Disclaimer – this is not a political article, but rather a universal concept that is gaining more traction as the movement towards food sovereignty becomes more mainstream.
A portmanteau (pronounced port-man-toe) is a word made by blending at least two words, where the spellings and meanings of two words are blended into a new one. Permaculture is such a term and originates from a combination of ‘permanent’ and ‘agriculture’.
Simplified as working with nature and not against it, three core ethics refer to earth and people care while fulfilling basic needs and being able to share resources and surplus. Nature inspired patterns and processes guide the design to create beautiful and productive spaces that are adapted to each situation by utilising 12 basic principles, the first of which is ‘observe and interact’ which is a way of slowing down to consciously follow through by finding ways to catch and store energy to achieve a yield.
The idea is to use and value renewable resources and services by integrating rather than segregating, appreciating diversity and the marginal through creative use with small and slow solutions by designing from a ‘big picture’ pattern zooming in on details. There is no ‘one size fits all’ as nature doesn’t work that way, even individual zebra have different pyjama stripes, as our fingerprints tell us too.
The exciting thing about this culture is that anything is possible and acceptable, allowing creativity to shine while practising self-regulation, accepting feedback and responding to change with the end goal of independence, sharing, caring and producing no waste – everything is a resource.
This is not a ‘new’ idea, rather a remembering, as we appreciate that we are living on a finite planet and have eons of wisdom (the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement; the quality of being wise) right under our feet.
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