week 70 – A story of a permaculture garden in the city; Tips on applying permaculture principles in an office. History of permaculture.

Hello dear ones, it’s Marija

This week, I decided to use my vacation days to come back to my home country and take a driving license exam. It felt very nice being with my parents and enjoying my hometown. Everywhere we go, we can find inspiration, so this week I will be sharing with you, dear readers, mine. When I was a little child, I remember we had a vegetable garden in our backyard. It was what is considered for most people “normal” garden. My parents were tilling, weeding and using big amounts of water to keep the garden alive. I don’t remember them spraying the plants with chemicals, but during those times, I don’t think it was as popular as it is in the more recent years. For me growing up, it was a normal thing to go down to your backyard and get some food, and food that was much tastier than the one you buy in the stores. This is in our culture, if you didn’t have a garden in your home than you surely had one at your grandparents. But then at one moment my parents decided that they will plant grass and not make a garden anymore.

Up left: Zelnik – one of my favourite dishes

Down left: Plum tree decorated with pots with flowers

Up middle: Flower garden

Middle: Inchplant

Down middle: view on the vegetable garden

Up right: Marija picking strawberries

Down right: Flower garden

So years passed by, I got interested in permaculture and natural lifestyle but never really shared much with my parents about it. Then 3 years ago, at spring time, my mother told me that she is making a permaculture garden on the place of our old garden. She has been studying the concepts online, she found some YouTube channels, she joined some Facebook groups about organic gardening, and she was ready to start this new chapter. I was super impressed and inspired. They made the raised beds, brought soil and straw bales, and started the composter. She only took seedlings from our neighbours that she knew had organic and old seeds, I also gave her some of the seeds I had. She is using different types of natural fertilisers, depending on the need of the plants. Since then on, the garden is flourishing every possible season. I have to admit, my garden has never looked as good as hers. Her dedication and care really pay off. So this week I made a video with something that really inspires me. I hope you enjoy it.

Andrii:

This week I will share with you some information about our office and how we apply permacultural methods and principles in a city environment, with great hope that it will give you inspiration and ideas. First thing first, composting. Composting means to collect leftovers from plants in order to leave them to decay and turn into very nutritious humus and enrich the soil. Usually it is collected in a container, so it can decay in a closed space. This is better for two reasons: the process happens faster, and the smell doesn’t spread, which in city environment especially is important. Nowadays, containers can be bought or made. In our office, we first collect it inside in a smaller container/bucket and then transport it outside to the big container in the backyard of the building.

Up left and right: Marija and Andrii transfering the compost to the outside container

Down left: Andrii picking blackberries

Down right: Marija collecting the compost inside

Other thing that we do is plant herbs and spices in pots that stay outside our windows. We can plant twice a year and use this space, even though it is not so big, to satisfy our needs for herbs and spices. Other ideas are if you have a balcony you can also plant many other plants such as tomatoes or cucumbers in pots, or whatever your heart desires.

In the backyard, we also have blackberries. This delicious fruit is usually very expensive in stores, and it comes in a plastic package, and we have it for free and ecologically grown.

The food products are bulk goods that come in paper packages. Later we store them in jars that can be reused. Everything that is bought is in reusable or recyclable. We try to make as least waste as possible. I believe that anyone can make a more sustainable lifestyle if their mind to it in any environment they live. At first, it may sound and seem more complicated, but with a little effort and adjustment it is more possible and pleasant, and it has good impact on our planet.

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Hello from Vlad and Nikolina. “History of permaculture”. The work of Howard T. Oduma also had an impact on the permaculture at an early stage, especially for Holmgren [4]. The ODUM focused on the ecology system, in particular the “principle of maximum power”, which claims that natural systems tend to maximize energy throughout the system. For example, the total amount of heat in the forest is very high, together with a mass of plants and animals. This is an effective sunlight converter in biomass. On the other hand, the wheat field has much less energy and often needs more of its number, in other words, fertilizer. Persival Alfred Jomets in the book of 1973 “Water for Each Farm” supported the idea of “permanent farming” on self-sustaining land. He introduced the agricultural method based on observation, in Australia in the 1940s, and then proposed a more rational use of water resources (“contour design” or “key line design”) in the 1950s.