Friday, May 15, 2009

What Makes Permaculture Different?

Someone over at the new Midwest Permaculture networking site asked, What makes permaculture different? Well, it's something I like to talk about (and if you know me, I don't talk much). So I tried to wait and give others a chance to chime in. But no one did, so there ya go.

I often feel like I'm gushing (virtually) when I start talking (typing) about permaculture. (And my daughter's tired of hearing about it!) But it IS terrific. Maybe we've just been programmed by our culture of blandness and disappointment to distrust anything that promises something better. And, permaculture is an OPEN system. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution. It can include any type of sustainable, life-affirming technique for doing stuff. It's a way of looking at things and thinking about things. It's not a farming style, not a gardening technique, not LEED building. It's all that and more!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

2 in the morning.

permaculture is like a fusion of science and magic, in that it is harmonizing humans with their environment (using soundly rational ideas, among other things) on mutually agreable terms. science alone had yet to produce such an integration. bring your whole brain to the game (at least both halves + heart and guts) if ya want to succeed. can't only have an abstracted conversation about it, which is why it's sometimes hard to talk about, because it's manifestation is always specific to it's context.

D. Lollard said...

Yeah, guts, as in digestive tract = very important in permaculture systems! As I type, it's almost time to eat some foraged wild greens from the yard, with local eggs, for breakfast.

We've been enjoying Mike's visit.

Kaleigh says Happy Memorial Day!