This is a permaculture handout made for a course I taught.

1. I.S. Permaculture Handout
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Group Process
!The following is adapted from Judith Plant’s book Healing the Wounds, the
Promise of Ecofeminism
!
Ask: !•
Is the intelligence, sensitivity, and contribution of each person respected?
• Am I taking up more time than others? Do I interrupt others?
• Do I censor (find fault with) myself?
• Is information available to everyone?
• Are difference minimized?
• Is there a generosity of spirit?
• Is care for one another what is being valued?
Group Guidelines: !•
Honor Confidentiality
• Give unconditional respect to self and others
• You control your level of disclosure, you have the right to pass
• Create space for everyone to participate
• Use “I” statements, speak form your own experience
• One person talks at a time
• Agree to disagree. Use dialogue not debate. Everyone perspective has validity.
• No zaps, put downs, or hostile analysis.
• It is OK to express emotion. (and great to understand emotions!)
• Take responsibility for your own learning, ask for what you need.
• Whatever is said in the group can not be used against you when you leave.
!
Why become a designer? Being a designer of your own situation is a powerful
tool for liberation. It changes you from being a servant/victim of a circumstance to
being a victor. By taking responsibility we increase our ability to respond in ways
that are beneficial to ourselves and our environment.
!
!
The pessimist complains abut the wind;
the optimist hopes it will change;
the realist adjusts the sails.
!
-William George Ward
!!

2. !
What is Permaculture? Permaculture is an ethically based design science that
seeks to provide for human needs while increasing ecosystem health.
Permaculture imitates patterns in Nature to design a resilient and regenerative
society both ecologically and socially.
!
Bill Mollison and David Holmgren synergized complex and simple methodologies/
philosophies from generations of global traditions and natural gardeners.
!
Permaculture Design is a co-creative evolution, one where we comprehend how
ecological systems relate, how we relate and interact with ecological systems,
how we interact with one another, and even how we relate to ourselves. - Kay
Cafasso
Design system that deals with sustainable land-use and sustainable Living - How
we provide and how we use (consume) resources. Permaculture Came out of the
counter-culture - Was taking a radical Environmental Design course in Australia -
He saw an intersection between the design process of Landscape architecture
!
Permaculture Ethics
adapted from !Dave Jacke’s Earth Care - Protecting the needs for all life and ecosystems to continue.
Stopping the further disturbance of Earth’s ecosystems; forests, rivers,
mountains, wetlands etc. Regenerating and conserving compromised
ecosystems and communities. Creating refuges for endangered ecosystems and
species. Establishing systems to provide for human needs while respecting
natural communities and ecosystems.
!People Care - Protecting people’s access to the essential resources they need
for a healthy happy life. resources which ensure healthy physical and emotional
bodies through good diet, exercise, healthy boundary setting, creative self
expression, meaningful work, community support. Another level to this ethic is
Right livelihood, Self Care.
!Resource Share - This Ethic makes the first two possible. By governing our
needs and yields we create a surplus just as nature does. This surplus gets
reinvested for future generations, our local communities, and as inputs back into
the systems we are taking from.
!
The three Permaculture Ethics are a recognition of the interconnectedness of our
planet’s systems.

3. !
Permaculture Principles
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1. Observe and interact - Before we can properly see things as they are we
need to get rid of our preconceived ideas and expectations. Observing by
entering “the witness” (objective) mindset is a skill which takes practice. After this
initial process of objective observation we can observe through inquiry and
assessment. Through interaction we create feedback loops gaining a diverse
range of information.
!
Journal entry ideas:
• Find diverse angles of perspectives to observe the same object. How did your
angle change your observations? What did you observe?
• Choose a sitting spot and make a daily visit to sit quietly and observe, keep a
journal of your observations.
!
2. Catch and store energy - By developing systems that collect resources
when they are abundant, we can use them in times of need. Energy comes
in surges and cycles our designs should maximize our systems ability to
catch it while its abundant and store it while its spars.
!
Journal entry ideas:
• List some ways that humans catch and store energy (be creative)? Which do
you feel are healthy and which are not? Why?
• Make an energy map of a typical day, where/when you get energy, How/when
you store it, and why/when you use it (also think it terms of outside of your
body). !
3. Obtain a yield - “You can’t work on an empty stomach.” Its priority to provide
for our immediate needs (Food, water and shelter) before making our deeper
investment of longterm systems for trans-generational yields, like food forests.
Other types of yields are also important to consider - information, lessons
learned, experience, the health benefits, being outdoors and fun. The yield of any
system is hypothetically infinite, our creativity is the limiting factor. !
Journal entry ideas:
• Name as many of yesterdays “yields” as you can. How do you value them?
• List three ways humans obtain yields unsustainably. Now list as many
alternatives sustainable/regenerative ways to obtain the same function of that
yield as you can.
!

4. 4. Apply Self-regulation and accept feedback - "We reap what we sow” We
need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to
function well. A system that is functioning well means that it is fulfilling most of its
own needs, this reduces the amount of work/maintenance and external inputs
needed. Permaculture Ethics are an example of a design towards a self-regulating
system.
!
Journal entry ideas:
• Imagine what values, relationships, rules, and laws your local community will
need to create in order to be sustained on the local resources. What would this
community look like?
• Map or write about any personal systems you have adopted to help you
regulate your life. What feedback did you accept in order to make this system?
!
5. Use and value renewable resources and service - Make the best use of
nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior and dependence on
non-renewable resources. Our value systems must change from linear
hierarchies to cyclical synergies.
!
Examples of a change in the perspective of values -
Power is positive as a means to get Fulfillment but detrimental as an end in its
self. Profit is a healthy means to obtain Nourishment and not an end in its self,
and Product is a effective means to foster relationships and not an end in its self. !
Journal entry ideas:
• What innovative ways have you found (or can think of) to reuse things that
people typically through away?
• How can you make better use of renewable/regenerative resources in your life?
write about it. How can you be more ingenious, resourceful, thrifty, creative.
!!
6. Produce no waste - “One mans trash is another’s treasure” every waste is
really just another yield and another resource. “waste not, want not” reminds us
that it’s easy to be wasteful in times of abundance, but this waste can be a cause
of hardship later. “Whatever we take we must return”. Consider embodied energy,
life cycle costs, social impacts, derivatives, recycling or disposal of your tools and
resources.
!
Journal entry ideas: !•
Name one waste you produce that you can find a new value for. What next
steps do you need to take to make this a reality?
• In what way have you observed this principle being used at I.S.?
!

5. !!
Activist actions for later
• Map a waste stream of a business and share alternative options with them
document it.
• Identify waist streams in your local municipality and see where/how it could
become a resource !
7. Design from Patterns to Detail - The proverb “you can’t see the forest for the
trees” reminds us that the closer we get to something, the harder it is to see the
big picture. By observing the patterns that exist before our design is started, our
design will be informed by the greater context. With this understanding of context
our systems will be adapted and integrated with the local ecology. !
Journal entry ideas:
• When you arrived at I.S. what patterns did you observe? What was you first
impression of this? Has your vision of it changed? How?
• In what way could you imagine this principle being useful on a social design?
!
8. Integrate rather than segregate - By putting the right things in the right place,
relationships develop between them and they support each other. “The whole is
greater than the sum of its parts” It is the emergent qualities of diverse systems
which make them resilient and abundant. The solution is within the problem.
!
Journal entry ideas:
• Where do you see this principle in use around you (here or elsewhere)? - This
can also be a mindmap of elements and their relationships
• See if you can find a way to actualize this principle and use it today. Journal
about how you found this easy or challenging and why.
!
9. Use small and slow solutions - Prototyping - Small failures are easier to
correct/tweak than large ones “the bigger they are the harder they fall”. Small
scale systems are more likely to fulfill and adapt to local needs. This allows
feedback loops to inform your design.
!
Journal entry ideas:
• Name one issue we are facing in the world today (social or ecological) and a
way we could address it with this principle. Would this be more effective than
big and fast? Why?
• Is this principle counter intuitive to you? Why or why not?
!
10. Use and value diversity - Every function should be supported by many
elements (redundancy) and every element should serve many functions

6. (stacking). “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” reminds us that diversity is
resiliency. See also Understanding systems in the next section.
!
Journal entry ideas:
• Where do you see this principle functioning on this farm or elsewhere? Did you
notice it before being introduced to this principle?
• Pick one element at I.S. farm and do a niche analysis for it. How many
functions does it have? Do you see any other elements supporting the same
functions as it?
!
11. Use edge and value the marginal - The overlap and interface of where two
or more systems meet is the most diverse and abundant place. By increasing
edge you increase diversity. These dynamic evolutionary zones are the breeding
ground for creativity and adaptability. "In nature, there are no rigid borders, the
edge is more a diffuse region of exchange… At the edge of two ecosystems,
species from both systems as well as special species adapted to the conditions
of the edge are found." (Tippett 1993).
!
Journal entry ideas:
• Explore an edge in nature and journal about your observations.
• Identify your own edges. Where do your reluctances overlap your goals? These
are edges to explore. What are some next steps to help you start this
exploration?
!
12. Creatively use and respond to change - "Vision is not seeing things as
they are, but as they will be” - There are changes we can not predict, many of
which may seem beyond our control. Yet, how we react and think about them as
individuals, groups, organizations and networks, is under our control (act rather
than react). The changes such as succession is predictable and can be planned/
designed for. Make the least change for the greatest effect. Find the “leverage
points” in the system and intervene there, where the least work accomplishes the
most change.
!
Journal entry ideas:
• When have you have chosen to act rather than react to change? How do you
think it affected the outcome? When have you chosen to react to a change in
your life and how did it affected the outcomes?
!
Tools and exercises
• The Cynefin model is a design tool that is helpful to identify/categorize what
type of system context you are designing in and what mode of thought to use.
• Backcasting is a writing exercise where you write as if your longterm goals
have been realized and you are looking back on your path

7. !•
Self Audit Exercise
!
Self Audit by David Holmgrin - Pg. 85 Permaculture Principles and Pathways
Beyond Sustainability
!•
List your; needs, wants, addictions, abilities, liabilities, responsibilities
• Consider all the influences, connections and relationships of these
• Map all the materials, energy flows and personal movement patterns
• Take responsibility with-out guilt or blame, look for the easiest opportunities for
reducing dependance, minimizing harm and improving quality of life
• Make small changes and review audit regularly
!
This can also be made as a mind-map with yourself in the middle.
!!
The Design Process - Design Frameworks
!
GADIE (Goal Articulation - Analysis and Assessment - Design - Implementation -
Evaluation)
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SADIMET (Survey - Analysis and Assessment - Design - Implement - Maintain -
Evaluate - Tweak)
!
O’BREDIMET (Observe - Boundaries - Resources - Evaluation - Design -
Implement - Evaluate - Tweak)
!!
Categories of Resources - Dave Jacke !
1. those that increase by modest use (coppice and browse)
2. those unaffected by use (sunlight)
3. those that disappear or degrade if not used (vegetables)
4. those which reduce when used (oil)
5. those that pollute or destroy other resources when used (nuclear)
!
The Seven F yields of Food Forests - Food, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, fuel,
‘farmeceuticals’ and fun
!!!

8. Understanding Systems
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“Design is a connection between things. It is not water, or a chicken or the tree.
It is how the water, the chicken and the tree are connected. It's the opposite of
what we are taught in school. Education takes everything and pulls it apart and
makes no connections at all. PermaCulture makes the connection... because as
soon as you have the connection you can feed the chicken from the tree.” !
Diversity is related to stability. It is not, however, the number of diverse elements
you can pack into a system, but rather the number of useful connections you can
make between these elements.
- Bill Mollison
The Second Law of Thermodynamics - Law of Increased Entropy - Energy
decreases over time by changing from usable energy to unusable (we loose
access to it). To decrease the rate of entropy we create living-systems that mimic
those of nature which capture, store cycle and recycle elements and resources.
”Entropy's worse enemy is life itself" (Gleick and Porter, 1991: 34)
!
Dave Jacke’s - Scale of permanence !
From hardest to easiest ability to change
!
Climate, Landform, Water systems, Access and Circulation, Vegetation and
wildlife, Microclimates, Buildings and infrastructure, Zones of use, Soil,
Aesthetics
!
Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule) - The Pareto Principle helps us
see that the majority of results come from a minority of inputs. It states that,
roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Italian economist
Vilfredo Pareto identified, that 80% of the wealth is held by 20% of the
population.
!
PATO – Employ Protracted And Thoughtful Observation rather than protracted
and useless labor.
!
!

9. Site Analysis Fundamentals of Permaculture
EXISTING NATURAL RESOURCES
Sun Direction: Orientation (locate a north arrow on your base map drawing)
Wind/Air: Seasonal direction winter; summer; air drainage
Water: Ponds, streams, bogs, marches; springs; rainwater runoff/drainage; flood
plain; fords; dams; swales, ditches; where does run-off go/come from?
Microclimates: Frost pockets; thermal belts; airflow; shade; solar gain/refection
Topography: Elevation above sea level; contours; keypoints; valleys; ridges
Slopes: Aspect; gradients (gentle, medium, steep)
Soils: Types - rocky, fertile, wet, clay; color, compaction, erosion
Rocks, sand, minerals: Potential building materials, obstructions, microclimate
Flora: Trees, crops, gardens, ground covers, native edible forage, wildlife
habitat; (Stage of succession, invasive, poisonous…)
Fauna: Domestic; native wildlife
Sacred Places: Springs; groves, old trees... (use your “6th” sense, memory/
sentiment) Views
ACCESS, CIRCULATION & PARKING
Vehicular: Existing roads, driveways, bridges, bicycle paths, public transit
Pedestrian: Existing footpaths, sidewalks
Domestic Animals: Territory
Wildlife: Existing wildlife corridors, animal trails
SITE ANALYSIS
Property Size: acreage, lot size
Locale: urban/suburban/rural (city/town/countryside)
Geography: valley, ridge, plain; watershed bioregion boundaries
Land Use Capability: (based on profile model) wilderness, mining, lumber,
hunting, fishing, agriculture...
TOPOGRAPHY
Altitude: Elevation above sea level, highest, lowest
Longitude/latitude

10. CLIMATE
Wind: Speed and direction in winter; summer
Annual Rainfall
Temperatures: Minimum/maximum
Humidity
EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE
Utilities: Electric, gas, oil, wood, etc. (poles, pipes, conduits; from where?)
Water: Drinking water source - well (depth), municipal (from where?)
Sewage: Septic, municipal, composting (where does your sewage go?)
Garbage: Municipal, composting, recycling where does your garbage go?)
Food Production: Gardens, orchards,
EXISTING STRUCTURES
Houses, Barns, Greenhouses, Outbuildings, Gardens, Fields, Pasture, Fences,
Walls, Ruins, Bridges, Windbreaks (natural or planted)
SOILS
Types, soil test results Drainage, absorption Perk test results
HISTORY OF SITE
(The original ecosystem should suggest how it could best be used for human
habitation.)
Previous Land Uses: Residential, cropped, pasture, logged, graded, wetland
Nature: native vegetation; virgin wildlife habitat type; topography
Buildings: Use, historical significance
People: Native American tribe, post-colonial family, business, war...
Soil/Air /Water Fertility/Pollution: Stewardship, abuse (chemical use)...
Natural/Manmade Disasters: Fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, drought,
contamination
OFF-SITE/LOCAL RESOURCES &/OR INTERFERENCE/HAZARDS
Adjacent Land Uses - chemical farming, industry..
Upsteam/upwind issues: pollution; run-off...
Noise, Visual Pollution, Odors: Road traffic, airplane flight path, rifle range...
Soil/Air/Water: Pesticides, factory emissions, acid rain, toxic farm runoff...

11. Electrical Pollution: Power lines, transmission boxes
Continuation of Wildlife Corridors: Deer paths, bluebird trail...
Potential Sharing/Bartering: People, business, plants/seed, biomass, timber,
Potential Markets
Public Open Space
Threats of Local Development
LOCAL MUNICIPAL/LEGAL REGULATIONS
Zoning Land Use Designation/Ordinances: Residential; yard setbacks,
parking, animals...
Building Codes
Sewage Authority
Community Agreements
Land Development: Deed Restrictions, Easements Mineral Rights, Water Rights
!
Site Assessment fundamentals of Permaculture
Evaluate the supporting capability of the land for human inhabitants; for native
and food producing plants; for domestic and native animals. Summarize its
human use to date. Has the land been used in a manner which is beneficial to
both nature and humans; or has its use by humans been at the expense of
nature?
OPPORTUNITIES & CONSTRAINTS Identify site potential and restrictions by
making a list for each.
Evaluate the existing/potential house/building site (is it practical?)
Circulation (is it efficient?)
Existing/potential water harvesting (roof collection, swales, gravity-fed
irrigation ponds, dams, drinking water)
Existing/potential microclimates (abundant rainfall/, droughts, sun/shade, wind
breaks)
Existing/potential for passive solar heat gain (southern exposure, water
reflection, sun traps, thermal mass)
Existing/potential wind energy, hydro power, solar gain (off-grid electric
power, water pumping/heating, heat)
Wind protection (existing/potential wind breaks, slopes)
Waste/nutrient recycling (composting toilets, greywater, artificial wetland...)
Garbage (reduction, reuse, recycling, compost, mulch)

12. Food production (gardening, orchards, forest gardening, edible landscape, cash
crops, mini-farming, greenhouse, wild edible/medicinal plants, poultry or other
livestock)
Recovery/rehabilitation/preservation (wilderness, soils, historic buildings)
Soils (potential for cultivation, construction, building materials)
Vegetation (potential wind breaks, wild/domestic animal forage, conservation
areas, medicinal or edible wild plants, woodlot for firewood or timber)
Existing Edges (wild-life habitat, food production, sun trap/wind protection)
Natural building materials (rocks, earth, fiber, timber, bamboo, etc.)
Craft/clothing materials (basket willows/rushes, sheep’s wool, etc.)
Timber/Fire Wood Harvesting
Zones (Rural)
Zone 0 - The house. “We need to get our house in order, our garden in order, our
place of living
so that it supports us” (Bill Mollison)
Zone 1 - Frequent visits and observation, Close to buildings, most intensive and
accessable. Visit multiple times a day
- seedling, small animals, culinary herbsComponents needing continual
observation, frequent visits, work input, complex techniques, such as home
garden. High productivity and net import of soil fertility from rest of landscape.
Zone 2 - Visit once a day Less intensively managed components like heavily
mulched orchards, domestic animals whose sheds adjoin Zone 1. Main crop
veggies that require more space than available in zone 1. –less intensive, trellis,
small pond, hedge, home orchard, forage for livestock
Zone 3 - Less intensive visit a few times a week.
“Farm” zone, grain and fodder, animal self-forage systems, windbreaks, hardy
trees and native species. –commercial crops, green manure
Zone 4 - Minimally Managed Zone
Managed for wild gathering, forest and fuel needs of the household, pasture or
range, planted to hardy, unpruned or volunteer trees, some introduced animals. –
border forest wilderness- managed for wild gathering, forest and fuel needs,
pasture
Zone 5 - Wilderness, or land where the interests of wild plants and animals take
top priority, and yields for human use only taken when this benefits wild species. -
This is where we learn the rules we try to apply elsewhere!!!
(Ref: Permaculture Designer’s Manual- Bill Mollison; Edible Forest Gardens-
Dave Jacke)
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13. Resources
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Toby Hemenway’s 14 PC principles - http://www.patternliteracy.com/resources/
ethics-and-principles
Social Perma-Co-Op model - http://www.permacultureinternationale.org/model-of-
perma-coop/
Willits Economic Localization - http://well95490.org/?s=permaculture
Blooming in Space resources - http://bloominginspace.wordpress.com/free-resource-
list/permaculture/
Edible Forest Gardens - http://www.edibleforestgardens.com
Permaculture Wikia - http://permaculture.wikia.com/wiki/Permaculture
A pattern Language of Sustainability - http://www.holocene.net/dissertation.htm#a
Permaculture magazine - http://www.permaculture.co.uk
Keyline Vermont - http://www.keylinevermont.com/Welcome.html
TreeYo Permaculture - http://treeyopermaculture.com and http://
treeyopermacultureedu.wordpress.com/
Gaia University - http://www.gaiauniversity.org/gu_blog and