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One Homesteader Explains How She Applies Permaculture Principles To Her Backyard Food Garden
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One Homesteader Explains How She Applies Permaculture Principles To Her Backyard Food Garden



What is permaculture and how does its basic principles apply to designing a backyard food garden? Charlyn Ellis of 21st Street Urban Homestead outlines the broad concepts of permaculture design and how she uses it in her own backyard garden. For a concise and easy to grasp list of the 12 guiding principles of Permaculture, check out this link by one of its co-originators, David Holmgren. https://justlists.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/principles-of-permaculture/

Transcript (lightly edited):

Permaculture is a way of thinking about organic agriculture that asks you to think about it as a system, rather than in discrete parts. So a permaculture garden has the chicken coop integrated into the vegetable garden sitting on the bed. It has a pond with ducks in it that you then use the eggs, the idea is everything you put in your garden should have at least two if not three or more functions for it. So you’re really thinking in terms of integration and systems, rather than discrete parts. That makes sense.

Rebecca asks: Does that also fit into your being a homesteader?
[Charlyn continues]

What does homesteading need to be, yeah they’re definitely connected, one of their key ideas is a zone. So things most often used are closest to home. And then you work outward. So, the things you eat every day like the berries if you walk by and small tomatoes, they need to be right next to your house, your fruit crops can be further away. So your trees are would be at the back of your property and then you might go beyond for your wheat and your grains and things like that and even further for your chocolate, which nobody cares about. So there’s the idea of zoning and permaculture ties into the idea of what you do on your homestead. And then I like the idea of thinking in terms of systems, and the inter-relatedness of things rather than everybody being unique. You see it’s on my refrigerator the principles of permaculture until I took the ones that I liked the most. And I just put them around. So, the idea that you want to think about something for a long while before you act. Watch your site for a year before you plant anything, that is a permaculture concept, to be thoughtful but not waste your time.

Rather than saying, this “something” is a huge problem. Instead think, how can I think differently about that problem, in this example, a dry bed. Come July, the watering system just doesn’t reach back there very well because it does all of these beds first and then it gets there. So next year, Okay, what can I put in there that thrives on less water, walla, by July, 3, garlic. So I’m gonna try planting garlic next year in the dry bed area. By flipping the problem on its head, the problem becomes an opportunity to plant something new. It’s, it’s another way of looking at things.

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20 Comments

  2. Simple Perrydise life!

    This woman was one of my first inspiration to create my premaculture orchard/food forest.
    She have so much knowledge!. I love that she said; observation is an important key and that is better to work with the system instead of fighting it.
    Thanks for sharing!
    ❤🙏

  8. RvBadlands2015

    We don’t get all that rain here in Arizona we do rainwater catchment and greywater but have to limit what we plant.

  9. Izzy Hl

    If this lady became a pothead the government would legalize weed. I love what she’s doing, it seems so wholesome

  11. Yali's Community

    The principle of permaculture is wonderful and I love the way everything is integrated instead of divided and mass produced.

  14. GardenCraver

    I think your explaining in a way that most understand, but to me permaculture is much more complex and diverse. Even the coil has its own system and interactions which helps plants. Similar to how a forest in nature would act.

  16. Julee Ann Garcia

    i think this is the kind of life I want to live because it resonates so much with my own personal views and values..

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