{"id":129,"date":"2016-02-06T13:16:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T18:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/?p=129"},"modified":"2016-02-06T13:16:38","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T18:16:38","slug":"summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/","title":{"rendered":"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs – Yikes!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I couldn’t begin to give you an in depth look at permaculture here in this blog; for that I urge you to follow the links in my previous post that will take you to several videos made by Geoff Lawton.\u00a0 I also urge to you get your hands on a copy of Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway (most libraries have a copy).\u00a0 But here’s a very<\/em><\/strong> condensed definition.<\/p>\n

First, let’s think about what permaculture isn’t<\/em>.\u00a0 Let’s think about the majority of today’s gardens. We plant well tended and perfectly straight rows of veggies – all uniform in size and color.\u00a0 We think it looks lovely and shows off all the hard work we’ve done.\u00a0 A vegetable-devouring bug or a four legged varmint looks at it and thinks it’s an ‘all-you-can-eat’ buffet with a blazing neon ‘Welcome’ sign!\u00a0 Next, think about our landscaping.\u00a0 We turn our lawns into well manicured, neatly clipped and mostly useless landscapes.\u00a0 We spray them with dangerous pesticides and we feed them with fertilizers from a bag.<\/p>\n

Permaculture is just the opposite of all that.\u00a0 It can be quite beautiful and charming but it’s certainly much more fluid in appearance.\u00a0 But all by careful design.\u00a0 Every plant is chosen for its ability to perform multiple functions – known as “stacking.”\u00a0 Permaculture enthusiasts plant trees, bushes, vegetables and herbs that 1) feed people, 2) feed wildlife, 3) feed other plants, 4) provide products (like wood) for multiple uses, 4) provide structure and\/or trellising for other plants, 5) provide habitat and 6) attract birds and beneficial insects.<\/p>\n

They do this by layering what gets planted and by planting in Zones.\u00a0 The seven permaculture layers go from the tallest trees down through vines and shrubs all the way to root crops that grow underground.\u00a0 Instead of planting one strictly ornamental tree with acres of grass around it, they plant a fruit or nut tree that is pretty but that also provides food.\u00a0 It’s pruned or else has a natural open canopy so light will filter down through its branches to smaller bushes planted below.\u00a0 These bushes provide fruit for human and\/or wildlife consumption.\u00a0 Some of them will also fix nitrogen to help feed the larger tree.\u00a0 Under the shrubs medicinal flowers, veggies and herbs peek out to capture enough sun.\u00a0 A squash or an edible Maypop may vine up the large tree.\u00a0 Well, you get the idea.<\/p>\n

Permaculture Zones go from one to five with Zone 1 being the area closest to your house.\u00a0 Zone 1 will contain those plants and structures that you are most in contact with.\u00a0 Zone 1 may include an herb bed so you can quickly snip some while you’re cooking.\u00a0 It may also contain a bird house so you can enjoy watching these amazing creatures as you pass by a window.\u00a0 It may contain the garden beds that require the most weeding and\/or watering.\u00a0 You might even decide to locate a greenhouse there.<\/p>\n

Zone 2 might be where your tool shed is.\u00a0 Or you might put your greenhouse here.\u00a0 Your larger garden beds would be located in Zone 2.\u00a0 You might have a pond in Zone 2.\u00a0 Zone 3 is where any cash crops would grow or where large animals are kept.\u00a0 Zone 4 is the area that doesn’t require much care – you might have firewood growing in this zone.\u00a0 Or you might have larger ponds here.\u00a0 Zone 5 is considered the wild area that doesn’t really demand much care.\u00a0 It’s a zone for wildlife, firewood and for just admiring nature.<\/p>\n

Now I realize that it might seem necessary to have a large tract of land in order to practice permaculture but that’s not the case.\u00a0 We live on just under half an acre.\u00a0 I won’t really have a Zone 5.\u00a0 The dense woods behind our property will serve as Zone 5 even though we don’t own it.\u00a0 I can admire the deer that wander through and watch the wind blow through all the trees.\u00a0 Our Zone 4 will be the branch that runs up either side of our little half acre. While I will tuck some useful plants along it’s edges, I won’t be making many changes.\u00a0 And I have accepted that I will never have a pond or be able to cut my own firewood.\u00a0 My cash crop (which you might not even need to have) will be the organic Microgreens I grow inside the house under grow lights.<\/p>\n

But I think I can produce the majority of our food on this little half acre in what, for me, will be Zones 1 and 2.\u00a0 We’re vegetarian so, other than some egg laying chickens, I won’t need space for meat producing animals or ponds to water them or fields to grow food for them.<\/p>\n

I really think I can use this half acre to stack a whole heck of a lot of fruiting bushes under several dwarf fruit trees along with enough veggies and herbs to produce 80% of what we eat.<\/p>\n

So, using the principles of permaculture, I am on an adventure to produce a half acre Garden of Eden that invites birds and beneficial insects.\u00a0 A half acre that’s a riot of color, shape, texture and flavor.\u00a0 Hold on to your hats cause here we go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I couldn’t begin to give you an in depth look at permaculture here in this blog; for that I urge you to follow the links in my previous…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,6],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-permaculture","tag-layers","tag-zones"],"yoast_head":"\nSumming up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs - Yikes! - The Little Half Acre That Could<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs - Yikes! - The Little Half Acre That Could\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I couldn’t begin to give you an in depth look at permaculture here in this blog; for that I urge you to follow the links in my previous…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Little Half Acre That Could\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-06T18:16:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jackie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jackie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jackie\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/27800d2f67a398f922bf5395be6d0cb9\"},\"headline\":\"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs – Yikes!\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-06T18:16:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/\"},\"wordCount\":890,\"commentCount\":4,\"keywords\":[\"layers\",\"zones\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Permaculture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/\",\"name\":\"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs - Yikes! - The Little Half Acre That Could\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-06T18:16:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/27800d2f67a398f922bf5395be6d0cb9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs – Yikes!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/\",\"name\":\"The Little Half Acre That Could\",\"description\":\"A sustainable living experiment on a mountainside half acre in North Carolina, USA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/27800d2f67a398f922bf5395be6d0cb9\",\"name\":\"Jackie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2387c20ebe45d06fc208c16985b5f423fef2e935d4bf610ee1d16c44bd599e0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2387c20ebe45d06fc208c16985b5f423fef2e935d4bf610ee1d16c44bd599e0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jackie\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/author\/jackie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs - Yikes! - The Little Half Acre That Could","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs - Yikes! - The Little Half Acre That Could","og_description":"I couldn’t begin to give you an in depth look at permaculture here in this blog; for that I urge you to follow the links in my previous…","og_url":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/","og_site_name":"The Little Half Acre That Could","article_published_time":"2016-02-06T18:16:38+00:00","author":"Jackie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jackie","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/"},"author":{"name":"Jackie","@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/27800d2f67a398f922bf5395be6d0cb9"},"headline":"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs – Yikes!","datePublished":"2016-02-06T18:16:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/"},"wordCount":890,"commentCount":4,"keywords":["layers","zones"],"articleSection":["Permaculture"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/","url":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/","name":"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs - Yikes! - The Little Half Acre That Could","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-02-06T18:16:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/27800d2f67a398f922bf5395be6d0cb9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/summing-up-permaculture-in-a-few-short-paragraphs-yikes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Summing up Permaculture in a Few Short Paragraphs – Yikes!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/","name":"The Little Half Acre That Could","description":"A sustainable living experiment on a mountainside half acre in North Carolina, USA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/27800d2f67a398f922bf5395be6d0cb9","name":"Jackie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2387c20ebe45d06fc208c16985b5f423fef2e935d4bf610ee1d16c44bd599e0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2387c20ebe45d06fc208c16985b5f423fef2e935d4bf610ee1d16c44bd599e0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jackie"},"url":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/author\/jackie\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141,"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelittlehalfacre.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}