Greetings All!
Shad here from Atitlan Organics. For the past ten years of my life, I have devoted all of my energy to the creation of a sustainable permaculture farm, here in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. I truly believe that Permaculture is the future.
Permaculture is based on 12 simple principles. Here is a short video we made and put out on our youtube channel that explains the 12 principles:
As you can see, the 12 principles are:
- Observe and Interact
- Capture and Store Energy
- Obtain a Yield
- Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback
- Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services
- Produce No Waste
- Design from Patterns to Details
- Integrate Rather than Segregate
- Slow and Small Solutions
- Use and Value Diversity
- Use Edges and Value the Marginal
- Creatively Use and Respond to Change
I consider these 12 simple principles to be a doorway into holistic and systems thinking.
A definition of Permaculture:
Permaculture is the design, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems.
That is a mouthful. It basically says that we can create ecosystems that feed us. By mimicking nature and ecosystem functionality, we can create sustainable, regenerative ecosystems that also feed us and provide us with other needs like energy, building materials, medicine, and more.
Permaculture Designs imagine a world of harmonious connections between humans and the landscape. Here is a great illustration from Dave Holmgren, one of the founders of Permaculture:
Following this, I will create one post about each principle. And then I will dive into how we implement them on our farm here in Guatemala.
The 12 Permaculture Design Principles were created by David Holmgren, the co-founder of Permaculture. https://permacultureprinciples.com/
Note: The video is made by me, through our farm, Atitlan Organics. This image is from the site: https://permacultureprinciples.com/ (This is a great site with loads of Permaculture info).