(gentle music)
- Yichun,
"I have a piece of land,
I am new to permaculture and farming,
how do I start the process of evolution?
It seems like I would need to start
with the selection of species
and then the assemblies they will fit into,
so I can then begin to experiment and observe.
Earthworks might be needed but I think I should wait,
so I know what the earthworks should help fix.
This is overwhelming.
Where do I begin?
How do I dedicate where to act,
when I have so little information to inform my decision?"
Well Yichun, you're on the right track,
'cause by the end of this course, you will know what to do,
I can guarantee it.
Tell me if you don't
and we'll get you to that final design exercise
so you do, because that's how we've set it up.
I know how you feel.
It definitely isn't a matter
of getting your species to get it,
unless you want to get a little garden to get it,
get out there and do a tiny little garden.
Get yourself some quick fresh food,
that'll help you feel better.
That'll help you feel more secure
and it'll give you a lot of vitality.
But out there on the farm, on the larger area,
don't do that, because you'll get it all the wrong things
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We can do all sorts of small work
and learn which species work together.
Your first approach,
but please wait until you've finished the course
because it'll be much easier then,
but your general first approach before anything else,
is analyze your possibilities of water,
right across the site,
access, and then structural positions,
water, access, structures.
That's almost like a mantra of a permaculture designer
prior to everything else,
'cause you got to start with observation.
You got to be able to observe the land.
You got to understand where are the highest place
I can position water.
What's the highest, longest contour line of relevance?
I can give you a little trick here.
It's the lowest point on the highest boundary,
usually gives you the longest, highest contour line.
Lowest point on the highest boundary,
longest, highest contour line on most blocks of land.
Now we're looking at how we can slow water up really high,
spread it, soak it and slow it right down
as it moves through the landscape.
How many other water storage and water soakage positions
are there through a landscape?
Water is very constant.
There are many constants about water,
it sits perfectly flat,
it cools itself with evaporation
at hundred degrees centigrade,
that's when it starts to boil.
It only moves at right angle to contour.
It's most dense at four degrees centigrade
and then it expands as it freezes.
These are all constants about water,
where there's water there's life.
It's a crucial part of everything you do.
And when you make water easy on a system,
on a landscape, on a farm, life for you gets easier.
So, and water has duties to do, all right, to perform,
it is to procreate systems, to create life
and to produce in itself, aquaculture.
And then also, it can be used for power, to generate power,
to move things around
and move little wheels and do different power operations.
So water is very, very crucial.
So we start with water as the mainframe planning.
Now access is very expensive,
can be bit expensive to maintain,
and needs to have multiple uses.
So, it can also catch water,
break, create windbreaks,
create, funnel wind to our advantage if we want it,
and create firebreaks and other things and even store heat.
But water has to harmonize first,
you have to harmonize your water system first,
and then access has to harmonize with the water pattern.
So we got water, access.
Now, once you've done your access,
access is always more stable on contour
in the way it directs water,
in the way it reduces your maintenance,
it might be more expensive initially,
but then it, over time,
remember we're putting permanent systems in,
the access can be very, very cheap over a period,
over its lifetime,
because you very rarely have to maintain it
when it's done well.
And we'll talk all about that.
Other than that, as close to contour,
or right down the middle of ridge lines
as long as they're not too steep,
so we spread the water both ways.
So there's specific patterns of access that we prefer
because they reduce the maintenance
over the lifetime of the product.
So this is the thing about energy efficiency of product.
It's always the extension of installation or manufacture
over their lifetime.
So if in design, access has a very, very long life
before it needs maintenance,
you save lots and lots of time, energy and money.
So, water first, then access,
and then structural positions become
a little bit more obvious.
You can see the advantages of certain positions,
but also it may be a matter of economy.
I can't afford the access to get there.
I can't afford the, to install the infrastructure.
So, always go about it that way,
mainframe planning, water, access, structures.
(gentle music)