As before, let’s start by taking a look at what Holgrem has to say about it.

“Principle 3 : OBTAIN A YIELD

‘You can’t work on an empty stomach’

This principle reminds us that we should design any system to provide for self reliance at all levels (including ourselves) by using captured and stored energy effectively to maintain the system and capture more energy. Flexibility and creativity in new ways to obtain a yield will be critical in the transition from growth to descent but the original permaculture vision promoted by Bill Mollison of growing gardens of food and useful plants rather than useless ornamentals is still an important example of how we should apply this principle.

Without immediate and truly useful yields, whatever we design and develop will tend to wither while ones which do generate immediate yield will proliferate. Whether we attribute it to nature, market forces or human greed, systems which most effectively obtain a yield and use it most effectively to meet the needs of survival, tend to prevail over alternative choices8 . A yield, profit or income functions as a reward which encourages, maintains and/or replicates the system that generates the yield. In this way successful systems spread. In systems language these rewards are called positive feedback loops which amplifie the original process or signal. If we are serious about sustainable design solutions then we must be aiming for rewards which encourage success, growth and replication of those solutions.

Or, as the Permaculture Association website puts it, rather more simply and concisely:

“This principle is like an order. Make sure that every time you design a house, garden, park, or school, it includes elements that will provide real tangible yields. The yields could be food, fibres, or fuels, but there needs to be something. It is crazy to live in settlements where the only food source is the shop, and to get to the shop you pass gardens and parks, filled up with ornamental plants and gravel.”

The Incredible Edible Todmorden project, whilst not a permaculture project itself, is certainly putting this principle into practice. They started out in Spring 2009 with some guerilla gardening; a small group of locals started secretly planting herbs fruit and veg in municipal flower beds. Now, various institutional landowners are more than willing for their land to be used for growing useful things and residents are getting in on the growing action. The local health centre used to have the standard prickly green bushes growing outside, now they have “a botanical garden of herbs that heal“. All of the local schools are involved in some way. The local secondary school sources all food from within 30km and pupils are actively involved in growing veg that gets cooked up for school dinner.  One of the things that most captures my imagination is their ‘Every Egg Matters’ campaign to make the town self sufficient in eggs. It seems to be doing pretty well. A November 09 article claimed that 15 times more people were keeping chickens than before.

Todmorden is in the top 10% of deprived communities in the Northwest but has managed all this on a truly shoestring budget. I can’t wait to see how they get on and I’m looking forward to living in one place long enough to have a bash at it myself.

When I was young we moved into a house with a decent sized garden for the first time. Next to the house was a concrete patio area, then a lawn and then, hidden behind a hedge, was the vegetable patch, greenhouse and the washing line. This was design done with the view from the house in mind, never mind the poor person who had to schlep to the end of the garden with the washing basket or the watering can. Zoning reverses this (without disregarding aesthetics). The basic idea is that the places you visit most are closest to the centre of operations whilst the least used places are furthest away.

This idea works on so many levels; from arranging your bedroom, planning your garden to designing a village.

Zone 0

The centre of operations.

In my bedroom, that would be my bed. When planning your garden, your house is at zone 0.

Zone 1

This is an area that needs a lot of human attention and gets a lot of use. Usually this will be the closest to zone one but frequently travelled routes are also in Zone 1.

Bedroom: probably my bedside table (with my reading lamp, a book or two, my phone and charger) and my wardrobe. Garden: all the cut-and-come-again veg (herbs, salads etc), your compost and recycling bins, your bike shed etc.

Zone 2

This still requires quite a bit of attention, but not as much as zone 1 . It would still be watered and frequently tended. You’d probably be coming to zone 2 at least every other day (bearing in mind that there isn’t rigid delineation between the zones).

Bedroom: desk or bookshelf, perhaps? It seems a bit harder to apply these middling zones to this example. Garden: the hardier veg, or those that you’d only pick once or twice and perennials. For example, potatoes, pumkpins, soft fruit bushes.

Zone 3

As we go along, the areas covered increases and the amount of effort or frequency of use declines. It might not be possible to include zones 3 and 4 in a small design.

Bedroom: for me this is my craft space featuring sewing machine, ironing board, fabric stash and bits’n'bobs. Garden: an orchard if you have enough space for one or perhaps a beehive would go in zone 3.

Zone 4

This zone is only semi-managed and infrequently visited.

Bedroom: long term storage, under the bed where I keep my out of season clothes and above my wardrobe where I keep my rucksack and sleeping bag. Garden: getting a bit wilder, you’d be looking to gather wild food and timber from here so a forest garden would be a good bet.

Zone 5

The wildest zone, least often visited and where humans aren’t in control. We don’t really have any true wilderness in the UK so zone 5 is as wild as you can get it. Even on a small scale this can and should be included. An important consideration, given that zone 5 is likely towards the perimeter, is what is on the other side of the boundary.

Bedroom: hmm, I hope I don’t have any wilderness in my bedroom… Garden: self sustaining, untouched meadow or forest.

“Principle 11: USE EDGES AND VALUE THE MARGINAL
‘Don’t think you are on the right track just because it is a well-beaten path’

…Tidal estuaries are a complex interface between land and sea that can be seen as a great ecological trade market between these two great domains of life. The shallow water allows penetration of sunlight for algae and plant growth, as well as providing forage areas for wading and other birds. The fresh water from catchment streams rides over the heavier saline water that pulses back and forth with the daily tides, redistributing nutrients and food for the teeming life.

…This principle works from the premise that the value and contribution of edges, and the marginal and invisible aspects of any system should not only be recognised and conserved, but that expansion of these aspects can increase system productivity and stability. For example, increasing the edge between field and pond can increase the productivity of both. Alley farming and shelterbelt forestry can be seen as systems where increasing edge between field and forest has contributed to productivity.

The proverb ‘don’t think you are on the right track just because it is a well-beaten path’ reminds us that the most common, obvious and popular is not necessarily the most significant or  influential. ” (Essence of Permaculture by David Holmgren)

From an ecological perspective, margins are more biologically diverse; the overlap between two ecosystems can support species from both ecosystems. Where species can exist in more than one habitat, but is thriving in none, diversity and well managed liminal spaces can be vital.

I’ve been reading a lot (and tweeting a lot) about bees recently. I really can’t wait until I live somewhere that I can keep bees (yes I know you can have very productive hives in cities but you also need agreeable landlords).  Bees are undoubtedly essential to ecoystems; a single hive will pollinate half a million plants in a day. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust advice for land managers deals almost exclusively with edges. Amongst other things, they advise leaving wild buffer strips at the edges of fields, developing “uncropped, cultivated margins on arable land”, and offer specific advice on the maintenance of hedgerows.

Despite having been a feature of the British landscape since Roman times, over the last 50 years or so, the UK has lost a significant proportion of its hedgerows. However, such is their ecological value that many organisations, for example the Wildlife Trust, advocate and organise for their renewal. Hannon and Sisk found that “hedgerows were attractive foraging habitat for native bees, especially in early summer, when hedgerows tended to have higher species richness than other agricultural or natural habitats”, a clear demonstration of the value of a marginal habitat. In an attempt to reverse this decline, a law was passed in 1997 which makes it illegal to remove a hedgerow without permission if it is”at least 20 metres (66 feet) in length, more than 30 years old and contain certain species of plant.”

It was definitely more engaging than just listening to the list. There were some really interesting projects used to illustrate them during discussion. However, I got more of an idea of how they interrelate from the video below.

I find the clock analogy quite helpful. It wasn’t clear to me before that there is a logical order in which to consider each of the principles. Whole systems thinking is quite a big jump in some respects (although not in others) and having a framework to inform ones thinking can be very helpful. It also reminds us that it is an iterative process; there’s little use in creatively using and responding to change without observing to see whether you are still catching and storing energy which enables you to obtain a yield etc etc. You may need to consider the different principles at different rates during the design process. It seems likely that you would need to think about each one frequently during the initial designing, regularly during the first year or so and then gradually less and less frequently as the project becomes established.

I also like the idea of the permaculture principles forming the spokes of a wheel with the ethics as the driving force at the hub. If you’ve ever tried to true a bike wheel, this analogy graphically brings home the need to balance the principles. Whilst you may need to focus one one for a time, this should not be to the exclusion of the others. If things get out of balance the effects could be various, even unethical. One one hand, if you got a bit carried away with edges, then your plot could become chaotic or, perhaps more seriously, if too much emphasis was placed on obtaining a yield you could take more than you needed and overextend the natural resources making it unsustainable (and certainly not permaculture).

I’m still a little confused by the plethora of permaculture principles. Mollison’s seem to be quoted more or less the same everywhere.

• Work with nature rather than against.
• The problem is the solution.
• Make the least change for the greatest possible effect.
• The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited (or only limited by the imagination and information of the designer).
• Everything gardens (or modifies its environment).

Holgrem’s 12 that we discussed in our lecture (and which are shown in the video above) are:
* Observe and interact. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
* Catch and store energy. “Make hay while the sun shines.”
* Obtain a yield. “You can’t work on an empty stomach.”
* Apply self regulation & Accept feedback. “The sins of the fathers are visited on the children unto the seventh generation”
* Use and value renewable resources and services. “ Let nature take its course.”
* Produce no waste. “Waste not, want not. A stitch in time saves nine.”
* Design from patterns to details. “Can’t see the wood for the trees.”
* Integrate rather than segregate. “Many hands make light work.”
* Use small and slow solutions. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
* Use and value diversity. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
* Use edges and value the marginal. “Don’t think you are on the right track just because it is a well-beaten path.”
* Creatively use and respond to change. “Vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be.”

What isn’t clear is why there are two sets, or where the variations arise from, or where the various other sets of principles I’ve read about came from.

Branching: This is common on various scales from rivers, to tree branches, to veins and arteries. In all these examples involve the distribution liquid over a wide area, primarily in one direction.

Circles (and spheroids): Think seeds, eggs etc. With a circle or sphere you can pack a lot into a comparatively small space. Apparently circular planting is often used on small plots.

Tessellating: In nature, honeycombs are a classic while Escher is the pinacle as far as humans are concerned. Unsurprisingly, this is useful where you want to pack a load of repeating units in together. Strong, thrifty with space and they minimise surface area.

Spirals: The pattern of growth and flow. You often see leaves growing out in a spiral shape, it’s most obvious at the tip of a fern. Eddies in water (and presumably other liquids) also form spirals.

(I didn’t learn this bit during the class but instead from another PDC student blog.) Double spirals are also a common pattern in nature. For example, in pinecones, there are eight clockwise spirals and 13 counter-clockwise spirals. 8:13 is a common ratio

So called ‘Golden Spirals’ are also interesting because they follow the Fibonacci sequence. It’s often used in architecture and design because people tend to find it aesthetically pleasing.

Curves (also called surpentine or lunate): these are all over the place. Snakes and the moon are rather in the names given to this form.

Obviously something stuck from my secondary school biology lessons as my mind immediately went to ‘MRS GREN‘, the mnemonic we were given to remember the seven activities of all living things. I mentioned this at which point a fellow student and I got in to a debate over whether it is MRS GREN or MRS NERG. A quick google confirms that the former is much more common but the latter is also well used. 

Nevertheless, they both tell us that the seven things that all living things do are : Movement, Reproduction, Sensitivity, Growth,Respiration, Excretion and Nutrition.

My group first went out via the atrium. We were instantly struck by the clamour of many voices talking, chairs scraping and cutlery clattering, by the smell of food cooking and the sight of people bustling. We then walked past the toilets and the bins and then (somewhat cheekily counting a couple making out in a corner for reproduction) we had observed each of the seven signs within the first two minutes of our walk.

We decided there must be more to it than that so we continued out of the front entrance.

We started discussing the differences between the fake plastic palm trees in the entranceway and the dormant but living trees living outside. 

I, being a Radiohead fan was initially slightly distracted by singing to myself in my head.

“Her green plastic watering can
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth.
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plans
To get rid of itself.”

Obviously, from a biological perspective it would be relatively easy to determine that the outdoor trees are truly alive whilst the artificial trees inside are not.Mind you, I do know someone who was in the second year at Bradford before they realised the plam trees are made of plastic!

However both kinds are still trees, and at a first superficial glance, the fake trees seem more ‘alive’ than the real trees due to their green leaves. I have a really strong association between ‘green’ and ‘alive’. I remember reading a book (maybe The Secret Garden?) where a character is sad that all the plants have died but is then shown how, when the bark is cut away, you can seeing the living green of the sap underneath.

Winter is a hard time to think of things being alive. I can grasp it intellectually, but emotionally everything seems a bit dull and grey and lifeless. I can really see why people need midwinter festivals with light, feasting and, crucially, evergreens as a reminder that it isn’t always like this.

Without really discussing it, we headed towards the edge of campus where the ‘Veg Out’ permaculture growing group is based. We figured that it would be a safe bet as a place to observe living things. The difference between the hard surfaces, straight lines and petrol smell of the adjacent carpark and the yielding ground, scruffy but definitely alive plants and naturally formed shapes of the permaculture patch.

We were beginning to run out of time so we headed back to the lecture room via the campus ‘nature reserve’. It was left to do its own sweet thing only a year ago as I recall. Last time I saw it the undergrowth was just starting to takeover and seedlings were pushing their way though. On Friday however, I was kinda shocked to see that pretty much anything smaller than a tree had been razed with only the woodpiles left untouched. Oh, and the sign declaring it a nature reserve had been quietly removed.

This really brought home for me the tension between natural/wild space and human space. On our walk we didn’t leave campus so everything living we observed was either a human, there by human design, or because humans had been unable (at least as yet) to control its presence (in the case of birds and weeds for example).

When we returned to the classroom the discussion ranged across several issues. The most interesting to me was the idea that ‘People are nature too’. It was very noticeable throughout the discussion that we all frequently referred to people as being distinct from nature. Yet, whilst there can be clear differences between human designed systems and naturally evolved ecosystems,  people are part of nature but with the gift/curse of self awareness. We may frequently show shockingly little respect for everything else living but does that make us UNnatural?

So, I am now a Permaculture student. Or at least, technically I will be sometime next week when I have gone to the university and filled out all the requisite forms. I feel I am one already since my first class was last week. The class actually started a week earlier but they opened it out to non-students after the first session which is good news for me. I’ve wanted to do a Permaculture Design Course for a while now so I thought I’d seize the opportunity and hope to goodness that nothing else comes up in the next three months.

One of the requirements for the course is that we keep a reflective diary to detail our learning and explore our experiences. As a Peace Studies graduate and a mediator I am rather familiar with reflective diaries but that doesn’t mean I am fond of them. In my first year the only way I was able to hand anything in was thanks to the patient help of one of my boyfriends who typed as I ranted about how much I hated reflection. In my second year I earnestly attempted to do it ‘properly’, writing diaries nearly each week (yeah right I missed loads! oops) and then gathering things together in thematic explorations. This did not go too well; I didn’t enjoy it or find it useful, and I got a worse mark than in my first year. In my final year I decided to get creative (and a bit technical). I downloaded some mindmapping software and borrowed some audio recording equipment and that year my reflections were almost entirely in the form of audio clips of me discussing various subjects and experiences depicted in the mind map. This was easier to produce but less useful after the event.

For this course, I intend to produce this blog as my reflection. I will type up my lecture notes, muse on my homework assignments, post on inspiring projects, link to interesting articles. Won’t it be fun?