All posts by Diana Sette

Hugelkultur: Not as Strange as You Might Think

Uncategorized

by Diana Sette

PERMACULTURE IS CONSTANTLY WORKING to model systems after designs in nature, and the practice of hugelkultur is a prime example. Before we get into talking about hugelkultur, I invite you to imagine the forest floor of an old growth forest. Layers of humus, maybe little slopes from tree roots, or moss-covered, decomposing fallen logs, cover the landscape. Herbaceous plants unfurl in the crevices and atop mounds. Self-mulched surfaces produce rich, organic matter from which mushrooms and shrubs spring. Decaying leaves are food for worms, insects, and other arthropods. There is no need for a hose to water, and if it down-pours there, it is unlikely to flood, as the carbon-rich soils have such an extensive water holding capacity. In addition to that, no human needs to fertilize the trees, or the ferns, or the herbs and shrubs producing beautiful berries and nutrient-dense greens. No, this system is self-sustaining and regenerative.

hugelkultur-cross-section

From this springs the inspiration for hugelkultur.   Hugelkultur is a raised bed with an intentionally layered structure with large wooden logs as the base layer. Layers atop the thick fallen-tree-like-foundation include smaller logs, branches, twigs, manure or other high nitrogen organic waste, local soil with indigenous microbes, straw, compost, wood chips, grass clippings, and even food scraps. The idea is essentially to recreate the conditions of a forest floor by building a raised bed with a compost pile that balances the carbon (“browns” like wood and straw) with the nitrogen (“greens” like food scraps, manure, or grass clippings) all put into the raised bed.

Sepp Holzer, a permaculturist from Austria, popularized the hugelkultur practice as a way to build a self-fertilizing garden with minimal irrigation and increased growing space and microclimates. Many people across the planet are beginning to implement this practice in their garden-farms. Why? For lots of good reasons!

First, once you start working with trees and perennials, any gardener can tell you that it’s not hard to accumulate a large pile of cuttings from pruning, or from rotten wood. Therefore, hugelkultur is a practice that supports putting those waste products to good use by recycling their nutrients.

hugelkultur-cross-section-ii

Second, hugelkultur is a great way to build soil. As mentioned above, the layering process,  similar to “lasagna gardening” but with wood and logs included, is like building an instant compost pile in your raised bed. Also, if you’re gardening in an area with compact clay soils or water-logged areas, hugelkultur beds can be the solution to building soil through raised beds.

Third, to reiterate the point above, hugelkultur beds are self-fertilizing because they are built to be like slow-release compost piles that feed the microbial life in the soil, giving access to nutrients and minerals in the earth.

Fourth, hugelkultur beds require minimal irrigation. Woody material has a great capacity to store water—by imitating the forest floor and building a raised bed with dead woody material as the base, you are creating a growing bed that can hold water in its structure. The wood retains moisture and feeds it slowly to plants as needed.

Fifth, the practice of hugelkultur supports the conservation of water and also increases drought-tolerance.

Sixth, like any raised bed, the mound structure of hugelkultur provides a height advantage that is more resilient to floods. In addition to simple mounding, the log layers will work to absorb excess water and spread it upward, while the height will keep many plants growing at a higher level high and dry. 

hugelkultur-diagram

Finally, hugelkultur expands the “edge” and microclimates available to grow in. Think of the ever-popular herb spiral that capitalizes on the variation of height and growing conditions in a contained spiral pattern. The plants at the top enjoy slightly warmer and dryer soils, while the plants toward the base of the spiral enjoy damper and cooler soils. The same scenario plays out for the hugelkultur bed that is more angled.

While many hugelkultur beds are built to be a more rounded, half-circle type shape, others can be taller or triangular to better leverage the potential for diverse growing conditions or microclimates. The extra steepness of the tall triangular shape also allows for the natural settling of decomposition. Some hugelkultur builders have utilized wooden pallets as a base for the sides of the hugelkultur bed to help support the structure of the steepness, while also providing a little more foundation for planting at various heights. People who build hugelkultur beds more tall and steeply also report the benefit of an easier harvest due to less bending and reaching. Clearly, the reasons to build a hugelkultur bed are extensive!

How to build a hugelkultur bed

Materials needed:

• large logs or tree trunks (best if soaked overnight or for a few hours beforehand). The type of wood you use for the beds is important. Softwoods like apple, alder, poplar, dry willow, and birch are generally best—similar choices as you might make for growing mushrooms. Avoid eucalyptus, cedar, or cypress because of their acidity and/or anti-fungal, anti-microbial properties. 

hugelkultur-big-logs

• water • medium-sized trunks & branches

• shovel

• spade

• wheelbarrow

• ground stakes, rope, or spray paint (optional, but helpful)

• small branches (not necessary, but useful)

• recently pruned green material

• organic waste/manure/food scrapes

• local soil

• compost

• straw

• wood chips (optional)

Step 1: Decide on the location of the bed.

Step 2: Use the ground stakes/rope/ spray paint to outline the bed. This step is especially useful, and highly recommended when working with a larger group, so that everyone understands and can easily visualize the plan.

Step 3: Use spades and shovels to edge the outline, and then dig a 3-4” trench. Important: save the soil for later.

Step 4: Place the large logs as the bottom layer of the trench. This will help to improve drainage and retain humidity of the bed soil. It is preferable that the logs are pre-soaked prior to using, as this will significantly help the soil and microbes get off to a good start in maintaining moisture for the bed. If logs are not pre-soaked, another option is to run the hose during the process of layering the bed as to wet all materials.

Step 5: Place smaller tree trunks and branches on top of the bigger ones. 

hugelkultur-smaller-branches

Step 6: Place organic waste, or recently pruned green material on top of that. This nitrogen layers will balance the slow-to-break-down high-carbon layers of wood.

Step 7: Place the soil from Step 3 on top of the pile. This will seed indigenous microbes into the bed.

hugelkultur-soil-and-compost

Step 8: Cover with compost to give soil health a jumpstart. 

Step 9: Top off with either straw or wood chips, and plant within the top layer of the bed. Plants that need less water should be planted towards the top of the mound, and those that need a larger amount of water should be planted near the bottom.

Many hugelkultur gardeners recommend waiting a full moon cycle before planting the bed to allow for settling and integration of the layers. The devil’s in the details… A few notes to consider when building a hugelkultur bed: Have all materials prepared and ready on-site before starting. Building a hugelkultur bed can be hard work with the lugging of large logs and piles of soil and wood chips. It’s always a good idea to get a group together to help. Maybe offer it as a free skill-share event about hugelkultur beds, or be ready to offer the nutrient-dense food that will be growing soon. However you do it—remember, many hands make light work! Save annual prunings for hugelkultur layering materials. If you want an added bonus of mycelium, when soaking wood materials in water, you can use mycelium powders mixed into the water as an inoculant to jumpstart the soil food web for the new raised bed. For the top of the hugelkultur mound, select plants that need less water like garlic, and for the bottom, chose plants that enjoy more water like beans. 

hugelkultur-plantings

   

If one does want to use irrigation for the hugelkultur bed (e.g., in drylands or during extreme drought), there are a couple options to consider. One option is to shape the hugelkultur bed in a more tiered fashion, allowing for lines of drip irrigation to be laid down and staked along the top ridge, then along two tiered levels on the sides of the bed, and two more along each side at the base. Using drip irrigation is the most water-saving approach.

However, another option for irrigation that is perhaps more efficient in utilizing the benefits of how the moisture flows through the hugelkultur bed, is implementing irrigation channels. This method of irrigation is particularly useful if your growing area is prone to flooding. Have fun and happy hugelkultur!

hugelkultur-planting-iii hugelkultur-planting-v hugelkultur-planting-iv

∆ Diana Sette is a passionate community cultivator, gardener, writer, facilitator, and mother. She is a Certified Permaculture Teacher and Designer, and is the Co-Founder of Possibilitarian Garden (Facebook: Possibilitarian Garden) and Possibilitarian Regenerative Community Homestead aka PORCH (www. buckeyeporch.org) in Cleveland, OH. Diana serves on the board of The Hummingbird Project (hummingbirdproject.org), and Green Triangle (greentriangle.org). She is a frequent contributor to Gardenopolis Cleveland. More on Diana at dianasette.wordpress.com.

Water Extreme Resilience with Rain Gardens and Urban Trees

PERMACULTURE

By Diana Sette

Originally published in the Permaculture Design Magazine -Regenerating Life Together –Spring 2016, Issue #100 Water Extremes: Drought and Flood

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By Diana Sette

For this issue’s Skills & Practices, we will look at ways to design for the anticipation of heavy rainfall extremes.  We know that with climate change, we are and will continue to be facing more and more erratic weather patterns that overload current infrastructure.  The more we can create built systems to function like wetlands, marshes, and prairies – among other systems that naturally handle occasional flooding– the more resilient we will be because we will be creating systems that work to, as Brock Dolman of the WATER Institute1 says, “slow it, spread it, sink it” rather than “pave it, pipe it, pollute it.” 

For the purposes of this article, we will look at two design patterns that can be resilient when facing water extremes.  Part One focuses on Rain Gardens, and the Part Two looks at how urban trees can work to manage water extremes.

Part I: RAIN GARDENS

I am within biking distance from the beaches of Lake Erie.  Lake Erie is the twelfth biggest fresh water lake in the world, and provides drinking water for over 11 million people.2  I regularly contemplate what happens to the Lake and its waterways when it rains.  The prompting of this consideration does not take much, as one heavy rainfall causes the beaches to be closed for swimming due to unsafe levels of E. coli.  This is because during extreme rainfalls, the stormwater overflows the water infrastructure system and puts stress on the streams resulting in the pollution of Lake Erie.   The more that this region experiences heavy rainfalls3, the more this region will experience unsafe water management.  This is because the City of Cleveland’s water infrastructure is set up as a Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) system.  CSO is a common system for many older cities that allows unfiltered and untreated sewage mixed with stormwater into the waterways when there is flash flooding that adds more water to the system for which it was designed. 

Image A_ CSO_diagram_US_EPA

While re-designing cities on a massive scale to integrate green infrastructure may be the end game, we can and must take action now to make small changes that manage stormwater on-site with what resources we have available to reduce combined sewer overflow, and reduce the storm water that is draining into our waterways unfiltered and unharnessed.

Sustainable urban drainage systems (known as SUDS in the UK) or low impact development (known as LID in the US/Canada) include the following techniques: permeable surfaces, green roofs, rainwater and graywater harvesting, and finally installing bioretention systems also known as rain gardens.  For the purpose of this article, we will focus on rain gardens. 

Image BHow-Rain-Garden-works4

As permaculture designers, creating systems that require the least amount of input with the greatest output is one of the goals.  One of the ways in which designers accomplish this is by ‘stacking functions,’ or rather, using something for multiple purposes as to get more ‘bang for your buck’ sort of speak.  Designing a rain garden is a great opportunity to practice stacking functions.  One function an effectively designed Rain Garden can be is to create wildlife habitat and increase biodiversity by increasing the food source and nesting area for pollinators and beneficial species.  Depending on the plant selection, rain gardens can also add significant edible and medicinal value to the landscape.  Rain gardens can also be places of solace and tremendous beauty.  Most importantly for considering water extremes, rain gardens work to capture, store and filter water on-site, which in turn alleviates stress on waterways, recharges aquifers, reduces erosion, and reduces pollution to our drinking water. 

But before we get to stacking functions in our design, let’s talk about the basics of rain garden design.

KEY STEPS to SUCCESSFUL RAIN GARDEN DESIGN

First: Choose a site.  Choosing the right location for the rain garden is key. 

To start, rain gardens must be a minimum of 10 feet from a building to prevent any damage from overflow during heavy rainfalls.  Rain gardens work well when they catch and filter stormwater runoff from permeable surfaces like roofs or parking lots, so placing a rain garden in juxtaposition to a paved surface is a wise consideration.

Secondly, rain gardens should be placed in locations with good drainage (not areas where water tends to pool).  A rain garden can allow the land to soak up about 30% more than a patch of lawn!4 That being said, rain gardens are not a solution to wet areas in a lawn, nor should they be placed near the drain field of a septic system. 

Second: Design the garden.   

Deciding on the size of the garden depends very much on the amount of anticipated runoff from the roof and/or lawn that the rain garden that will flow into the rain garden.  Ideally, a rain garden will be able to absorb all of the stormwater that drains away from the site.   

If you are connecting a rain garden to the downspouts of your home, you can calculate the amount of rainwater using the following steps.  First, figure out the footprint of your home by taking the length of the building multiplied by the width of the building.  This will give you the square feet of your home footprint.  Then count the number of downspouts on that building.  Divide the square feet of your home footprint by the number of downspouts directed to the rain garden, and you will have the square feet of the roof area draining to the garden.

If you are placing your rain garden more than 30 feet from a downspout and using a rain garden to manage stormwater from an impermeable surface like lawn turf, driveway, or parking lot, you can calculate the amount of rainwater that will drain to the rain garden using the following steps.  Measure the length of the uphill lawn area and multiply it by the width of the uphill lawn area.  This will give you the square feet of impermeable surface that will drain into the rain garden. 

If your rain garden will be managing runoff from both your house and lawn/parking lot, add those two total square feet together to get the total drainage area.  The general ratio of drainage area to rain garden is 5:1 for a well drained, sandy soil profile.  For example, if you had 500 square feet of drainage area, you would build a 100 square foot rain garden5.   Then again if your rain garden site’s soil is compacted, poorly drained or clay soil, use a 2:1 ratio.  It is also possible to excavate soil and replace with layers of compost and mulch to improve soil porosity.  Many landscaping companies even offer ‘rain garden soil mixes’ now.

Also, it is important to consider the slope of where you want the garden to be. The ideal slope for a rain garden is between 3% and 8%.  A general rule is that the steeper the slope the more work it will be to level out the area to create a flat basin.  That being said, in general a slope over 12% are generally not suitable for rain gardens, as they require a depth for the rain garden depth above 8 inches, meaning that it might hold water for too long.  You can use Table 1 below to determine the depth of your rain garden.

Screen Shot 2016-08-08 at 2.36.09 PM

   Table 1

The shape of a rain garden.  Shapes vary with design aesthetics, but they tend to be in the kidney shape, as it allows for the natural container of water in-flow and storing of the wide brim.  A solid berm is carved out and reinforced on the downhill of the rain garden to allow for water holding.  This is one area that will be important to monitor over time, and do any maintenance work if needed.

Third:  Get to work!

Before you starting digging, it is useful to call the “Call before you Dig!” hotline to make sure you are digging in a safe place.  In the US. You can call 811, or go to call811.com to find out the direct state line to “call before you dig.” 

Finally, invite friends and neighbors, and get a group together to help!  Nothing builds community like collective work.  What a great way to share knowledge and give purpose to a gathering!

A NOTE ON SPECIES SELECTION

A common requirement for all rain garden plant species is that they must be able to tolerate periodic flooding.  From there, you can choose plants based on their needs for sun versus shade, and what is available at your site.  Sun and partial sun for rain garden sites is best, though shade gardens are possible as well.

In order to optimize benefits of the rain garden, it is useful to plant perennial native species that tend to thrive in your region.  With particular attention to their zone and soil moisture tolerance, you can find a broad range of color that can bloom from first to last frost.  Currently working in a cool temperate moist forest climate, with some anticipation for the climate to be shifting towards a warmer temperate moist forest area, Table A lists some of my favorite herbaceous and shrub species for rain gardens.  Listed in the footnotes are resources for plant selections for rain gardens in other climates6.

Screen Shot 2016-08-08 at 2.34.23 PM

END NOTES:

1 The WATER Institue (Watershed Advocacy, Training, Education and Research) is a project of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center in Occidental, CA.  www.oaecwater.org.  See Brock Dolman’s article “Watershed Relationships” In the Winter 2010-11 issue of Permaculture Activist # 78 for a more in-depth discussion and explanation of watersheds.

2. http://www.lakeeriewaterkeeper.org/lake-erie/facts/

3. Research of Cleveland climate patterns shows a 25.8% increase in annual precipitation from 1956-2012 with a 57.4% increase in precipitation in the months of Sept – November.  Rajkovich, Nicholas B. “Climate Change and Cleveland” presentation, University at Buffalo.  2015. 

4.  Cornell Cooperative Extension.  Introduction to Rain Gardens.  http://hightstownborough.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/NJ-Raingarden-tri-fold.pdf

5. There is also a guide chart for assessing proper rain garden in Cornell University Cooperative Extensions “Installing a Rain Garden” manual.  http://www.townofglenville.org/Public_Documents/GlenvilleNY_stormwater/01238879-000F8513.6/Installing%20A%20Rain%20Garden%20Cornell%20University%20Cooperative%20Ext.pdf

More worksheets available at Rain Garden Manual for Homeowners: Protecting Our Water, One Yard at a Time.  Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District/Northeast Ohio Public Involvement Public Education Committee (NEO PIPE), 2006.  http://www.clevelandwpc.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/raingarden_manual_forhomeowners.pdf

6. Brad Lancaster’s  “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond” website provides numerous useful rain garden plant lists for Dryland Regions (especially considering AZ, CA, CO, MN, NM, UT, WY climates) http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/plant-lists-resources/multi-use-rain-garden-plant-lists/    The “Rain Gardens for Nashville” Resource Guide provides a thorough species list with particular attention to Southern US region climate.  https://ag.tennessee.edu/tnyards/Documents/Rain%20Garden%20Brochure%20Metro%20Nashville.pdf  Many of the other Rain Garden Manuals cited in the End Notes provide plant recommendations as well.  Numerous seed companies are selling ‘rain garden seed mixes’ as well.  See Prairie Nursery, Ohio Prairie Nursery, Prairie Moon Nursery, Roundstone Native Seed, Ernst Seeds, The Vermont Wildflower Farm, among many more you can find online.

Other Useful Resources for Rain Garden Design Inspiration…

Part Two: Urban Trees

The industrialized “pave and pipe paradigm” is “disastrously flawed and hydro-illerate”1. 

Many cities are completely paved and piped with little to no green space, or daylighted rives, creeks, or streams.  On the other hand, some of the most enjoyable spaces in a city are where there are urban trees thriving.    The temperature is cooler, people tend to feel more relaxed in the environment, and interestingly the density of tree canopy is reflected in income levels as well.2  Cleveland, OH, historically known as “The Forest City” has lost about 100,000 public trees since 19403..  Some now call it “The Deforest City,” though many people and organizations are working to make it “The Reforest City.”  The efforts to plant more urban trees is for many reason, one being that the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District based in Cleveland is under a federal order (aka a consent decree) to reduce the volume of sewage that overflows into the local waterways due to gross amounts of water pollution.  By focusing on the replanting of urban forest canopy, significant steps can be taken to improve water quality and restore the local hydrology. 

“Cleveland’s urban forest intercepts an impressive 1.8 billion gallons of rainwater every year, a service valued at just under $11 million”4.  With the increased frequency of water extremes in this region, we can plan to see more and more rainfall, and urban trees that are well-planted and cared for present a significant design solution to managing water extremes in a resilient way.

Trees & Stormwater Management

Trees have numerous benefits in stormwater management including: runoff absorption, water filtration, erosion prevention, recharging aquifers, reducing impermeable surfaces like compacted soil through root growth, and helping control water temperatures that may otherwise lead to high temperature waters prone to algal bloom.

For a minute, imagine rain as it falls from the sky.  If the ground is bare or paved, the raindrops hit the ground hard, bounce off and head downhill as fast as possible.  However, if the rain falls on a tree, the water first collects on the leaves, branches, and trunks and is either evaporated or absorbed.  Some of the rainwater never even hits the ground.  That sort of initial crash pad delays the onset of initial water surges, and reduces the volume of peak flows and flash floods.  The water that was absorbed in the soil near the tree is transferred from the earth and transferred up to the leaves, where it can evaporate. 

Trees can intercept rainfall from 8% to 68% of a rainfall event, and sometimes higher, depending on the species.5  Trees also manage heavy rainfalls through the process called Transpiration.  The rate at which trees transpire is different for different species, and only recently have studies been attempting to quantify the rate.  “A mature tree can, on average, transpire 100 gallons of water every day”6.  In addition to interception and transpiration, trees also increase soil infiltration rates and overall infiltration capacity through the growth of tree roots, and the decomposition of roots and leaf litter. 

Finally, trees have proven to be extremely successful at removing pollutants from stormwater.  Bioretention systems planted with trees have been shown to be a best practice, and more research is proving tree plantings to be a best practice7.

Key Steps to Successful Urban Tree Plantings

Right tree, right place:  Make sure you consider how big the tree will be when it is at its full capacity.  Will it be 30 feet or 100 ft tall?  Will it be 10 feet or 50 feet across?  If you are planting a tree near a power line, or close to some other building or sign requiring visibility- take notice and plant accordingly.

Also consider the horizontal needs of a tree.  Trees need enough space for their roots to grow as mirrored by their canopy.  Which means, do not plant a tree sapling in a 2’ x 2’ cement box and except it to be living a year or two later.  Make sure the full growth size of the tree you are planting matches the space that is available.

Consider the soil:  It is important to consider the soil of where you want to plant trees.  Many urban soils are extremely degraded, compacted or even contaminated and require significant remediation before it is ready for a tree to thrive there.  First, have the soil tested.  Second, depending on the results, make some decisions.  If the soil is heavy clay, make sure to work with a broadfork to break up soil to make room for water, roots and air to move through the soil.

Another option that is being used to integrate trees and pavement is a designed soil medium called Structural Soil which can be compacted to pavement design & installation requirements, yet allows for root penetration and optimal tree growth.

However, if you can plant trees in natural soil with adequate space for its growth, a good rule of thumb for prepping the soil for urban trees is to top dress 1-2 inches of compost, rip to 1 foot, top dress with another inch of compost, and 2-3 inches of woodchip mulch and prepare an 8 foot diameter tree rings, and let the mycelium get to work!

Know that whatever steps you take to help repair the soil and plant a tree, you are improving the soil.  An established tree’s roots can help to break up compacted soils and build organic matter as it draws carbon from the atmosphere.   The increase in organic matter of the soil, increases soil’s water holding capacity- again strengthening its resiliency when facing heavy rainfalls.

Plant a tree correctly:  Go around many cities and towns and you will see trees with volcanoes of mulch piled around the base of their trunks.  People do this thinking they are giving a tree what it needs.  Little do they realize that by “volcano mulching” or piling mulch high up on the base of the trunk, you are actually damaging a tree’s ability to transpire properly.   It is more likely to be susceptible to disease, decay, and potentially even result in strangling itself through girdling advantageous roots.  That being said, the same is true for planting a tree.  Do not plant it to deep.  A tree’s root flare (the base of the trunk that curves out into the roots) must be level with the ground, and then a donut shaped circle of wood chip mulch should be placed around the tree leaving the root flare open to the air and able to breath at least a fist width distance from the base.  See Image C for more details.

Image C Tree_Planting_Diagram1

Anticipate the Water Management Needs:  If you track or research the climate trends in your area, you may be able to anticipate about how much water you may need to manage on-site.  Start by assessing how much water any pre-existing trees on-site are managing. One way to do this is using a tool like i-Tree8 which allows you to assess how much stormwater a tree may be intercepting by inputting its location, species, size, and condition.  Comparing the number of how much water is already being intercepting, and how much water you must anticipate in an extreme moment, you may base your urban tree specie selection on that.

It is important to note, however, that even if your region expects higher rainfall, it is essential to have a water maintenance plan in place when planting new trees in the city.  Newly planted trees are experience transplant shock and can require up to 15 gallons of water a week for the first three years after planting!  So be ready to have a watering plan for trees in between heavy rainfalls to ensure their long-term thrivelihood. 

A NOTE ON SPECIES SELECTION

The following list of trees (though some are more often considered shrubs) are all species that tolerate drought to flood conditions in a more temperate climate.  Depending on your site, some varieties will thrive more than others.  These species were chosen for their diversity in function from stormwater management capabilities, edibility/usability, wildlife habitat, beauty, and adaptability.  They are as follows: Willow, Downy Serviceberry, Dogwood (Flowering, Red-osier, Yellow Twig), Eastern Red Cedar, Black Gum, Oak (Swamp White, Overcup, Chestnut, Nuttall), Black Walnut, Elderberry, Plum, American Hazlenut, Redbud, Sugar Maple, and Paw Paw.  Check out the End Notes for more tips on selecting urban trees for transitioning climates9.

END NOTES:

1. The WATER Institue (Watershed Advocacy, Training, Education and Research) is a project of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center in Occidental, CA.  www.oaecwater.org.  See Brock Dolman’s article “Watershed Relationships” In the Winter 2010-11 issue of Permaculture Activist # 78 for a more in-depth discussion and explanation of watersheds.

2. Trubek, Anne.  “Money Does Grow On Trees: Canopy Cover Reflects Income Inequality.”  Belt Magazine.  http://beltmag.com/money-trees/

3. The Cleveland Tree Plan, 2015, http://www.sustainablecleveland.org/celebration-topics/2017-vibrant-green-space/the-cleveland-tree-plan/

4. The Cleveland Tree Plan, 2015.

5. Stormwater Management Benefits of Trees by Stone Environmental, Inc.  http://www.vtwaterquality.org/stormwater/docs/sw_gi_tree_benefits_final.pdf  Many additional resources can be found in this article as well, including more on tree selection, siting and planting, more on engineered systems for trees, and soil restoration resources, among others.

6. Stormwater Management Benefits of Trees.

7. Stormwater Management Benefits of Trees.

8.  “I-Tree Design v 6.0.”  i-Tree: Tools for Assessing and Managing Community Forests.  http://www.itreetools.org/design.php  i-Tree Design is also useful for assessing and understanding other tree benefits related to greenhouse gas mitigation, air quality improvements, and energy usage reduction.  i-Tree Eco can be used for quantifying annual avoided runoff of trees.  i-Tree Hydro can be used to quantify hourly and total changes in stream flow and water quality based on vegetation and impervious cover.

9.  More tips for plant selection can be found at: Urban Forest Adaptive Planting List with consideration given to the warming climate. “Trees for 2050” Chicago Botanic Garden http://www.chicagobotanic.org/plantinfo/tree_alternatives; “Plants and Your Stormwater Control Measures.”  Restoration and Recovery.  http://rrstormwater.com/plants-and-your-stormwater-control-measures

CAPTION FOR IMAGES:

Image A: Combined Overflow System diagram, sourced at “Combined Sewer”, Wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_sewer

Image B: How Rain Gardens Work, courtesy of Lauren’s Garden Service, www.laurensgardenservice.com.

Image C: How to plant a tree.  http://actrees.org/resources/local-resources/how-to-plant-a-tree/ as borrowed courtesy of International Society of Arboriculture.

AUTHOR BIO:

Diana Sette is a Certified Permaculture Teacher and Designer working primarily in Cleveland, OH, after almost a decade of growing in the Green Mountains of Vermont.  She serves on the Board of The Hummingbird Project (hummingbirdproject.org) and Green Triangle (greentriangle.org), two permaculture-based non-profits working locally and abroad.  Her work in social and urban permaculture is centered at Possibilitarian Regenerative Community Homestead (PORCH) and Possibilitarian Garden (Facebook: Possibilitarian Garden) in Cleveland, OH.

Ecological Restoration: Integrate, not Segregate

GENERAL INTEREST, PERMACULTURE

by Diana Sette

as previously published in “Permaculture Design: Ecological Restoration #99, online version”

I did not always think of ecosystems as I do now. If you would have asked me ten years ago as a Religious Studies and Literature undergraduate at Drew University what an ecosystem is, I probably would have said it was a marsh with frogs eating dragonflies pollinating daisies photosynthesizing, or maybe a rainforest with monkeys and jaguars and fish and hissing cockroaches. Now, when I hear the word ‘ecosystem,’ I think of something completely different. I imagine a city. I imagine a no-name town off some major highway almost completely paved over with asphalt and maybe an occasional pile of dyed woodchips in a coffin of pavement. Are these not ecosystems too, just extremely degraded to the point where there is barely any sign of life aside from a car driver pumping gas and a courageous dandelion? I also envision communities of people, and the design of a neighborhood. I imagine urban farms, and intergenerational interracial exchanges connecting people and cultures across invisible boundaries. I imagine a family, the trillions of microorganisms living on my hand or in my gut, or the complex web of memories, thoughts, and feelings that comprise a single human being. If an ecosystem is a set of relationships, are we not ourselves and the communities within which we live not also incredibly complex and intricate ecosystems? Unfortunately, with patterns of oppression like racism, classism, sexism, ageism, and ableism, among the other degrading -isms, most of us are living in greatly damaged ecosystems. As the writers of the recent Rights of Nature & Mother Earth put it, we must “recognize that there is no separation between how we treat nature and how we treat ourselves” (1). For the process of ecological restoration to have the greatest impact, we must start work in the area upon which we can have the greatest influence: the ecosystem within. I had no idea when I started on this journey that ecological restoration would bring me here.

Becoming aware of ecosystems

I grew up in a suburb outside of Philadelphia, a town with a strong Colonial history (George Washington’s military headquarters were based there) and a pattern of urban sprawl. Some of the development was a product of white flight, and some of it was the product of a mostly white population climbing the economic class ladder that requires the colonizing of country and moving into a McMansion in order to be ‘successful.’ I remember it being heartbreaking for me as a child to watch the construction of our new home. It was the second phase of a new housing development called Forest Glen. I was entering fourth grade, and I was devastated to move into this new cookie-cutter home with brightly dyed green turf and a tree sapling out front. I was moving away from my community of friends to live where a young forest glen had been decimated in the name of my family. I saw only destruction. Perhaps, this was my first understanding of living within a damaged ecosystem.

The house didn’t feel like home to me. I felt as if I were moving onto ancient burial grounds, having taken over someone or something else’s home with no acknowledgment, let alone sacred reverence, for the place, or wildlife that had lived there before. All the trees were cut, lawns were rolled out, and template houses were erected in assembly-line fashion. I felt at the core of my being how myself, my family, our neighbors, and the developers were responsible for the destruction of this ecosystem. The nature of the development demonstrated a cultural belief that nature has no rights and no value aside from potentially adding to property value.

I was around ten years old at the time of my move. What could I do? All I could think to do was protest by refusing to sleep there the first weekend we moved in. My parents allowed my protest and did their best to make the house welcoming and cozy for me. They were providing for me the best way that they knew how.

In the years following, I watched as more and more old farms and abandoned forests were divided into parcels and sold to developers who quickly paved them and turned them into strip malls. I remember thinking, isn’t there anyone who has lived in this place long enough who will stop this horrible urban sprawl?! By the time I was a teenager, my protests elicited responses like, “this is what progress looks like.” When I finally moved away from that town at the end of my high school years, I felt like a refugee. My homeland had been destroyed. I no longer had a home connected to the land. I left in search of a place to live, because the culture surrounding me seemed one of death and decay despite the glitz.

I went away to college at Drew University in New Jersey and lived in ‘The Earth House.’ There I lived with a Vermonter, and another friend with a connection to that state (2). I visited the rural countryside of Vermont for the first time soon after. I was struck by un-mowed lawns with wildflowers and vibrant local food coops in almost every little town center. My naive suburban upbringing probably contributed to my rose-colored glasses perspective, because everyone I met seemed to know how to cook and garden. People waved to each other passing by on the road, and knew each other’s names at the convenience store. Initially, it was hard to believe that this place was for real.

I learned so much during my time living there. I lived in community while working at Rock Point School, a residential high school for at-risk youth where care for self and care for others were key (3). Later, I spent several years living and working at the Bread and Puppet Theater in a community that drew people from all over the country and world to make radical political puppet theater shows and live on the land (4). We made puppets giant and small from garbage pulled from the waste stream, including cardboard, bottle caps, and the inner tubes of bicycle tires. We insisted that art is for everyone, not something exclusive to art museums or galleries. We ground flour by hand, baked sourdough bread, and raised chickens and veggies to sustain our community. The number of residents staying at the farm ranged from 3 to 200 throughout the year. In the summer, I slept in a decommissioned school bus refurbished as a cozy abode. We heated our old farmhouse through the Vermont winters by wood stove and fed ourselves from the stored harvest.

From five years of living in the Bread and Puppet company full-time, I grasped the concept of the commons. I learned what it takes to live in community through conflict and celebration. I participated in effective grassroots political action, and engaged with the thriving world of microbes. I lived in alignment with the cycles of nature. Foraging through the forests on the 200 acres (80 ha), I learned which mushrooms and plants were edible, and then cooked them together with others in the summer kitchen on rocket stoves. I felt in my heart how a garden without art was only half the story. Having grown up in the suburbs of the mid-Atlantic, I had had no prior understanding of the potential of this type of cultural reality. My inner ecosystem was transformed in a deep way through living in a larger thriving ecosystem overflowing with abundant and resilient relationships.

I never would have guessed that five years and a marriage later, I would move to the post-industrial rust belt of Cleveland, OH where I live currently. Transitioning from the ecosystem of the Northeast Kingdom to Cleveland was a huge cultural shift. Cleveland is the most racially and economically segregated city in America (5). The city has over 12,000 abandoned properties and over 27,000 vacant lots (6). Cleveland is notorious for her Cuyahoga River catching fire 13 times due to egregious pollution. Cleveland is a prime example of a degraded ecosystem. Even though land was plentiful and cheap in Cleveland, growing on formerly abandoned city lots in declining neighborhoods seemed like a very different type of relationship with nature—one potentially lacking in connection.

Surprisingly enough, it was only a month or so after moving to Cleveland where I found myself feeling a deep connection with nature and Mother Earth’s wild spirit. I was at a community potluck at Gather ‘Round Farm, an urban permaculture garden farm in the Near West Side of Cleveland. I had heard of permaculture, although I didn’t know too much about it. Gather ‘Round was built atop a former parking lot. Every path was curvy and intimate alongside raised beds of intercropped heirloom abundance. There were chickens and a little waterway that flowed through the garden. Art made from found objects littered the lot, creating magical alcoves. Folks at the potluck were of all walks of life, coming from different economic, racial, and social strata. Everyone gathered to share community and the organically grown vegetables and other wild edibles in a delicious chili-filled soup. Sitting alongside a brick-lined bonfire and staring up into a star-filled sky, I stopped noticing the cars driving past on the main avenue. I was utterly inspired by the transformation and resiliency of the space. I was encouraged by meeting the all-women volunteer collective who cared for the land. They were empowered with a strong sense of social justice and commitment to community through grassroots action and inclusivity. I knew then I was a permaculturist.

The alignment of social justice, environmental justice, and community came to be my understanding of ecological restoration. I spent the next year observing two vacant lots next to my house on the East side, and getting to know my neighbors in a primarily African-American neighborhood before cooperatively creating Possibilitarian Garden, an urban permaculture garden and community orchard grounded in racial equity, food, and social and environmental justice. Possibilitarian Urban Regenerative Community Homestead, or PURCH, is the name we use to include the cooperative living house and community workshop space alongside the garden on two formerly vacant lots. Permaculture design presents solutions to the problem of ecological degradation, and now we have the opportunity to co-create working ecological models. Who knew I’d be here now?

What is ecology anyway?

Permaculture is grounded in ecological theory. Audrey Tomera in Understanding Basic Ecological Concepts (7) defines ecology as “the science that deals with the specific interactions (relationships) that exist between organisms and their living and nonliving environment.” Therefore, permaculture is simply the observing of and designing for optimal relationships between organisms and their living and nonliving environment—permaculture is ecological design.

Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, permaculture’s founders, were both trained ecologists. Holmgren dedicated his 2002 book, Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability (8) to Eugene Odum, one of the founding scholars of ecology who brought ecological thinking to the mainstream with his book Fundamentals of Ecology (9). Interestingly, there are conservation ecologists, urban ecologists (10), deep ecologists, ecosystem ecologists, civic ecologists (11), human ecologists, evolutionary ecologists, schoolyard ecologists (12), microbial ecologists (13), and even ecosystems ecologists! Each ecology field is based on the study of relationships—the fields differ in the lenses with which they study those relationships (14).

Older ecological design studies tend to not include humans, never mind that most ecologists will agree that humans now have the largest impact on every ecosystem on this planet. Urban and social permaculture is the cutting edge for research and practice in ecological systems, as more the half the world’s population lives in urban environments. Within the permaculture movement, more buzz is growing around urban and social ecosystems. Recent books like Hemenway’s The Permaculture City: Regenerative Design for Urban, Suburban and Town Resilience (15) contribute to the increasing study of urban ecologies.

Assessing ecosystem health

Analyzing separate ecosystem elements to assess ecosystem impact (and arguably for other purposes as well as discussed below) is where I see the greatest divergence between colonized and indigenous ecological thinking. For example, in 2011, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (16) broke down the ecosystem services into four main categories: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services (17). The direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems listed are extensive, ranging from providing food, shelter, and clean water, to creating a sense of place and spiritual experience.

Identifying ecosystem services is one way to assess ecosystems. It is important to note, however, that to engage with the ‘ecosystem services’ assessment tool is to work in opposition to indigenous people’s ‘Rights of Nature,’ which demands “the rejection of all market-based mechanisms that allow the quantification and commodification of Earth’s natural processes, rebranded as ‘ecosystem services’ ” (1).

I respect and honor this perspective, as I have felt how assessing ‘ecosystem services’ using monetary value is the first step to commodifying something with deeper qualitative and priceless value. I remember the first time I saw ‘ecosystem services’ signified by an old centennial oak. Hanging on a sign pole, a big tag marked what the tree’s monetary worth was. It communicated to me that the tree was paying its due, and therefore was allowed to stick around for a little bit longer until humans decided it wasn’t worth it anymore. Marking ecosystem services in this way promotes and protects current laws that prescribe what Rights of Nature describes as “the ownership of ecosystems and other aspects of the natural world…, upholding the control and dominance of humans over nature” (18).

While modern societies have clearly lost touch with indigenous wisdom regarding ecosystem health and needs, it can also be useful and necessary (at least for the time being during this Great Transition) for ecological designers to use ecosystem assessment tools as a gateway to observing and understanding ecosystems better. Tools like the EPA National Stormwater Calculator (19), National Tree Benefit Calculator (20), climate and weather patterns, soil quality tests, and other ecosystem services calculators and measurement tools (21) track non-human systems. Demographic surveys and cultural histories of a place provide foundational information for design considerations as well. Having a grasp of cultural, economic, and social patterns for your design site can be the keystone for truly resilient ecological restoration (22).

Moving forward

The notion of owning ecosystems brings to light several of permaculture designers’ greatest risks in ecological design. If our cultural heritage is non-indigenous, we most likely carry within our personal ecosystem patterns of colonization, oppression, and subjugation. We must work cooperatively, and engage and include various diverse voices of different demographic (and species) background in the design process (23). Restorative ecological design considerations can all be identified as issues of social and environmental justice, and we must work to understand them as such if we hope to successfully support Nature’s ability to restore her ecological systems.

This observation brings us full circle. We must start with our inner ecosystem, observing our thoughts, our patterns, and the ways our body, mind, and soul interacts with itself. Whatever spirit with which we communicate will be what we transfer to any other ecosystem, including our family, organization, neighborhood, community, farm, or forest. We must bring awareness to unconscious biases, privileges, and personal cultural beliefs in order to be able to understand how we carry them forward as designers and how that impacts our ability to co-create resilient ecological restoration.

To that end, the global climate is changing fast, and new patterns are emerging and transforming constantly, so we must trust our direct and attentive observations. Do not overlook the force of nonliving factors, as living things are in constant interaction with them. Honor that every being, living or not, has a special ecological niche that only it can fill, and whether you understand it or not, there is a reason they need to do what they do currently. Allow that to direct your interactions and engagement with bumblebees, real estate agents, drug dealers, microorganisms, artists, fences, trees and rocks. Be inclusive. Remain curious. Value complexity. Work the edge, and work to understand best you can, because even though it may be hard to see the value of some element, keep all the pieces- we will need them all as we move forward to restore our damaged and degraded ecosystems. The principles and ethics are a road map and a check and balance; use them. Take action. Listen for feedback. Respond with change. And when practicing ecological restoration, remember the words of indigenous artist and activist Lila Mills who said, “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”                                                ∆

Diana Sette is a Certified Permaculture Teacher and Designer working primarily in Cleveland, OH, after almost a decade of growing in the Green Mountains of Vermont. She serves on the Board of The Hummingbird Project (hummingbirdproject.org) and Green Triangle (greentriangle.org), two permaculture-based non-profits working locally and abroad. Much of her work in social and urban permaculture experimentation is centered at Possibilitarian Urban Regenerative Community Homestead (PURCH) in Cleveland (Facebook: Possibilitarian Garden). Diana currently works for Cleveland Botanical Garden as the Youth Manager of Green Corps, its 20-year-old urban agriculture work-study program for inner-city teens.

[Editor’s note: We inadvertently misspelled the author’s first name in PcD #98. We regret the error.]

Notes

1. Biggs, Shannon & Tom B.K. Goldtooth, eds. Rights of Nature & Mother Earth: Sowing Seeds of Resistance, Love and Change. therightsofnature.org/tag/rights-of-mother-earth/ Nov 29, 2015.

2. One friend, Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, is now an herbalist, edible landscaper, and owner of Robinson Hill Beef, a grass-fed cattle business you can find on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RobinsonHillBeef/. Another friend, Sarah Corrigan, later went on to co-found ROOTs—Reclaiming Our Origins in Traditional Skills School—in VT. rootsvt.com

3. Rock Point School in Burlington, VT, is now one of the leading providers of renewable energy for the city of Burlington with the construction of an extensive solar panel orchard. www.rockpointschool.org

4. Bread & Puppet Theater. Breadandpuppet.org

5. Frohlich, Thomas C. & Alexander Kent. “America’s Most Segregated Cities” 24/7 Wall St. 247wallst.com/special-report/2015/08/19/americas-most-segregated-cities/4/ August 19, 2015.

6. A total of 12,179 vacant structures equates to 8% of the city’s parcels; 27,774 vacant lots is 17% of the city. 2015 Citywide parcel survey of Cleveland. www.wrlandconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/WRLC_Loveland_Cleveland_Survey_Report_20151121.pdf Nov 20, 2015.

7. Tomera, Audrey N. & A. Tomera. Understanding Basic Ecological Concepts. Portland, ME: J Weston Walch (2002).

8. Holmgren, David. Permaculture: Principles & Pathways beyond Sustainability. Hepburn, Victoria: Holmgren Design Services (2002).

9. Odum, Eugene. Fundamentals of Ecology. Philadelphia: Saunders (1953).

10. Niemelä, Jari, ed. Urban Ecology: Patterns, Processes, and Applications. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (2011); Mark McDonnell, Amy K. Hahs, & Jürgen Breuste, eds. Ecology of Cities & Towns: A Comparative Approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (2009); “Nature of Cities,” a collective blog on cities as socio-ecological spaces: www.thenatureofcities.com.

11. Krasny, Marianne E. & Keith Tidball. Civic Ecology: Adaptation and Transformation from the Ground Up. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (2015).

12. Dank, Sharon Gamson. Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation. New York: New Village Press (2010).

13. Antonio Gonzalez, Jose C Clemente, Ashley Shade, Jessica L Metcalf, Sejin Song, Bharath Prithiviraj, Brent E Palmer, & Rob Knight. “Our microbial selves: what ecology can teach us.” EMBO Reports 12: 775-784. embor.embopress.org/content/12/8/775 (2011).

14. Many ecological theories have been developed, although many more are needed, as the world is quickly urbanizing, and patterns are changing and transforming. Some ecological theories include: island biogeography theory, metapopulation dynamics, human ecology model, etc. Applying these theories in an urban versus rural context may demonstrate variation in behaviors.

15. Hemenway, Toby. The Permaculture City. White River Jct., VT: Chelsea Green (2015).

16. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: www.millenniumassessment.org

17. More specific definitions of ecosystem services included at The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB) website: www.teebweb.org/resources/ecosystem-services/

18. RoNME

19. www2.epa.gov/water-research/national-stormwater-calculator

20. www.treebenefits.com/calculator/

21. California ReLeaf’s website includes additional ecosystem service calculators and measurement tools: californiareleaf.org/resources/calculators-and-measurement-tools/

22. The City Repair Project based in Portland, OR. www.cityrepair.org/ and Cleveland, OH www.neighborhoodgrants.org/city-repair-cle-closes-the-season/ are interesting examples of community permaculture design working towards ecological restoration.

23. For a hefty start to understanding social and cultural patterns, see the in-depth articulation of social and architectural patterns in the following books: Alexander, Christopher, M. Silverstein, & S. Ishikawa. A Pattern Language. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (1977); Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House (1961); Schuler, Doug. Liberating Voices: A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (2008) by Doug Schuler. Other ecology resources include these journals: Ecology, Ecology & Society, Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Human Ecology Review, and the Journal of Political Ecology.

http://permaculturedesignmagazine.com/

Take Two: Diana Sette asks, “What is Permaculture, Anyway?”

PERMACULTURE

by Diana Sette, as originally published in Permaculture Design magazine
PcDM98

What is “permaculture,” anyway? Maybe you hear people talking about it all the time, and still have no idea what it is. Maybe someone loosely recommended to you that you check it out, because it might interest you. Maybe picking up this magazine is the first time you are seeing the word. Whatever brought you to this point, I can assure you that there is something in permaculture for you. I can also assure you that even for many permaculture practitioners, it can be challenging to pin down in a quick ‘elevator speech’ what exactly permaculture is. Some say it’s a movement; some say it’s a collection of growing methods; some say it’s philosophy. In this article, we will focus on permaculture as a design system. During my Permaculture Teacher training course, our teachers challenged us to take five minutes to come up with a definition for permaculture. Some people came up with it quickly—some needed more time.

Overall, the variety of definitions painted a colorful array of nuances and subtleties. Hopefully, this article will leave you with a clearer sense of what is permaculture, with ways in which you may be able to take the next steps on your journey.

Beginnings

First, let me break the word “permaculture” down for you. “Perma:” short for “permanent.” “Culture:” short for “agriculture” and also “culture.” So you can think of “permaculture” as simply “permanent agriculture” and “permanent culture.” We don’t mean “permanent” in the sense of unchanging, but rather in the sense of a deep sustainability. The term was coined and popularized in the mid-70s by two Australian ecologists, Bill Mollison (1) and his young student, David Holmgren (2). “Permaculture” is now a term understood on a global scale.

Permaculture_principles_1_t633x500

Contrary to what our digitized and mechanized culture may present at times, humans rely on the land. Our ability to survive rests wholly on plants’ ability to capture the sun’s energy and translate it into a form useable to us through photosynthesis. From the land, we create our food, shelter, water, and clothing—and also our culture. Traditionally, human cultures centered on the seasonal rhythms and cycles of the earth. Observing that the world has grown alienated and disconnected from our intimate relationship with the earth, permaculture looks to re-center our systems (be it food, economic, political, etc.) in the flow of energy and the cycles of nature.

IMG_1467Calendula seed abundant in regeneration.

As we face extreme global catastrophes—climate change, war, and hunger, among others—we can see that if human societies do not change course, we will perish, and the earth will continue to adapt and go on without us. Therefore, the more we work with the earth, learn from her natural cycles, and model human systems on ecological models of adaptability and resiliency, we can better weather the storm to create a permanent and resilient culture. Permaculture proposes this approach.

More than fancy gardening

Permaculture is a holistic, ecological design system that can be applied to everything from urban planning to rural land design, from economic systems to social structures, and everything in between. It is not only one set of practices, or a philosophy—it is a way of integrated thinking, using a set of design principles to work with nature’s energy. This ecological perspective sees the world as a complex web, rather than as a complicated series of segregated events or discrete elements. The design system can produce a paradigm shift that may be comforting and inspiring to those who feel as if they are constantly putting energy into a system (whether it’s their home garden, farm, political, social, or economic work) that never seems to change or offer much of a yield as compared to the input. Permaculture is a way of designing the world we want that cares for the earth and people so that all needs are met in an equitable way. Permaculture design is abundant systems thinking, and prevents the constant banging of one’s head against the wall when faced with supposed constant scarcity. Because the point is that by working with rather than working against natural forces, one can minimize inputs and harvest maximum outputs. It’s a simple idea at first glance. Yet, it is an integrated system with many facets—anything can be viewed through a permaculture design lens.

The Permaculture Design Course (PDC)

As an integrated design system, permaculture incorporates numerous disciplines of study and practice. These disciplines are presented in a PDC resulting in a certification as a Permaculture Designer (3). Because of the numerous systems in which these design principles can be applied, the PDC covers a sort of introductory buffet to design topics that emphasize the core ethics: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share.

Each PDC covers Introduction to Permaculture Ethics, Meta-systems, Permaculture Principles, Pattern Language, Design Methods (site analysis and observation, zones, and sectors), Natural Systems, Climate & Biogeography, Ecosystems & Ecology, Earthworks/land forms, Water, Soils (microbiology, remediation, regenerative practices, compost, carbon sequestration), Forest (tree and mushroom cultivation), Arid & Tropical Regions, Cultivated Systems, Home Systems (root cellars, medicinal herbs), Microclimates, Building Design (natural building, energy efficiency), Greenhouses, Forest Gardening, Aquaculture, Agroforestry (alleycropping, forest farming, riparian buffers, silvopasture, windbreaks), Seed-saving, Waste Treatment (grey and blackwater, humanure),

IMG_1965Composting outhouse in Vermont that helps to cycle nutrients on-site.

Energy, Appropriate Technology & Tools, Livestock (pasture management, holistic animal care), Social Systems, Urban/Rural/Suburban Ecologies, Community Design, Economics (local, slow, and regenerative), Invisible Structures (governance structures, personal patterns), Broadscale Farming & Land Use (keyline design, land trusts), and Ecological Restoration & Wildlife.

The standard PDC is an intensive 72-hour course, sometimes split into two separate weeks or several weekends. Various teachers emphasize different subjects, but all PDCs should touch on all the above.

IMG_1861 Daniel and Rosemary checking out an aquaponic system in action at Seedfolk City Farm (http://seedfolkcityfarm.org) an urban youth farm in Rochester, NY.

Considering that any one of these topics warrants a life study (!), there are numerous entry points to design resilient systems. A PDC is a way to step outside your daily life and take a fresh look at an expansive array of topics. Permaculture marries indigenous ways of knowing with regenerative agriculture, modern green infrastructure, and progressive socio-politico-economic structures.

Permaculture is a process of looking at the whole, seeing what the connections are between the different parts, and assessing how those connections can be changed (4) so that relationships function more harmoniously.

But where to start?

My advice to someone just dipping their toes into the permaculture ocean? Get a lay of the land, observe what themes and topics attract you, and then walk toward them. Don’t try and figure it all out at once. Start small and build on your successes. Ask lots of open-ended questions and listen with curiosity. A few tips…

1. Get rooted in permaculture principles and ethics. David Holmgren presented the 12 Design Principles as the petals of a cyclical flower (5).

David Holmgren wheel

These guiding principles can be adapted to any systems thinking. Ethics are core, as People Care may seem simple, yet lead us into a deeper journey of unlearning and teaching ourselves new communication patterns and listening skills—or rethinking urban planning to be centered on the real needs of human beings. This is perhaps the area that continues to expand the most and require the most experimentation and feedback, as every city, town, neighborhood, street, house, and bedroom has its own social microclimate, and healthy social ecosystem models and patterns are myriad (6). Earth Care has perhaps gained the most attention and focus, at times creating the misconception that permaculture is just a set of practices, rather than a way of approaching a problem. Nevertheless, permaculture has a lot to offer in food growing and land stewardship. Finally, Fair Share is the third essential piece of permaculture, teaching us to be aware of the existing yield in front of us and to know when we have enough, but also to act ethically to distribute surplus resources when our ‘cup runneth over.’

2. Attend a PDC, read everything you can about permaculture, listen to podcasts, and visit working permaculture sites. A PDC can be like a trip down a rabbit hole that leaves the sojourner wanting more at the end. It is one of the best ways to get significant exposure to what’s possible with permaculture. Studying permaculture through reading (7) will help you gain more clarity to know where you want to dive in more deeply. For many people, simply spending time in a place that is a thriving permaculture model leads to tremendous shifts.

3. Find what interests you most and work from your niche. Evaluate your strengths. What existing assets and resources are already present? Use that as your starting point. What interests you? How do those interests overlap with the needs of your community? From there, take the smallest steps possible to make the biggest impact on existing systems. Maybe that means meeting your neighbors, planting perennial onions, saving seeds to plant out the next year, collecting rainwater off your roof, getting involved with or starting a food cooperative, building a humanure composting system on your property, or simply recording patterns where you are working for a year or more. Whatever your entry point, make sure to take a step back and observe the social, biological, and economic ecosystems and listen for feedback before taking the next actions. That is our civic duty as residents and stewards of this earth and of our communities: listen and accept feedback.

4. Finally, walk the walk, and work to establish good working demonstration sites. Starting with one or two systems that are manageable is wise so that you don’t become overwhelmed. In modern society, we have grown quite ignorant of energy systems, and by creating these working systems that demonstrate that there is no free lunch in ecological systems—something always comes from somewhere, and waste is food for something else—we can demonstrate a new paradigm in action (8). Share replicable systems with those who are interested, and focus your energy on creating a world we want, rather than being drained by fighting against systems that are broken. As Buckminster Fuller puts it, “you never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

As one of my permaculture teachers, Peter Bane, tossed out in a PDC class one day while reflecting on ancient Viking culture, “it’s better to adapt than die.” I will add to that: better than not dying is thriving! And I think permaculture design principles and ethics present a way to rethink our current social, political, economic, and agricultural systems with new eyes embracing the transformation to thriving whole communities of abundance. ∆

Notes

1. Mollison, Bill. Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual.

2. Holmgren, David. Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.

3. One can learn more about the standardization of PDC certification and accreditation from the Permaculture Institute of North America (pina.in), the Permaculture Institute of the Northeast (northeastpermaculture.org), or the Permaculture Institute (www.permaculture.org/what/certificate/). Also, look in the back of Permaculture Design magazine for listings of upcoming PDCs and workshops.

4. Whitefield, Patrick. What is Permaculture?

5. Holmgren, David. permacultureprinciples.com

6. A few social permaculture resources: The Black Permaculture Network and Pandora Thomas’ work, People & Permaculture by Looby McNamara, Karryn Olson-Ramanujan’s “Pattern Language for Women,” The Permaculture City by Toby Hemenway, The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups by Starhawk, Adam Brock’s work with Invisible Structures (www.peoplepattern.org), Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard Into a Garden and Your Neighborhood Into a Community by H.C. Flores.

7. See the book catalogue insert included in the magazine for great resources.

8. See “David Holmgren on Permaculture: An Interview,” The Permaculture Podcast with Scott Mann, www.thepermaculturepodcast.com. April 4, 2013.

BIO

Diana Sette is a Certified Permaculture Teacher and Designer working primarily in Cleveland, OH, after almost a decade of growing in the Green Mountains of Vermont. She serves on the Board of The Hummingbird Project (hummingbirdproject.org) and GreenTriangle (greentriangle.org), two permaculture-based non-profits working locally and abroad. Much of her work in social and urban permaculture experimentation is centered at Possibilitarian Urban Regenerative Community Homestead (PURCH) in Cleveland (Facebook: Possibilitarian Garden). Diana currently works for Cleveland Botanical Garden as the Youth Manager of Green Corps, its twenty-year old urban agriculture work-study program for inner city teens.

What’s the Difference between Pollinator and Pest?: Getting to Know your Neighbors

GENERAL INTEREST, POLLINATION
 by Diana Sette

In the City, many people can be put off by ‘bugs.’  Maybe it is because people think the bug may bite or sting you.  Or maybe they are just annoying and buzz.  Often people are simply flat out scared by something flying around them – even a beautiful butterfly.   While city culture may bristle at the thought of bugs, we must work to cultivate a vision that embraces bugs and can tell the difference between a pest and a pollinator, because our survival may depend on it.

How can that be so?  Well, three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants depend on pollinators to reproduce.  Flowering plants equates to most of the fruit, vegetable, and seed crops we eat – and other plants that provide fiber, medicine and fuel we use; these plants are pollinated by animals.* 

What kind of animals you may ask?  Pollinators are not just bugs like bees (though this is an essential one!) and beetles, they also include bats, butterflies and birds.  These pollinators are by no means ‘pests,’  when we support them we can actually support the reduction or effect of pests in our garden and life (ie. Bats eat mosquitoes, parasitic wasps make their cocoons on the backs of tomato hornworms!).  For the sake of this post, we’re going to focus on just a few pollinators you may find in your garden- especially if you have some plants that provide them food and habitat.**

IMG_20571st photo: Goldenrod Soldier Beetle or Pennsylvania Leatherwing (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) with two bees I’m not able to identify.

 IMG_2058
2nd photo: Locust Borer (Megacyllene robiniae) on tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)
IMG_20613rd photo:Short-Horned Grasshopper (orthoptera caelifera)
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IMG_20644th & 5th photos: Eastern Carpenter Bees – Xylocopa virginica
image16th photo: Locust Borer (Megacyllene robiniae), two bees, and one Eastern yellow jacket Vespula maculifrons or- wasp (most likely yellow jacket- but hard to tell)

Thank you for getting to know your neighbor pollinators!  Together we can support our long-term livelihood by supporting theirs!

*More information on pollinators at www.nrcs.usda.gov/pollinators

** Tips on how you can help support pollinators http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/plantsanimals/pollinate/gardeners/

One Thing I Learned This Year by Diana Sette

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What I Learned This Year

By Diana Sette

To say simply what I’ve learned in the garden this year can be done so in three sentences:

1. Explore what is possible.

2. Never stop engaging with and building community, this is the greatest resource.

3. Know your personal limits, respect them, and ask for help when you need it.

When We Started

In many ways I relearn and practice these lessons every year in the garden- sometimes I am left with greater feelings of satisfaction than others, yet always grateful for the garden lessons.

I am constantly overdoing it, ambitious and ever exploring.  This quickly ties in my third lesson- know your limits.  This season I’ve practiced this in taking a new position as I work with Possibilitarian Garden, our community-based garden on E 117th St off of Buckeye Rd.  I see all the work that there is to do to improve the soil, to connect with neighbors, listen to the land, and woo the beneficial pollinators.  Yet I am only one person, and I have a family and a full-time job, and numerous other organizations I play significant roles in- and I have to check myself constantly to make sure I am gardening within my limits.

That doesn’t mean that I am not always remaining open to what is possible, because I am.  Because my vision has only grown clearer of the regenerative community space that a garden can play.  The plants and the people that gather around and amongst them in community is what continues to show and clarify this vision for me.  And just like my baby seedlings, that vibrant vision for community I hold only grows in mind, and this garden has reminded me again this year to continue to nurture it because the pay off is long-term.  Because it is a regenerative cycle.  And because a community garden will only build upon its potential fertility for gardens and community, if I nurture both community and gardens.

Finally, it is the community that makes a community garden, and this is what I am continuing to learn here.  Margaret Wheatly sums up a key lesson that resonated with me this season, “Our communities must support our individual freedom as a means to community health and resiliency.  And individuals must acknowledge their neighbors and make choices based on the desire to be in relationship with them as a means to their own health and resiliency.”

diana sette what I learned

So whatever I planted in my community garden this year, it has been in community and based on the desire to be in relationship with community.  The importance of this is what I learned the most this year.

*If you are interested in getting involved with Possibilitarian Garden, we are having a Harvest Party and Work Day on Sunday, September 27 from 1-6pm, and will be a fun event of planting pollinator friendly plants, sheetmulching, grilling, spoken word, sweating and getting dirty with new friends!

Contact me at Diana_sette@yahoo.com for more info.

 The garden this autumn