Permaculture is a long word for common sense, and the
ethical treatment of people and the planet. It’s a little disappointing that
the word itself may put some people off – because it is unfamiliar to them –
but any unique worldview requires an individualized name. The term was coined
in the 1970s by a pair of Australians as a contraction between permanent and
agriculture, indicating their advocacy for a shift toward low-input perennial
crops and away from energy and chemical intensive annual crops.
In this way, permaculture is similar to eco-thrifty
renovation in that is seeks low input/high performance design strategies and
techniques. In both cases, the sun is the most important element of the system:
sun grows food; sun can power a home. First, the home.
Now that we are tipping into winter, and the sun is falling
on the northern horizon, the passive solar redesign of our villa is coming back
from its ‘summer holidays.’ In other words, our home has been redesigned to let
the sun in during the winter months and exclude it during the summer months. By
considering the seasonal pattern of the sun, we are able to harness free
heating when we most need it: May, June, July and August.
I have written in this column about the key components of
passive solar design – solar gain, thermal mass, and insulation – and I’ll
revisit them in the months to come. But how, you may ask, does passive solar
design work? Although we have a wood burner in our home, we only used it about
2 days per week last winter. The rest of the time our villa was heated for free
by sunlight.
Sunlight also grows much of our food for free. That’s hardly
news, but on a small section, we’re able to grow a large amount of food by
maximizing sunlight exposure by utilizing vertical surfaces. For example, we
let pumpkins climb up our fences, which they naturally do. Why fight it?
By growing five or six vines out of one mature compost pile,
and letting them run, we are able to enjoy huge yields with hardly any work.
Watering and weeding is virtually eliminated growing pumpkins this way. Low
input/high productivity.
We also use the sun to cure our pumpkins before storage.
This simply entails letting them sunbath for three weeks somewhere their bums
can remain dry. We use the north-facing steps of our deck.
Once cured, the thick-skinned pumpkins are transferred to a
cool, unused bedroom on the south side of our home. There they can remain
‘fresh’ for 12 months or more with no processing or refrigeration. It’s just
natural cool storage.
In late February this year, we ate the last of our
last-years’ pumpkins after the first of this-year’s pumpkins were ready to
harvest. That means we have 12 months of homegrown, healthy, inexpensive,
organic pumpkins at our beck and call. Oh, the recipes.
Interested in learning more about permaculture and
permaculture ways of thinking? See the side bar for upcoming workshops.
Sidebar:
ECO School Workshops - Autumn, 2013
20th April, 9-5 Thinking Like a Swale: Advanced
Permaculture Workshop
27th-28th April. Suburban Permaculture
Weekend
5th May, 3-5. International Permaculture Day.
Introduction to Permaculture
11th May. Home Energy Savings DIY Workshop
More details: http://www.ecothriftydoup.blogspot.co.nz/p/upcoming-workshops.html
Registration essential: theecoschool@gmail.com; 06 344 5013;
022 635 0868
Loved your blog (can't remember how I got here, though). I think I was ckecking to see what rocket was.
ReplyDeleteAlso liked the story on butterflies. Last year I planted passion fruit in a small patio. My reasoning was that if they grew in NZ, they should also grow in Uruguay. Loved the butterflies until I noticed their ancestors or children were the culprits of windows in all the leaves. No harm done to the fruit.
Hope you are enyoying your guayabos at this time of the year.
Thank you, we hope to come to Uruguay sometime soon. -Estwing
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