Sepp Holzer is a man of legend. He is the brightest representative of the agrarian direction, which was called "permaculture" - permanent, that is, natural, agriculture. Today they say so: not just permaculture, but Sepp Holzer's permaculture. An Austrian farmer is confident that so-called permaculture can feed the entire planet. You need quite a bit for this: do not interfere with Nature.
For a long time, Sepp Holzer was called a rebellious farmer in his homeland in Austria, and what he does is wild agriculture. For abandoning the traditional norms of farming and experiments, he was forced to pay fines, moreover, he was threatened with prison. Now Holzer's know-how - the creation of land ridges, crater gardens, the construction of reservoirs - is admired by many specialists and amateurs.
Sepp Holzer's secret is simple. He observes nature and tries to live according to its laws. As a boy, Sepp grew various plants on his father's farm. Then he called all his acquaintances to his garden and gladly shared his discoveries with them. Roughly the same thing is happening today. Only now, not the guys from the schoolyard come to Holzer - professional farmers from all over the world go to him. Holzer's farm is located in the mountains, at an altitude of 1300 meters above sea level. There are harsh climatic conditions, for which his estate in the Krameterhof is called Austrian Siberia. Even in July-August, Holzer's lands can be covered with snow, but at the same time, plums, apricots ripen in it, kiwi and grapes perfectly bear fruit.
“Everyone comes to me and looks: what can grow on these steep slopes with bad weather and without fertilizer? Sepp Holzer says with a smile. - And when they see a variety of exotic plants, they generally lose the power of speech. Someone from a Russian group that recently came to me asked: “How is it that you have the most beautiful rhododendrons that can be in nature, right up to the very top of the Alps, and they don’t grow in our suburbs?” They also ask: “Why do you have such long ponds on the slopes - 80–100 meters each, how can water linger in these depressions, and besides, without a film? We can’t save water even on the plain…” Then I begin to explain to them that this is a normal natural process, that nature itself will do everything, it’s only important to stop interfering with it.”
Sepp Holzer Manor Krameterhof
Three agricultural paths
When in 1998 an Austrian student assessed the economic performance of Sepp Holzer's Krameterhof farm in his thesis, the tax office immediately visited the farm. We carried out a complete audit of the farm, revised the baseline performance indicators, which are usually set every 10-15 years. As a result, the regulatory authorities almost tenfold increased the amount from which taxes were previously calculated - from 24 thousand Austrian shillings per year to 200 thousand.
When asked why his farm was ten times more efficient than the average farm, Sepp Holzer replied that it was all about permaculture.
Today, when people talk about agriculture, they usually mean industrial and traditional areas. As you know, in industrial agriculture for the rapid growth of plants, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, genetically modified organisms, as well as heavy agricultural machinery are used. Thanks to this, farmers get high yields and profits, but chemicals are harmful to the environment, and fruits and vegetables grown with their help are often tasteless.
The traditional, or biological, type of farming is characterized by closeness to nature, the complete rejection of chemical means of protection and plant nutrition, and the use of crop rotation. Its main advantage is obtaining healthy products, the disadvantage is low yield and high labor costs.
Permaculture offers a new type of agricultural business based on the relationships that exist in natural ecosystems. From traditional agriculture, permaculture took the rejection of chemical fertilizers, and from industrial - large agricultural machinery.
Sepp Holzer calculates his costs, and, according to him, they are much more modest than in industrial and conventional agriculture. “Firstly, I have less labor costs, which affects pay,” he explains. - Secondly, I do not waste time growing plants - they help each other. Thirdly, the quality of my products is higher, because I do not need to fight weeds - everything is regulated by nature, and I try not to interfere with it.
The main difference between permaculture and industrial and traditional agriculture is respect for all living beings. When trying to change the world around them, permaculture adherents always think about how their decision will affect other participants in the ecosystem.
“Use your brain to go with nature, not against it,” Holzer teaches. - Do not try to fight weeds, as such a fight is extremely harmful to agriculture. You need to think: can you take responsibility if you change something? My secret: put yourself in the place of a pig, a sunflower, an earthworm, and also the person who is in front of you. Would you feel good about it? If yes, then you are doing everything right. If not, guess what's wrong."
Sepp Holzer at the Krameterhof
Theory of mixed landings
In modern agriculture, it is customary to grow one type of cultivated plants in the fields. Such monoculture of crops, according to Holzer, only brings harm: plants develop and bear fruit at the same time, require the same nutrients, which makes them compete with each other. Holzer goes the other way, promoting mixed plantings. He is sure that when different types of plants live side by side, a symbiosis arises between them. Representatives of different species require different nutrients, moreover, they feed each other - the soil is fertilized by fallen leaves, dead parts of the roots.
Sepp Holzer talks about his estate in Austria. He, like his parents, grows cereals. But along with them, Holzer grows fruit trees, shrubs, vegetables, and flowers. “Many people think that cereals are a monoculture, which is not true,” he says. - On my site they get along well with other plants. When I harvest grains with a combine, I leave 10 centimeters of stems so as not to damage other plants during harvesting - radishes, lettuce, carrots.
Holzer is sure that a narrow specialization for an entrepreneur in the agro-industrial complex is too risky, not only in biological, but also in economic terms. In his youth, he tried to find some specific niche in order to deal only with it. One of his hobbies was the cultivation of mushrooms - the Austrian produced, processed and even sold them to other countries. But one day, sales of mushrooms plummeted, and he almost went bankrupt. According to Holzer, multilateralism, on the contrary, creates confidence in today and tomorrow.
Mixed planting at the Krameterhof
Landscape change
Competent formation of the landscape can give an increase in the yield of cultivated plants - this is another postulate of the doctrine of permaculture. Holzer's favorite landscape elements are land ridges (high rolling or flat) and crater gardens. The peculiarity of both is in the form: different plants are planted one above the other in steps, due to which not only the sown area increases, but also different microclimate zones are created.
The land ridge is made in the form of an embankment approximately 1.5 meters high. It is ideal for humid regions where there is a lot of rainfall - the earth dries out faster on it than on the plain. Light-loving plants such as sunflower grow well on the top floor. Fruit trees are also planted there, but not apple trees, whose roots spread along the ground, but with deep roots, like cherries, such trees will protect the plants planted below from the wind. Any vegetables are planted in the middle of the ridge. And at its foot, where a lot of moisture is collected, there are cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelons.
The crater garden is built on the same principle as the land ridge, only it goes into the depths. For the arrangement of such a garden, the lowest place on the site is chosen, where aboveground and groundwater can collect. The crater garden, very suitable for dry places where additional moisture is needed, increases the cultivated area, protects plants from the wind, creates a heat trap and is ideal for moisture-loving vegetables. In winter, the plants in such a garden are protected from wind and frost.
Crater garden in Belarus built according to the method of Sepp Holzer
water lock
Restoring water balance is Sepp Holzer's favorite topic. Holzer is against mechanized irrigation systems and explains that while there are not enough springs and groundwater everywhere, there are many ways to attract water to your site. The simplest is to collect rainwater from the surface into recesses for water accumulation, and then direct it to water the plants. An even better option is to create a reservoir on your own, where such water will accumulate.
“In the Moscow region, on average, 550–650 millimeters of precipitation falls annually,” says Holzer. - It's six thousand cubic meters. What happens to this water? It flows into ravines, carrying away the top fertile layer of soil. Soil erosion begins, which increases due to wind. Add bright sun here. Cracks appear on the ground, plants dry out, and there is a danger of fires. Who is to blame - nature or the owner of the site? Of course, a person. Try to retain the water available on your site, and you will save yourself a lot of problems later.
It is important to choose the right location for the future reservoir. Each owner knows all the heights and depressions of his site, so he can easily determine where the precipitation water will eventually drain. If the site is on a plain, then Holzer advises to observe the plants. For example, alder usually grows where there is groundwater. So, next to it and other moisture-loving plants, you can safely arrange a pond.
An Austrian farmer proposes to create reservoirs, excluding from the construction process the film, concrete and other materials that are usually used to retain moisture. “I don’t want to disrupt the water cycle in nature, so I suggest filling the water tank in a natural way. In the future, such a pond will not only promote the growth of plants - it will be possible to breed fish, crayfish, waterfowl in it, ”he explains.
In his ponds, Holzer retains water exclusively with the help of natural materials. “Water is always looking for a loophole to seep through, so you have to find that bottleneck and seal it. To begin with, free the place of the future pond from what passes water - sand, small stones. Then dig a ditch two to three meters deep and fill the bottom with more dense material, compact it with an excavator. If you make a good lock, then the water will not flow down the sides either.”
Sepp Holzer watches the construction of a dam at one of the permaculture workshops in the Moscow region
shaman trail
Interest in permaculture is great and constantly growing all over the world - from owners of large farms, small farmers working in the field of biological production of agricultural products, as well as from those who strive to be closer to nature. An Austrian farmer holds seminars around the world, and they are a success.
Of course, Holzer takes money for his seminars, and makes good money on it. However, seminars in Russia are cheaper than in European countries. Holzer's interest in our country did not arise by chance. One day, about ten years ago, he came to the council of elders of the leaders and shamans of Indian tribes in North America. At the meeting it was about the changing world, about its fate. And what was discussed there had a rather strong influence on Holzer's worldview. “I can’t tell you specifically what the shamans were talking about, since I was obliged to keep a secret, but it was then that I began to be interested in Russia. Unfortunately, I heard a lot of terrible things about Russia that I did not want to believe, so I began to study your country,” recalls the Austrian farmer.
Today, Holzer has a more positive opinion: he is sure that Russia can be not only a country of oil and gas, its future lies with the agricultural sector. “The wealth of your country does not lie in minerals, but in vast areas of high-quality fertile land where a wide variety of crops can be cultivated,” he said. - In addition, the relative conditions in Russia are better than in other countries. For each person you have 8 hectares of land. No country in the world can offer this to its citizens. But I am extremely surprised by the attitude of the Russians themselves to the land: I am often told that it is unattractive to engage in agriculture. Such a statement is fundamentally wrong, and by my example I want to prove the opposite.
Not everyone needs to prove the attractiveness of agriculture in our country. The Sepp Holzer Permaculture Center already exists in Russia, which popularizes Sepp's ideas and helps him hold his seminars here. Seminar participants can be divided into two conditional types. The former dream of moving or have already moved with their families from the city to the countryside. Their goal is to get closer to nature, to establish tribal settlements; or they just love nature and want to live in harmony with it. The second type is entrepreneurs, and they are in the majority. Some also want to build a family estate, raise their children and grandchildren in it. But in addition to the spiritual component, these people are also concerned about the material side of the issue, the practice of life.
“It is very difficult to find pure products, the only guarantee of quality is the products that he grew himself,” says Anatoly from Samara, who once trained as an astronaut, but has always worked in private business. Recently, Anatoly accidentally discovered the idea of permaculture and realized that this is exactly what he had been looking for for a long time. Now, together with his family, he chooses the land on which he will grow vegetables. In the future, he plans to engage in private counseling.
The stories of the rest of the participants are very different - and similar at the same time. Musician Vladimir from the Kaliningrad region dreams of moving his family to the land, and then founding a company that will help everyone to get settled in the countryside. Renaldo from the Ulyanovsk region has been studying the principles of building settlements for a whole year, and now he plans to create a brand under which residents of family estates will be able to sell surplus products grown. Gleb from the Krasnodar Territory has been managing a tourism enterprise for ten years - he has an aqua farm with trout and carps, now he is building a mini-hotel in the forest, and he is going to apply his knowledge of permaculture there.
Holzer says that he has many successful projects in Russia - in its central part, in the south and in Siberia. “Recently, I started collaborating with the Tomsk Agrarian University: this is a large-scale project, but our experience can be useful to everyone,” says Sepp. - We planted medicinal herbs in a box that was installed on a tree, it turned out to be like a nest. The plants began to climb up the trunk of the tree. I think landscape designers and those involved in the garden can use our idea. But the most important thing, to summarize, is that a similar own garden, with which you can be treated, can be created by every city dweller. A balcony is perfect for this, and if there is none, then a box with plants can be fixed on the outer wall or do as we did: install a green pharmacy on a tree.
The Austrian farmer has few unsuccessful projects. “I would not like to discuss them,” says Holzer, “because, first of all, I explain the failure not by my mistakes, but by the fact that the projects were not given enough attention. People need to understand that it's impossible to do a permaculture project once for an A and then forget about it. Nature is a living organism that is constantly evolving and does not allow us to rest. Therefore, you need to work hard, analyze your mistakes and correct them.”
Intuition and self-organization
However, for the most part, people are skeptical about what Holzer proposes. Representatives of the Russian agrarian business interviewed by us say that they are impressed by Holzer's ideas. But, they note, the practice of permaculture is only suitable for creating small niche farm projects or for amateur gardeners. Despite the declared scale that Holzer dreams of, it is difficult to apply his principles to large farms, and therefore permaculture cannot become the main one for agriculture and compete with industrial and traditional farming.
There are several reasons for this. In general, agricultural producers are concerned about the unpredictability of managing “according to Holzer”. The agricultural business is generally high-risk: it is very difficult to calculate the annual harvest. If you follow the principles of permaculture and rely only on the mood of nature in everything, then it will be even more difficult to predict the economic results of future activities. The implementation of innovative permaculture projects costs a lot of money, so if the outcome is unsuccessful (what kind of demand from nature), farms can go bankrupt.
A number of our respondents are confused by the fact that Sepp Holzer is an Austrian peasant, his experience is limited to the area where he grew up. At Holzer's farm in the mountains, the temperature is constantly changing, the sun is shining brightly, and snow can fall in summer. And the knowledge on which agriculture is based on his farm is not universal and cannot be extended to other territories.
Much depends on the human factor. A large farm built according to the principles of permaculture should be headed by the same high-class specialist, who has a subtle feeling of nature and knows its laws, like Sepp Holzer. Unfortunately, there are few such people. In order for them to appear, you need to go through the entire path of Holzer from the very beginning. It is important that a person, in addition to logic, has a good intuition. Many techniques need to be specially learned, and not only from nature. This requires communication with like-minded people. Who will take the responsibility to follow the principles of permaculture, to be a teacher? Now there is such a guru - Sepp Holzer. But if it does not exist, then permaculture itself is in danger of disappearing.
Another question: how to motivate hired personnel who will work at a large agricultural enterprise, so that ordinary workers follow nature in the same way as farm managers? Permaculture appeals to many because of its simplicity. Indeed, in nature everything grows by itself, it would be nice to learn not to interfere with this. But not everyone can do such a teaching - high self-organization, enthusiasm, patience are necessary. This is the highest stage in the development of agriculture, which can be reached only independently and consciously. And Sepp Holzer's "intellectual farming", despite all the popularization, by and large, remains piecework. Although very tempting.
I have loved Nature since childhood, my father often took me fishing with him from an early age, and from the age of 9 I could not imagine myself without Nature, without the water surface of lakes and rivers. As soon as any opportunity presented itself, I went fishing with friends or my father, to the forest for mushrooms, for berries, to pick pine nuts or cranberries in the swamp. It probably would have continued like this… I didn’t realize, and didn’t even think about the fact that I only take her generous gifts from Nature, but I don’t give anything in return.
About 8 years ago, my worldview changed dramatically. This was due to the fact that I read Vladimir Megre's books "Ringing Cedars of Russia", which described a very colorful and inspiring image of the Garden of Eden and life in harmony with Nature. It said that you can create do it yourself living space from plants, trees and animals that will protect you, give you their love in the form of healthy food, fresh air, the rustle of leaves, flowers with their enticing beauty and aroma, the chirping of birds, clean water ... And for this you need to choose for yourself at least one hectare of land and equip a family homestead on it. This image sunk into my soul so deeply that I began to look for ways to bring it to life.
I began to look at the ground differently. I developed an interest in farming, gardening, gardening. Just about the same time, the parents purchased a small summer cottage of 6 acres, which was bare sandy land on which grass did not even grow. In this area, I subsequently began to practice "working with the earth and on the ground."
Now a house, a shed, a woodshed have been built on this site, paths and a greenhouse have been made. A small pond was dug out, in which aquatic and semi-aquatic plants were planted (pods, water lilies, watercress, cattail, marsh iris, etc.). About 20 apple trees were planted from seeds, as well as berry bushes (honeysuckle, currant, gooseberry, raspberry), garden beds were equipped. A forest corner was made, fenced with a wicker fence, in which rowan, wild rose, ferns, lilies of the valley, etc. grow. A flower bed was made in the form of a stone spiral ...
So, I began to study all kinds of materials, ranging from books on gardening and farming to material found on the Internet. Initially, I came to the conclusion that organic farming is the best thing to start practicing. But later I found a more "global" and efficient farming system, its name is . And organic farming, in my opinion, is only a small part of this comprehensive concept.
The founders of this trend are Australian explorer and naturalist Bill Mollison, Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer and Japanese microbiologist Masanobu Fukuoka. I was fortunate enough to meet Sepp Holzer personally, in 2011 I was a participant in his semi-annual seminar held in the Tomsk region.
So, Permaculture - what to plant with what(from English. permaculture-permanentagriculture- “Permanent agriculture”) is the design and creation of sustainable ecosystems, based on a deep observation of natural processes and relationships, taking into account all possible parameters - the presence of nearby water (both in open water bodies and occurrence in the thickness of the earth), terrain , the nature of the soil, weather conditions, the orientation of the site relative to the cardinal points, etc. In other words, we can say that Permoculture is work in harmony with Nature, in harmony with its rhythms, and not against it. Without the use of chemicals, digging the earth, weed control, and without planting monocultures.
Again, in my opinion, organic farming is set of tools
- to improve soil fertility, increase the quality and quantity of crops, agricultural techniques for cultivating the land, which are effective when used in small summer cottages or garden plots
, and are not sufficient for use on large areas from 1 hectare. The disadvantage of small land plots is that it is almost impossible to create an efficient economy on them, because then it requires more effort to maintain it. You have to constantly bring in various materials from outside - a fertile layer (manure, compost, soddy land, sapropel), mulch (hay, straw, leaf litter, sawdust, etc.), building materials, organize an irrigation system that requires large funds for implementation and operation, etc.
In contrast to the above, permaculture – this is creation of a unifying self-functioning system , which takes into account all the elements in the arrangement of the economy on earth - the environment (forest, reservoir, swamp, field, river, hills, lowlands, etc.), placement of houses and outbuildings, water balance, energy sources (sun, wind, water, earth), animals, insects, birds, plant symbioses and much more. And this system also includes the possibility of applying organic farming methods. The concept of permaculture carries another very important component - attitude towards all living things with respect and love .
Improves productivity in permaculture with a new generation of environmentally friendly fertilizer:
“Imagine yourself in the place of another - plants, animals, and also a person - and ask yourself the question, would you feel good in his place. If the earthworm is doing well, then the earth is healthy. Also, the plant and the animal feel great if they can live in a suitable biotope and in freedom. You will always have an advantage and a huge success if you manage the opportunities correctly. Soil is to be used, not exploited. Diversity, not uniformity, sustains an ecosystem. Your job in Creation is to manage, not fight. Nature is perfect. There is nothing to improve in it. If you still decide to do this, then it will be self-deception. Nature is perfect, only we humans make mistakes. They instill fear in you. Get rid of it, because fear is the worst companion in life. You benefit most from the respectful treatment of creation and living beings.”
And permaculture methods are applicable to both large and small plots of land.
Now I would also like to consider some of the advantages of a large land plot, say from 1 hectare, which are as follows:
And this is just a small list of opportunities that give ownership of a large plot of land (from 1 hectare) and knowledge of such a “subject” as.
Usmanov Anton, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
A wonderful film about an amazing family from New Zealand who 23 years ago took an abandoned piece of land (with stones and garbage) and turned it into a Forest Garden!
Now they have their own piece of Paradise, which they can admire, be inspired by… and create the same one for themselves! Now Robin and Robert have 480 species of plants, 80 types of apple trees, 60 varieties of gooseberries, a forest stream with fish, a variety of birds and insects, an abundance of herbs and an indescribable atmosphere of life!
What do you wish! Get inspired))
Permaculture in the garden Video
In recent years, more and more mini-farms and individual landowners have been supplying the market with environmentally friendly and healthy products grown without the use of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and other drugs that have a negative impact on human health and the environment. With the advent of the opportunity to have their own plot of land (dacha, house on the ground, cottage in the countryside, etc.), amateur gardeners, gardeners also began to intensively introduce farming methods in their small farms that partially or completely exclude the use of chemicals for the purpose preserving and raising soil fertility and obtaining healthy products. Agriculture is divided into two areas of agricultural production:
The classical direction is agricultural production, in which all the achievements of science and practice are used to ensure the preservation and increase of soil fertility, and obtaining high yields of good quality. It is suitable for agricultural production on large areas. It provides an opportunity for high mechanization of labor with obtaining sufficient yields, but with such management, it is possible to lose the entire fertile layer of soil in a year, which is formed as a result of natural soil processes at a rate of 1 cm per 100 years.
Humus reserves produced in the fertile layer are restored (according to research results) in a 0.5 cm layer after about 250 years and directly depend on the climatic conditions of the regions. The complex destruction of the vegetation cover (plowing, drainage, pollution of natural water bodies and soil with chemicals, etc.) leads, by and large, to the degradation of ecosystems. The use of new agricultural production technologies, which causes a temporary increase in soil fertility, and hence crop yields, does not lead to an increase in the natural fertility of the soil - this is an illusory well-being.
With the systematic application of fertilizers, organic matter that forms humus, the basis of plant nutrition, does not decompose. On the contrary, humus decomposes and the released salts, being used by plants, provide a temporary flash in the yield of cultivated crops. With this method of farming, hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land are lost every year.
The second direction, officially called traditional or organic agriculture, is more suitable for small areas. This is due to the large labor costs, the use of manual labor. The yield of crops grown with organic or biological technologies is lower than with classical farming, but the resulting products do not contain substances that reduce the quality of life of the population.
This direction is associated with the use of different methods of growing agricultural products without the use of substances unusual for the soil, up to mineral fertilizers. Grains of knowledge, brought together, made it possible to develop a technology for the natural restoration of soil fertility, its treatment and "revitalization". Many methods have been proposed and developed for preserving and increasing the natural microculture of the fertile soil layer (beneficial fungi, bacteria, earthworms, etc.), its processing with minimal damage.
So, according to the results of the research, it was concluded that the southern soils need deep processing (25-27 cm) with a layer turnover. The warm autumn period contributes to the strong growth of weeds and their insemination, the preservation of pests in the upper layer, which actively attack cultivated plantings in spring. Prolonged rains cause the development of fungal diseases. And, conversely, in soils with a small humus reserve (chestnut, brown), it is impossible to violate the order of the soil horizons, turning the lower one outwards and moving the upper fertile layer down.
The technologies being developed recommended the annual application of organic and some mineral fertilizers, but without the use of herbicides and pesticides, the use of crop rotations on large areas and crop rotations on small summer cottages, which had a positive effect on the condition of the soil, relieved soil fatigue, and slowed down destructive physical and chemical processes. . The developed technologies of organic agriculture, as a rule, affect only the work "on the ground", without involving other aspects of rural life in a single system.
Over time, supporters of agricultural production according to the permaculture system began to appear and are gaining an increasing number.
Vegetable garden in permaculture. © Caroline Aitke Against the background of the two methods of agricultural production discussed above, a third direction appeared, called by the founders - permaculture. Translated from English means permanent agriculture. Permaculture has combined and uses the methods of traditional farming and modern technologies, non-violent intervention in natural processes, in a single system.
The basic principle of permaculture farming is to create a system of biological farming involving all types of farming in a single cycle. This is a type of agricultural production where the components of a single system are all the elements surrounding a person (his family): a house, a vegetable garden, a garden, a fence, a subsidiary farm, domestic animals, an irrigation system, natural fertilizers, etc.
The main task of permaculture is the non-violent return of all expended energy losses to the created system. So, according to the concepts of permaculture, the application of mineral fertilizers, pesticides is a violation of the natural ecosystem. The use of waste from pets and poultry, humans (manure, chicken manure, compost, other household waste) is the return to a single cycle of substances that have gone beyond management.
For example: kitchen waste is processed into compost, which is applied to the soil as a fertilizer. Decomposing by microorganisms, it turns into humus in the form of affordable food for garden vegetables, horticultural and other crops that will be fed to animals and birds, and they will serve as food for humans, etc. Waste from sanitary places after treatment with effective microorganisms (EM crops), become suitable for irrigation and application to the soil. Natural wetlands, after being improved, will turn into ponds with lovely places to relax and supply water for irrigation.
Vegetable garden in permaculture. © Chrystel Vultier 1. Lack of classical cultural circulation. Plants grow in natural conditions on the basis of good neighborliness (potatoes with beans, strawberries with garlic, peppers and eggplants in the same field, etc.) with herbaceous plants, shrubs, fruit trees.
2. The design solution of the entire site with the most convenient placement of crops, which helps to minimize labor costs for planting, care, harvesting, etc. tomatoes, strawberries and other water-loving crops), which reduces the time and labor required to deliver water and irrigate.
3. Providing the site with moisture without the use of artesians, wells, wells. Moisture accumulates in reservoirs built by changing the surface of the site (natural pool, pond, hill, from which water will be supplied to the field by gravity). When constructing such reservoirs, it is allowed to use heavy equipment, but without the use of concrete and plastics when decorating the banks (only natural fencing).
4. Construction of housing and other outbuildings only from natural materials.
5. Use of established varieties of plants and animals with the possibility of their symbiotic interaction.
6. The farm should have a variety of plants and animals in order to obtain a wide range of products and the necessary nutrition for plants.
Permaculture is the use of natural "fertilizers" to increase the natural fertility of the soil and provide plants with nutrients. To do this, it is necessary to provide in such an eco-farm:
Two types of worms are involved in the creation of biofertilizer and its distribution: the creators of humus and its eaters-distributors. Representatives of the first group live under the top layer of soil. They use all the organic waste and some of the soil for food (respectively in parts 9:1). As a result, vermicompost is formed, from which humus is formed with the help of beneficial fungal and bacterial microorganisms.
The second group of worms lives in the lower layers of the soil. They are called humus eaters. They make a large number of moves in the soil, which increases its aeration. Using processed organic matter, biohumus is mixed with soil, deepening the layer of fertile soil. Ready vermicompost is applied under horticultural crops in the form of dressings or basic fertilizer.
Vegetable garden in permaculture. © Marianne Mercier It is more reliable and safer to protect plants from diseases and pests with biological preparations, biofungicides and bioinsecticides made on the basis of beneficial microorganisms (fungi and bacteria). Biofungicides include Fitosporin, Barrier, Zaslon, Fitop, Integral, Baktofit, Agat, Planzir, Trichodermin, Gamair-P. Glyokladin and others.
Of the bioisecticides, the most popular are Bitoxibacillin, Boverin, Aktofit (Akarin), Fitoverm, Lepidocid, Metarizin, Nematofagin, Dachnik, Verticillin.
They are safe for plants and family members, animals, birds and fish. Some biological products can be used to treat plants until harvest.
Of course, their use to some extent will be a violation of the requirements of permaculture. But, since they are biological preparations, their use will not oppose natural farming. The use of decoctions, infusions, extracts from herbs, roots, leaves of wild and cultivated plants recommended by permaculture does not always bring the expected effect. For example: orange peels, onion husks, heads of garlic, tobacco dust, calendula flowers and others are powerless with severe damage to plants in epiphytotic years.
Please note! Decoctions and infusions of some herbs have strong toxic properties. Be careful and careful when using hemlock, aconite, cow parsnip, black henbane. It is enough to eat an unwashed fruit or vegetable after spraying with such a natural decoction to get severe poisoning.
Parsley in permaculture. © beyondvitality
In conclusion, I want to warn the reader that not every owner can manage a closed permaculture system. This requires knowledge, skill, the habit of working in the agricultural sector and, of course, permanent residence in the created closed sustainable system that can provide for its own needs and recycle its waste. Visits to the country 1-2 times a week or only on Sundays will not give the desired result.
The choice is yours, reader. Of the proposed three systems, you are free to choose any, but if permaculture has attracted your attention, then you can start with a separate technique on the farm and gradually spread to the entire system (for example: from the garden, fertilizers and dressings, plant protection, etc.). d.).
On the one hand, we conquer nature, on the other hand, it does not really obey us. We have vegetables and fruits all year round, but they taste like cotton wool. We can transform any landscape, but for some reason after that it turns into a desert, and pesticides, which were supposed to destroy all pests, destroy the harvesters themselves at the same time. If it’s already becoming daily for you, it’s time to move on to the next level. We tell you what permaculture is and why the main skills of a permaculture gardener are laziness, observation and reflection. By the way, it is applicable not only for the garden!
How did it all start?
It all started with a man named Bill Mollison. He spent his youth in his native small village in Tasmania, having worked as a forester, miller and hunter, and then worked as a biologist in different parts of Australia and taught at the University of Tasmania.
What he observed during his work, he did not like at all: forests, fish and algae disappeared off the coast, crops fell, despite the chemicals used. In the pursuit of overproduction, man has reached the limit of those resources that seemed inexhaustible to him. Bill Mollison wondered why existing systems deplete the land - while traditional cultures around the world exist for a long time on the same site without depleting it.
permaculture- the answer to the very question, is it possible to combine nature and civilization. Yes, it is possible - and for this you do not need to return to primitive life.
Bill Mollison and his colleague David Holmgren decided to study how these traditional cultures work and put it into practice. From this generalized experience emerged the concept of permaculture - permanent farming, permanent agriculture (permanent agriculture), a design system based on environmentally sound models.
Later, in the 1990s, Sepp Holzer became famous - in Russia, it is his permaculture that is mostly known. The difference between him and Bill Mollison is about the same as between a therapist and a surgeon. Sepp Holzer is a surgeon, he himself creates the landscape that he needs. In Belarus, among those who follow the principles of permaculture, most adherents of Bill Mollison.
Irina Sukhiy, then the chairman of the public association "Ecodom", was at his seminar in 1994 - she brought this idea to Belarus. After that, Ecodom held seminars for those wishing to learn permaculture design and created a team of permaculture designers and trainers. Below is about permaculture by Bill Mollison.
What is permaculture?
How to explain what jazz is? One musician responded, "Jazz is what everyone knows is jazz." It's the same with permaculture. This is an approach that has its own integrity, and it shows. It considers not only the elements, but also the connections between them, the entire system as a whole. It is not possible to create a show plot with a permaculture bed. It's the opposite of permaculture: take an element, put it in an empty space and say it's permaculture. Permaculture is a systematic approach, and it is impossible to break it down into parts.
For experienced gardeners, a permaculture site can look odd. In nature, there are no straight lines, bare soil and monocultures, so permaculture does not have the usual straight beds filled with plants of the same species. Beds twist into spirals, vegetables grow interspersed with flowers, and weeds turn from hated enemies into plants that protect the soil.
Permaculture is a design system that deals with plants, animals, buildings, and infrastructure (this includes water, energy, and communications). The goal of permaculture is to develop systems that are both economically viable and environmentally sound. This means that they must provide for themselves, not deplete or pollute the environment: in this way they can exist for a very long time.
Permaculture includes philosophy, practice, ethics and economics. Everything is based on common sense and the laws of nature: if you go against them and stubbornly plant heat-loving plants in a cold climate, you will only waste your energy and strength. The ethics of permaculture speaks of the value of any life, not just the one that is useful to a person.
What do permaplots look like?
Plant-protected soil rather than deep plowing and constant weeding
Mixed plantings instead of monocultures
Biological protection of plants (other plants, birds, predatory insects) instead of pesticides
Using existing terrain and natural forms instead of reworking the site and straight beds
Use of local resistant species and varieties
Energy efficient planning and use of renewable energy sources
Principles of Permacultural Thinking
Learn from nature
Cooperation instead of struggle
Minimum effort - maximum result
Turn obstacles into helpers
Harvest is not limited by the size and quality of the plot
Start small
To take responsibility
How to start applying the principles of permaculture?
Invest in surveillance
First you need to spend time observing and studying. If this is a site, the observation should last a year to cover all seasons. You need to understand how the sun moves, how the snow melts, where the wind blows from. This is for people who have time, but this time, as if lost at the beginning, will be returned by the efficiency of the system. This is your investment.
Then analyze your needs and opportunities - and try to combine them. It is important not just to come with the conviction that you need something and try to reshape everything to suit it. It is important to make a stable system. This includes the recycling of resources, and savings, and the fact that we not only take energy, but also return it.
Plants cooperate
Another important principle is not competition, but cooperation. Inside the communication systems are built so that the elements do not compete, but help each other. For example, for plants that can be competitors, you create such conditions that each has its own niche. If a plant is shaded, plant one nearby that needs shade.
Plant potatoes, beans and marigolds in the same bed. These plants will help each other: marigolds and beans will scare away the Colorado potato beetle. At the same time, you do not kill beetles and at the same time other insects, do not pollute water and land, do not poison yourself with pesticides - and as a result you get a larger crop than if only potatoes or only beans grew in the garden - plants cooperate.
This is for the lazy
Another important principle is that each element has many functions, and each function is provided by several elements. For example, if your property needs water, it could come from a pond, groundwater, and rainwater. The pond stabilizes the temperature, provides water and diversifies the environment. The water attracts birds and dragonflies that eat pests in the garden, and increases the variety of plants so that the pests cannot destroy them all. The ecosystem balances: the more heterogeneous elements, the more stable it is. This is the goal of permaculture - to make a balanced ecosystem that will work without human intervention. Permaculture is for the lazy. There is less physical work at the expense of mental work.
Slow decisions
Permaculture recognizes slow decisions. If the trees in your garden are sick, you can spray them with chemicals, or you can give them up altogether and cut them down. The slow fix is to see where the root of the problem lies and how it relates to other elements around. You may have to do nothing for a while and just watch what happens. Plant other plants nearby. Attract birds of prey or insects. This solution will not work instantly, but the results will be long-term.
Spiral garden and patterns
Visually, permaculture has its own recognizable features, such as a spiral garden. It allows you to create different zones for different plants on a small plot of land. Usually there is a small reservoir below, and a bed spirals from it. Below it is humid, on the one hand shade, on the other - the sun and dry. You can plant plants so that each one finds its place and grows with minimal human intervention, so that they do not even need to be watered.
Another famous feature is patterns. Patterns are patterns, repeating patterns that are found in everything. They can be visual or auditory. All nature is permeated with them, they are repeated at different levels. The simplest example is the same branching of a riverbed, human veins, roads, tree branches, lightning. These are processes that have something in common. Patterns are used in planning and design: they are ready-made templates. It can be a snail pattern that compactly combines borders, a branching pattern, or networks.
Where to study permaculture?
In almost all countries there are organizations that promote permaculture: look for thematic communities in Sweden, the UK, the USA. Often you can come to permaculture specialists for practice and see how everything is arranged in their farm. You can also find seminars in neighboring countries - Ukraine, Russia and Poland. In Belarus, contact the environmental institution "Agro-Eco-Culture": they regularly hold educational events for farmers and summer residents and provide advice on request. There are also online trainings: for example, the Swedish-British permaculture "star" Richard Perkins teaches a special course. Start on January 12th.
Visual www.ridgedalepermaculture.com
Most people believe that the most serious threats to the existence of human civilization are the problems of global warming and environmental pollution, but few people know and understand that the problem of mass land degradation associated with non-organic monoculture agriculture, the expansion of livestock production and logging is very serious. forests, which leads to barren soils and the growth of deserts. And this threatens Mankind not only with an ecological catastrophe and climate change, but also with the fact that after a while there simply will not be fertile soils left on which it will be possible to grow food in the volumes necessary to feed all people.
But of course, there is a solution to this problem - it is to change the structure and approach to agriculture, to start developing instead of monoculture large-scale agriculture (when large areas are planted with one crop), small private farms operating on the principles of permaculture (when different crops grow on the same plot together) and organic farming.
Permaculture is a design system whose goal is to organize the space occupied by people on the basis of environmentally sound patterns.
The author of the term is Bill Mollison from Tasmania, who formulated its basic principles in 1974 in the book An Introduction to Permaculture ( download from THIS link).
The term itself is not only short for "permanent agriculture", but also means "permanent culture", for in the absence of an appropriate agricultural base and ethics of land use, culture cannot exist for a long time.
Permaculture, as a design system, is equally concerned with plants, animals, buildings, and infrastructure (water, energy, and communications). However, permaculture is not directly related to these things, but rather is focused on creating relationships between all the components of nature surrounding a person.
The challenge is to develop systems that are both environmentally sound and economically viable at the same time. These systems must be self-sufficient, not devastate or pollute the environment, and as a result, remain sustainable over time.
Permaculture uses the inherent properties of plants and animals, combining them with the natural features of the terrain, as well as structures to meet the needs of people in both the city and the countryside, using a minimum area.
Permaculture is based on the observation of natural systems, traditional agriculture, as well as modern scientific and technical knowledge. Although permaculture is based on ecological natural models, it creates a so-called "cultivated environment" that serves to produce more food for people than is possible in the wild.
Land Reclaiming - Short film by John D. Leeu:
Urban permaculture 2700 kg of food on 4 acres:
Introduction to permaculture. Practical illustration of Bill Mollison's book:
Permaculture - BEST VIDEO - theory and practice:
Threatened by falling food Film interview with Bill Mollison:
Permaculture water systems with keyline:
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