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Obtain a Yield
"Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing." There are many different types of yield that can be collected from the fruits of our efforts. Whether it’s turning last year’s composted kitchen scraps into this year’s garden beds, enjoying your youth and the health of your family while you have it, or choosing to plant fruit trees instead of ornamentals at the office, it’s important to design systems around you to best leverage your efforts. Businesses naturally think about this principle when planning their investments and assessing cash flow. Don't Get it Wrong However, when practices are used that are exploitative, distorting, and see profit as the sole focus, obtaining a yield in this context is out of balance. Beyond money, other types of value can be created as well. Let’s take a look at what those might be. Cultivate increasingly beneficial relationships and a more enriching home or workplace, by paying compliments or...
Catch and Store Energy
“By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need.” Let’s start with a note about self-care. My friends, human potential is more powerful than we can comprehend. The computing power of our brains and our ability to increase their abilities with practice is incredible. Our bodies’ innate ability to heal, detoxify, and regenerate is our single greatest asset in this life. Our bodies and minds are organic processes of perpetual energy in motion, and yet we must remember not to take that for granted (at least not for too long.) Don't Lose Your Greatest Assets By maintaining a balanced diet, attitude, and lifestyle, we can maximize the energy that our bodies are generating every day. Failure to maintain the body and mind with healthy daily habits and mindsets is the surest way to squander and lose our greatest assets. So, how do we optimize our lifestyles with this Principle? Do whatever it takes to get excited about eating a more...
Observe and Interact
The following Principles are those first identified and defined by David Holmgren in his book “Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.” My own adaptation follows each as to how I feel these Principles may be applied to our lives and business practices. Bill Mollison has offered another list of design principles that I’ve interwoven into these for the purpose of keeping this essay succinct. The exciting thing about these principles is that they are tools that we can use to think deeper into any aspect of our life or business. Contemplation of these Principles can lead one to discover new and exciting options for living a more sustainable life, more efficient business, and a more integral contribution to the community and humanity’s chances for survival. How These Principles Work “By taking the time to engage with nature, we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.” Making solution-based decisions, of any sort, requires that we can first...
An Approach Grounded in Ethics
In Part 2 of our Permaculture Lifestyle Series, we're going to take a look at the role that Ethics plays in guiding our decision-making and design. Most people have some concept of ethics and (hopefully) think of themselves as ethical human beings. But what does that really mean? How often do we really stop and think of what the word "ethics" means to us? Linda Elder defined ethics as "a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures". Google defines ethics as "moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity." Before we dive into the practical applications of the Permaculture Design Principles and how they can apply to our lifestyles, let’s take a look at the Ethics from which they’re all based: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. Earth Care In the wake of the corona pandemic, we’ve seen what it can look like when industry and petroleum-based travel take a pause. In a short time,...
What Is Permaculture and How It Can Make Your Life Better
Many have come to know the term "Permaculture" in reference to land management. As a result, many of those people mistakenly think that it doesn't apply to them and their life in the city or suburbs. It's a shame, really, because the principles that guide permaculture design are exactly the kind of approach that can solve a wide spectrum of today's urban imbalances. I'd like to take you on a journey, in this series, to help you understand not only what permaculture is, but how it can make your life better, no matter where you live. The term “Permaculture” was initially coined in the 1970s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. They devoted much of their lives to traveling the world, investigating best practices for land management from indigenous, traditional, and modern-day land stewards alike. The term originally referred to “permanent agriculture” but was later expanded to represent “permanent culture,” since social aspects were recognized to be inseparable from a...
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Obtain a Yield
"Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing." There are many different types of yield that can be collected from the fruits of our efforts. Whether it’s turning last year’s composted kitchen scraps into this year’s garden...
Catch and Store Energy
“By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need.” Let’s start with a note about self-care. My friends, human potential is more powerful than we can comprehend. The computing power of our brains and our ability to...
Observe and Interact
The following Principles are those first identified and defined by David Holmgren in his book “Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.” My own adaptation follows each as to how I feel these Principles may be applied to our lives and business...
An Approach Grounded in Ethics
In Part 2 of our Permaculture Lifestyle Series, we're going to take a look at the role that Ethics plays in guiding our decision-making and design. Most people have some concept of ethics and (hopefully) think of themselves as ethical human beings. But what does that...
What Is Permaculture and How It Can Make Your Life Better
Many have come to know the term "Permaculture" in reference to land management. As a result, many of those people mistakenly think that it doesn't apply to them and their life in the city or suburbs. It's a shame, really, because the principles that...