Experience? Well yes, but that’s something that you can learn along the way. You don’t need to be the World’s best Graphic artist or AutoCAD genius, but you do need to be creative, have an eye for landscape patterning and a PDC in hand.

I just finished my first Permaculture design commission and I was hoping to share some of the process with you. Within the 11 years of experience with my own landscape design firm, I rarely put pen to paper with design. I found success even while employing experienced people to draw plans and document. My job then, like now, is main-frame design. I leave the finer points to specialists.

Your job as a designer is to know the process. You have the contacts in place to co-ordinate, instruct, manage, and even educate, if the professionals you engage are not permaculture systems trained.

What’s the process?

The process is the series of events that you will need to successfully master over time and refine to suit each client. Don’t think just because you’re now in the realm of the Permaculture world, full of ethics and good will, that people’s attitude towards paying money for your services will change, or the value they place on your time. I spend a lot of time speaking with my clients on the phone before I even think of getting out of my office chair to go and see them! (Mind you that office chair looks over the Pacific Ocean, and that’s hard enough to leave!)

Google map with topo map overlay for property.

The reason I question my potential clients so much is to look at some basics: 1) What’s their vision? 2) How do they plan to implement a permaculture design once the design is completed? 3) What do they think it’s going to take to achieve their vision? You can go and spend thousands of your clients dollars on reports, colour plans, graphs, and yet a client may still look at your work and won’t be able to find north on the map.

In my experience, it is easy for clients to have grand visions of what it means to live a sustainable lifestyle. Many have romantic ideas about growing their own food, reusing their waste and building compost without considering that yes(!) it is a lot of work: it’s going to take maintenance! I often refer my clients back to question three from above. “What do they think it’s going to take to achieve their vision?" "Oh that’s easy, we’ll just plant some veggies in the corner and use the water from the water tank". Stop!!! At the moment a client says “Oh that’s easy” that’s a warning bell that the clients you’re dealing with don’t understand the undertaking or commitment of what they are dealing with…. and your backside has not event left the seat yet.

The vision they expressed to you was one of abundance. They saw food growing from every corner of their property, water harvesting systems, and miles of food forest and animal systems. Yet, a realistic and practical maintenance schedule wasn’t a part of their vision. Home renovation and landscape gardening TV shows that flood our screens sell the easy 30min crash course of how to construct a garden. From that, so many feel capable and experienced enough to chuck in a garden. The television’s easy sell often misses the accounting related to the cost of design, cost of project management, labour and the amount of people behind the scenes coordinating the process. So often their vision doesn’t match the reality of implementation. As a designer, it’s your job to look at the process and find the best process to suit the client’s needs and, most of all, the client’s time & budget.

It is encouraging that we’ve seen a popular trend in going "green" or "sustainable" these days. Yet, whatever the trend may be, you’re going to get calls from people that have the money to do great things and have all the good intentions but very little of the design skills needed to make a practical system work. If they don’t understand how permaculture systems work and how to use them, it is your job to look at the process with them. There is an education element in that process that will allow you spend time with your client. You can show them how their plan will evolve and come together, realistically. I find it helpful to remember the small steps. Humans are very funny creatures. You don’t want to scare clients away with over-the-top architect plans or overly complicated specifications. These will be the parts of the design process that you will need to break down for your clients and incorporate into your plans: reports that you will receive from the consultants you engage.

Once you’ve worked with your clients to articulate a comprehensive vision, how do your clients plan to implement a permaculture design once the design is completed? Well, if they say to you “we plan to tender it out, get it installed by professionals and have a gardener look after it”. That’s fine and that will happen, but the questions you have to ask your self are: Are you cut out for the massive commitment to do the planning to a standard from where a contractor can pick up the plans and give the client a price to construct based on your plans? Could you set out a bill of quantities? Can you draw scale technical plans?

Your client may express "We want to install it ourselves!" O.K.! But even if they install it themselves, do you know the construction process to document for your client to follow? Will you need to do site visits during the design process? How do you move forward as a designer here? So this is where you need set out what your skill level is; how you could service this client without biting off more than you could chew. Are you capable of setting up a process by where you consult to your new clients, get the vision, and engage your technical professionals? Do you know how to find professionals that have the skills to put full landscape architect designed plans together with your permaculture main frame experience (water, access, structures)? Can you engage a horticulturalist, engineer, drafts person, etc?

These are very important questions we as permaculture designers need to ask before we leave the chair and get our minds around the design process. That’s just the first phone call! A good use of a website in this process can show your potential clients how you work and what services and processes you follow to get them a result. I have found that putting prices for types of design work, like consultation, looking at sizes of properties (urban – suburban – small farms – broad acre) and giving clients prices on deliverables within each design size works well.

Google map overlay with proposed design systems placed as a concept

I have included some concept pictures of plans throughout the process on this first commission. I used Google maps to place a contour map overlay over the Google image to give me very rough idea of how the farm looks and where I can start looking at the big three (water, access, and structures). It is wise to never fully trust a contour map unless you have had a surveyor on site with a highly detailed topographical plan. Being on the ground with a laser level for a day will save you in the long run. Whether a small urban garden or a 500 acre farm, walking the site step-by-step, meter-by-meter, is the only way to do it.

I use a very simple program – Microsoft Paint. I know of others out there using Google SketchUp and other programs that allow more flexibility. You can see where I mark, using different colours, elements that would be used as the base of the concept. I then print out the Google map on A2 size paper. I then use tracing paper to draw in property lines, and contour lines. I mark the swales, dams, farm tracks, roads, swale crossings, and then structures. While on the property the whole day is spent with a measuring wheel in hand looking at revegetation areas and pasture cropping. You might say, “Why don’t you just use a scale plan to mark them out?” You don’t know the farm until you walk them and take notes on what each area is and what it requires. I then, again on the tracing paper, colour it with different markers to show swale trees, bamboo, gabion, fences, rock outcrops for non workable land, etc…. Then once I have enough detail (and you will only know this once you hand it to your AutoCAD genius or in my case a graphic artist, if they can look at it and make sense of it then you job is done), then you end up with what I have shown in the site plan Master Plan.

I like a graphic artist’s finish. It looks more natural in its application and more detailed. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being very basic and 10 being very detailed, this master plan would be about a six. If my approach interests you, I’m setting up (Landscape) Permaculture Designing Courses next year in Victoria, NSW & QLD.

These courses will spend time looking at the steps of consultation, designing, drawing, pricing your time and quoting while also focusing on business management and how to get yourself started. The details are listed below.

The Aim of the Program:

I’m committed to training creative, confident and professionally superior permaculture designers. On completion of your course you will be entitled to design within the permaculture field, fully competent to undertake the following tasks:

• Creating sustainable, functional permaculture designs. (Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms. It seeks to provide a sustainable and secure place for living things on this earth. Functional design sets out to achieve specific ends, and prime directives. Every component of a design should function in many ways. Every essential function should be supported by many components.)
• Designing concepts and plans for urban, rural and aid projects with water, access, structures.
• Producing concept plans, planting plans, and site maintenance schedules.
• Preparation of concept drawings for land re-contouring and retaining.
• Preparation of construction and working drawings for hard landscaping items (not requiring specialist engineering and when permitted by law).
• Managing the contractor bidding and the installation of the design on behalf of the client.
• Running a professional permaculture design business.

What you will learn?

The Permaculture (Landscape) Design covers every aspect of garden and landscape design as well as other topics concerned with the setting up and running of a professional permaculture design and consulting business. You will learn things a professional permaculture designer needs to know.

1. Project Assessment: You will learn how to talk with the Client about their concerns, assess the potential of the site, ascertain the client’s needs, suggest the best course of action, and give a written quotation for design work.
2. Site Survey: You will learn to measure a site, including surveying ground levels, and use this data to draw an
   accurate and useful survey (base) plan.
3. Concept Plan: Showing a ‘bird’s eye’ view of the proposed design, this drawing is the starting point in the development of a new garden. You will learn to create exciting and functional designs and present them to your clients as attractive concept plans.
4. Planting Plan: You will learn to design the planting scheme to complement the new design. Preparing detailed
   planting plans and schedules are covered for your climate.
5. Hard Landscape Construction: You will learn about hard landscape construction and materials. This will enable you to design viable permaculture hardscapes and structures to enhance your designs.
6. Ground Contouring Design: You will learn to recognize a site’s greater potential through re-contouring, and how to produce concept plans detailing the new ground levels, swales, dams and house pad levels.
7. Running a professional design and consulting business: You will learn all the aspects of running your own business in a professional manner. This includes dealing with Clients, effective communication, getting new business, industry protocols, working to a Client’s budget, bidding and tendering, and writing technical specifications.

How long does it take?

Intro Design (intense 24 hour) courses run over a Fri – Sat – Sun weekend will cover all the areas and give you a basic idea of design to get your business started. There will be one teacher plus two teacher aids per course. This gives the course a very personal touch and attention to detail.

Full Design courses (96 hours) will cover the process in depth and home work set during the week. The course is run over 1 month, 3 days a week. Fri, Sat, Sun for 12 days. There will be one teacher plus two teacher aids per course. This gives the course a very personal touch and attention to detail.

Course Cost

• Intro Course 24hr 3x 8-hour days = $295 per student, limited to 30 students.
• Full Design Course. 96hr, 12x 8-hour days = $1250.00 per student limited to 10 students.

Program Content

This is a brief outline of the main topics included in the program. The course material informative with many pictures and diagrams used to illustrate concepts. You will be taught and encouraged to think and solve problems.

• 24, information-packed study modules covering all aspects of professional Permaculture design.
• 3 relevant, hands-on assignments reflecting the actual work done by Permaculture designers.
• Several useful portfolios to aid you in developing your designs.
• 3 full, real-life permaculture design projects (no installation is required for any projects).
• several small urban design projects (no installation is required).
• continual assessment and feedback to keep you informed of your progress.

The Study Modules

1. Course overview; Equipment and Materials; Drawing to Scale.
2. Classification and Naming of plants; Plant physiology; Soil in the landscape.
3. Introduction to the different types of landscape drawings; learning to draw.
4. The design process; analyzing a site; discovering the client’s needs; introduction to site surveying; writing a design proposals.
5. Site surveying – theory and practical.
6. The drawing sheet and title block; lettering and titling; the concept plan.
7. The zoning and functional placement of areas.
8. Major permaculture design project #1.
9. Design principles and design development.
10. Solving site problems; function and safety.
11. Surveying ground levels – theory and practical.
12. Drawing elevations, cross-sections and working drawings.
13. Major permaculture design project #2.
14. Planting design; color theory, shape and texture.
15. Designing; how to choose the right plants; the planting plan.
16. Water, natural pools and ponds, swales & dams.
17. Hard landscaping materials; site contouring and leveling.
18. Retaining walls; paving and other horizontal surfacing.
19. Introduction to timber construction; steps and ramps; walls; fences and screens.
20. Decorative structures; using trees, shrubs, hedges, vines.
21. Major permaculture design project #3.
22. Natural habitat; maintenance of design; eco-friendly design.
23. Small urban gardens; functional planting; irrigation, estimating installation costs for budgetary purposes.
24. Business procedures; documents and contracts; the client-designer-contractor relationship; specification writing; the bidding process; project facilitation; costing your design services; getting started; promoting your business: final design project – an exploration of design creativity.

Expressions of interest for this course in your area can be directed to Nick Huggins at hugginsn (at) bigpond.net.au

The consultation on its own, however, is deserving of a post. It was highly interesting for many reasons that I shall outline here.

Permaculture designer/teacher, Geoff Lawton, looks at water pumped from
an aquifer under Jordan’s famous Wadi Rum desert region.
All photographs © copyright Craig Mackintosh

Background

The Wadi Rum desert in the south of Jordan happens to be the site of Jordan’s largest mixed farm – Rum Farm. It might, for good reason, seem odd that this beautiful but largely abiotic location would host a large scale farm, let alone Jordan’s largest, but it begins to make sense when you learn that under the Wadi Rum desert (and stretching under the border mountains and well into Saudi Arabia) is a large aquifer. In fact, much of this desert nation’s water supply is dependent on this single water source.

Captured from a bus window, while crossing the no-man’s land between
Jordan and Israel/Palestine, the once-mighty Jordan river is today just
a murky trickle (see bottom centre of image) that wouldn’t
flow at all today if it wasn’t for the pollution poured into it….
It is estimated that the Jordan River will dry up completely
by the end of 2011.

In what is now potentially the most water starved nation on the planet, to say this aquifer is a precious resource is like saying an atomic bomb is a ‘little noisy’. It’s a major understatement. This water is blue gold, and it’s being pumped at a furious pace.

As most of our readers will know, using reductionist, industrial agricultural ’systems’, as opposed to intelligent, bio-diverse permaculture design symbioses, means huge amounts of water gets polluted and wasted. Soils with poor soil structure lack the spongy characteristic that holds and filters the water they receive. Here in the desert, where evaporation is many times greater than precipitation, the wastage is multiplied manifold. Turned and churned soils hasten that evaporation process, and plantings of monocrop species without taller support species to provide shade from sun and shelter from drying winds do likewise. Salinity increases, and food production becomes a finite endeavour based on costly and finite artificial inputs.

The Wadi Rum desert

Running large scale monocrop farming anywhere should be seen as madness. Here it’s insane. Yet, a large part of Jordan’s food supply is produced at this farm – before being trucked north hundreds of kilometres through the desert to the capital of Amman and other centres in refrigerated trucks.

Head south across the border, into Saudi Arabia, and the situation is the same.

Centre pivot farming in Saudi Arabia

The precariousness of this situation is not completely lost on Jordanians, however, and thus Geoff finds himself being invited to consult on transition possibilities.

We meet in Amman to talk with Rum Farm and Astra Farm managers.
From left: Sijal Majali (Rum Farm Managing Director), Sirin Al Masri
(daughter of Mr. Sabih Taher Darwish Al-Masri) and Kamil Sadeddin
(Astra Farm Managing Director, Saudi Arabia).

Transitioning one of the world’s largest mix farms – Astra Farm, Saudi Arabia

Rum Farm is owned by Astra Farms, who have what is possibly one of the largest mixed farms in the world, in the Tabuk region in the north of Saudi Arabia. To give you an idea of scale, they have 3,000 workers, producing 10,000 tons of grapes per year, 22 million quail per year, and the list goes on with dozens of other crops.

Saudi Arabia is under intense agricultural pressure. Although similar can be said about many regions in the world, I would describe the Middle East, in particular, as being a powder keg of unrest, just waiting to blow. As we head deeper into a perpetual recession, where oil revenues will become volatile and ultimately dry up along with Saudi’s remaining reserves, it will become increasingly expensive to import food. Yet Saudi Arabia recently announced that it would phase out all domestic wheat production in favour of importing, and has been buying up land in other countries in an attempt to ease a growing water crisis. Reducing water and energy consumption while maintaining, no, increasing, food production is of paramount concern and will be the nation’s ultimate challenge.

The good news is that Kamil Sadeddin, Managing Director of Astra Farms, told us that since a 2004 consultation with Geoff they have been progressively transitioning their 3,200 hectare farm to organic production. Today, Kamil says, a full 25% of Astra Farms is chemical free – and they’re producing over 700 tons of compost per month!

Now eyes are on Jordan to begin a similar transition.

Making a start – Rum Farm, Jordan

An almost 180 degree view of just a portion of Rum Farm’s 2000 hectares of
mixed crops. Click picture for larger view.

Astra Farm’s little brother is mere kilometres from the Wadi Rum tourist township – where thousands flock for tours of some of the most beautiful desert landscapes in the world.

Rum’s Managing Director, Sijal Majali, took Geoff and I on a tour of the property. After climbing into his air-conditioned Toyota Landcruiser, and transfering his Glock from his shoulder harness to the glove box for even greater comfort, he settled down to tell us more about the farm as we drove across some of its 2,000 hectare expanse.

Most of the workers are Egyptian, some Syrian, he said, as we passed dozens of labourers working in dusty, shadeless conditions. He went on to explain that the farm employs between 300-600 workers seasonally – who produce 1,800 tons of grapes, 20,000 tons of potatoes, 10,000 tons of onions, and thousands more tons of apricots, nectarines, peaches, pears, tomatoes, figs, olives, corn, lettuce, oranges, mandarin, grapefruit, cabbage, broccoli, squash, loquat, dates and more…. Some of these crops are entirely for export (like grapes), and some almost entirely for domestic consumption (like potatoes).

The farm even has its own internal, armed police station – to maintain order amongst the migrant worker community.

Tomatoes

Cool storage and packing facilities

As we drove my thoughts wandered to the future – projecting how Jordan would fare if this aquifer were to dry up, or if the economy collapsed over massive fuel price hikes. (Jordan doesn’t have its own oil reserves.) These large scale, centralised farms – based on massive inputs and mass-transit – would falter, with ominous consequences for the nation’s burgeoning population.

I considered how the Permaculture ideal is small scale, family managed, biodiverse land holdings – not big farms like this. And I thought about, as I often do, the need to move society towards such an ideal, to get more people onto the land. I thought about land redistribution and the corresponding need to educate those people in sustainable, permaculture systems.

Grapes

Sitting in this big, flashy Landcruiser – complete with water bottles chilling in the built-in refrigerator between the seats – I had to ask myself "where does consulting for such a behemoth farm fit into this picture?"

But, I already knew the answer.

After watching contemporary business-as-usual attitudes to critical, converging problems – seeing the complacent, ponderous and reactive nature of governments and the aggressive, resource-consuming, true-cost-externalising, extractive behaviour of industry – I knew that the work that needs to be done will never happen in time. Thus finding methods to transition large systems like this is not only essential to maintaining some order, and, ultimately, peace, but it can also serve as an excellent opportunity to get permaculture concepts onto board room tables, onto fields, and into the minds of farm managers and labourers. As resources diminish and climate change exacerbates stress on our arable land base, regardless of what industrial or political shifts occur it is essential we get more agricultural workers familiarised with permaculture systems, and how to replicate them.

Showcasing these systems at some of the world’s largest agricultural sites has to be a good thing.

The consultation

Geoff talks to Sijal Majali (Rum Farm Managing Director), standing on
the five hectare section that permaculture will transform.

Geoff was given five initial hectares to design. It will be a pioneer section prior to subsequent, larger transitions on the farm. During the consultation process, I have to say I was impressed with Geoff’s boldness. Rather than compromise and water down permaculture principles through an assumption these agribusinessmen would go at it only half-heartedly, Geoff expected much, and got it.

As Geoff explained his plans, Sijal began to emanate palpable excitement.

Geoff described a biodiverse plant procession starting with leguminous and other support species, interspersed with crop sections, to create a biodiverse system of alternating crop/tree corridors – with a trellised swale running through each food forest section. He spoke of the necessary orientation of the system so the trees and bushes will protect crops from the harsh prevailing winds and afternoon sun. He described how the support species will ultimately give way to a succession of protective and productive food forest bushes and trees, which will themselves be crowned with a date palm overstory.

Alternating food forest/crop corridor profile
The crop is sheltered from sun and prevailing wind

Such a design as this allows natural soil creation processes to blossom. Leaf litter from the food forest and crop residues can combine to create humus rich soils – which in turn gives health and vitality to plants, making them less attractive to ‘pests’, and enabling the soil to hold much higher moisture levels. The plant biodiversity allows beneficial workers (insects) to take up residence and keep any of their kind from becoming ‘pests‘. Their human counterpart, the farm labourers, will also benefit from a much improved and shaded environment.

A grid of swales will be fed from a tree-shaded pond (deep and narrow to reduce evaporation) that is fed from the aquifer. This pond will overflow into the swales and can be diverted through simple gates. The swale ends will have a swivel flush pipe so swales can be drained during flood events, or to pass water on to the next section.

Drip lines for initial food forest establishment and for ongoing maintenance of the crop rows will be supplied from computer controlled solar-powered, batteryless pumps.

Aerial view of food forest section
A river trellised swale runs through it…

Salad and other annuals and perennials can be positioned in the crop sections according to their respective shade needs and sun tolerance – with respect to the sun’s aspect over the fields.

Detail of the three lines of food forest trees on each side of swales

Beginning with a high proportion of ‘non productive’ support species, soil, water and humidity conditions will arise to nurse food crops into vitality – allowing these to establish and grow until the proportion of non-food plants can shrink to virtually nil.

Rum Farm is now beginning initial stages of implementation – planning earthworks according to Geoff’s procedure manual. In the meantime, crop residues will no longer get burned. All green matter and shreddable carbonaceous material will be composted.

My primary purpose for writing this post is to encourage permaculturists everywhere to be bold and achieve much. The world needs you like never before. Fill farmers with an holistic vision and they’ll be unstoppable. With enough permaculturists out there consulting like this, we could see the kind of ecological magic that can turn sand into food transition us into a healthier, more stable future.

A different future awaits?

Further Reading:

• Report on our Iranian Consultancy Trip of December 2008
• Greening the Desert

Map of fires in Russia

As I type, half of Russia is on fire after its hottest summer on record, Pakistan is dealing with the biggest floods in living memory and Australia is still in the clutches of a decade long drought. The last decade, worldwide, was the hottest since records began, and 2010 may break the records of 1998 and 2005 to become the hottest year we’ve ever known. We could spend weeks just examining the extreme weather events going on on a country by country basis.

Today we are crossing thresholds in our destruction of nature that will make all our subsequent efforts at earth healing even harder than they ever should have been. We have removed eco-systems, and their services, to such an extent that dangerous feedback loops are in progress. Climate is fast becoming a runaway train – and we’re its passengers.

Consider the fires in Russia, for example – millions of rain-producing trees are going up in smoke, taking their carbon with it. Trees growing in the ground are a carbon sink. On fire, they’re a carbon source. The Pakistan floods kill trees and plants likewise. These will later dry out and much of it too will end up in the atmosphere. With less trees in place, flooding events will occur even more often, and the soils these plants held in place will be washed away. The arctic permafrost is melting, releasing the powerful heat trapping gas, methane, at unprecedented levels – promising even more temperature increases. Our oceans are acidifying, threatening to turn the world’s largest carbon sink into a carbon source. And so on….

The dominoes are falling. It’s like nature is shouting to us: "If you don’t appreciate the services of these systems, then I’ll remove them all entirely".

We are facing crises on an unprecedented scale. Atop the foundations of an energy crisis, a climate crisis and a soil, water and biodiversity crisis, rests that mother of all crises – a food crisis. Crops are going up in smoke or are being washed away in deluges, our precious soils with them, while world grain stores are at their lowest levels and production is in decline whilst demand is rising. Such a food crisis, in the context of today’s population levels, translates, in turn, to a social/political/economic crisis on a scale that will make the convulsions of WWII look like a walk in the park.

It’s getting ugly, yet many are still not even awake to the perfect storm that is upon us. And of the few who are, many are discussing light bulbs and hybrids, cap and trade and recycling. They’re discussing being a little ‘less bad’, not recognising the urgent need for us – all 6.8 billion of us (and counting, at a rate of 1 billion every twelve years…) – to immediately become a positive element within our biosphere. And we must move fast! (The proverb ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ really rings true when considering these feedback loops….)

There is a solution though! That being a widespread, collaborative effort to assist nature in restoring, at scale, the biological processes that have, until today, kept this world stable for millennia. The solutions are in design, and in the observation and replication of natural symbiotic systems. We don’t need just less cars, we need more biology – more photosynthesis and more life! We might not be able to have rainforests everywhere, but we can certainly have food forests everywhere! The video clips below share a glimmer of hope along these lines. It documents an incredible journey of restorative transition for a 35,000 square kilometre area in the Leoss Plateau in the north of China. It is a journey that begins with completely eroded, overgrazed land where floods were a constant nightmare, and ends in terraced green hills, flood and food stability and prosperity. And, it only took ten years.

Give it a watch, and, as you do, consider what kind of social/political/economic systems would be the most conducive to achieving similar results in other places worldwide. It’s an interesting mix of top-down ‘interference’ (both in terms of blanket regulations and financial investment) combined with land ‘privatisation’, and participatory involvement at all levels. It reinforces for me the need to build resilient, localised, holistically educated and politically engaged communities whose members don’t discard government, but who through greater involvement in the decision-making process (including choosing their representatives) effectively become government and self-determine to build a world based on land stewardship and voluntary simplicity. We cannot act as individuals alone, working in our own self-interest, and achieve the kind of results you’ll see in the video below. We need to work collaboratively, and sometimes sensible, holistically discussed decisions will need to be enforced on individuals who either can’t see the big picture, or who don’t care.

Further reading:

• The Development of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration
• The World’s Largest Water Harvesting Earthworks Project
• The Biology of Global Warming

It’s been about a year now since I had the pleasure of Craig at my house to do the story on the Natural Swimming Pool conversion I am attempting. It was an interesting year for me on the home garden front and the personal front with lots of new surprises and projects. I thought I would do a follow up because we had a lot of enquiries about the pool after the story.

I am lucky to have a wonderful partner Vanessa who, because of her Permaculture training with Bill (PDC) and Geoff (PDC & Internship) and also at Northey Street Farm, is able to accept why I would want to have a go at producing food in our own home and also why I was getting rid of a swimming pool in favour of a pond and some fish.

Project one was establishing the front yard. We had some large fig trees which decided they would burst through our mains water line and storm water pipes. Not only is water a precious resource on the Gold Coast, it’s an expensive one as well.

I am a pretty cheap and lazy bastard, so the thought of an excess water bill and wasted resources spurred me into some considerable action. Not wanting to repeat the exercise again I have now placed all the water lines above ground giving the new generation of trees, free and unlimited access to the ground they live in. Rather than let the storm water run off the property, I divert it into my pool and various tanks around the house and also into swales. You will notice in the photo that I do have a storm water pipe leading to the front – this is law on the Gold Coast – however I never glued the top part which rests in a swale, so the water fills up the swale instead which overflows into the next swale.

A special thanks to Brendon of Dempsey Bobcats on the Gold Coast who kindly helped with the fig stumps I had been removing manually. Brendon was a skilful operator who took a keen interest in what we were doing. Best of all however he did it for an extremely reasonable price. In a stroke of pure fortune, he was working next door pulling up a driveway, so I sent the wife over to do the negotiation. It is a little known economic fact that Brazilian women are able to cut the price of goods and services drastically just by smiling.

The front yard slopes down quite a bit as you can see, and so this was a bit of a challenge. I had just finished reading a little booklet produced by an NGO in Thailand. The booklets basic premise was about upland agriculture using Cajanus cajan and other assorted NFL trees. The booklet was aimed at swidden farmers, who often get a bad rap, without good reason.

The information appealed to me because I often entertain day dreams of being a subsistence farmer whilst driving to work. I thought I would give the system they were describing a shot. The system involves placing NFT trees at intervals of about 3-5 meters down the slope on contour as terracing and then planting a staple crop between the terraces.

The aim of this was to provide these usually poor farmers with a mulch system that would be ‘in situ’ through chop and drop, and of course add stability to the slope and the soil as well as nitrogen fixation, which would bring extra productivity to the life of the farmers, giving them better yields and saving them a few bucks on synthetic fertilizers that just end up polluting river systems.

I took it a step further and chucked in a couple of swales and a bit of diversity, and then we soaked the whole lot in some compost tea made from worm castings. I paper mulched the most recalcitrant sections, because I don’t like to bend over unless I am picking up money.

I used a mixture of pigeon pea and crotalaria (mulch) for the terraces, some sunflowers for bee fodder (and colour, soil stabilization, presents for my wife), comfrey (chicken food, compost activator, liquid fertilizer), Canna edulis (chicken/human food, mulch), Mexican Salvia (colour, food), wing beans (food), vetiver grass (mulch, erosion control), lemon grass (mulch, food), yams, taro, yakon, assorted green manures for the swales, cosmos (colour, nematode control), mandarin, dragon fruit, black sugar cane and sweet potato with some melons for a ground cover. There are also some ceylon and brazilian spinach. The staple was cassava – a personal favourite of mine and a winner with my wife. "Happy wife, happy life", some wise man once said.

The flowers had another purpose too – if you are going to embark on this type of process you can draw a lot of attention from neighbours. It’s best if you want to win the hearts and minds of the general public to make your garden as pretty as possible in the beginning. It gets them softened up for when the thing goes rampant and you start to reclaim the foot path.

We planted out the front yard in September 2009. So far we have had good success. My melons, however, never really developed into anything worth while and the comfrey that I placed too close to the hot footpath suffered a good deal in the heat of the Queensland summer.

We had a Permablitz, organized by the wonderful Leah Galvin who is an ex intern of Geoff’s and the Panya project in Thailand. Leah is a dynamic force on the Gold Coast Permaculture scene and within its community gardens. That was in March, with lots of chop and drop, and some revamping of the back yard as well. It was a good deal. I made some food and supplied beer and some clever mates of mine did the talking (thanks Dave Spicer, Nick Huggins and Geoff from Belgium). We had a good crowd so it meant that I could concentrate on drinking and avoiding the hard work. A Galah turned up for afternoon tea and the other volunteers brought extra snacks and supplies. We had a good lot of new people and a good lot of conversation. Permablitz is a powerful way to interact with the general public in a fun and collective way. It provides educational and networking opportunities and also a great social time.

Last week I harvested the first of my cassava (July 2010). The plant harvested was a smaller variety and had about 5 kilos of roots. Cassava is without a doubt one of the most useful and resilient plants in the world. I have some other varieties that I have been developing over the last couple of seasons and when they have finished setting their seed, I will harvest and weigh them. I believe that I will have well over 80 kilos of roots – more than enough. They make all manner of derivative flours, tapioca and substitute for a potato very easily. As a source of low GI carbohydrates they are unmatched. I tried a new guild of wing bean, cassava and brazilian spinach and it has performed very favourably.

The smaller variety of Cassava was provided to me by Gardeners who have a large community garden at the Griffith University Logan campus and were recently featured on Costa’s Garden Odyssey. I was invited there a while back to give some workshops and take part in the steering committee and was privileged to see one of the most productive community gardens in Australia. It’s well worth looking at. You might be able, if you are in the area, to procure some interesting exotic vegetables at a very reasonable price, and also pick up some great African recipes.

January 2010

What about the pool you say? It’s coming along nicely and I will finish the rest of this story in a few days with some new pictures and the other things that it has taught me.

Some of the key successes from this project have not been related to yield or earth repair or water saving. The real gains have been a greater contact with my friends and neighbours through footpath discussion and sharing of plants and produce. We’ve gained an increased sense of community in tandem with a massive increase in biodiversity on what was once a sterile landscape. It also created a place for me just to get lost in general day dreams. To me, a half hour day dream in the garden is the equivalent to a good dose of Valium.

I also learned how lucky I am to live in a place with relative food security, that I don’t live on the edge of a food precipice, that I don’t rely on my land and nature’s whims to support my family, that I have the pleasure, as an affluent westerner, to choose what I will and won’t eat, that subsistence farmers all over the world are the ones who will bear the brunt of climate change. Small holders and subsistence farmers need our support, by consuming less and doing more in support of their struggles.

Bill Mollison said at the end of the first International Permaculture Consultant’s conference in 1984:

… what we are doing on the ground is increasing fantastically, and it’s because most people involved in permaculture are doing something on the ground,… that’s what is doing it…. Keep it on the ground. – International Permaculture Journal issue 17, 1984 page 2.

Good soil is nothing without water! Fortunately, there are simple and inexpensive methods available to us for capturing and storing rain water to meet our irrigation needs.  It all starts from a firm understanding of how water flows on your property and designing to make the most use of it.

Water, Access, Structures

Permaculture design always starts with water, then access ways are planned, and finally, structures. So let’s talk about water first.

Water

The best place to store water is in the soil. I have had conversations with several people about the role that beavers used to play in the landscape here in the Eastern Foothills region of Alberta (and wherever beavers live).  Beavers have a peculiar behaviour; they build microdams used as their residence.  When they build a dam on a watercourse, the dam provides an important function: it changes over-land water flow into under-land water flow.  As industrial agriculture spread throughout Alberta, the habitat for the beaver was also wiped out.  According to these reports, the landscape began to dry out in many places during this same period.

Beavers’ dams function to encourage stream and river water to seep into the ground around their dams, hydrating the ground and creating springlines in downhill regions. Once in the soil, water takes weeks, months, and even years to travel distances that  would only takes days if flowing over the land. Plus, this water is fully protected from the Sun’s rays and evaporative forces.  In dry climates, this means that water can be available to our plants during extended dry periods and drought. Watch the famous Greening The Desert project, managed by the Permaculture Research Institute for a really good example.

If we want to keep water at plants’ roots, we must capture water during rain events and store it in the soil, so that it stays on our site longer.  While methods of doing so are many, an easy and commonly applied strategy is the swale.

Swales

Swales follow a similar pattern to the beaver: they change over-land water flow into under-land water flow.  A swale is a level trench on contour, meaning that the bottom of the swale is exactly the same altitude all along its length. This is important because the function of the swale is to pacify and hold water, and not to transport water. Water enters the swale from over-land water during a rain event, over surfaces such as hard-packed ground, driveways, and from your roof’s downspout (roofs make excellent catchment surfaces).  As it rains, the swale backfills and begins to seep into the soil.

Water is held long enough in the swale for it to seep into the soil below.  Watch the following video to see how the swale works in action:

Soil excavated from the trench is mounded on the downhill side of the swale (when working with flat land, the soil can be mounded on both sides of the swale), which saves you from needing to buy soil as these mounds serve as your raised beds and planting surfaces.  Soil quality is never much of a problem in the long run because your permaculture system will build the soil over time.  You can speed this process up by employing a sheet mulch.  The inside of the swale is filled with pea gravel and topped off with crushed gravel or some other kind of inexpensive pavement.

Access

Your swales also function as your access paths.  You walk on the gravel surface, compacting it into a stable path, and pick your fruit and vegetables.  In permaculture design, function is more important than form.  The materials and work invested in building the swale pays off both as a water harvesting and storage feature, but also as a pathway, saving you both resources and space.

Swales are not the only way of passively hydrating a landscape.  Other effective methods exist, including keyline design.  More on this in a future article!

Further Reading:

• Keyline Swales – a Geoff Lawton/Darren Doherty Hybrid
• Use of Small Swales – a Case Study
• Life at Zaytuna – Swales in Landscape
• Tackling Urban Water Runoff in a Sydney Suburb

Permaculture solutions have come to life at a Wagga Wagga farm in the midst of a heated debate over water. What Kevin Rudd Claim’s will help the Murray Darling River system and the Lower Lakes region has some farmers in the area fuming. Farmers and residents throughout the Murray Darling region have larger concerns over the Australian government’s 3.1 Billion Dollar irrigation buyback scheme. The Rudd government is reacting to reduced productivity in the area and increasing demand for irrigated water downstream. Yet, some local farmers are curious as to how the proposed plan will affect production in the area, and reports show that many aren’t feeling optimistic.

After years of drought-affected production losses, the government’s buyback seems like a kick in the teeth to some selected local farming and ranching economies. A Canberra Times article reported on an ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics) study that modeled the effects of half of the buyback. The study was Rudd’s reaction to growing criticism about the buyback. Their report showed that between 2008 and 2011 the program would only pick up an estimated 6% of surface water entitlements. The study predicted that “larger regional centers” with a diverse economy would be less effected by this purchase and, potentially, be cushioned by the economic boost. Still they admitted, ”Some of the smaller towns more dependent on irrigation could be less resilient to a decline in irrigation,” and “The model results also suggest that the buyback will result in water prices being around 13 per cent higher in the northern basin and around 18 per cent higher in the southern basin than they would have been in the absence of the buyback.” Favoring the buyback, the ABARE study seemed to suggest that production decline was largely due to drought and not their buyback. Still, some aren’t so sure and suggest that deeper thought needs to be given to the program.

So while some residents and farmers resort to scratching a furrowed brow, others have resorted to taking the furrows to the land, with permaculture. Seeing the potential benefits of permaculture water harvesting and food production techniques, one Wagga family, The Allsopps, have taken action, and they’re seeing results. The BBC reports that a 20% drop in rainfall equals a 70% drop in stream flow, and as a long time Wagga Wagga resident, this would be no surprise to Richard Allsopp. Richard has seen the value in slowing, spreading, and sinking water on his site. Seeking advice from Australian experts such as Geoff Lawton, Matthew Kilby, and Peter Andrews, Richard has developed a ranch that is unwittingly becoming a demonstration of sustainable land management.

With the recent development of a multi-gigaliter dam connected to swale systems and several gabions using boulders and timber from his land, Richard has seen a marked difference in the health and vitality of his pastures and streams. Currently grazing anywhere from 30-40 head of cattle for management, Richard is now researching ways to continually improve the site with native tree corridors and swale planting for animal forage and stability. Seeing the success of the rock gabion installation last year, he’s also been talking with fellow permaculture designer Nick Huggins about the addition of several living bamboo gabions to slow the rapid erosion of stream banks. And just last week, Nick Huggins and I designed and installed an 800 sq meter orchard and 400 sq meter veggie garden on their site for Richard, Anna and their 3 children. “I think it’s important that the children get the experience of understanding where food comes from, … it just makes sense”, said Richard.

Near one of the older dams on the property, a fenced off area included the proposed site for the permaculture style veggie garden and orchard. Most of the veggie garden and orchard lie within the dam’s catchment on the downward slope of the cow paddock. Seeing the opportunity of the slope, Nick and my design focused on utilizing contour bank garden beds, small tree berms, native leguminous support species, and deep mulch seeded with cover crop. Our hope was to slow and sink the surface runoff from the paddock area on its way to the dam, making best use of the nutrient flow. In the orchard food forest we used a net and pan style planting, interplanted with tree lucurne and a variety of acacia species. Around the orchard we added Southwest and Southeast bamboo windbreaks which will double as a living nursery for their future bamboo plantings. A windbreak on the West side included a aesthetic windbreak of Silver Birch. At the northern end of the 4 contour beds with sunken footpaths, we added a mandala herb and salad garden which they plan to cover with a shade cloth to protect against Wagga’s intense sun and 40°C summer heat. After planting out the veggie garden and trees, almost the entire area was later covered with a cover crop of lucurne, red and white clover and then coated with a thick layer of salvaged local straw. Already decomposing, we could see the straw would create a nice start for microbial action as well as a multifunctional mulch.

While he’s received some criticism from other locals who haven’t yet wrapped their heads around how permaculture can work for them, Richard knows he’s on to something positive. Richard, also a helicopter pilot, often gets a bird’s eye view of what the land around him has devolved into, and it doesn’t look good. “I want to help show people what can be done… and I’m willing to help people do this.” And while he wouldn’t call himself a Permaculturalist, it is obvious he’s got a passion and commitment to improving his land and the land around him. Through his endeavors in permaculture design and sustainable land management, he’s seeing the evolution of abundance when others are feeling hung out to dry.

Last week Permaculture consultant Nick Huggins spoke to Anne Delaney from the ABC Riverina Breakfast radio program in Wagga Wagga, NSW. Listen here:

Nick Huggins Talks to ABC Radio About Riverina’s Water Blues

A backgrounder: Two Permaculture consultants, currently drought proofing a property in Livingstone, are calling for an end to the Australian Government’s water buy-back scheme, saying turning off the taps rather than helping farmers repair degraded landscape is selling the Riverina’s future short.

Over 9 days, Nick Huggins and Paul David Stockhausen from the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia (PRI) are implementing a plan to turn a degraded property in Livingstone into a drought-proof landscape that will see it use less irrigation water as each year passes while still growing ever more productive.

Nick says the project is an example of how the Riverina could take the little water that’s left in the region and get back to full production.

“With a proper management plan there is enough water available to get this area looking like the sunshine coast but instead 60 farmers have been encouraged to sell their irrigation entitlements, effectively locking their land into a permanent dry and degraded state.”

Geoff Lawton implemented a series of swales 12 months ago. Paul said “A year on and the results are clear, the swales and dams are full and there are springs popping out of land that was brown and dusty a year ago.”

On the buy-back scheme, Nick said “The Australian Government’s plan of buying back water and turning off irrigation channels may free up water in the short term but it won’t fix the environmental damage caused by years of over-grazing and chemical agriculture.

“If the government continues promoting this program it may worsen environmental problems, destroy communities and could ultimately lead to less food security for Australia.”

They both believe the Government needs to look at the bigger picture and put a renewed focus on sustainable agriculture.

“Implementing Permaculture principals has turned this farm green again with relatively low inputs, it wouldn’t take much to do this across the whole region and it can only improve the situation”, said Nick.

“Over the next 40 years we need more food not less, but if we just stop using water what future does the Riverina have? They might have to shut the post office down as well!”

John is a passionate Vetiver user who got his first sprigs about 10 years ago. Currently on his property he is using it as a hardware runoff silt trap, kykuyu grass barrier, erosion control, and fruit tree berms (demonstrated in the accompanying video). He also explains that Vetiver makes an excellent long lasting mulch.

John first saw Vetiver being used in Bali on road works as an anti-erosion measure. Then on the same trip saw it being extensively used at IDEP’s Bali Poverty Project, where it was being planted on contour as an erosion control that would build up soil during the rains, creating terraces without the hard manual labour. During his recent tour around Africa, following the International Permaculture Convergence in Malawi, he witnessed an extensive use of the grass, especially in the Permaculture village, Chikukwa, Zimbabwe. He describes how the 8000+ population of perhaps one of the largest and relatively unknown Permaculture sites in the world has integrated Vetiver extensively into their system. Similar to the Bali Poverty Project, they planted it along contours where in time, debris, organic matter and soils back-fill behind it to build terraces that they could then plant trees into.

Chikukwa, Zimbabwe

It’s easy to find plenty of information on Vetiver. The Vetiver Network International (TVNI) is a great group dedicated to promoting vetivers use worldwide. As I read about the grass, all I can seem to find is positive attribute after positive attribute. From its tolerance to extreme climatic variation "such as prolonged drought, flood, submergence and extreme temperature from -14ºC to +55ºC", to its ability to withstand a soil pH from 3.3 to 12.5, and toxins from contaminated waste water and soil. Vetiver is also tolerant to all heavy metals, salinity, pests, chemicals and fire. It has a deep strong root system that can "penetrate weathering rock, hard pan, and other hostile growing media" making it ideal for erosion control. It is non-competitive and non-invasive, dying back once shaded out, therefore a great pioneer species for converting eroded land back to fertile forest systems. Not to mention can be used as a stock fodder.

Vetivers could be up there with bamboo as one of the most beneficial plants ever, especially in relation to a low fossil fuel future. The days of bulldozers, excavators, and even the trusty tractor could well be over soon. Therefore it is imperative that we start thinking of replacement technologies for a world with limited access to heavy duty machinery. Could one of the alternatives be a simple grass? Imagine keyline designs with rows of Vetiver rather then diversion drains and deep ripping, and contour swales/terraces formed behind hedgerows of the grass.

I’d love this article to stimulate some discussion on the issue of the future of water harvesting. And I encourage others to share any creative applications of Vetiver they have seen or thought of. This is what Permaculture is about, this is what we do, creative solutions for a sustainable future.

Here’s a brief video clip I made where John demonstrates one of Vetiver’s many applications:

For more information on Vetiver please visit The Vetiver Network International or to contact John Champagne please visit www.permaculturedesign.com.au

References:

• Permaculture International Journal article 1995
• The Vetiver Network International

Mullumbimby’s community garden is blossoming into a hive of activity with people from all walks of life building, creating and gardening together. Our communal gardens and new allotments are now brimming with organic fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers while 18 "Pods" (special interest groups) develop programs and projects that are launching MCG into a sustainable living education centre.

Celebrating the first year on site with a VIP breakfast for 60 neighbours, sponsors and supporters, MCG co-ordinator, Jeannette Martin led the group on a tour of the five acre site to experience the site plan in the early stages of action. The Children’s garden, nursery and chook palace have been pegged out, hybrid adobe raised garden beds are under construction around the new rotunda, compost heaps were brewing and the biochar kiln was ready for its first firing.

The onset of cooler Autumn weather, the development of the allotments and a team-building series of workshops has seen numbers of people participating in activities increase dramatically and with visitors and volunteers dropping in every day, the energy at the garden is vibrant and joyful.

The challenges of dealing with some "strong" personalities with adamant ideas of how things "should" be done is giving everyone involved the opportunity to grow and experience what true "respect for diversity" really means and it’s working. Policies and procedures are evolving, friendships are developing and skills and knowledge are being shared.

Patience and perservence are definitely two qualities that have been imperative to the development of the Mullumbimby Community Garden. It was a long three year process to secure a lease of the site and funding is an ongoing challenge. There are definite challenges in developing a community garden with a "bottom up/grass roots" approach but the benefits are now coming to fruition in a big way with a shared vision that is manifesting on a daily basis. Aerial photos of the garden are almost outdated before the end of the week but the group-developed site plan is generally guiding the process.

The Mullumbimby Community Garden is open 7 days a week during daylight hours with our organised activity days being Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday between 9 & 3. You can find MCG situated just 500m from the Mullumbimby CBD at the southern end of Stuart Street, past the museum/market site, across Salt Water Creek and adjacent to the tennis courts.

All are welcome to drop in, offer a helping hand or just to wander around and feel the enthusiasm that is burgeoning behind every sunflower, lettuce leaf and budding eggplant in the gardens.

Jeannette Martin
Co-ordinator
Mullumbimby Community Garden inc.
PO Box 149
Mullumbimby 2482

Phone: 02 6684 4876
0412 322 255
Email: mullumcommunitygarden (at) gmail.com
Web: http://mullumcommunitygarden.wordpress.com