The implementation of a permaculture design is often referred to as holistic design. Holistic design describes the process of applying the permaculture design process to the sustainable creation of agricultural or cultural systems. A holistic design seeks to integrate carefully selected productive systems so that they harmonise together to create functionally complex systems that have a productive and sustainable yield of resources.
Part of applying a holistic design is to break down the design and installation of a system into a set of logical and complimentary steps, to enable a permaculture designer to navigate the complexities of a design in an organised manner.
The application of that ambition is where things get messy.......and where referring back to the principles of permaculture design give us a framework to guide our actions.
A good starting point is to identify what the over-arching vision of the design is. This may be to derive a viable full time income from production of a 5 acre farm that also provides the majority of food to support a family of four.
There may also be a few STRETCH goals you identify from this vision that help frame what your ambitions are.
To simplify things a bit though it is good to prioritise the implementation of a design around what is most important to establish first - either because it will deliver a productive yield to finance continued development (like a glasshouse to produce sallad greens) or to establish a system which will take a long time to mature or transition to the desired end point state (such as planting nitrogen fixating pioneer trees to establish a site for planting as a food forest).
Once a priority of development is established around a realistic appraisal of resource availability - each step can then be tackled and broken down into more detail. SMART goals are a good way to detail the development of each stage of a design.
For example you may decide that in establishing a 5 acre property with an existing house site and driveway - the following implementation strategy will be followed:
Each of the above steps - requires understanding the details of how each stage will be implemented in more detail. Which is where the SMART goals come in to fill in those details.
But the end point of the implementation strategy should be to achieve your STRETCH goals in service of your initial vision.
Along the way the permaculture principles guide your actions.
And when you stand back and appraise your efforts you can hopefully say - hey that is a holistic design and I have created a regenerative system that improves the health and resiliency of my family, the landscape and contributes to the achievement of that goals within the local community.
Part of applying a holistic design is to break down the design and installation of a system into a set of logical and complimentary steps, to enable a permaculture designer to navigate the complexities of a design in an organised manner.
The application of that ambition is where things get messy.......and where referring back to the principles of permaculture design give us a framework to guide our actions.
A good starting point is to identify what the over-arching vision of the design is. This may be to derive a viable full time income from production of a 5 acre farm that also provides the majority of food to support a family of four.
There may also be a few STRETCH goals you identify from this vision that help frame what your ambitions are.
- STRETCH goal 1 = Develop a self sufficient farm.
- STRETCH goal 2 = Develop a full time income from farm.
- STRETCH goal 3 = Life a life in harmony with the land.
- STRETCH goal 4 = Build collaborative relationships with like-minded people from local community.
To simplify things a bit though it is good to prioritise the implementation of a design around what is most important to establish first - either because it will deliver a productive yield to finance continued development (like a glasshouse to produce sallad greens) or to establish a system which will take a long time to mature or transition to the desired end point state (such as planting nitrogen fixating pioneer trees to establish a site for planting as a food forest).
Once a priority of development is established around a realistic appraisal of resource availability - each step can then be tackled and broken down into more detail. SMART goals are a good way to detail the development of each stage of a design.
For example you may decide that in establishing a 5 acre property with an existing house site and driveway - the following implementation strategy will be followed:
- Year 1 = Plant shelter belt alder trees and build a glasshouse for a fast turnover cash crop.
- Year 2 = Plant nitrogen fixating trees along rows where food forest plants will become established, set up irrigation to these plantings and start rotating chickens in a tractor through alleyways between plantings. Build a cool house to store greens from glasshouse for weekend market.
- Year 3 = Start planting food forest plants and re-enforce and electrify border fences for establishing a rotational grazing system with a small flock of milking sheep. Build up knowledge in milking sheep and making cheese and researching breeds.
- Year 4 = Set up rotational grazing system for sheep, a milking shed and build shelter and buy a small flock.
- Year 5 = Expand upon market stall with fruit from fast growing food forest plants, sallad greens and sheep cheese.
Each of the above steps - requires understanding the details of how each stage will be implemented in more detail. Which is where the SMART goals come in to fill in those details.
But the end point of the implementation strategy should be to achieve your STRETCH goals in service of your initial vision.
Along the way the permaculture principles guide your actions.
And when you stand back and appraise your efforts you can hopefully say - hey that is a holistic design and I have created a regenerative system that improves the health and resiliency of my family, the landscape and contributes to the achievement of that goals within the local community.
Readings
|
| ||||