Hello! So - how did I start with this urban permaculture design project?
Well - first of all I read articles on permaculture and self-sufficiency, which was easily done online. I spend hours and hours reading (slowly - English my second language) and watching videos online.
Then as I got more and more interested in permaculture, I decided to attend in Permaculture Design Certificate course (PDC) which I highly recommend for anyone interested in sustainable -, more self-reliant -, meaningful way of living.
To fund the course I sold stuff from home on eBay. Did you know that every household in Australia has over $2000 worth of 'things' that they never use?
PDC was a starting point and definitely worth while. This course gave me a basic knowledge and understanding in permaculture designing and with previous experience in horticulture, gave me confidence to take action.
So - I started from our home.
Action Time
When we moved in the house, I wanted to get to 'know' our home
first. I didn't want to rush into anything. I wanted to 'feel' and
'see' the property first.
At first it was about rainwater harvesting. The idea was to harvest and soak rainwater in the soil by using mini swales (a swale = a ditch on contour) and cover grounds with mulch (living or non-living). Also we wanted to harvest rainwater from roofs into rainwater tanks. Our goal is to grow nutrient dense food and have rainwater stored to water plants.
First I wanted to see how rainwater moves within the property.
E.g. when it rained I went outside to make my observations - this was fun as I love walking in the rain :-). I wanted to see how I can get surface rainwater flow to 'touch' as much ground area as possible before exiting our property.
I took photos and videos from the storm event to see how the water moved inside and outside the property. TIP! I highly recommend on documenting events so you can go back and check out if needed in the future.
A photo below shows a damp spot at the entrance of the house. The driveway slopes toward a house taking rainwater to lowest point on the driveway. We may have to cut the concrete and install a drain to get water in the garden instead.
A photo below shows the lowest point in the property at NE corner. I thought this spot would be ideal for a second pond. What would you do with the spot like this?
Then rainwater tanks - yup - we needed those. If you can, place a rainwater tank at the highest spot of your property so you can use gravity to water gardens. In our case this was not possible and we decided to use IBC tanks (food grade) placing them under the house - saving space outside (photo below).
Then I made a note on how rainwater causes erosion along the boundary fence => Plants with fibrous root system, planted in the good compost (that includes beneficial micro-organisms) could help here to stop soil erosion :-).
In summer, I noticed how soothing SE breeze travels to the backyard, making a wind tunnel between eastern fence line and the house => A water feature (frog pond) placed at the end of the wind tunnel, could give a cooling effect at the entertainment area in summer :-).
In winter we get cool breezes from S and SW - having an effect inside the house and at the backyard. Obviously these observations happened in different times and still continues.
I took photos on sun angles in mid winter and mid summer. Our backyard is facing north which is great solar aspect in the southern hemisphere. Noted how neighbour's large trees at NE corner shade our yard in winter. Note: A photo below is from a previous veggie patch we had...and of course we started to collect rainwater - the way we could at the time :-)
We had an old and large mango tree (photo below) that produced beautiful fruits, but it had a bad collar rot in the trunk. Also as it was let grown for a such large tree, it shaded a half of the yard in winter. We decided to remove it - which made me a bit sad :-(
There were nothing but grass growing all around this property. A few plants were planted around a fence line (still there at the moment).
At the south facing front yard, there were a couple of plants against the house (photo below).
Inside a house we noticed how summer breezes helped to cool the house upstairs through opened windows, but when there was no breeze - rooms upstairs got hot in summer. Especially SW corner (photo above).
In winter, southern side of the house gets cool when southerly wind blows. The first thing we did was to invest in heavy curtains in rooms and insulated the timber floor as we don't like the idea of having an air-con. The idea was to get plants growing around the house and see how it effects on the environment inside and outside the house :-)
In summary - I started this urban permaculture design project by living in the property first as it is our home. I found this very important and it suits my way of 'seeing' things before putting anything on paper. I made notes on rainwater flow, erosion, existing
vegetation, existing structures, sun angles, prevailing winds, damp
spots, dry spots, weeds, how the environment changed inside the house in different seasons etc.
Also taking photos and videos has helped me if I
needed to revise anything later. I highly recommend on doing that -
it's amazing how we forget things, especially when we get older....;-)
Obviously I wouldn't have lived in the property if I were designing for someone else. Instead I would spend time in the property first to get a feel of it and take notes. Most importantly I would talk with owners of a property asking questions about their wants and needs regarding their property.
Important: Don't be surprised if you want to make some design changes as you implement your design ...and most of all - enjoy and have fun with your project :-)
I hope you this gave you some ideas where to start with your own permaculture project.
Next post is about drawing a permaculture design for this urban permaculture project.
Until then, let's spread permaculture to the world!
Warmly,
Heli Iso-Aho
