PERMACULTURE 101 ~ Sustainable Living

Hello my dear Steemians!

Today I'm starting to write about this NEW way of Thinking and Treating Nature!
There's so much to say on this topic, so my first post will be just a brief introduction about PERMACULTURAL DESIGN!

Let's get started with basics.

Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered on simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. Permaculture was developed, and the term coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978.

It has many branches that include but are not limited to ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design, construction and integrated water resources management that develops sustainable architecture, and regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.

Mollison has said: "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system." (1)

Image #1 : Permacultural design of House and infield

Many people think that Permaculture is just about new approach to gardening, but it is much much more. Organic gardening is definitely an essential part of this but not the only aspect.

This year was my first year of permacultural gardening with my boyfriend so in the next posts I will write about how we grow crops no one even heard about, how we taught the villagers of our village smarter ways of growing some crops, carrot for example and how we proved to all (and ourselves too) that diversity of plants attracts less parasites and the one that were there were removed with natural repellents. More about that later!

The benefits of this kind of living are numerous. The most important one is that the food we eat is organic, fresh and personalized. Huge money saving is also a benefit, but that's just after the ecosystem is created because the cost of making this kind of system is not cheep but when done, the costs are minimized and can be only few dollars spent on internet connection. :)

Have You seen these beautiful yellow cherry tomatoes? They are sooo sooo sweet!

Now I'll just name few topics I will write about soon connecting this matter and please comment which one You would like hear about first:

1. Rocket Mass Heater - saves up to 70% of wood.
2. How to plant a carrot to grow really big
3. Raised flower beds
4. Hugelkultur / Hugelbed - what is, how to make
5. Food Forrest
6. Solar Panels
7. Rain water saving
8. 7 Plants You may never heard about
9. Parasites in Garden
10. Organic repellents and fertilizers - create Your own
11. Composting
12. Mulching

Thank You for Your attention!

Petra