Permaculture Values

A proper front yard.

The following is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a young man trying to decide how his love of permaculture should effect his formal schooling:

My degree is in Urban and Landscape Horticulture. I ran into permaculture about the same time I decided to go back to school and change my degree.

I found my classes invigorating and a lot of fun. They also backed up many permacultural technics quite well. When I graduated is when the trouble started. Things are not done in the best way in many fields.
We have a tendency to want things now and buy our way out of problems. Ego usually wins out over common sense. Controlling everything and everyone around us is how we get ahead.

For a few years I tried to make things happen the way people said I should, get ahead and all that. But I found myself becoming less happy with myself and less happy with work. The more I tried to apply the principals and practices of pemaculture to my work, the less my bosses thought of me and my value.

I finally dropped out and am now trying to find a way through the world that does not create conflict with those I work with and will still pay the bills and allow me to follow my values. 

Now, if you will allow me to return to the question of my experience with permaculture. It has followed me by my side since I found it some ten years ago. I have often used it as a bag of tricks to help me in my landscape work and my own garden.

The truth is that permaculture is really a philosophy of living. Whether it be in the farm, or in the board room, it shouldn't matter. I was originally attracted to it because those philosophies closely match principals that I already believed. Even though I didn't know it at the time.

Those principals are more in need in the circles of business and economics than in the farms and gardens of today. Take what you know of permaculture, boil it down to principles, and then apply it wherever you decide to go.

It may cause you some conflict, you may not be able to work the jobs you thought you would, but you will be able to hold your head up and sit down at the end of the day and know your work is good.

Please, sit down and think about it. 

Occupy My Own Life

The Occupy Salt Lake City encampment, before they
were cleared out by the city.

I have a great deal of sympathy for the Occupy Movement, but I could never be involved.  The reason is I have things that are more important for me. I have a daughter that will gain an entire life by me being home and teaching her how to live so that she cares about others in a personal way. 


In addition, my wife was being treated for cancer at the height of the Occupy Movement. My greater responsibility was to support her and give her the help she needed to get through alive.


But even without the worries of my family, I couldn't be involved because I have something better to give than days and weeks at a time demanding change from people who don't care. I have a skill that I can teach that can change people's lives.


Each time I work with a new client on a design, I teach them how to make life better for themselves by giving them the choice to be involved in growing their own food. I give them a chance to see how they effect their neighbors by how they care for their lawn. And, how they can change that by taking out the lawn altogether.


I also work with several non-profit agencies giving low cost classes and seminars. I can't say I've truly helped more than a handful of people, but I know I am moving in the right direction. 


Now, I have begun to wonder, what if just a few of those protesters with specialized skills were to join me to teach others. I am sure there must have been a few folks with legal and financial skills that could have stepped out of the protest ranks, for a least a little while, to teach classes on how to improve local financial situations.


I can't give you details on these systems because I don't understand them well. I've read about them, but they seem to be ignored by the larger world of big government and big capitalism. 


Unfortunately, real solutions are rarely found by just protesting. They are found by people who take the next step and actively find new solutions which can be implemented from the bottom up. That is my job. Now that things are less active in the protest arena, I hope a few others will join me. Maybe with a lot of hard work and time we will make some real changes together.

Guerilla Gardening?

Despite my passion for native plants and edible landscapes (read permaculture), I make most of my living as a gardener by mowing lawns on foreclosed homes.

Although it is amazing what will stay alive in Utah's hot, dry summer in an unirrigated landscape, it is more amazing to see what food manages to survive. On a recent Monday I ate wheat, mulberries, and raspberries from empty houses.

Last year grapes, strawberries, walnuts, apples, and peaches were all on the menu in season. Not all of them were in prime condition, but most were very good.

Apricots, not quite ripe.

But that's the funny thing about unused properties, they are every bit as good as the ones the rest of us live on. They just aren't getting the same care.


Of course any care would increase the quantity and quality of the food.... You see where I'm taking this don't you? If every foreclosed or abandoned house had a neighbor or two that were 'helping', that is taking care of watering, pruning, or even planting, how much food could be produced?

Raspberries, I already ate the ripe ones.

Now, before I go any further, I must note that for this to be legal the property owner or their agent must give permission for such wild activities. The permission is hard to get and even if you get it, there is no protection for the plants or those who kept them alive when the house is sold.


Under the best conditions you would still have to share it with me and my fellow workers. Under the worst you could be prosecuted  for trespassing or other criminal activities, if you did not get proper approval.

But for the time being let's say it is taken care of, and good land is being put back to good use. If there is too much food produced, share it with the local homeless shelter. Nearby apartment dwellers could be invited to work plots and make better lives for themselves.


I realize that I sound utopian, but the reality is that anything not being used will deteriorate and crumble. By using it we make the world a better place.


Am I dreaming? Definitely, but since that is the only way to get to a better world, I'll stick with it. Would you like to join me? It will be worth it.

A Dedicated Do-It-Your-Selfer Dilemma

I have often wondered about the food I cook with. Where does it come from, how does it get to me, and how could I do it all myself? The milk for instance, I have seen documentaries on how it is produced commercially, and I have helped in small scale home production, so I get it. The same with flour. In fact, flour is easy to produce with some quality without any complex procedures or equipment.


The honey is a little harder, but with some research and space most people can become competent. The oil on the other hand seems like an incredible chore. I'm sure I could do it, but the task seems almost epic compared to the other foods I've mentioned. Even once I set up the press and other equipment, I would have a hard time getting enough raw plant material to make the effort worth while.


Wheat has the same problem with volume, but at least wheat can be obtained in bulk if I can't grow enough. Try buying a 50 lb. bag of flax or rape seed some time. I'm sure it is there, I am also sure I would have to look for it. 


The point of this is that there are some things that are difficult to produce on a small scale. A dedicated do-it-your-selfer with visions of sustainability has to accept that he can't do everything. Especially if he lives on a city lot, or even worse, an apartment. 


But, he can take the time he saved by retreating from one or more of the difficult tasks and use it to focus on mastery of what he can really make a difference with.


After all, would it be better to produce a couple of pints of oil a year or to produce enough honey for all your sweetening needs for the year, plus some to share with your friends and neighbors?


Think about it, then sit back and decide which tasks are most worth it. Then, who knows, maybe it will be creating artisan flax seed oil. If so, could I trade some early snow peas for a cup or two?

Personal Quest

Food is a thing that should not be relegated to a factory farm across the country or across the world. It should be a personal quest, brought as near to home as one is able.