What is permaculture? Most people do not have any idea about permaculture, if they do, they are quick to envision an off-the-grid enthusiast hooking solar panels to chicken coops. Actually, permaculture is the philosophy of working with, rather than against nature. Bill Mollison from permaculture.net continues “ [it’s] protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather that treating any area as a single-product system.”
Permaculture is a movement and philosophy that is quickly gaining attention in this new world of pesticides, herbicides, GMOs and factory farms.You don’t have to be a soil scientist or chemical engineer to get into permaculture. Here at Hog on the Range, we are made up of a family who are of the artistic type, designers and builders, yet through awesome websites such as www.permies.com we have managed to learn about permaculture and apply the practices to our small family farm.
We have more than a few permaculture projects going on including harvesting black soldier flies as chicken feed, using rabbit manure to fertilize the garden and free-ranging the hogs to till our garden soils. We are reseeding local plants and planting symbiotic trees near other plants to control nitrogen levels.
We invite you to comment and ask your questions about permaculture. Perhaps you have dabbled in permaculture yourself and have encountered challenges or successes – we want to hear about them! You can also tweet a photo of your favorite permaculture project to @HogOnTheRange and use hashtag #permiephoto. We will post our favorites to our website.
Have a specific project you want to learn more about? Each week we will discuss a new permaculture project with how-to’s to create your own. Tweet us your suggestions @HogOnTheRange and use hashtag #permietalk and we will try to cover as many as we can!
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
― Benjamin Franklin