Permaculture Principle #4: Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback (Part 2)

"Pattern recognition is the precursor to design." Dave Jacke, of Edible Forest Gardens

I love this quote. To me, it throws back to principle one, which is Observe and Interact. We must always start appropriate design with a protracted period of observation. During this time, we look for patterns. From there we can begin to design systems that take advantage of these naturally occurring patterns.

This is probably the most important principle that relates to the actual design process.

Applying Self-Regulation means that we define how the system should work and then set it and forget it. This does not mean to design yourself out of the system, but rather to define your level of participation and then stick to your parameters.

For example, I want a garden that I will only work in for 10 hours a week, spend less than $100 per month on it, and irrigate only three hours per week. That is applying self-regulation.

So, you start your garden, and then after two weeks or so of sticking to your plan (10 hours work and three hours watering per week), you may observe in your garden that everything is really dry and the weeds are going crazy, stunting your desired vegetable plants. This is the feedback. And you need to accept it. Maybe you out your garden size down. Or maybe you realize you love to garden and would prefer to work there for more than 10 hours per week. Maybe you bring in mulch to help with the dry conditions and the limited water. Make adjustments based on the feedback and then apply a new level of self-regulation and repeat the whole process.

Design is an iterative process. In one sense, it never ends. You set something up, let it run, then accept feedback, modify, tweak, and repeat. This can go on into infinity, which may sound overwhelming but, to me, this is the fun of design.

Lets look at another example:

The Warm Banana

So, I like to apply these principles everywhere, not just in the garden. So lets start with a common challenge many folks face. Trying to eat healthy and maybe even lose some weight.

Lets pretend that I am working at an office, and everyday after work, I am a little hungry. On my drive home, there is McDonald's, and I have noticed that lately I have begun stopping there for a big mac snack :-)

I decide that I dont want to eat that big mac. The first step in my design process is to notice the pattern. Hungry after work, stop at McDonald's, Eat Big Mac, Feel crappy.

Thinking I'm super clever, I declare, "Screw McDonald's! I'm going to bring a banana to eat when I leave work and feel hungry! Heck Yeah!!!" This is me applying self-regulation. I dont want to have deal with making decisions about whether or not to eat at McDonald's. The system is designed to solve the problem before that decision ever needs to be made.

So I put the banana in the car, go to work, and then, as expected, leave work and feel hungry. I get to my car and the banana is a brown and warm. Pretty gross. I eat like half of it and decide the other half is better left for the chickens. Even though it worked, in one sense, as I was choking down the warm banana as I cruised on by the McDonald's, I was still hungry. And then I end stopping at Burger King, which is conveniently located one mile past the McDonald's.

Damn! I eat a whopper and feel crappy. This is the Feedback. And I need to accept it!

So I iterate and apply a new level of self-regulation. This time I will make extra dinner, which is way more healthy than fast food, and bring leftovers to put in the office fridge. The next day, on my way out of work, I grab the leftovers and eat them in the car before I start my drive home. I feel satisfied and McDonald's doesnt get my money. Success.

This is how we can apply self-regulation and accept feedback in our daily lives. Because this is such an awesome principle, I think Ill do a part two... Hope you enjoyed!

And as always, this list of 12 Permaculture Principles was given to us by the great David Holmgren, co-founder of Permaculture. https://permacultureprinciples.com/

NOTE: This post is proudly filled, COMPLETELY, with original writing and photos. ENJOY!