/r/Permaculture

Photograph via snooOG

Permaculture (Permanent-Culture): A practical design philosophy intended to help us live and prosper in an environment, while working with nature in a positive way, using solutions based on careful observation of natural ecosystems and common sense. This can include food and energy production, shelter, resource management, nature conservation and community living.

You can find our wiki here https://www.reddit.com/r/Permaculture/wiki/index

Permaculture (Permanent-Culture): A practical design philosophy intended to help us live and prosper in an environment, while working with nature in a positive way, using solutions based on careful observation of natural ecosystems and common sense. This can include food and energy production, shelter, resource management, nature conservation and community living.


You can find our wiki here


Please Read Before Posting:

It's pretty often that we see questions along the lines of, "I want to do X--what are the species/structures to get it done?" This isn't a bad question but there's not enough information to give a decent answer. When submitting a question, there is some information that ought to be included, such as:

  • Climate/Latitude/Elevation
  • What's already growing on the land in question
  • Topography--mountain, rolling hills, plains...
  • Water features--average rainfall, streams/ponds, etc.
  • Legal restrictions
  • Solar orientation
  • Soil conditions
  • Site history

This is the kind of stuff a permaculture consultant wants to know before doing a site visit/design/recommendation. And while no one is going to get a professional job done over reddit, better questions will lead to better answers.


Related Subreddits:

/r/Permaculture

256,328 Subscribers

3

Climate permaculture

How we tend the land affects the climate through both the water cycle and the carbon cycle . Here’s a map of understanding how ecorestoration couples with the climate https://climatewaterproject.substack.com/p/possible-states-the-earth-can-evolve

0 Comments
2023/04/30
13:41 UTC

1

Suggestions for Low budget branch and large twig management?

Can't afford a chipper yet. And i have a very small yard, most of the branches and twigs are from my neighbors that have fallen into my yard. I have a growing pile of woody branches and prunings, no bigger than an inch thick. What's a good way to manage them?

4 Comments
2023/04/30
13:02 UTC

1

Household chickens

Hey Everyone, doing some study for a Uni project.

Wanting to find out personal experiences around how beneficial chickens are for egg production and also reducing household food waste. If you have chickens can you please have a look at the below:

  • What would be your top tips for chickens?
  • How many in people in your home vs chickens? (My house was previously 6 people 5 chickens)
  • Do you need to buy eggs anymore?
  • If local government/industry offered chickens in some way (discount/free) would you jump on board?

Thanks!!

4 Comments
2023/04/30
09:02 UTC

12

Kitchen grey water question

Hello! I am directing water from my kitchen sink to go into this basin. The pipe goes into the bucket in the middle of the basin and the bucket has holes in it so that the water sips into the basin: https://i.imgur.com/Rf53lma.jpg

At the bottom of the pit I put plenty of gravel and on top of it I have put mulch (not yet in the picture)

My question is - can I grow reeds on top of the mulch ? I want to have a plant to drink up all the water from below and filter. Do i have to put soil on top of the mulch to be able to grow reeds ?

Thanks

11 Comments
2023/04/30
07:13 UTC

10

Birds + fruit?

Ok y’all, I need some help to maybe see something in a different way or practical advice. First things first- I ❤️ birds. Love them, all of them pretty much. We are happy to have created a spot that an ever increasing number of species of birds like to be. Which is kind of the point. Last year, which was our fourth year on these 4 acres, the mulberries we first planted really started to bear fruit! We ate so many and froze lots and made jam and all the things! And we had a woodpecker couple that raised a nest of babies on this fruit! It was amazing! And we knew the next year this tree would bear even more! And that brings us to this year, year 5. A group/mob of cedar waxwings has discovered our spot here. They’ve eaten every single fruit of the damned mulberry tree right at that moment before it’s ripe. We check the tree every single day and every single day there’s not a one mulberry fruit that is suitable for us to eat. This year, no less than 4 other mulberries have come into fruit. We haven’t been able to eat one. They’ve now also discovered the thornless blackberries and have ruined all the just not quite ripe yet fruit. I’ve been picking huge handfuls of enormous damaged berries to feed to our chickens. The goumis are ripening next, and then the figs. I mean, at this rate are they going to stick around and completely decimate this years crop too? From what I understand, they are intense opportunists and won’t just leave. These trees are way too big to net and the scope of the garden makes that not possible. I’m not ok to shoot them, just not going to happen. What am I missing here, because this feels ridiculous and incredibly sad! I’m so discouraged!! We don’t have any hawks here- owls and bald eagles yes but no hawks. Would they even help? What do I do? I am happy to share fruit and pay tribute to the wildlife but I can’t live like this!!Oh, zone 8b, north Louisiana for context!

14 Comments
2023/04/30
00:55 UTC

3

Looking for Morus rubra

Anyone in the Massachusetts area or close surrounding in N.E. know of any occurrences of wild, unhybridized, fruit bearing Red Mulberry trees? Or, at the very least, be willing and able to part with some cuttings?

2 Comments
2023/04/29
16:59 UTC

16

Unlimited grass thatch/clippings

I’ve got a great arrangement with a lawn guy right now, he doesn’t have to make a dump run with all the thatch in his truck, and I get free grass clippings/thatch. It’s got dead and live grass, and it gets up to 160F just sitting in my driveway waiting to be spread on the garden.

I have dense silty and rocky soil, and I know mulch will really help. My question is, is there any risk to my garden, putting all the grass down? It’s free nitrogen and humus for my soil. I’d be crazy not to, right?

6 Comments
2023/04/29
14:19 UTC

53

How can permaculture practices be scaled up to meet the growing demand for sustainable food, fiber, and energy systems, while maintaining their ecological integrity?

More and more people are interested in sustainable food, fiber, and energy systems, and permaculture is a popular way to achieve this. But it's hard to scale up permaculture practices to meet the growing demand. Any thoughts on this would be great!

19 Comments
2023/04/29
03:59 UTC

8

blueberry pollination

hi everyone! i just found what i am 99% sure is a highbush blueberry at the edge of my little woods. by coincidence just a couple weeks ago i planted some baby highbush blueberries but i think i probably wont get any flowers on those this season, or if i do, probably not in time to pollinate the wild one. i know this is a long shot but does anyone know if there’s a way for me to purchase appropriate pollen for the wild highbush? thanks!

9 Comments
2023/04/28
23:34 UTC

2

The Cook's Newsletter - Potatoes

0 Comments
2023/04/28
20:25 UTC

7

HaHa fencing question

Can a Ha-ha fence fit in a permaculture design? I think having it as a perimeter fence to keep livestock in cut down on them getting out. It would also create a riparian buffer as well. What are y’all’s thoughts?

5 Comments
2023/04/28
19:41 UTC

5

Advice about fruittrees in buckets

Hi all ,

hopefully not a super stupid question, but honestly not sure where to start.

I am voluntering at a place where the person in charge of their foodforestry garden has left. Long long story short. They are now in a temporary place and trying to make the best of it. There are about 40 fruittrees of different kinds in buckets in the ground. All flowering, I still have to check whats what, but they will deff be there for the next year, but keeping them in buckets in the ground doesn't feel like a great idea, but no idea what an alternate could be, take them out just plant them as if would be permanently and cross that bridge later, or not touch them at all, they're flowering and whatnot?

Help advice needed. Really want to contribute there and I'm happy im leaving the house for a change. they know my knowlegde of stuff is limited but were already happy with me wanting to be there , knowing it's unorganised atm. Zone 8 btw I think. I would greatly appreciate any advice or tips and thoughts honestly appreciate the read

Planted around potatoes, that came up from last year

Can only see one bucket left but they're al in buckets

7 Comments
2023/04/28
17:52 UTC

5

I’m going to be cleaning up the ditches along my driveway. It’s half leaves and half soil/rocks. Can I use this as the base layer over my cardboard in a raised bed project?

The soil is sometimes rocky with a bit of clay so I plan on taking out any rocks. There is a a nice layer of leaves on top to mix in. I’ll be doing the lasagna/sheet mulch method to build up a permanent raised bed. This particular bed will be getting asparagus if that makes a difference. Id really like to use whatever is removed from ditch digging to build up the base layer but I plan on adding asparagus crowns very soon so it needs to be ready for planting.

4 Comments
2023/04/28
16:42 UTC

18

Broke ground! This was all I could manage before the mosquitoes drove me off.

6 Comments
2023/04/28
16:12 UTC

5

Acid Sulfate Soils

Hi! I am looking at getting a piece of land that is Completely Red, Acid Sulfate Soil.

Has anyone ever done an extensive permaculture farm on soil like this?
For vegetables, I feel the only solution would be raised beds with clean top soil from elsewhere..??

ANY ideas welcome!Thanks :)

5 Comments
2023/04/28
11:39 UTC

5

Mowing Hay for sheep & goats, is it time now? Western Turkey, Hardiness Zone 9b, probably comparable to southern Spain, southern Italy and Greece.

Hello, context: we are new small farmers in western Turkey (mostly olives, but we have the animals and vegetable & fruit garden too), it has been a good spring for the weeds with nicely spaced rains, we have one flat and juicy meadow saved for making hay with all kinds of grasses and wild flowers.

but we are new in this region and all our neighbors solely do olives so we have no one to compare to...

the question is cutting now or a little later:

cutting now pros: biggest pro is that after the mowing, there will be a few more rains before the dry summer, so the meadow will regrow a little bit and won't stay bald. the grasses seem to be extremely fresh and rich now.

cutting later pros: all the blooming will be completed and the seeds stay at the meadow. weather will be even hotter and hey will dry out safely.

concerning the blooming meadow for the bees and insects: there is plenty of blooming wild meadows (steeper, not easy to mow) all around so there is plenty of space for them to go to.

any mediterranean farmers here that can give an advice if mowing for hey now is already reasonable or if we should wait a little?

1 Comment
2023/04/28
07:32 UTC

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