Permaculture Tour- What is it?

On Saturday I went on a Permaculture tour in Point Reyes and Bolinas. It was one of the most beautiful places I have every been.

I have heard a lot of talk about permaculture recently and when an email came to me from Daily Acts, featuring a sustainability tour of permaculture sites I jumped on it. For $30 We had some of the greatest examples show and explained to us.

So what is permaculture? Being a word dissector, we have perm which links to perm-anent. From Dictionary.com:
Permanent: Intended to exist or function for a long, indefinite period without regard to unforeseeable conditions.
Then we have culture. Dictionary.com gives this definition:
Culture: Development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

Essentially we know permaculture as effective gardening. But most gardens create a lot of waste and energy loss because of poor design. It is about asking questions and closing loops. For example our guide gave the example of how when they first started out they decided to plant strawberries (because they liked them; an important factor to consider if your a beginning gardener, and I most definitely am!). They noticed bugs eating the strawberries, so they asked how do we get rid of the strawberries? Instead of going with a toxic chemical they chose ducks! Then they had to get the ducks to stay on their property so they asked that question and decided to build a pond. Then they had a lot of top soil (precious top soil! . . .because), so they decided to build a cob office hut. It is beautiful.

Nature is so elegant and complex. Permaculture is playing in nature. It is supporting your livelihood by producing abundant food. It is creating a living fence that supplies you with food to eat, trade or sell, instead of cutting down trees to make a dead one. It is about collecting chicken poop on cardboard and using it as a mulch that blocks weeds. It is about learning and problem solving.

Our guide described permaculture as creating a human habitat.

I rent, but I am allowed to plant a garden in my shared backyard. I don't really have the cash to start a garden and then leave in a couple years, but I think I'll take action and do it anyways!

I think I will plant some strawberries.

Regenerative Design Institute