This article has been translated automatically with DeepL. You may find language incoherences but we hope your comprehension won’t be compromised.

Esta serie de artículos explora los 12 principios de permacultura de David Holmgren con más detalle.

Permaculture allows us to design systems that influence nature without fighting it, that rely on it without trying to dominate it. The beauty and difficulty of designing permaculture systems lies in the clever balance that must be struck.

To find it, the first step is already to understand in depth the environment in which the system must fit. This step revolves around two key points: observation of nature and interaction with it. Observation allows us to understand how the environment functions globally and interaction allows us to go further by determining the underlying mechanisms that govern the environment.

3 scales of observation

The observation takes place on several levels and on different time scales. At each scale, questions appropriate to the objectives should be asked.

General and surrounding elements. The objective is to understand the context in which the system is set, its environment. If you are starting a vegetable garden, analyse your climate, the sunshine, the surrounding agricultural activity. If you are starting a business, ask yourself about the local socio-economic fabric, the other existing businesses around you. This scale will allow you to have an overall vision of the environment in which you will create your system.

Then there are the system-specific elements. For a garden, these include soil types, wind intensity and wind corridors, shading areas and water points. This is the second scale: it focuses on the system to obtain its general characteristics.

Finally, it is necessary to observe the details of the system and its environment, such as the plants that grow naturally on your land (which will serve as bio-indicator plants), the fauna that settles naturally, the evolution of rainfall over the months. At this level, all information is good to take in because it is by interacting with these elements that you will understand what function they perform and how they perform it. Careful observation is necessary in order to detect natural systems that can inspire you:

« Some really effective systems work so well that they go unnoticed. This is the case with free environmental services, such as air and water purification, soil remediation, and all effective design solutions that go unnoticed until they no longer work because they have not been properly used.« 

David Holmgren

Armed with this knowledge, you will then be able to design your system by adding elements that will perform new functions, modifying some elements to make them more efficient, and leaving the ones untouched in order to preserve overall stability.

Two examples

In the garden

Let’s imagine that you want to start a vegetable garden to have a few vegetables to harvest during the summer.

First of all, you can identify the climate of your region in order to know globally which types of plants will flourish there. For example, if you are in the mountains, perhaps tomatoes will have difficulty growing if they are not protected from the cold at night. Similarly, it may be interesting to find out if others around you have a vegetable garden to help you choose plant species that are adapted to your environment. Also look for seed artisans to find farmer and local seeds.

Then, you can identify the different areas of your land: those where there is shade, those where there is wind, the slightly raised areas, the type of soil associated with them. All these elements will help you choose where to plant your different vegetables. Some appreciate shade, others only grow in rich, humus-rich soil and some need dry soil to avoid rotting (onions to name but a few).

Finally, take a close look at your garden and your surroundings. If aphids are present in your roses, it will be wise to choose plants that are not sensitive to them in the first instance. If you see some bees, do not hesitate to sow some honey plants, they will be delighted and you will ensure the pollination of your vegetables. Bio-indicator plants can be very useful at this stage: observe which plants grow naturally and without intervention on your soil, they will give you information about the soil! (An article will be published in the « Vegetable Garden & Garden » section on bio-indicator plants)

All this will allow you to choose the ideal plants for your vegetable garden and determine the best places to plant each of them! You can then combine this information with the Tomato & Basil Plant Companion tools!

In trade and economy

Now imagine that you want to open a bicycle shop in your town.

First of all, you can find out about the bicycle market in your area: is it more oriented towards sales, rentals, repairs? Is there any seasonality? Do the inhabitants of your town or city look for city bikes or mountain bikes? Above all, try to understand why the market is the way it is.

Once the general elements have been determined, let’s assume that your market is more oriented towards rentals because you are in a tourist region. It is now time to find out about the competition in your city and determine the ideal type of bike for your customers. Perhaps other stores rent touring bikes but do not offer e-bikes.

Finally, find out the details: where tourists go, their budget, their interests, the key personalities in your area (mayors, managers of tourist agencies) … All the details necessary to best adapt your offer to your clientele and create a local network.

This article has been translated with Google Translate. You may find language incoherences but we hope your comprehension won’t be compromised.

The first thing to clarify when discussing design principles is that there are several versions! Permaculture is a recent design method and several approaches coexist and bring different visions.

The two best-known views of permaculture principles are those of Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, founders of permaculture. It is these that we will quickly expose here. They will be the subject of a more specific analysis in separate files.

Why principles?

The goal of permaculture is to provide a design method for creating sustainable human habitats (to learn more about this topic, you can read our article “What is permaculture?”). To achieve this, it provides a universal toolbox that helps guide our thinking.

Each principle can be thought of as a direction of systems thinking (ie. Which is interested in a complex system as a whole) to explore. Each offers a different perspective, which can be interpreted at several levels of depth and implementation. It is not necessary to always take into account all the principles: for a given project, use them to question yourself about what could be done in order to take them into account.

1. Relative location: take care of locations (plants, buildings, …) and the interactions they generate.
2. Each element must perform several functions
3. Each function must be fulfilled by several elements. These last two principles including the key to resilience.
4. Energy efficiency: properly structure a system into zones and sectors to be more efficient (the famous notion of « zoning » in permaculture).
5. Use of biological resources (ie. From living organisms: animal-drawn plowing tools, auxiliary insects for pests, etc.)
6. Energy cycles: properly analyze the energy cycles of the system to make it as efficient as possible (reuse and storage of water, heat, etc.)
7. Small intensive systems: Small scale systems are easier to manage as a whole.
8. Accelerate succession and evolution: act on the system so that it evolves more quickly towards a state of sustainable climax.
9. Diversity: maximize the number of different elements and especially their interactions.
10. Side effects: the borders (between a forest and a meadow, or between land and sea for example) are the site of the most interesting phenomena.
11. The attitude of the permaculturist:
    • The problem is the solution ;
    • The only limit is that of our imagination;
    • Work with nature and not against it;
    • Every living being gardens: it shapes its habitat and interacts with it to thrive.

1. Observe and interact: By taking the time to get involved with nature, it is possible to design solutions adapted to each situation.
2. Collect and store energy: By developing systems that collect resources during times of plenty, we can profit from them during scarcity.
3. Create a production: We must seek to obtain results that are really useful at each stage of the work undertaken.
4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback: Deterring harmful activity ensures that systems can continue to function properly.
5. Using and valuing services and renewable resources: By making the best use of the abundance of natural resources, we can reduce our consumption behavior and our dependence on non-renewable resources.
6. Do not produce waste: By using and recovering all available resources, nothing is ever thrown away.
7. Going from the overall structures to the details: By taking a step back, we can observe structures in nature and in society. These structures will form the backbone of our design, which we will fill in with details as we go.
8. Integrate rather than separate: By placing the right elements in the right places, relationships are established between the elements, which can then be mutually reinforcing.
9. Use small-scale solutions with patience: Fostering slow, small-scale systems reduces maintenance effort, makes better use of local resources, and achieves more sustainable results.
10. Use and value diversity: by encouraging diversity, we are less vulnerable to many threats and we take advantage of the unique nature of the place environment.
11. Use interfaces and enhance the edge elements: It is at the interfaces that the most interesting phenomena occur, which are often the most enriching, the most diverse and the most productive in a system.
12. Use and react creatively to change: By observing carefully and intervening at the right time, one can have a beneficial influence on inevitable changes.

You will often find these principles in the form of the 12 icons created by the graphic designer and permaculturist Richard Telford.

If these principles are there to give you avenues to explore and ideas for inspiration, now is your time to take action and apply them! To help you, we’ll cover all of these principles in more detail in articles and dossiers to help you understand how to use each one.

This article has been translated with Google Translate. You may find language incoherences but we hope your comprehension won’t be compromised.

We all wish we had bees in our vegetable garden or could repel aphid attacks without pesticides. Animals are an integral part of your gardens: sometimes pests, sometimes friends, here we offer you an approach aligned with the principles of permaculture.

Accept the presence of animals

This is the first step in getting into a good permaculture process. All insects, rodents, birds and other animals are part of your garden ecosystem. To fight against them is to fight against nature: you have lost in advance.

Learn how to become friends again with the biodiversity of your territory. Accept that aphids live in your roses, that slugs crawl between your lettuce. It is thanks to all these living beings, which constitute the ecosystem as a whole, that your harvests are possible. Accept that they take their share of the production and share with them the fruit of this collective work.

To this end, we recommend that you always place at the edge of your vegetable patch or garden plants appreciated by local « pests ». They will serve as a snack and keep them away from your plants. For this, you will need to apply the first principle of permaculture (« Observe and Interact ») in order to understand which animals are present in your territory, and test different plants that they like to find the best balance.

However, some animals can be particularly greedy or invasive and your goal is not to work only to feed the insects in your garden. Here are some design methods that rely on plants and their interactions with animals to provide natural protection.

Getting rid of a pest with plants

Many plants can attract or repel certain animals with varying degrees of intensity. Logically, the animals which consume a plant will be attracted by its odor while other plants, toxic to them, tend to keep them away. The companionship of plants makes it possible to play on these phenomena to choose to attract or repel targeted animals.

To get rid of a pest, three strategies exist:

• Plant species that naturally repel the pest
• Plant species that attract predators
• Plant species at the edge of the garden that strongly attract the pest in question

Repellent wall

The first method is the most direct: plant plants that repel the pest in question so that it prefers to look elsewhere. Many plants have properties (in particular their smell) which disturb the olfactory tracks of animals or which naturally repel them: you might as well use them. To find repellent plants, consult the list of animals in the application from the home page: you will find for each animal the list of known plants that repel them. Aromatics, thanks to their strong smell, are very effective in this area.

Although this method is useful in keeping pests away from your plants, it is not foolproof and above all it is difficult to set up once they are already established.

Attract soldiers

The second method corresponds to the defensive force of the garden: it is not a question of repelling the pest but of attracting its predators to counter-attack. This method can be effective if your garden is regularly invaded by a particular pest, despite the establishment of barrier plants.

We can note for example the tobacco which releases pheromones attracting ladybugs when its leaves are eaten by aphids: a wonderful example of symbiosis! Adding a foot of tobacco then allows your garden to defend itself if the odor barriers were not enough to ward off aphids.

The great sacrifice

The third and final method we present is to sacrifice plants to distract the pest from the ones you want to protect. By planting a plant at the edge of the garden that strongly attracts the pest, it will focus on the latter and abandon the others. When the sacrificial plant is infested, it is enough to pull it up and get rid of it to reduce the pressure on the whole garden.

A well-known example is that of the Nasturtium: aphids love this flower. Plant them at the edge of your vegetable gardens or gardens and they will serve as aphid magnets, thus protecting their neighbors! But in this case do not get too attached to your nasturtiums …

On the app, plants which are very attractive to pests are highlighted by the words “Can be used as a sacrificial plant” or “Strong attraction”.

If you are using sacrificial plants, we recommend that you also place natural traps in the same place to prevent the pest from reproducing too quickly! For example a half-bottle with a base of beer for the slugs.

Maximize biodiversity

The ultimate protection strategy that companion planting can provide is a combination of these three strategies: your garden then becomes extremely hardy and can defend itself against a multitude of pests, while letting other animals thrive freely (unlike pesticides).

This strategy is based on the presence of several different plants and is therefore directly based on the 10th principle of permaculture design: use and enhance biodiversity.

Attract an animal with plants

You may want to attract certain animals to improve your production or simply to increase the biodiversity of your garden. This is particularly the case of bees, which are very effective in pollinating flowers.

Again, the use of plants can be very effective! Go to the sheet of the animal you want to attract, choose one or more plants that attract it and plant them.

Also make sure that you haven’t already planted species that will repel it. If this is the case, try to compensate by the spatial organization of your garden, by creating distinct zones, or by adjusting the quantity of one or the other of the plants.

This article has been translated with Google Translate. You may find language incoherences but we hope your comprehension won’t be compromised.

Ethics is at the heart of the permaculture process: any design process must be based on values. These values will depend on the objectives to be achieved, the primary and secondary effects expected and tolerated.

These principles are constraints, cultural mechanisms which serve to temper our primary instincts so as to reduce individualistic actions. Our society has never been so powerful, because of the energy at its disposal (fossil fuels, nuclear, renewables, etc.). The use of this energy makes many feats and mistakes possible. Ethical principles then help us to:

• Better understand each person’s personal interests (the « I » present)
• Better understand the notion of society, of community (the « we » present)
• Better perceive the long-term repercussions of our actions (the future « I » and “we”)

Three main principles have emerged during the history of permaculture: take care of the earth, take care of people, and share fairly.

Take care of the earth

Earth is a living and breathing entity. It needs continuous care and attention if serious consequences are to be avoided.

Citation by David Holmgren in Permaculture Principles

This ethical principle brings together two different aspects: taking care of our soils first (the earth in the proper sense), but also taking care of all the living beings that these soils shelter (and by extension, all aquatic animals obviously).

Taking care of our soil

We have strong scientific and historical reasons for considering the condition of our soils as the most reliable measure of the future health and well-being of a society. How to take care of the soil? Here is a thorny question. In addition to these technical aspects, there are also ethical ones, because we do not know to what extent we can increase the capacity of soils to meet the needs of nature and of humans.

David Holmgren – Permaculture

The soil is the reflection of our society: this is why in the garden, permaculturalists strive to respect it, not to work it too much, to mulch it, etc. A rich soil filled with life will provide for the needs of the living things that depend on it (including us!). A good permaculture system should take this into account and act accordingly.

Caring for living things

Caring for the soil alone is not enough; we must also respect the living beings in our ecosystems. All living beings without exception, including those which seem to us the least useful (or even harmful).

We believe that all life forms and species have intrinsic value, regardless of their downside, to us or to other life forms important to us. We reduce our total environmental impact, which we believe is the best way to take care of everything that is alive without having to understand the many impacts of each individual action, to control them or to take responsibility for them. When we abuse or kill a life form, we always do so conscientiously and with respect; not using what you kill is the ultimate form of contempt.

David Holmgren – Permaculture

Take care of the human

After caring for the environment comes caring for individuals. Permaculture is a philosophy that proudly carries its social values and places human needs at the heart of its concerns. This ethical pillar in turn breaks down into two complementary aspects: taking care of yourself and taking care of others.

Although obvious, this approach is often forgotten: let’s start by knowing ourselves well, taking care of ourselves. We can then gradually broaden the scope of our concerns: my neighborhood, my city, my country, etc.

Take care of me

The human journey that permaculture offers begins with oneself: let’s get to know each other.

• List our wealths. We are full of talent, let’s list them. It is about being well aware of all our resources: what I like to do, what I know how to do well (natural or worked talents), my interpersonal skills, my know-how, etc. Let’s focus not on what others expect from us, but on what we think is our strength. As Albert Einstein once said, « If you judge a fish by its tree climbing ability, it will spend its entire life believing it is stupid. »

• List our needs. Can we all answer the following question: “What do I need to feel good?”. The answer to this question is often not obvious: let’s take the time to ask ourselves it sincerely. The answers can come quickly or they can come over time, whatever! It is up to everyone to discover what they need for a fulfilling life: stability, or on the contrary discovery and movement? Company or a moment alone? These needs are bound to change, we must listen to them and question ourselves regularly.

These reflections facilitate the journey towards self-sufficiency, which will be all the easier to achieve as we focus on our intangible well-being (and that of others) without consuming more material goods than necessary.

Caring for others

Once the introspection work is done, it is appropriate to reflect on our integration into the social fabric. What are the needs of others? From my neighborhood? From my city? Permaculture prioritizes local needs, with the aim of saving energy and in order to find the most relevant solutions for each need.

Taking care of others is first and foremost to communicate effectively together. There are many techniques of non-violent communication or shared governance that can facilitate living together, but one point is particularly important: personal responsibility.

We must learn to accept being personally responsible for the situation we are in, instead of seeing external forces and influences controlling our lives. This also applies to our daily exchanges: accepting our share of responsibility in all circumstances to avoid conflicts and promote group work.

Share fairly

If the first two ethical pillars are generally unanimous among the followers of permaculture, the following principles vary from one interpretation to another. At Ovega we love David Holmgren’s version of sharing as a third ethical pillar.

Any permaculture system creates a useful output (we refer the reader to Design Principle # 3 which is the subject of an article in the Academy). This production, by definition, must meet our needs and will probably generate surpluses (rather than risk not being able to meet our needs).

What then to do with these surpluses? The last ethical pillar of permaculture introduces the notion of equitable sharing of resources. Use as much as you need and share the rest with others.

Knowing how to share also means accepting that nature takes its part. Your nourishing garden is home to many living things that are part of a balanced eco-system. From this balance is born your harvest: agree to donate a small part to all these living beings that make it possible (birds, slugs, etc.).

Although simple in its formulation, it is the most difficult ethical principle to implement, due to the difficulty of defining the limits of our needs. From when do we consider that production is a surplus to be shared: after basic needs only? How to place and detect the threshold of « sufficient »?

The sense of limits arises from a deep knowledge of how our world works. Setting limits on consumption and demographics means figuring out what is enough, and sometimes making tough decisions. But when we accept our condition as mortals and the limited nature of our power, the establishment of personal limits takes the form of a reasonable deal with the world. By practicing self-restraint, we prevent outside forces forcing us to change, and we preserve our autonomy and self-control. (…)

The thorny problem of population growth, for its part, gives rise to very contrasting positions. The planet is undoubtedly already too populated for the long-term well-being of mankind and other species to be assured. (…)

Redistributing the surplus requires that we share the surplus resources in order to help the Earth and other humans, beyond the circle of our immediate influences and responsibilities. How do we distribute our surplus of time, resources and wealth? This question is existential for a large number of relatively wealthy people on this planet. This is also not done through institutions such as the Church, but through development assistance programs, social actions, associations, etc.

David Holmgren – Permaculture

From ethical principles to design principles

Together, these three ethical principles form a system of values that make it possible to build sustainable and equitable systems: they constitute the foundations of permaculture. The 12 design principles are based on this ethic and offer a method of analysis and problem solving that allows you to carry out all your projects in a permaculture process.

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FURTHER READING (in French):

La permaculture humaine – Les fermes d’avenir

Permaculture, by David Holmgren

This article has been translated with Google Translate. You may find language incoherences but we hope your comprehension won’t be compromised.

Permaculture is a very broad subject that touches all spheres of society. If its most famous applications are in gardening, we also find them in education, socialization or even the economy!

In this section of the application, you will discover articles dealing with the design methods of a permaculture garden, others providing advice on specific themes and some dealing with the use of permaculture in society. We will publish new ones regularly so do not hesitate to come and take a look from time to time 😉

We want to keep this part of the app free and ad-free for everyone to enjoy. If you appreciate our work, we rely on your support, either through purchasing an in-app subscription or speaking to others, to help us continue to keep that way.

In the coming months, this academy will expand with the addition of a map referencing permaculture training organizations and permaculture events near you. This will allow you to easily meet people like you who are looking to learn more about this philosophy.

If you have any article suggestions or comments on their form or content, send us a message at contact@ovega.fr.

Welcome to the Academy, good reading and good gardening,

The Tomate & Basilic team.

This article has been translated with Google Translate. You may find language incoherences but we hope your comprehension won’t be compromised.

Permaculture is a vast subject, often reduced to its applications in the garden: crop rotation, companion planting, mounds, etc. Through a series of thematic sheets, we will try to explain to you what permaculture really is and how you can apply it in your daily life to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle!

The origins of permaculture

The concept of permaculture was formalized in the 1970s by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. Bill Mollison gives the following definition:

Permaculture is an ethical design process aimed at building sustainable human habitats by mimicking the way nature works.

Bill Mollison & David Holmgren

Let’s go back to the essential terms:

Ethical design: permaculture is a problem-solving tool, not a dogma. As such, its goal is to provide solutions to various current issues, social, environmental, economic, or other. Ethics are important here: this problem solving is done within a framework of values advocating a more just, sustainable and equitable society.

Human habitats are to be taken in the broad sense. We are talking about nourishing systems, habitats, economic and social networks.

Permaculture is not limited to the garden, it can inspire us to find solutions to much more varied problems.

Imitation of how nature works is fundamental to achieving sustainable designs. It is about observing the functioning of cycles and natural ecosystems in order to draw inspiration from them in our lives.

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To understand permaculture and its application to any type of project, we can separate it into three main areas:

• Three ethical principles: they are at the heart of establishing the right values and a philosophical framework.
• The design principles that serve as guides and inspiration for your projects. These are universal principles applicable in all situations.
• A set of tools and strategies that are more local and adapted to the specificities of a place, a culture, a climate (mulching, mounds, solar water heating, …). These strategies can guide you more specifically in solving your problems, but you will need to adapt them to your personal context.

Finally, the flower of permaculture illustrates the application of permaculture in different aspects of daily life. An article will be devoted to him in the Academy. Moreover, it is on the different petals of this flower that we have based our article categories!

To go further, we have a series of articles on each of these areas! Find them on the Permaculture Academy.

Image credits: Eucalyp, Freepik & dDara on flaticon.com