Permaculture Principles
1. Diversity: Polyculture, not monoculture. Use a variety of beneficial plants and animals.
2. Edge Effect: There is more energy and more diversity of life in the space where two systems overlap. Use patterns and shapes that create the most edge.
3. Pattern: The glue of Permaculture. The way nature organizes itself.
4. Scale: Create human-scale systems that are manageable. Choose simple, appropriate technologies. Start small and take achievable steps towards an ideal goal.
5. Energy Planning: Catch and store energy (water, wind, sun, gravity) that is onsite. Place elements within a design in a way that will conserve the most energy.
6. Energy Cycling: Recycle and reuse resources as many times as possible. In a natural system, there is no waste or pollution.
7. Use What You Got: Try to use onsite materials that support the system design and reduce the need for import.
8. Multiple Elements: Support each essential functions in more than one way, so that if one element fails, it will not stop other elements in the process from functioning. Also, recognize that there is more than one way to manage any process.
9. Multiple Functions: Design to get at least three uses for every element in a system. Most things can be used in a variety of ways and for a variety of functions.
10. Natural Succession: The process by which a community progressively transforms itself until a stable community is formed (grasses give way to shrubs which give way to trees). Keep this change in mind when removing, selecting or placing species in a design.
11. Relative Location: Place every element of your design in relationships so that they can receive benefits from each other.
12. Personal Responsibility: Sustainable actions you do will create benefits for others now and in
the future. The opposite is true for destructive actions.
13. Cooperation Not Competetion: Cooperation between people promotes community involvement, shared and improved knowledge and skills. Competition creates conflict within communities, especially if a resource is scarce.
14. Observation: Spend time observing natural systems to help make better design decisions. Watch what is and is not working. Conduct simple experiments.
15. Beauty: Highly productive systems can also be beautiful. Using attractive shapes and plant varieties in your designs will not only promote beauty, but also increase diversity.
16. The Problem is the Solution: Everything is a positive resource, it is up to us to work out how we may use it as such.
17. Least Change for Greatest Effect: Work smart, not hard. Minimize disturbances. For example, when
choosing a dam site, select the area where you get the most water for the least amount of earth moved.
18. Unlimited Yield: The only limit on the number of uses of a resource possible within a system is in the limit of the information and the imagination of the designer. If you think you have fully planted an area, almost any other designer can see ways to add other elements (vine, beneficial insect, water catchment).
19. Everything Gardens: Everything has an effect on the environment. It is a matter of careful
consideration as to what species belong in a system. You must decide whether to manage them or leave them alone.
20. Wild Energies: The wild card in your design. The energy coming through a site. (Wind, Water, Fire, Animals, Vog, Heat, Magnetic Field?)
21. Stacking in Time and Space: Use space efficiently by keeping in mind horizontal and vertical aspects, as well as growing rates of plants.
22. Address human occupants – abilities and limitations: Consider physical limitations of occupants to be able to manage and enjoy the area, needs (types of foods they can eat, physical exercise, meditation, raised beds for those with back pain).
2. Edge Effect: There is more energy and more diversity of life in the space where two systems overlap. Use patterns and shapes that create the most edge.
3. Pattern: The glue of Permaculture. The way nature organizes itself.
4. Scale: Create human-scale systems that are manageable. Choose simple, appropriate technologies. Start small and take achievable steps towards an ideal goal.
5. Energy Planning: Catch and store energy (water, wind, sun, gravity) that is onsite. Place elements within a design in a way that will conserve the most energy.
6. Energy Cycling: Recycle and reuse resources as many times as possible. In a natural system, there is no waste or pollution.
7. Use What You Got: Try to use onsite materials that support the system design and reduce the need for import.
8. Multiple Elements: Support each essential functions in more than one way, so that if one element fails, it will not stop other elements in the process from functioning. Also, recognize that there is more than one way to manage any process.
9. Multiple Functions: Design to get at least three uses for every element in a system. Most things can be used in a variety of ways and for a variety of functions.
10. Natural Succession: The process by which a community progressively transforms itself until a stable community is formed (grasses give way to shrubs which give way to trees). Keep this change in mind when removing, selecting or placing species in a design.
11. Relative Location: Place every element of your design in relationships so that they can receive benefits from each other.
12. Personal Responsibility: Sustainable actions you do will create benefits for others now and in
the future. The opposite is true for destructive actions.
13. Cooperation Not Competetion: Cooperation between people promotes community involvement, shared and improved knowledge and skills. Competition creates conflict within communities, especially if a resource is scarce.
14. Observation: Spend time observing natural systems to help make better design decisions. Watch what is and is not working. Conduct simple experiments.
15. Beauty: Highly productive systems can also be beautiful. Using attractive shapes and plant varieties in your designs will not only promote beauty, but also increase diversity.
16. The Problem is the Solution: Everything is a positive resource, it is up to us to work out how we may use it as such.
17. Least Change for Greatest Effect: Work smart, not hard. Minimize disturbances. For example, when
choosing a dam site, select the area where you get the most water for the least amount of earth moved.
18. Unlimited Yield: The only limit on the number of uses of a resource possible within a system is in the limit of the information and the imagination of the designer. If you think you have fully planted an area, almost any other designer can see ways to add other elements (vine, beneficial insect, water catchment).
19. Everything Gardens: Everything has an effect on the environment. It is a matter of careful
consideration as to what species belong in a system. You must decide whether to manage them or leave them alone.
20. Wild Energies: The wild card in your design. The energy coming through a site. (Wind, Water, Fire, Animals, Vog, Heat, Magnetic Field?)
21. Stacking in Time and Space: Use space efficiently by keeping in mind horizontal and vertical aspects, as well as growing rates of plants.
22. Address human occupants – abilities and limitations: Consider physical limitations of occupants to be able to manage and enjoy the area, needs (types of foods they can eat, physical exercise, meditation, raised beds for those with back pain).