by Jeneva Storme

Created on: January 10, 2011

Permaculture is a concept that combines sustainable agriculture and sustainable culture:  Perma-culture = permanent (agri)culture.  It was put forth by Australian Bill Mollison in the 1970s as a means of integrating landscaping with energy and water efficiency and food production. Permaculture replaces wasteful, often delicate, exotic ornamental plants with hardy, native, food-bearing or other useful plants that can still be decorative, depending on the wishes of the landowner. It involves such techniques as rainwater collection, composting, forest and perennial gardening, using animals and insects as pest control, and reducing the use of water, chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Permaculture as a concept was inspired by the natural farming techniques developed by Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka.  Fukuoka's "do nothing" philosophy maximized the beneficial services provided by natural biological and ecological systems within the agricultural landscape, protecting soil ecology and the web of life by avoiding disruptive techniques such as plowing the soil and killing pests with chemicals. His ideas were expanded by others into an overarching concept of sustainable agriculture that emphasizes the symbiotic and mutually supportive relationships between organisms within ecological systems.  It treats the agriculture landscape as another form of ecological relationship, rather than a purely man-made system requiring constant input of resources and energy and removal of waste.  By encouraging natural organisms and their beneficial relationships, and recycling wastes into food for the system, Permaculture fosters a largely self-sustaining agricultural ecology.

While Permaculture is often used in large scale agriculture or homesteading, it can also be applied to smaller scales such as an urban park, yard or garden.  A permacultured landscape can be as big or small, intensive or low-maintenance as the landowner desires, according to one's needs. For the busy professional it can be a nature-loving haven at the end of a long day, providing spiritual refreshment in the form of color and scent, and physical refreshment in the form of easy-to-grow herbs and food crops. For the avid gardener, it can be a source of much abundance with the costs of energy and resource input significantly reduced.

Important aspects of Permaculture include laying out the landscape efficiently to reduce wasted time and effort, using natural organisms and biological

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