PERMACULTURE

We could never have achieved what we have without our Wwoofers! WWOOF = The Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms

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WWOOF’s goal is to provide individuals from all around the world the opportunity to:

• gain practical skills in organic farming and gardening

• experience rural living while sharing in the everyday life of your host

• further the organic and sustainability movement

• participate in a cultural exchange

 

As a wwoofer at Tiny Secrets, you receive a place to live and a food allowance in exchange for your skills, energy, and work.

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Please reach out to us if you're interested in wwoofing with us.

5 BASIC CONCEPTS

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Interest in sustainable growth and protecting the environment has continued growing and has become more popular everywhere in the world.

 

REFUSE

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The 5 Rs are pretty simple. To begin with, it’s important to know how to say no to everything that’s not essential or that’s of no use in daily life.

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REDUCE

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Then, you have to reduce everything you consume in general and adopt minimalist tendencies to reduce daily waste production.

 

REUSE

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Once you’ve reduced what you own, then you have to reuse as much as possible; this means buying second-hand or repurposing your things.

 

RECYCLE

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If you can’t reuse something, you have to recycle it. Ideally, recyclable materials must be reduced to a minimum. You should still learn to recognize packaging that is recyclable.

 

ROT

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Finally, the last concept consists of composting all organic waste instead of throwing it in the garbage. This way, waste returns to the earth and doesn’t make an environmental footprint.

Permaculture gardening is ideal for anyone looking to grow their own food in a sustainable system. Permaculture principles allow you to build a vegetable garden that relies on natural processes to promote growth, providing you with abundant fruits and vegetables.

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A permaculture food forest mimics a forest edge that is planted with edible plants. Picture all of the vertical layers of a forest growing together: Tall trees, small trees, shrubs, herbs, and ground covers. Tall, canopy trees grow inward from the edge.

A big part of permaculture is building soil. The loss of quality soils is one of the largest, most prevalent concerns on the globe, and without good soil, producing healthy food just isn’t possible.

 

Mass agriculture methods have stripped soils of their vitality:

• Commercial growing of only one crop (Monocultures) deplete soils of the nutrients that the cash crop likes,

• Then that cash crop is shipped away (with all of those nutrients)  instead of being fed back to the soil to recycle them.

• Large-scale tilling makes the soils susceptible to erosion via wind and rain,

• Destroys the 'web' of soil life that helps to cycle organic nutrients into minerals and fertility.

• The organic nutrients are removed during the harvest (done with massive machinery) This compacts the soil so that it has to be tilled.

• Add to this the chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, which live in our bodies as toxins.

 

Permaculture approaches soils and food production differently. Most soils  need special attention to recover, and even good soils benefit from extra nutrients.

This weird weather is the new normal for many of us. It is beyond doubt that we all are experiencing more extreme and erratic weather cycles, with huge downpours and flash floods on the one hand and extreme droughts on the other.

 

Water is always the number one priority for any permaculture system, as Mark Shepard would say: "No matter where you go and what mineral deficiencies you have, there are plants who can adapt to these conditions, but no plant can live without water! That’s why Permaculture design tries to harvest, retain and rescue as much water as possible before it is lost from the system."

 

There are two basic strategies of water conservation on a permaculture farm: storing water in the soil and the diversion of surface water to dams/ponds and tanks for later use; storing it on the surface.

Plants work well in diverse systems – the same is true of people too. People of all generations live together for the benefit of all.

 

Planting polycultures (guilds of plants that work together) is just one example of how this principle works in the real world.

 

In addition to applying this in the garden, we can also apply it to communities, groups or organizations. Sustainability is something we achieve together – through collaboration and co-operation – it’s not something we do alone.

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Another example of integration is the combination of plants and animals. Adding chickens to a farm helps to improve the quality of the soil while providing a wonderful, organic, natural habitat for the hens to enjoy while they produce eggs and meat for us to eat.

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