Progressive Permaculture

soil biota serve a crucial role in the health of the ecosystem. Therefore no chemicals, organic or synthetic, should be used as nature can when given a proper template, take care of herself and indeed unnecessary human interference does more harm than good. Through the use of permaculture principles and strategies, landscapes can be designed to restore and conserve the natural ecosystem while being productive and beautiful sanctuaries for all site occupants: human, animal, and plant. One of the main focuses of permaculture is to retain, store, and infiltrate as much water as possible as it moves through a site. Since water is life and as water scarcity becomes a growing threat, designs that allow for water abundance are increasingly important. Using a combination of water catchment systems, tanks, dams, and swales (infiltration drains on contour), as well as productive plant and animal systems water can be caught, moved, and stored throughout a site using minimal energy. Designs also ensure that excess water that cannot be stored or infiltrated can move safely off-site without causing erosion. Erosion control is another important aspect of permaculture design. In addition to being potentially harmful, erosion results in the permanent loss of soil and the nutrients contained within. First, a landscape design must repair eroded and degraded areas using methods of soil trapping, heavy mulching, and plants to stabilize any additional erosion. Next, areas susceptible to erosion are located and stabilized using support plants and in some cases earthworks. Finally, all improvements to the landscape are done in a way that ensures no future erosion issues. A critical element of permaculture design is soil building. The hidden world of the soil is just now being discovered and its significance fully recognized. In a tropical climate, very few nutrients are stored in the soil while an abundance is found in the plant and animal life that inhabits it. Therefore implementing a no-bare earth, no-burn policy ensures that all of the nutrient on-site remains in a continuous cycle of catch and release through the biomass of all living creatures. Heavy mulching on all crops, thick layers of living ground cover, and productively designed layers of food forest guilds are crucial for a tropical climate. Well-designed and managed animals systems further contribute to the recycling and enrichment of nutrient deposits and increase the production of a site with rendering imported fertilizers obsolete. Climate appropriate structures are designed for sites and use as much area as possible for rainwater harvesting and passive energy generation. Structures are sited to make use of resources stored higher on the landscape and so wastes from the structure, food scraps, gray water, and human wastes, can be used in systems below. Additionally, structures should be designed in a way that maximizes workflow resulting in "fewer-step" maintenance of all systems on site. Accesses to and around a site are designed in a way that prevents erosion and aids in moving water to where it is needed and away from where it is not. Additionally, access paths are used to create micro-climates to increase production and plant and animal systems. Plant and animal systems are incorporated into a system based on a client's needs. Plants are established in guilds that create productive bio-diverse, ecosystems. Conventional rows of agriculture give way to mosaics of productive plants, support plants, and floral and herbal companions. This occurs at the home-garden and broad-acre level reducing pest losses and building long-term sustainable planting arrangments. Animals are selected for adaptability to the site and all needs, outputs, and intrinsic characteristics of each animal species and breed are considered to establish ideal compatibility in a whole-system design. Once a design is established and mature, experimentation with new elements can be considered for each specific site. More than the definition, the design, or the strategies implemented, Permaculture is only legitimate if it adheres to strict ethics. These are the care of the earth, the care of people, and the return of surplus. All designs first consider that restoring and preserving the natural ecosystem is of the utmost importance. Next, all people involved in any design are considered equal and no design will be done that marginalizes one group of people for the profit of another. Finally, all surplus in a system, what is not needed for the livelihood of the client is returned to nature in one way or another. Design accountability accepts that whatever is produced can be safely disposed of and that more is never taken that what can sustainably be produced by the land, or those working on it.