Design Methodology (3m 17s)
Permaculture design is the process of designing and maintaining a short-term and long-term plan of self-reliance. This plan is designed to focus on the now and the later. How can we do something useful now and have it contribute to a sustainable long-term vision, later. The clearer we can be in our project design, the more easily we can achieve self-reliance when we get to work.
The design process or design methodology for permaculture is much like the scientific method or any other trouble-shooting analysis. First we analyse our resources, we see what we have, see what we’re looking at. What’s the story of this project? What’s the surrounding community like? What are the existing conditions, the permits, the sorts of basic overview things that are not going to change.
Then we set goals. This is when we get into our plan. This is where we say here’s where we are, where are we going to go? What’s the mission? What’s the goal? What do you want the place to look like 6 months from now, a year, 5 years from now? Try to be specific in stating what it is you want to accomplish. However one defines goal setting. This is where we start to create the identity of the project. What’s this place about? How is it unique? A good way to write down goals is to think of smart goals. This is an acronym for specific measurable articulate, relevant, and or time-bound objectives. Use these as a guide when writing down your initial goals.
Examples of a goal or mission statement could be, “we aim to be a self-reliant demonstration site using permaculture design principles.”
“We aim to renovate our guesthouse to reduce our energy and food costs and inspire our guest with more holistic accommodations.”
So for the design phase, this is the meat of the course. This is what the next dozen or so videos are going to cover. What could you do at your site? We’ll go thoruhg each chapter, earthworks, natural building, water, sanitation, soil, microorganisms, fungi, nursery, garden, trees, aquaculture, insects and animals, kitchen, appropriate technology. Once we go through the design phase, then we’ll get into implementation. We’ll ask the questions how are we going to install these first projects. Are we going to do it by ourselves, how can other friends participate and the last part of the design process is the evaluation. It’s important to take time to evaluate the entire design process and determine if and when changes need to be made.
Once we complete an element installation, it’s important to continue to revisit the design and massage the idea into more and more of a realistic plan. You are the best judge of the strength of your design and overall success of your project.
The evaluation stage of design is when we zoom out again. We zoom out to the project level, the time commitment, available resources and so on, it’s easy to get excited and carried away in this work, then you realise you only have a few days left and you’re halfway done with something. You want to make sure you can finish whatever you’re working on.
So analyse resources, set goals, design, implement and evaluate. And then we repeat this process. This is the permaculture design process. Okay, see you next time.