Our Eco-Philosophy
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Do No Harm
This is a pretty basic founding principal. It starts with taking only what you need, and giving back whenever you can. Acknowledging our responsibility to clean up our own messes. It means being mindful of your environment, and respecting the rights of other living things to exist and thrive in peace, striving for a harmonic balance between our actions and needs, and the ecology we become a part of in living here.
Methods
To create a sustainable community, there are required methods for producing our food, managing our waste, building our homes, and using resources. To use as little as possible, create as much as necessary, and waste as little as possible, in one continuous cycle.
Forest Gardening - This method engineers gardens to mimic the natural layers that exist in the forest. As an example, I will use the garden of Robert Hart, featured in Bill Mollison's series Global Gardener. The canopy layer was represented by a sun-loving pear tree. Underneath this there was a smaller, shade-tolerant apple on dwarfing rootstock. In the shrub layer was a red-currant bush. In the herbacious layer was apple mint and lavender, and beneath this, the groundcover layer of spreading strawberry, and the bottom layer was root plants. There was an added layer of climbers to go up the trees, of raspberry and loganberry. He noted that the lavender, being fragrant, may protect the other plants from insects and blight. The chosen plants complemented each other's properties and requirements.
What is Perma-Culture?
Immediately obvious are the words "permanent" and "culture", quite naturally mashed together. Perma-culture began as Permanent Agriculture, but is much broader than our methods and their environmental impact, and grows even deeper into who we are as a community. A permanently sustainable way of life, with potential to outlive all other ways.
Humans have been creatures relying on science for as long as we have been able to think, and on intuition as long as we have been able to feel. These abilities come naturally to us, and the real challenge has been in finding the balance of using science without ego, and intuition without manipulation. The last few centuries have brough us to the height of our conquest of the natural world, and we now consciously hold the fate of the planet in our hands - all through our collective disconnection and un-conscious choices.
Permaculture and intentional community look like an "extreme" lifestyle, until they are examined from the point of view that the currently accepted norms would be considered extreme, in other places and times.
Hugelkultur - This is a German idea, basically translating to growing on a hill or mound. There are different ways of doing this, some more simple than others, and some more effective than others depending on what you hope to plant. The basic premise follows what naturally happens in the forest, when dead wood falls to the ground, and plants grow up around it and over it.
Pieces of wood buried in the pile act as sponges for water that has soaked into the ground. As the wood decays, its ability to hold moisture increases. When the soil is wet from rain, the wood absorbs more moisture. As the soil begins to dry, the wood releases moisture back into the soil. This method reduces, and in some cases, eliminates the need for added irrigation in food production.
Secondly, the decaying wood and compost release a long-term source of nutrients into the soil, and release the carbon from the wood back into the soil.
The process is aided by the construction of "micro-climates", using logs, rocks or containers, to provide warmth for the composting action inside.
In essence, the entire process, once built, requires little maintenance, and is therefore sustainable.
