Where to Begin When Evolving a Piece of Land into a Permaculture Site
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- Опубликовано: 17 апр 2021
- Students of Geoff’s Online Permaculture Design Course have question-and-answer sessions where Geoff fields a number of questions every week and answers them via videos. This question was pulled from the 2021 collection. Consider taking the free Masterclass for an in-depth dive into all things permaculture www.discoverpermaculture.com
Question
I have a piece of land, I am new to permaculture and farming, how do I start the process of evolution? It seems like I would need to start with the selection of species and then the assemblies they will fit into so I can then begin to experiment and observe. Earthworks might be needed but I think I should wait so I know what the earthworks should help fix, this is overwhelming where do I begin? How do I decide where to act when I have so little information to inform my decisions?
Key Takeaways
By the end of the course, you will know what to do. It definitely isn’t a matter of getting your species together, save putting a little garden in to get some food production underway and have something to feel good about. It’s better to wait until you have a deeper understanding so that the right stuff is more likely to be in the places when putting a design together.
The general approach, before anything else, is to think about water first, access routes, and then the structures. We want to look for the highest places to store water, the highest contour lines on the site, and work with our design possibilities from there. Where there is water there is life, so we want it to be easy to access throughout our property.
Access is expensive and expensive to maintain, so it’ll need to have multiple uses, such as acting as fire breaks, supporting windbreaks, harvesting water, and so on. But, access should harmonize with the water system. In general, access routes should be along contour lines or right along ridgelines.
With water and access routes in place, structural placement begins to reveal itself as we can see the advantages and disadvantages to different locations in the landscape.
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About Geoff:
Geoff is a world-renowned permaculture consultant, designer, and teacher that has established demonstration sites that function as education centers in all the world's major climates. Geoff has dedicated his life to spreading permaculture design across the globe and inspiring people to take care of the earth, each other, and to return the surplus.
About Permaculture:
Permaculture integrates land, resources, people and the environment through mutually beneficial synergies - imitating the no waste, closed loop systems seen in diverse natural systems. Permaculture applies holistic solutions that are applicable in rural and urban contexts and at any scale. It is a multidisciplinary toolbox including agriculture, water harvesting and hydrology, energy, natural building, forestry, waste management, animal systems, aquaculture, appropriate technology, economics and community development.
#permaculture #permaculturedesign #whatispermaculture
![Swales: Earthworks for Conservation and Storage [PDC Preview]](/img/1.gif)
You are a deep well of information Geoff. Thanks again for your support
It's been too long since your last video... Stop commenting and get making 😉😂👍
@@blackprincegt ha ha. I’m taking a break from the camera for a while. Been digging and planting instead.
@@TheWeedyGarden 😥.. well, we are looking forward to the next video whenever that shall be mate 😉👍
This is definitely a good time for planting, anytime is really, if there are areas without food plants and seeds in storage.
Was vegan 6 years.
Realised that we will only care purposely for animals when we depend on them and work with them.
Hunted overpopulated deer where the natural predators (wolves) have long been driven off.
The first bite was transcendental and my health is on the up and up.
The more you observe the water movement on the land, the better the water plan can be....thanks, Geoff
1. water; 2. access; 3. structure Geoff, thanks so much for answering questions from other permaculturalists. Peace and health
😅
I cannot afford the water infrastructure and I have no access to city water, only rain water, and I cannot afford the access. So what I do is plant a small food garden around my house. I get rid of my super invasive vines that stifle other plants in the area where I can access. Then I bought some cover crops seeds and when the rain falls I sprinkle it everywhere I deweeded. I see other native shrubs coming up with the cover crops but I leave them so the vines won't get reestablish easily. Then I plant some fruit trees that don't require me to water. Now am digging steps with my shovel to access the hard to walk places.
I just do what I can in the moment. Eventually I will put in a pond for water storage and steps to walk everywhere, but my fruit trees will have years of growth in the meantime.
Land is sloped, even if very little, the water still moves. Shape the land along the slopes to make little "balconies", to guide water to where things are to be planted. Over time those balconies can connect to make swales or terraces, just keep moving towards the final design, so go ahead and design a cohesive system so you can make pieces of it, and adjust the design as the pieces come together~
Wow. Thanks. I just learned so much about where to start. Your words confirm what I've been trying to figure out on my own. I'd already figured out by my water maps (mudmaps, LOL) that water is determining where my access road goes 'cause I don't want to run over the water lines. And now my infrastructure is based on where the water and access lines go 'cause I don't want to create something in the path of the water or access. Thanks for the confirmation. SE Qld
Hi Jeff i am very new at Permaculture and gathering as much info as i can. . I am an Holistic Therapist, Ones Systems work in conjunction with each other to maintain ones body and keep it Healthy. I look at Permaculture it reminds me of systems of the Body. Systems of the Land. That is my little take on it. .We have a small back garden a Detached Home. We are moving in a few years to hopefully buy a 5 Bedroom and 10 to 20 Acres. We have a large family and quite a few Grandkids.. Hence all the land and Big House lol. So many Homesteaders that i have seen on here. Want to grow their own food to survive which is great, some want to stay off Grid. Take care X
Thank you, I have watched the water on the land we bought for 6 months and how it moves and how I can adjust it to slow it down and water several trees, it has hardly any trees on it now, on it's way to a pond because of listening to your advice. Also meeting this week with someone to put in a culvert to be able to get a vehicle on the land. Thank you for your educational videos!!
These spammers don't want normal people commenting. They report my messages and have them removed. Lame! Just wanted to thank you Geoff for everything you do. Please keep up the content. Thank you for your teachings!
Why would there be spammers trying to remove other people's comments on a video like this?
@@lars_larsen those were my thoughts exactly. You would be surprised but they are everywhere sadly. I had to report them trying to redirect you to sexual websites on here. Some people have no morals. That stuff has no place here. We got kids on here trying to learn about permaculture who want to make the world a better place and we get preyed on by losers like that. It's a real shame.
I just did a live today and they edited my live feed and cut portions of it out. AI bots are dictating what appropriate mouth noises are.
Wonderful introduction into thinking as a permaculturist, though a course is definitely what you need ! Having my pdc I encounter so much more there is to know. Start your little wormfarm and youll notice the awsome effect of their work on your plants/flowers☺️ nature is fantastic
Your Pdc course opened to me a whole new world . Thank you and the TAs it was great.
Observe (the lay of the land and flow of the elements of the land and sky.)
Water (brings life and power)
Access (an initial but excellent long term investment if done well.)
Structure (placement and type becomes more obvious once the above are in place.)
On my way to complete the design of a site with Swales and no irrigation. Thank you so much sensei ❤️💚
Love from Kerala, India 🙏
Namaste, how is your swale crating going?
Blessings on your permaculture project in Kerala, may your work inspire tens of thousand of other people to come to permaculture thinking and doing.
@@louisegogel7973 Yes, you can see the videos in our channel. It is going well :) Have also completed my PDC course just few days back. Thank you, much love to you!
@@bte_permaculture Schukria, thank you, I will check on your. channel and pass it on to my sister and her husband’s relatives in Kashmir, and hope they will be inspired. and also spread the word! That area sure can use permaculture thinking!
I think for those that do not have the land is to consider a pond or a low point overflow for rainwater like a catchment area then if you have the budget for it to build storage tanks that can pump out and into tanks also have rain water gutters and pipes to feed water into storage that way you have minimal evaporation and you can use the pond as irrigation if you have excess. these is an amazing video where a guy just evolved his house and garden in a dry desert community in Tucson using very limited earthworks and was able to produce permaculture results (I will link back to this comment when I find it). additionally to contain that evaporation is to use shading (shade cloth, or trees, bamboos that are fast growing) reinforcing the pond with water lining or use a clay render on the walls to hold off seepage/saturation into the soil just observe how nature works it will teach you many things how water behaves in the landscape.
Here is the link I mentioned early in my comment ruclips.net/video/KcAMXm9zITg/видео.html. It is long but some simple, laid-back, let nature do it's thing paced permaculture with great results that is self sufficient and produce that is sustainable.
Also from that documentary a famous african Zaphaniah Phiri Maseko was mentioned as having via books and resources, mentored the protaganist for the inspirational works in water harvesting and permaculture design - ruclips.net/video/ieqYZaT0JwA/видео.html.
I would like to have a tiny house and have enough land to pursue this sort of lifestyle of self-sufficiency and water security for a productive permaculture system.
Thank you your channel has been a nonstop help! thx for sharing all your wisdom.
We have just a tiny area on a slight slope, and now I see what to do, where the water goes naturally and how to get it where I want it, naturally. The berms are just the cross section of an ant hill, but that's all that's needed for such a tiny area. I see where the fence makes rain shadows and hot spots, and I'm still just figuring it out, all I'm making is a strawberry patch, but they're all from seed, it's getting there. It has sage, rhubarb, red clover, garlic, green onions, peach trees, yet to me it's still just a strawberry patch~
Wow... very simple explanation but worth it... i do have a small land which become my ‘laboratory’ farm... let’s see the result...
Thank you for your very informative videos . Am starting something! Been very inspired!!
Thank you !!!🌱😍
Up up king. Great information
M'ni Wiconi - water is life....
So grateful for your teaching.... working on swales in New Mexico so fingers crossed ;)
How are they doing? I'm in what used to be New Mexico but is Colorado now (San Luis Valley).
@@johnkayoss5422 I'll tell you in a few weeks if things start growing ;)
But so far, so good ;) (adding chicken shit/bedding seems to help
@@djgriffin66 I'm trying to talk my neighbor into putting in a massive swale for me (he has a skid steer, much easier than shovels).
Not so much for rainwater harvesting, but to better distribute water from a 50 gal/min flowing artesian well that currently falls 2 feet into a pond its dug itself.
My land is super flat, and we get less than 12" of rain a year...
@@johnkayoss5422 Keep adding any fiber you can... our prob here is any mulch I add blows away in the wind lol ;) but the area's that I hugeled seem to be working well ....
Thank you for video Geoff....I have flat area, water coming from mountains wadi, the only way to make it sustainable is by depending on ground water level with long root. And there is very high competition on consuming ground water on hot climate, may get one rain in a year.
Drip system is the way forward to reduce water consume & cost.
It encourages roots to form at the surface though.
Try drip system into an olla
Do you have a solution for those evils who want you to fail for survival of their nation
Instead of drip irrigation, you could try wicking beds for your trees. It is much simpler and cheaper, needs less frequent watering (once a week in hot climates), gives higher yields and is also using 20% less water than drip irrigation. Geoff has videos about how to make a wicking bed from an IBC container, but there are also others talking about creating "open wicking beds" that are more suited for growing trees.
Also I have a feeling that wicking bed technology has much more potential than currently used. For example for trees growing in a desert from a single rain event a year … that would need a horizontal tunnel to extend the wicking bed reservoir size, and a rain catchment area. There are traditional Tunisian systems of using runoff from a bare desert area to grow crops in a small area that catches this runoff (forgot the system's name, sorry). Modern versions of that could be much more efficient in water catchment though, as these old systems will lose 80% and only redirect 20% as runoff.
Hey Geoff,
I have a issue about my country. I'm from Turkey. Turkey is a mountainous country. And we have 200-500 mm of precipitation across Anatolian Planes. Most of the country is above 1000 m sea and 30 percent of the country above 2000 metre from sea. Most of the recommended vegetation doesn't grow here. If it was just dry we would try desert trees, if it was just cold we would try a lot of thigs.
Can you talk about high and cold steppe climate zones, it would help people of Turkey, Greece, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Kazakhstan...
I feel like this part of the world is fotgetten by permaculture world. Its a area bigger than all Europe.
Thank you so much for everything.
Sincerely,
Süleyman
Did you find any answers? I have also been curious about this - although this problem is not practical to me, just the opposite: I wonder how it is for people living in such areas, since I came from a humid country, so it's all a too alien problem to me.
Move out !
@@honeybadger8942 They already do. They are all in Germany (and pretend to still love Turkey, albeit no one wants to be there).
What about the northern coast near the Black Sea? This is a very fertile place from what I've seen. I saw in Samsun incredible farms and the soil is really rich, anything grows there. However I don't live in turkey, have only travelled.
Terrace farming is the answer
Super-Dooper as always thank you Geoff 🧡💛💚
BLESS YOU.
I have the same problem. I know NOTHING about agriculture, and would like to get my retired dad to get involved (so he doesn't rot at home). My first idea is to build a swale (we have sloping land that is a lawn right now), and adapt my friend's already existing (semi-permaculture but not really) garden design. Mostly because choice of actual crops is hard to figure out for someone who knows nothing about agriculture. But ultimately, it will be a multi year project, and I'm sure I'll get SOME things wrong.
I guess the essence, as always, is to fail cheap/small, fail quick, learn from nature giving feedback, and expand when things go right. Don't have to go full permaculture (no-input) from start. E.g. I don't have biochar nor composting, so just get some.
It is a bit overwhelming, and there really ought to be a "starter pack" for permaculture for each climate/soil, etc. The information is out there, even on traditional/industrial agro sites, but it isn't collated.
Hello, you may try to connect to garden groups or farm groups in your area. Most cities and towns have quite a few gardeners with several years of experience. They may be able to tell you what will grow easily and what is more difficult.
Thanks...Geoff 🌎
THANK YOU.
So glad I found you via the Weedy Gardener.
Hello Geoff, I live in Frankston, 30 odd miles southeast of Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula in a Ministry of housing unit. I have begun trying to create a permaculture garden with neighbours who do not understand the concept or purpose. It would be very helpful if we could have some help here as we are all on low incomes and food security is becoming more urgent. I have been trying for about 4 years now but am not getting much production but still trying hard. I have just set up a green house to help to produce seedlings for food we have black forever hungry soil that has taken years of feeding to start to get a usable soil. Your life’s work has been changing the world brilliant.
Best wishes Fiona
Observe a lot before you make decisions. Wind pattern, amount of rain you expect, vegetation already growing on the land (study each species to understand their needs will help you decide what to plant in the future), existing wildlife, and we must take in account that if we live in that same spot, we will leave a footprint too. It takes a lot of observation time, because nothing of this is obvious at first sight. Start small, see how it develops and go on, would be a good advise in my opinion.
Thank you
thank you
I love you. I hope you the best in your life
I have spent countless hours these past 4 months learning all I can about permaculture. Your videos are very helpful so thank you so much. My concern with my property is I have 40 acres that we just bought. Temperatures reach well into the 100s and it's very windy most of the time. My biggest concern is we have probably about 150 Joshua Trees, some i'm guessing a couple hundred years old, and I want to make sure not to harm them. Please any advice would be helpful.
So important
It's really strange to actually find a factual inaccuracy in Geoff Lawton's work, but I did.
The evaporation temperature of water is not a constant.
Where I live, at over 7500 ft, water boils at 93°C.
Makes it really difficult to brew tea properly.
Nice...
I have the opposite 'problem' to where I need to improve drainage to get rid of/redirect the water that runs through my property, I have approximately 60,000 litres of water tanks but the Rainfall I don't catch turns the whole property into a boghole! 🤔
How about making a roadmap specially for farmers wanting to flip from monoculture to permaculture. There is so much happening i the world these days, they could use all the help they can get. I love your many inspiration videos and altså seen those with Bill Mollison and other pioneer like your selves. I know this is the answer to a better world. Other good ideas we can spread in sosial forums an otherwise would be welcome also, Love to you and your family from Sweden.
Geoff, I follow your udemy courses. It goes so well and it inspires me so much. I want to ask you, How to deal with over/extra yields? what to do if our food forest produces more than we need?
Preserve, share with friends, get/build more community, promote or teach others about your good way of growing food, sell in local/neighborhood markets or restaurants, don't worry as much about "pests", consider introducing more non-edible-for-human forest-like plants,
@@kikikut22 thanks a lot
You don’t need to deal with it, lol. Everything that’s not used by you, will be used by animals, bacteria, fungi, etc. All compost will make the soil richer.
Preserve it! Share it! Feed it to your animals. Spread the word and get others to join in. Abundance for all!
Top 👍👍👍
Where I'm at, something as simple as transplanting prickly pear pads (orientating the pads east/west on a south facing slope) every two feet on a 350' wide contour violates my States grading statutes (per their interpretation). Creating edges with the least amount of input and caloric output with prickly pear cuttings is illegal, much less trying to get a permit to recirculate water back up slopes (with green technology) because taxation is their power.
is this not also a constant - that pretty much every liquid will evaporate at any temperature, they just evaporate more rapidly at higher temperatures. The boiling point is the hottest you can get a liquid. there are also different temperatures based on elevation for a boiling point; it is not the only temperature at which the liquid turns to gas.
Love ❤️🙏🇬🇧
Water, access, structure.
For farms that get ~100mm annual rainfall once a year and rely on well water for irrigation, how can I argue in support of creating swales inspite of the cost?
Swales are even more important in drier climates. You need to catch and store every drop. Large swales will catch vast volumes of water even if it’s just one good rain dump a year. What’s replenishing the wells for future irrigation? Swales do. Yes there is an upfront cost, but they can last hundreds of years with very little ongoing maintenance.
Absolutely. I live in a very dry coastal area in Western Australia. We have designed swales into our system. Shallow ditch with very low and wide birm. Our soil is well draining soil, so we loose water very fast, so no need to have deep swales. We will be planting in the ditch, as the soil is well draining, so not worried about wet feet. We will be irrigating with a bore.
It will make the little rain you do get go much further. But the big benefit is that it collects the nutrients you would otherwise lose/get washed away in a definite location. more stable conditions, your irrigation water will go further and last longer, you'll be more resilient against droughts. It will protect from desertification and generate new soil.
I think the biggest argument might be it will mean the land will hold its value or increase it over time as compared to less sustainable activity. It is an essential part in farming and we them on nearly every bloody farm and they are hundreds of years old, if not older in some cases. While people might not care about future generations anymore, they might care about it when they are 70 and want to sell the land.
@@carbon1255 nailed it mate. Nutrient retention and land value are regularly overlooked.
Swales also recharge your ground water so you need to on average recharge 20x the area that you use for high production crops in dry lands for a sustainable ground water use.
❤❤❤
What do you do if have acreage and no more than 6 inches of height differential across the entire property? Florida is flat, flat, flat. And sand, sand, sand. How does one start with these non-building blocks?
I wish but could see my 9acre plot and help me fix what the previous owner did making a pond.
whats wrong with the pond? having a water system like that on a piece of land is usually a great step.
Sir i have planted persimmons plant to plant and row to row distsnce is 15 feet. Can i plant almonds or pears or apples between the rows of persimmons please???
What genus is it? are you growing it for timber or for the fruit? What are your soil conditions and seasonal variation and temperature? Is it on a gradient? Sun & rainfall? extreme weather events? native pests?
My short answer would be it isn't the best design, as you want to plant mutually supportive plants that perform a role in the cycle. I don't know much about persimmons requirements as a plant, I believe they are pioneers anyhow, but they prefer full sun, so other trees may reduce their growth- unless you need a dampener from strong winds which may damage them.
Generally you want trees, shrubs, perenials (particularly to attract plenty of pollinating insects for your persimmons to benefit from - or your own bees) and some form of ground cover to prevent growth of too much weeds/unwanted competition and regulate the soil conditon.
It is complicated, you could try it in a part of your land, you also don't need permission. It rather sounds like you want to make the decision for productivity reasons than permaculture design though.
15 feet is very tight for most persimmons by the way, it is likely extra trees will cause big issues at that density imho. I'm a humble bonsai enthusiast, and you the tree farmer so take that as you will.
Persimmons are native where I live. We often see them spread by suckers (another trunk growing from the roots). I know of one nearby that has 10 to 12 trunks in an area of 8 feet by 25 feet. This is one tree, all these trunks. If I was in your situation I would plant nitrogen fixing shrubs between the persimmons and understand that eventually they will die out as the persimmons take over the area. I would recommend Goumi bushes if they will grow where you live. They will also produce an edible fruit.
@@alexriddles492 but our persimmons are not spreading type. These are diospyrous kaki grafted on diospyrous lotus.
@@carbon1255 our land is gradient not flat.
@@ahmadzeb3607 I live in Missouri. So, the persimmons that are native here are Diospyros Virginiana. Not the Asian persimmons. I also grow apples. In my opinion your spacing does not leave room for apples. If I were to plant something among those trees I would plant the shrub and groundcover layers. My advice is to search "Persimmon Guild" and see what the internet suggests.
5:20
The statement "water only moves at a right angle to counter" seems unclear. Could you provide more context or clarify your question? (ChatGPT).
It looks as though there is a lot of money to be made from teaching Permanculture, possibly I should get a PDC and get in on the game.
Уважаемый, Geoff, включите пожалуйста титры на русском языке
Спасибо
С уважением
Seeding the surface comes after shaping the land, and the land is shaped to guide water. Water has four thousand times the heat capacity of air, that's why deserts have such huge temperature fluctuations, and is why there are hot deserts and cold deserts, but "temperate deserts" is a silly concept.
You should redo the intro pic, it makes you look a little crazy... Lol
Lars Larson
from happy 🏕 camp? Nevermind.