Permaculture in Action

My first introduction to Permaculture was a permaculture and organic farm bike trip on Hawaii's Big Island. The trip was with a company called Common Circle Expeditions, which I would highly reccommend to anyone who wants an amazingly professional, fun, well-organized and highly informative bike trip.

I consider myself no expert on permaculture, but have been noticing principles of permaculture being done around the farm and have been wanting to do a post on it.

I will start with the definition of permaculture. Simply stated, permaculture is a theory of design and a way of doing things that make sustainable systems by modeling natural systems. It consists of three core values (care of Earth, care of people and setting limits to population and consumption) and twelve principles. I won't go into the principles here, but I will focus on a few, mostly produce no waste and use and value diversity.

Brewer's Barley in Fish Farm Bag (bag reused twice!)

This brewer's barley is from a brewery in Tofino, and is used as one food source of the cow. Bob showed me how to tell if a cow is full or not. It involves looking at the back left side of their back and seeing if the area by their stomach is concave or convex. If not used for cow food like this, the brewer's barley would not be used for anything. The white bag that it came in was used for fish food for fish farms on the West coast of Vanvouver Island. Pretty amazing that the bags get used a few times over. Sometimes Bob and Ann will use the bags for something else, like storing fire wood or storing other things.

Brewing Barley

Another way that no waste is created on the farm is by using the lard of the pigs to make pies and to feed the birds. Birds need fat in the winter, especially when it's cold, so the lard is a perfect feed for them. I bet they appreciate it a lot.

Pig lard, used to feed the birds.

Sawdust, from the mill across the street, used to put in the cow/horse stalls

There is a sawmill across the street from the farm, where this saw dust comes from. The saw dust is put in the cow stalls and horses stalls when they are cleaned. It smells amazing. Other than creating no waste, I'm not sure what permaculture principal it follows. It comes from as close as possible (300meters is as far as it travels).

The farm has many buckets placed so that they collect rain water. There is so much compost from the kitchen, and the gardens have much variety. Permaculture is seen many places on the farm.