EoP: Patterns & Paths

Elements of PermaculturePatterns & Paths

Ben Kessler Laughing Crow Permaculture

What is Permaculture?“A new buzz-word for an old way of living.” – Jude Hobbs

“[A] design system for creating sustainable human environments. On one level, permaculture deals with plants, animals, buildings, and infrastructures (water, energy, communications). However, permaculture is not about these elements themselves, but rather about the relationships we can create between them by the way we place them in the landscape.” – Bill Mollison & Reny Mia Slay

“A system only becomes permaculture when its design is shown over time to produce no harm to any other system and touches every aspect of our lives.” – Graham Bell

Enduring and Resilient rather than Permanent

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Permaculture!

4Urban Forest Garden, Holyoak, MAphotos by Jonathan Bates

Permaculture in Action

Year 1 Year 3

Year 0

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Beyond SustainabilitySustainable: Capable of being sustained.

Sustain 1. to support, hold, or bear up from below; bear the weight of, as a structure. 2. to bear (a burden, charge, etc.). 3. to undergo, experience, or suffer (injury, loss, etc.); endure without giving way or

yielding. 4. to keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way, as under trial or affliction. 5. to keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation. 6. to supply with food, drink, and other necessities of life.

- Random House Dictionary• Alternatives:

Vibrant, Verdant, Vivacious, etc.

Yahatidom: “Being a part of the cause of its goodness.”

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Design Process1. Observation– What is already here?

• 2. Interpretation– What does it mean?

• 3. Design– What can we do with it?

• 4. Implementation– Do it!

• 5. Assessment– Did it work?

Observe & Replicate Natural Patterns

Work with, rather than against nature.

“Protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor.” – Bill Mollison

Design intensive vs. labor intensive

“We go to the forest to learn.” – Bill Mollison

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Spheres & DomesBalance

Eggs, Stars, Cherries, Circle Gardens, Geodesic Domes, Radiolarians

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PolygonsPacking & Cracking

Honeycombs, Mosaics, Cracked Mud, Corn Kernels, Ice Crystals

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NetResilience

Spiderwebs, Straw Mulch, Food Web, Hydrocarbon Molecules, Mycelium

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SpiralsGrowth

Hurricanes, Mollusk Shells, Fiddleheads, Herb Spirals

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ConesShedding

Conifers, Quills, Dolphins, Rockets, Peaked Roofs, Moles

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ScatterChance

Broadcast Seed, Stars, Check Dams, Pachinko, Crises

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BranchesCollection & Dispersal

Feathers, River Deltas, Blood Vessels, Parking Lot Traffic

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WavesRhythm

Sand Dunes, Hummingbird Flight, Berms & Swales, Heartbeats

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Overbeck JetFlow

Mushrooms, van Karman Trails, Jellyfish, Wind Turbulence

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LobesAbsorption

Intestinal Villi, Lakeshores, Amoebas, Schmutzdecke, Gabions

Utilize Edges

“The edge is where the action is.” – Scott Kleinrock

Ecotone: The transitional area between two adjacent communities of organisms. Ecotones tend to be the most ecologically diverse places in the landscape.

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Intestinal Villi Meanders on the Swanson River

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B^b^m ’Cha Mangroves

Maximum Edge!

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Pattern Language• “A pattern language is about patterns being like words.

They stay the same but can be combined in different ways like words in a sentence. They can be used as in a network where one will call upon another (like a neuron network). When you build something you can put patterns together to form a language. So a language for your house might have patterns about transitions, light, ceiling height, connecting the second floor to the ground.

• A community might put together a language including patterns about public and private spaces, cars, pedestrians and parking. Using languages helps you to visualize and think about what will really make you comfortable, really comfortable.

• Good languages are in harmony with geography, climate, and culture.” – Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language

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Light

“People are by nature phototropic- they move toward light, and, when stationary, they orient themselves toward the light. As a result the much loved and much used places in buildings, where the most things happen, are places like window seats, verandas, fireside corners, trellised arbors; all of them defined by non-uniformities in light, and all of them allowing the people who are in them to orient themselves toward the light.” – Christopher Alexander

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Color

“The greens and greys of hospitals and office corridors are depressing and cold. Natural wood, sunlight, bright colors are warm. In some way, the warmth of the colors in a room makes a great deal of difference between comfort and discomfort.” – Christopher Alexander

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Kitchens

“Dark gloomy kitchens are depressing. The kitchen needs the sun more than the other rooms, not less.” – Christopher Alexander

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Fireplaces

“There is no substitute for fire. Television often gives focus to a room, but it is nothing but a feeble substitute for something which is actually alive and flickering within the room.” – Christopher Alexander

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Chairs

“We project our moods and personalities into the chairs we sit in. In one mood a big fat chair is just right; in another mood, a rocking chair; for another, a stiff upright; and yet again, a stool or sofa... A setting that is full of chairs, all slightly different, creates an atmosphere which supports rich experience; a setting which contains chairs that are all alike puts a subtle straight jacket on experience.” – Christopher Alexander

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Thanks toTyrone LaFay

Connor Stedman&

Scott Kleinrockfor words and pictures

Contact Informationbkessler@gm.slc.edu

laughingcrowpermaculture.wordpress.com