streams to solar systems energizing both communal and private spaces, the village is a model of thoughtful design.

Residents live in hand-built homes that range from timber-framed duplexes to snug cob cottages, sharing resources like kitchens, workshops, and gardens. Guided by principles of self-governance, consensus decision-making, and cooperative ownership, Earthaven fosters deep connections—not only with the natural world but also among its members, creating a way of life rooted in resilience and shared purpose.

Recently, Earthaven suffered significant damage from Hurricane Idalia, which tore through the region, leaving many homes and shared facilities in need of repair. The community is currently rebuilding and has launched a fundraising campaign to restore its infrastructure and continue its mission of regenerative living.

—Donate to Earthaven's Hurricane Helene recovery fund: https://www.gofundme.c...

—Take a Virtual Tour: https://www.schoolofin...

—Become a Friend: https://www.schoolofin...

—Take a class with the School of Integrated Living: https://www.schoolofin...

—More videos: / @earthavenecovillage

—Earthaven on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.o...

On *faircompanies: https://faircompanies....

[breelandwalker]

Surviving and Thriving in Collapse, pt 1

Dana O'Driscoll, The Druid's Garden, Feb 23 2025

Excerpt:

I’ve generally been pretty gentle in my approach to talking about collapse, industrial decline, and the fall of Western Civilization on the Druid’s Garden. Why? Primarily, because I want to bring in a hopeful perspective, hold the joy, and keep encouraging everyone to take up connected approaches to nature.  I’m a glass-half-full kind of person, and I like to write that way.  But also, I’m the head of a druid order that holds a non-political and non-partisan stance and thus, in my position, it I don’t really talk much about politics. However, I feel it is time to talk more openly and directly about the collapse itself, as I have a message of hope to share right now.  There’s so much doom and gloom out there. But, I also think we need to use the permaculture principle of “the problem is the solution.”

Read the full article on The Druid's Garden, and check out Dana's books - Sacred Actions and Land Healing, available through Schiffer Publishing and wherever books are sold.

(You can also check out Dana's guest spots on Hex Positive, Eps. 14 and 48, March 2021 and July 2024 respectively.)

[practicalsolarpunk]

Hey do you have any tips for making my garden very low maintenance but still productive. I have a large raised bed and a field with very good soil quality but I just don't have the energy to garden all the time. They both get lots of sun.

These tips are mostly focused on reducing the maintenance required in weeding and watering, which are often the two biggest things that gardeners end up doing to maintain gardens. These tips are also fairly general. As always, if you have more specific questions, please feel free to send in another ask with more details!

Mulch is my go-to method to reduce weeding and watering. Putting mulch around your plants helps keep water from evaporating out of the soil and makes it a lot harder for weeds to grow. This doesn't have to be fancy expensive mulch either - lawn clippings or wet newspaper work just fine (and I would argue better than traditional wood chip mulch).

Soaker hoses are a low-effort way to water, especially if your garden is large. Depending on your setup, watering the garden could be as simple as turning on a spigot.

The Ruth Stout method is an entire gardening method that combines mulching and no-dig techniques to grow plants with minimal effort. An overview here.

Grow native plants. They're already adapted to the growing conditions of your area and tend to grow well with little human input. If you're in the US, your local county extension office can help you pick options and possibly source seeds.

Similar to the last point, choose hardy, low-maintenance plants. I'm using vegetable examples here since that's most of what I grow personally: Beans, peppers, greens like lettuce and spinach, summer squashes like zucchini, and many herbs tend to grow perfectly fine if you throw the seeds at dirt and water them occasionally. Potatoes, carrots, onions, and tomatoes either require special soil preparation or tend to need more maintenance and care while growing to deal with pests or disease. Find the overlap between what grows well in your climate and growing season and what doesn't require a lot of maintenance or preparation.

Look into permaculture gardening principles. A running permaculture garden should be fairly low-maintenance, but it can take a lot of energy and effort to get it going, which may not be the best fit for what you need. However, there are a lot of overlapping concepts in permaculture. You may find things you can implement in your garden to reduce how much energy you have to put into it without going full permaculture. One intro here, another here; I'm also a huge fan of Heather Jo Flores and Food Not Lawns as resources.

I hope this helps! Followers, please chime in with any tips you may have.

- Mod J

[probablyasocialecologist]

In order to reach 350 ppm—the level we were at in 1988—we’d need to remove 500 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. To hit the pre-industrial mark of 280 ppm, 900 billion tons. If we were to use plants to accomplish this, we would need them to add 138 billion tons and 249 billion tons of biomass, respectively. This is roughly the equivalent to 1.3 and 2.5 Amazon rainforests, respectively, if we count both above and below ground biomass. So, what can we do with all that carbon? As the Amazon analogy implies, growing more forests would do the trick. In the last 10,000 years, the Earth has lost 7.7 million square miles of forest, equal to 2.85 Amazons. So we can exceed our target for atmospheric CO2 removal by returning to the 57% forest coverage of Earth’s habitable surface that we had at the end of the last Ice Age. That was the climate that allowed for the vast expansion of humanity, so that approach holds a lot of appeal. Additionally, the Amazon analogy demonstrates that vast reforested areas can support human civilization beyond simply sucking down CO2. The Amazon itself is a vast food forest filled with edible species that were planted 4,500 years ago by its human occupants, who built a thriving civilization based on the readily available food surrounding them. A contemporary global reforestation initiative should also focus on edible species, thus serving the dual purpose of creating an abundant perennial food source and sequestering CO2. A mature food forest can yield at least 2,100,000 calories per acre with minimal inputs, enough to feed two adults. A stable climate PLUS more free food than all of humanity could possibly eat sounds pretty good. It goes without saying that climate change is not the only ecological catastrophe facing humanity. We have crossed six of nine planetary boundaries, any one of which could spell our doom. A globe-spanning food forest would help address those looming disasters, such as biodiversity loss and biogeochemical flows, as well. But there are challenges to the forestry approach. Environmental conditions have degraded immensely in the last 100 years, and it's possible that not all previously forested areas would now support trees. Some estimates put the possibility of reforestation at half of the 7.7 million square miles lost and argue it would take thousands of years to accomplish. I have doubts about these estimates, but it's important to be cautious. Additionally, the principle of redundancy is crucial in permaculture, and it's not hard to see how it applies here: we would not want to put all our eggs in one basket with the future of life on Earth at stake. So how can we move faster while diversifying our risk?

[rederiswrites]

Permaculture is one of those things which....ugh, I don't know. On the one hand y'all are talking sense in a world that's mostly still excited about gardening and farming techniques that actively damage the world. On the other, damn, you can sure be pretentious about it.

I'm watching a video, and she's like, "I'm assuming you're invested enough in permaculture that you know about the 12 Principles and the 5 Zones" and I'm like....no? So I look it up, and the 5 Zones thing is just, "Put stuff you interact with more closer to your center of operations." Sincerely, that's all it is.

I already did that, bro. That was common sense. It's great that you've got a system and that you've broken "common sense" down into teachable directives, but you're out here acting like "put greens and herbs and chickens near the house and pasture and woodlots and things you don't have to interact with daily further away" is the Ten Commandments or something.

I can't express my discomfort totally clearly yet, but at some point your teaching tools actually become shibboleths of the permie in-group and barriers to outside understanding, when it is sometimes very easy to express these concepts in a way that's readily accessible to most people with any experience with gardening or farming at all.

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

Tell us more about planting strawberry and mint together pls

Ok so Mint and Strawberries are both very aggressive plants (basically all Herbs are very aggressive, Thyme, Oregano, and Sage are similar) but many of them produce all kinds of complicated chemicals that can inhibit the growth of other plants that can essentially neutralize eachother and other plants thus mellowing everything out, you can use plants to Control other plants, for example Oregano is good at Controlling grass, so If you want to keep grass out of your Flower Beds you can plant an Oregano hedge and periodically trim it and use the Trimmings as fertilizer this is called Chop and Drop it's an important principle of Permaculture