what is permaculture?

Susan Hutson wrote:I appreciate all you have said Loxley. However, I did some checking up for my own clarity. Bill's initial 3 week course was all class room based as were his courses at Melbourne Uni. Apparently, the reason he switched to the 72 hours was that the timing became perfect for a semester at Uni and that was always his intent, to have it in the formal education system. To this date, here in Australia, they are still trying to achieve that. Other forms have emerged at TAFE, and participants are issued Certification on various levels from level 1 through to 4.  
Permaculture is becoming an in thing to be a part of, at the moment. My original comments were meant for the everyday person. The ones with mortgages, kids, time constraints and backyards maybe even hobby farms. The ones with money commitments or life style commitments. Not young people who can do it whilst doing other studies or the older person who does it after the kids have left home or they have retired. Amazing how many older people are on PDC’s.
It would appear that David Holmgren's new book is more focused on these people when he talks garden farming & having a zone 3 on the nature strip. It would appear to me we have a long way to go to realise that a PDC is a degustation menu for what Permaculture is, and that participants come away from one (PDC) without a rounded education in any of the  topic within the curriculum. While there is an outline of what should be taught in a PDC, it is not set in stone and is left to the individual delivering the session. So, do we focus more on Garden Farming as a way to educate people and run courses which also contain the ethics and principles, which educates and broadens the participants knowledge of a topic which is not fully understood by anyone, due to the vastness of the topic.
Cheers
Susan

Susan, thank you for your check up. Do you mind citing your sources? I teach PDC history classes & would love to reference these factoids you mentioned in my classes.
The classes-on-Sundays-with-no-room-&-board PDC model that I took did in fact have many parents with mortgages, backyards & full time jobs attend & complete the course. In fact, I even went to post-PDC permaculture potlucks held in some of these people's houses & backyards. This PDC I took had over 30 people, from all generations, multiple ethnic & religious backgrounds, & multiple socio-economic statuses complete the course. It was absolutely awesome. I think the OpenCourseWare model (eg. Andrew Millison's free content permaculture at Oregon State University) can also be beneficial to the demographic you describe.
Personally, I lament how heavily-focused most PDC's were & are on gardening / Land & Nature Stewardship. There are so many more areas that pattern understanding & literacy can & should be applied. Gardening is a wonderful place to start, but I don't think it should be the be-all end-all of a PDC.
Permaculture is innately bioregionalist. IMHO, it is imperative that PDC content be designed for the bioregion in which it is taught, not dictated from centralized global / continental "permaculture" organization or even an individual person. Now that permaculture is authentically a global movement where one can obtain a PDC in every major bioregion, it is not necessary to teach tropical permaculture techniques in a PDC given in a temperate zone or vice versa. The future of the PDC, as I envision it, is bioregionally designed content around bioregionally appropriate content focused on pattern understanding & literacy in all aspects of life. Bioregional adaptation & evolution are nature's wonderful patterns that can be biomimicked for appropriate PDC content design.

For anyone wondering whether or not to do a PDC, what its about, whether it's worth it, I wrote a post talking about just that here  https://peaceandpollen.net/2019/02/23/why-you-should-do-a-permaculture-design-course-this-summer/

A new Garden Master Course excerpt is now live to watch - this one is about soil management techniques and weed composition. One of the things that struck me about this clip was how Helen is training attendees to 'think like the natural system' - and for me, that is the essence of permaculture, and a lifelong journey to try to harmonize my actions with those of the natural world.

I strive to develop an understanding, to listen more to all the signs and signals that the earth gives to us and that some of us (i.e. me!) might be unable to hear, at least initially. To listen, observe, understand and act in a way that has low–no impact or benefits the earth. Permaculture, for me, is a pathway to learning aspects of living within the natural world that may have, at one time, been 'common sense' or intrinsic knowledge, but sometimes now may have to be taught to bridge the gap between our place in the natural world and the modern world we live in today.

I like how the Garden Master Course focuses on the natural system approach as that is inspiring for me in my permaculture journey.

Sisu.... It's really a thing if your a Skandinavian

I like this image as the start of an answer to 'what is permaculture'? If you're a visual kind of person



The artist is Brenna Quinlan who is a permaculture artist-activist.

I thought this was an interesting graphic.

In a nutshell? It’s the emulation of nature.

Wow, this thread was 20 yrs old on April 1st.

Really great thoughts by all ...

How do you explain permaculture to a new gardener? Share your thoughts.

was the request in the daily-ish email.
First don't get them confused by stating it is one particular technique.  Start with: It is a design science that helps one select the best techniques for your garden, property, home so that the work does not have to be completely torn down and redone each year.  Then share an example, like on that was also in the daily-ish a trellis.  With the trellis a permanent (as in permaculture) no dig garden bed and how it is maintained like happens naturally on the edge of a forest.   There are many more scientific observations that can be applied over time; if you would like to learn them join us on permies.com

It appears to me the OP is confusing a business plan with an applied philosophy.

The first rule of real estate is that no two properties are alike. Similarly, no two microclimates are alike, and no two careers are alike. We're all going to approach our life choices differently, for different reasons, with different intended outcomes, and even more different actual results.

Permaculture for me is a considered approach to managing my patch of land, leaving it better than I found it, and discovering ways to make it more productive for the privilege of the engagement. Improving my surroundings and making food for my family and for wildlife is my priority. Making money from the process is not (at the present time). If that changes, so will my approach to the details of the process, not the process itself.

I appreciate the individual and collective wisdom represented in groups like Permies. These posts make me think, give me ideas, and offer shortcuts to long term challenges. Just like every other aspect of life, none of it is guaranteed to work - but altogether it does make the journey more enjoyable, more productive, and more delicious.

paul Hatfield wrote:10,000 years ago, people learned to plant their favorite foods close by so they wouldn't have to go far away and find them.  Only these plants always seemed to need care while the stuff in the wild didn't; Permaculture is (IMOO) about understanding why and attempting to work more symbiotically with nature so that these plants can be healthier and more productive with less water, fertilizer and effort.

Permaculture is a design science about working in nature and leaving the earth better than we found it with true sustainability. It is more than about food, but can encompass any field of life, whether how to arrange a food garden, a school, or designing a bridge or other structure.

Timothy Norton wrote:I thought this was an interesting graphic.

I think that's by Graham Burnett of Spiralseed Permaculture?

I think these days, permaculture is a community of methodologies, helping us to get back into good relationships with our biosphere and all living beings including ourselves, developed by observing surviving, thriving Indigenous communities and contrasting with "industrialised" society.

But to a gardener, I'd say, "learning to work with nature, not against it".

paul wrote: Permaculture is (IMOO) about understanding why and attempting to work more symbiotically with nature so that these plants can be healthier and more productive with less water, fertilizer and effort.

Jeanine said, "Bill Mollison, considered the 'father' of permaculture, recognized a need to educate people of the use of old and new ideas to create sustainable communities. ( I realize that most of you know who Bill Mollison is but there may be new people who are not familiar with his name).

In this lecture he talks about:

What is permaculture?
What sustainable means in the context of permaculture.
Growing food if you live in the city.
How to make money in a sustainable manner.
What makes a good/bad design.

Here is the first video of the series  http://www.networkearth.org/videos/The_Function_Of_Design.html

https://permies.com/t/17266/permaculture/permaculture-great-place-start

Permaculture is about understanding why and attempting to work more symbiotically with nature so that these plants can be healthier and more productive with less water, fertilizer and effort.

I love this definition gives us what it is, instead of what it isn't.

So many books, blogs, and videos, spend time complaining about what permaculture is fighting against, they forget to tell me what it is and how we can use it.

From this definition, we can build practical solutions.