Tag: design

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Advanced Permaculture Design – Flow

get out there and explore permaculture design

Better flow results from design. There is flow in family dynamics, effort and energy, movement and transport. Improve your life flows.

This is the first tutorial in a short series on how to design better.

Better Design Reduces Work

See, these tiny little native bees?

Before and after native bee hive redesign. Better flow design results in less work

In our area, a native bee hive is fragile because it can get quite cool here. They thrive in warmer climates. So, I need to care for them. I don’t want them to die. It was a very costly exercise to get these little bees. And we really needed bees because our pollination rates had plummeted with the loss of the local honeybees.

Each day I’m observing them and I’m seeing their energy flow. It is surprising that they’re still producing babies through winter. The season is a very mild at the moment. Here they are disposing of the casing of the cocoon of their babies, they take each cocoon out individually and drop it.

What are they up to?

At at number one, they’re bringing the casing out of the hive. At number two, they’re dropping it. And then the poor little bees are having to lift it up over a ledge to dispose of the little casings at number three. There you can see where they’re dropping it off.

I soon realized I had a mistake in my design. it was costing the bees extra energy because they’re having to perform an extra lift to get the casing over the ledge. In my set up, I had repurposed an old wooden sign. I didn’t understand what they really needed.

So since I observed them, I’ve done a very cheap modification by placing a scrap of wood as a new front porch.

Now you can see how well this works. But I’m surprised at their dedication to the task. They hold on to the casing and throw themselves down with it. Sometimes they even get turned upside down and land with the casing on top of them. Each individual bee transports a casing to the edge and drops it off into the garden.

Flow Thinking on a Large Scale

Here is something more.

This looks like an airport, but it’s actually a railway station in China. I’m showing you this for two reasons. It’s huge. And in Australia, you’re not going to find a station this size because our population is sparse and low. But the second reason why I want to show it to you is because our culture is different and so our flow is slower just by the the way we behave when we’re traveling. Flow is regulated by behaviour.

So, this is not the busiest railway station in in China, and it’s probably not the latest one, but I was very impressed about how efficient it is. They can load a train in as quick as 10 minutes. Hundreds of people. So, this is Shanghai’s Hunga Railway Station, and it’s rather large. is 10,000 square m or think of yards. 10,000 square yards. It has 30 tracks, although the 30th track seems to be hidden there. It has a capacity of 10,000 people at any one time. The reason why I like trains is because they feel so safe and liberating. You can get up, walk around, you can work, you can talk to people. Whether they like that or not, I don’t know. With this level of flow management, the train is much faster to load and unload than aeroplane.

Separate Functions Designed for Separate Flow Streams

Below that busy area is a very quiet area where the trains are. And above that busy area are restaurants and shops and plenty of places to rest and chill out. You are not allowed to just go to the platform and wait for your train. You need to queue. And the queueing is part of a pressure system. It’s part of getting that high efficient loading. So you queue and then you go to a gate. At your gate and you have your ticket checked. If you are non-conforming, you’ve got the wrong gate, your ticket is damaged or wrong in any way or you also need to supply a passport as we did, you get moved to the side.

So if need be, you are redirected nearby and then you are dealt with with a second filter or a second person. The gate acts as a filter and a valve. It stops people from going directly to the trains. The gate allows the build-up of pressure. There is a ‘relief valve’ at the side for those people like myself who did not comply because we also needed to show the passport. But then also then we can be woven back into the stream.

Your life, your design

In the end, the design and the control mechanisms are what create effective flow. I’d like to invite you to consider what the flows are in your life or your latest projects. They could be the social flows, nutrient, financial, water, wind or energy. And the quest is to identify and describe the flow. Ask yourself ‘what are useful or harmful aspects of the flow?’. And then consider how you might measure, preserve, enhance, redirect, or filter the flows. See you next time.

You can join our Advanced Permaculture Design discussions by becoming a guild member for a one-time investment of just 190 AUD or start your journey as a new-bie for just $125 AUD. If you are a member of Permaculture Australia you can also get a 10% discount.

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Seeking a Richer Yield

Yield feeds and energizes us. But how can we have an attitude of obtaining a regenerative yield rather than one that is merely extractive?

We can build systems using natural techniques for edible and useful products.  With clever design we can use natural systems that are productive as well as regenerative.  

Better still, we can apply permaculture thinking to social structures such as courses. In March we are releasing the test run of our Advanced Permaculture Design Course. We will question what yields can result from a course. What can a participant get from a course that they can’t simply glean from the internet?

3 Basic Yields

1.  Product yield: the resulting goods from a managed system. Physical yields include fruit, grain, herbs, animals, medicine, materials.

2.  Energy yield: stored and generated energy sources. Energy yields include increased efficiency, fuel, solar heating, gravity as in water storage, food preservation techniques.  

3.  Social yield: cultural benefits include security, creative and co-operative activities. “We see the invisible yields in terms of values and ethics.  This governs our concept of needs and sets the limits of enough.”  [B. Mollison] Social yields include time efficiency, creativity, community skills and structures and safety.

C.S. Lewis wrote about friendship, a social yield: “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art….it has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

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Time and Yield:

Mature systems store energy with low maintenance regimes.  Old forests, large fish and animals maintain their large structures. So, some of the energy and nutrients they absorb is dedicated for maintenance. It is readily available as a or ‘yield’ for other elements.  Yes, these big structures can be a host to other living beings. But, the need for maintenance reduces the flow of energy through the system. It locks up energy and stores it.

There is great diversity attached to this maturity. And this diversity provides resilience and a long term yield. This includes habitat, food, shelter, clothing, security, warmth and shade. Also there are cultural values attached to the environment, broader animal community, sense of place. And long term gains from management of air, soil and water pollution. When we integrate mature forest systems with short-term agriculture the yield is richer.

As the system matures, we manage yield expectation and value the total yield.

Annual foods versus Perennial foods

Annual foods are foods that are produced by plants that live only seasonally. These plants are common in the modern diet: wheat, potato, most salad greens and most vegetables. Annual plants spend very little energy on self-maintenance.  But conventional annual agriculture has a very high energy cost per crop. And the management of the soil that supports these plants is expensive. The soil is tilled, nutrients added. Then we select the seed, plant the seeds, protect them, water them, remove weeds.

In a Permaculture system we can use animals to prepare the soil, remove weeds and kill pests and disease. There are some modifications that would reduce this cost. These modifications include hybridisation of seed, natural seed dispersal, rotating crops and creating rain water harvesting channels. We can also select varieties of foods that are adapted to our climate.

Cultural Change

The biggest challenge required can be a change in our choice of food types. Changing dietary habits is very difficult. It is cultural. And pinpoint the need for cultural change if we seek permanent, sustainable future. As we age we become less willing to try new foods.

We also need to build the knowledge of how to prepare these foods for optimal nutritional value. Much of this knowledge and skill can be learned from other cultures, especially tribes where bio-regional food are indigenous. A good example of the difficulty to change diet is Cuba. In Cuba, white bread was first introduced 500 years ago. And is still eaten daily yet Cuba does not grow wheat. The small population of indigenous people successfully grew Cassava and yet, this food was not adopted due to cultural preferences.

Perennial plants include only a few common vegetables like asparagus, buckwheat, rhubarb, and most fruits and nuts. Perennial plants store energy; they take longer to produce a yield and need to spend energy on sustaining themselves.  After maturity they produce less useful yield per energy used. On the flip side, perennial plants require less management (we plant, prune, mulch and provide some water). 

Side Yields

The structural effort by perennial plants provides many side yields. These include fine timber; habitat for nurturing young plants and animals. And micro-climate creation by producing of shade and condensation; and windbreak and shelter.  A poly-culture enables all the yields to contribute to the health of the farm and provides mixed marketable products.

Farmers like  Charles Massy, Martin Crawford, Mark Shepherd aim for both short term and long term yields. Diversification ensures a healthy combination of plant types for healthy total yield. We can install water catchment measures, build healthy soil, filter river water, and support wildlife. The yields also include deflected wind, reforested steep slopes and ridges, wildfire management and reduced pollutants and erosion.

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Calculate Total Yield

The total yield of a farm includes side products. Side projects often include income from visitors to seasonal camping grounds for wild-life lovers. For out of season periods, the area can be grazed. Farmers can also offer education programs for city-dwellers, native foods farming and sales.

Social Yield

When applying this thinking beyond land based systems, we can search for yields beyond the short term. For instance, a social enterprise can have quick income streams and long term influence. It can create long term cultural change. Charles Massey wrote that there was no point in only creating change on his farm. He realized he needed to help enrich the whole water catchment area. The success of one area inspires many others.

Upcoming Mentorship session will focus on Yield

Our first mentorship session is March 18th. The first part of the session will be devoted to introducing each participants current projects. Then the Second part is an exercise to explore different types of yield from your projects.

This session satisfies assignment requirements for PDC Natural systems and design and Advanced Permaculture Design assignments for facets 1, 2 and 3

Contact us to REGISTER for the online mentorship sessions.

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Deep Look at a Permaculture Element

For 40 years, Permaculture designers have been using a design technique called ‘analysis of an element ‘. This tutorial helps you get comfortable with defining, prioritizing and analyzing an element. Then you will be more effective in using it, and connecting it with other elements in your design.

Hazards and Benefits of Deconstruction

This a tool for understanding components of a system. This tool reveals a few insights. But over time and with practice and observation, you will start to notice a lot more. You will create a design that will help the inhabitants to grow. Because the natural system is not a machine. It is a living organism that wants to grow and change. And everything within the system wants to express its full potential. Breaking the system apart to examine the elements doesn’t reveal the synergy, the way things work together. This analysis tool is limited, but it’s still useful when developing a holistic design.

Observation is the most important activity

We can look at a chicken and see all its anatomy. See its personality. Then look at its needs and what it provides. And we can also see how one chicken is different to another – we call that the Intrinsic characteristics. The needs can come from a food forest, food scraps, its enclosure, the tank, a hose, and some shallow dishes. And the functions, the things that it provides can go to our kitchen and back into the food forest.

What is an Element in Permaculture Design?

In Permaculture design, an element is a part or a set of parts in a system. It can be a tree or a wood lot. Generally, an element is something that is independent of other elements. It is able to function on its own. However, it often needs inputs from other elements. For example, a tree needs sunlight, water and minerals.

And an element produces stuff that needs to be managed. The tree provides shade, leaf litter, fruit, lumber, humidity, carbon sinking habitat. A tree is an element that has needs, many functions, and each one can be intrinsically different.

Remember that a good design is not about what you have, but how it works. So, function has to be our first priority. There has to be at least three functions for me to get an element.

using the pizza oven
April and the Pizza oven

Even my pizza oven does three things. At least three things. It helps clear up a lot of dead wood. It cooks pizzas and then bread and cakes and things like that. Once it cools down, it provides ash and charcoal and I make biochar in it. And when we have pizza parties, the pizza oven is a wonderful way to socialize as you cook. And as a bonus, the pizza oven is a sculpture made with broken tiles and ceramics.

Needs

Most elements need nutrients, water, protection, boundaries, attention, seasonal shade, light, cool or warmth. We can call that generally climate control. Some elements need income or energy, access, entertainment, and mate-ship. And we would be wise to prioritise those needs.

Here’s how Maslow prioritized the needs for people. Maslow said how the physiological needs, our needs for clean air, water, food, shelter, sleep, and clothing were fundamental. And then as we go up his hierarchy of needs, we would dream and hope that we could achieve self-actualization. We can hope to reach our potential. When an element is fulfilling its full potential, it’s happy and it’s being used well.

Some Elements are not Needy

There are some elements that don’t have any needs. And these can be vital elements like water, air, rock. They don’t have needs. So our needs emerge from our need to manage them. Water, as I said, doesn’t have any needs, but we definitely need it. And so we have to manage it. We’re going to capture it, store it, and use it.

Example: Rocks


Rocks or minerals are another element that have no needs. Rock cliffs have no needs at all, but they have a powerful influence as a windbreak, thermal mass, reflected light. Security can be achieved with cliffs. Think of all the castles on the cliff tops. Minerals come with the rocks. And you can have water harvesting from the top. And it is also really great building material.

Chetro Ketl was built about 90 through to 1140ce. It’s a great example of architecture that used the nearby cliffs. The scholars have estimated it required half a million work hours to build. And 26,000 trees were required to make this beautiful palace. The palace was made of 50 million sandstone blocks from the nearby cliffs. But the loss of trees and overpopulation caused the valley caused to become unliveable.

The design process must consider the natural function of each element. What do cliffs normally do? They erode. They collapse. So this design hadn’t predicted the potential impact of the cliffs on the housing and animals.

So let’s consider how do we meet the needs? The needs of an element can be creatively sourced from another element. Here you can see the nutrients could come from rock, seaweed, shells or plants and animal manure. There’s many different options.

NEEDSUPPLIER 1SUPPLIER 2
NutrientsRock, Seaweed, ShellsPlants or Animal manure
WaterRainCondensation
BoundariesFencingHedge
Attention/ManagementExperienced animalsPeople
Seasonal shadePlantsWoven shade
LightDirect SunlightReflected sunlight
Climate controlThermal massAnimal body heat
AccessPathwaysTunnels
EntertainmentSeasonal changesOther beings
Mate-shipCompanionsOther beings

Products from an Element

Now let’s look at how we use the ‘waste’, the throughput or the production of an element. These products can be absorbed by another element. And they can be absorbed through a means of natural tendencies, gravity, wind, chemical absorption.

The nutrients are beneficial for many other beings. But not straight away. Right? So the nutrients, the poop, from the chicken, is not going on my table! But it goes to the garden, a tree, and from the tree, it comes into the fruit. Then the fruit comes to me.

A chicken wastes very little water. And this waste is useful to the food forest.

As for providing boundaries – chickens don’t really provide boundaries except to their own chicks. And as for providing attention and management? Well, some people actually use their pets as a mental health tool. It gets them out of bed. It stops them from falling into great depression.

Seasonal shade is not provided by a chicken except to their chicks. And a chicken doesn’t provide light. But it will provide climate control definitely to the eggs and chicks. Also, some people are entertained by chickens. And one chicken can provide mateship to the other chickens.

PRODUCTIONUSERS
NutrientsAll living beings
WaterAll living beings
BoundariesPeople, Plants and Animals Especially Children
Attention/ManagementPeople – mental health
Seasonal shadeAll living beings
LightAll living beings
Climate controlAll living beings
AccessAll living beings
EntertainmentPeople & Animals
MateshipAll living beings

Putting Each Element Analysis on Card

Cards are tactile making it easy to use on a floor or table. Ask yourself, what does this element really need to thrive? And what can this element provide? What are its intrinsic characteristics? Then set your priorities.

For each element’s feature define the needs, the provisions, and intrinsic characteristics. And put a score to show the priority, whether it’s high, medium, or low.

Analysis of wicking bed

The needs of wicking beds are quite specific. They need level ground, a water input. Just use a hose off my rainwater tank, a protective barrier between the soil and the water reservoir underneath. I actually use hair because my son has a hair salon, so I’ve got a lot of hair. But coconut coir is a good mesh material and also old, cotton rags. Wicking vessels need protection from things like rabbits that could burrow beneath. Or large feral animals could knock them over. So, they do need protection.

Their functions that wicking pots provide include food. And joy for people like getting out and growing stuff. Recycled bird cages are pretty so they also provide cultural interest. And they start conversations about the benefits of not keeping birds in cages. And instead, keeping them out. The wicking beds in old bird cages become anti-aviaries.

The mobility of the small wicking beds is a bonus. But even if they’re one square meter, [a weighty cubic meter], you can hire a forklift to move them. My mentor, Judith Collins moved her entire garden with forklift and a truck because it was in large wicking containers.

Unintended products

It is also possible to integrate aquaculture into larger wicking systems. But one of the unintended outputs or through-puts in this system is the presence microplastics. Plastics are often used to hold the water. So explore safer materials like terracotta, metal, and glass.

Best Features of this Element

The level of skill needed to make and use the wicking bed is really low. And so is the cost of installation and maintenance is also low. And because they’re high portability, they have really high value to me. I take them to workshops and festivals. They’re a great conversation starter.


Fun with Element Cards

Once you’ve got a bunch of these cards, you can set them together. This reveals multi-directional connections.

See more about this in our video about integration of the elements in our YouTube channel PermacultureVisions. These will help you strengthen the relationships between these elements. Enjoy.

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5 Ways to Save Money and Save Planet

Live Better. Lower Costs

Save money and save your environment with simple tricks to eat healthy, get smart-productive, be comfy and chill, enjoy being active and waste less. Permaculture is intentional design to create a truly sustainable culture.

Here a few design ideas to slip into your lifestyle.

1. Save Your Health

Consider what foods you love. And find an easy way to grow them. Lets make a cup of tea. Fancy lemon grass and ginger? That’s easy to grow.

And I love eating basil, so I grow it in a wicking pot with a cage over the top. I use worm poo as the soil in the pot and the basil is bursting with flavour. This small design cycle is simple. The Food Scraps go to the > wormfarm then > to wicking pot with basil seed then > to plate. Whereas farmed basil has a more complex and expensive pathway to grow and transport the basil. And it quickly looses flavour.

Eating healthily reduces costs in medical bills and loss of productivity. Not to mention our enjoyment of life.

2. Get Smart-Productive

A food that is self sustaining and very cheap to start in a warm temperate region is sweet potato. Buy a fresh sweet potato, let it sprout in the cupboard, cut off the sprouts with a small section of the tuber and plant it close to the surface of the soil. We can cook the leaves as well as the new young tubers. The cycle is Tuber to > soil > perennial food supply > better water retention and organic matter in the soil > more tubers.

Not only are you getting years of free food, you are improving your environment by protecting soil from erosion, holding moisture in the soil for cooling in summer and creating habitat.

To take this a step smarter, grow indigenous ground covers. In our area Dianella, Pigface and Warrigal greens are a smart choice.

And to take this food to a greater level of sustainability, cook it in a solar oven or rocket stove.

Be Comfy and Chill

Design to capture cooling breezes in summer and deflect frost and cold wind in winter. Explore your microclimates (inside and outside the home) and create shelterbelts.

Enjoy More Action

What activities do you love doing? Find a way to incorporate this into your lifestyle design. I like walking, so I have put in a labyrinth of garden paths. I make time to walk to friends places. And I campaign for better walking routes, water stations and public toilets. Continence Australia has developed a national public toilet map.

bushwalk

Recently, a design client said she liked running. Her running group share ideas, fresh food and observations about the local area. And as a bonus, active people need less heating.

Finding how to hook in to our passions and curiosity helps us build a better future.

Photograph in Beechworth hotel. Victoria, Australia

Waste less Save More

Do a quick audit of what you throw away. This will help determine how you can waste less resources and money. I know we throw away plastic from purchases. If I can buy less, I will have less plastic in our system. I also know that I throw out old clothes so when I buy clothes I ensure that they can be composted. The worms love some clothing for insulation and laying eggs.

learning to glaze old windows save a lot of money and provides opportunities to be creative.

For the past 30 years we have used our paper waste in the garden. We sheet mulched more than half an acre to suppress the kikuyu (saving hours of mowing each year), and now we use paper mâché to gently reshape the landscape, building path edges and swales with paper.

Join the Live Discussion

April Sampson-Kelly, a Permaculture Elder with over 30 year of research, writing, implementing, designing and living with Permaculture principles will give us hands on experience with solar ovens, heating tricks, seed saving, wicking without plastic and making gardens from paper waste. 

April Sampson-Kelly

Bring your lunch to enjoy at the Eco Garden after the workshop. After lunch April will be speaking on Climate Change Adaptation at our monthly gathering at the same location. 

If you’re not yet a Permaculture Central Coast member, you can join us by visiting:
https://permaculturecc.org.au/… Annual Membership fees are $20 for an individual or $30 for a family. Join today and enjoy access to all our events!

Get your ticket here