More and more people are awakening to the realization that the current system of living and providing food for our population is a tenuous and fragile system. The demise of honey bee populations may be a visible sign of how our current monoculture mega farming techniques are not the best methods for a healthy eco system. They are inherently dependent on large applications of petro-chemicals to produce yields of crops that are shipped vast distances on trucks to consumers that are thousands of miles away from their food source. Bees are trucked thousands of miles and then placed in a virtual food desert where all they see for miles and miles is 1 type of plant on which to gather nectar and pollen. Imagine how healthy you would be eating only oatmeal 3 times a day, for a month or more. Regular yes, healthy no!
Permaculture is a growing trend not only herein the U.S., but worldwide. Pioneers in this field like Geoff Lawton of Australia have been instrumental in teaching and developing and applying the developing principles of Permaculture throughout the world. Through applications of reshaping and forming the land to enhance and utilize its contours, you can develop a method of conserving and utilizing water that eliminated the needs to use pumps for irrigation. Permaculture strives to mimic the diversity found in a forest, where man is not required to annually apply fertilizer and spray trees with pesticides in order for a forest to grow. Left to its own designs a forest will grow without man doing anything.
Permaculture farming strives to develop a sustainable and robust food forest system that once established will grow and improve without man continually applying petroleum based fertilizers or pesticides. The living food forest will, over time, improve the water table, improve the soil fertility and allow a diverse array of food crops to grow together better and healthier than they do individually. One of the tenants of Permaculture that really appeals to me is the fact that during feudal times, the only people that had lawns were the monarchs. Peasants farmed what land they had to feed themselves. Monarchs as an outward display of opulence could afford to use farmland for nothing more than growing grass. On a small scale worldwide people are turning back and front yards from barren lawns to nutrient rich food forests where they can pick fresh fruits, nuts, berries and more and eat it right off the vine in their own yards, and never have to cut the grass again.
There are many good books on the subject of Permaculture. I've read Practical Permaculture by Jessi Bloom & Dave Boehnlein as well as The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk. Ben's book details his homestead from the land purchase to building the home on a plot of undesirable land in Vermont. He through the application of Permaculture techniques is even able to grow rice on his property in Vermont for his families use. There are numerous websites and YouTube videos on the topic; in short Permaculture creates a more sustainable food source and lifestyle on our planet. What's not to like about that?
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