Permaculture Ethics and Principals at Green Goddess Eco Farm

Permaculture Ethics and Principals at
Green Goddess Eco Farm
 

Ethics

• We value care of the Earth - kindness and compassion toward all of Earth’s inhabitants; sharing of permaculture information and ideas; building/rebuilding natural capital by implementation of permaculture systems, thereby ensuring healthy, diverse soils that support regenerative systems

• We value care of People - care of ourselves, our family, neighbors and community; growing healthy food; growing medicinal plants; reinvestment of surplus (see below); teaching permaculture related classes; treating each other and all others with care and respect; inspiring others through our examples of sustainability and resilience

• We value fair shares - reinvestment of surplus: information (Facebook, blog, demonstration & learning center, classes, farm stand, farmers markets, participation in Grange, community events, etc.); plant materials (composting, mulching, etc.); fair pricing (affordable vegetable, fruit and perennial plants, eggs, mushrooms, honey, herbs, etc.); money (supporting local businesses, planting perennial food systems, upgrading farm to clean energy, investing in health of family and animals)

Principals

• We value observation before interaction - continuous, careful and thoughtful observation and interactions; looking at problems and seeing how we can turn them into solutions; observing nature’s solutions and designing them into our farm’s systems

• We catch and store energy – rainwater collection; swales; hugelkultur mounds; ponds; thermal mass; photosynthesis; eventually solar and wind power

• We value obtaining a yield (yield defined as more outputs than inputs) – minimum inputs to create overyielding polycultures of vegetables, nuts , fruits, herbs and fungi; fruit trees/shrubs and perennial plants; eggs and ducklings; mushrooms; honey; herbs; biomass and living mulches; compost; rainwater harvesting; ponds; aquatic plants, etc.

• We value self-regulation and readily accept feedback – continuous observation and willingness to make changes; designing systems that are self-correcting; utilizing customer comments to ensure satisfaction

• We value and use renewable resources – wood heat; eventually solar and wind power; smarter purchasing decisions; using reclaimed building materials

• We value producing little to no waste – limitation of consumption and reinvestment of surplus; composting; vermicompost; recycling; reusing; growing our own foods and medicines

• We value designing from patterns to details – design based on access and circulation/energy patterns; use and creation of microclimates

• We value integration rather than segregation – we remember that everything is connected; we create positive loop systems; multifunctional solutions

• We value multifunctional solutions – recognize and plan for multifunctionality in energy, food, medicine and other systems; utilizing plants/systems/materials with/for multiple functions (example: Duck ponds fertigate (irrigation with fertilized water) swales and food forest while adding beauty and attracting more beneficial insects and wildlife)

• We value small and slow solutions to allow for observation, self-regulation and feedback

• We value and use diversity – polycultures; multiple enterprises; habitat for beneficial insects and wildlife

• We value the marginal and use edges – edges are where the action is, they are opportunities for diversity and transformation; we create many intentional edges, as we know that where two biomes meet there is 3x the diversity. (examples: microclimates, swales on contour, wavy edges & paths, hugelkultur mounds, ponds, forest edges, zones and sectors)

• We creatively use and respond to change – climate change-planting for a zone down (crops for zones 3 and 4a); planning for sustainable future before peak oil; self-regulation and feedback

• We value redundancy and self-reliance moving toward sustainability in food; water; energy; fertility; medicine; multiple systems; multiple enterprises