Permaculture Workshop hosted by the Placer Resrouce Conservation District and instructed by Matthew Trumm of Treetop Permaculture.
How can a powerline in a backyard be an asset for sustainable and ecological food systems?
How can we build sustainable food systems where change is constant?
How can our backyards become more integrated, sustainable, and productive habitats for humans and non-humans?
On Saturday, June 1, 2024, at the Maidu Community Center in Roseville, California, 40 participants attended the Introduction to Permaculture Workshop hosted by the Placer Resource Conservation District and instructed by Matthew Trumm of Treetop Permaculture to answer those questions and more!
Some attendees had prior knowledge of permaculture, while others were new to the concept. They included both long-term residents and newcomers to the area. The ages and generations of the attendees varied widely, too! However, all came with a common desire to learn how they could apply permaculture principles to improve the spaces they inhabit.
Why Permaculture?
The Placer RCD has an interest in permaculture for three primary reasons:
- Permaculture is a design philosophy that can help restore fragmented communities and landscapes.
- Permaculture is a powerful opportunity-finding tool.
- Permaculture enhances our understanding of conservation, viewing it not just as resource protection but as a practice of holistic integration.
The Placer RCD recognizes that, amidst significant change and fragmentation in our communities and habitats, thinking and acting in terms of integration, systems, and wholes at the small scale, like a backyard or small farm, is critically important and necessary. In fact, we assume that every backyard has the potential to connect habitats and communities for the better, and many communities already have the agency to do it.
This assumption underscores the value of how the Placer RCD strives to approach its work, and it dovetails nicely with permaculture as a design philosophy. Placer RCD is not an empowering agency. First, Placer RCD assumes that many of its constituents are empowered. Second, as a non-regulatory and neutral government agency, Placer RCD does not have the power to give. However, Placer RCD can train, equip, encourage, and support conservation actions, whether they occur through a permaculture design framework or otherwise.
Placer RCD views permaculture as a powerful tool for identifying opportunities and solving problems. Problem-solving can be approached in two ways: reductive thinking and systems thinking, with a spectrum in between. Reductive thinking focuses on straightforward solutions that simplify problems and provide immediate fixes, often by eliminating unnecessary parts. This approach is helpful in crisis situations. On the other hand, systems thinking emphasizes understanding the entire system and the relationships between its parts, seeking solutions that integrate and harmonize all elements, including those initially seen as problematic. Permaculture heavily relies on this holistic approach. The phrase ‘it all belongs’ captures the essence of systems thinking, where most elements can be transformed into adaptive and essential components of a healthy, functioning system.
The word conservation literally means “to save together” or “to keep together” and permaculture is a way of thinking more in line with this understanding. Another way of viewing conservation is as a practice in wholeness that attempts to integrate elements, processes, and systems in a way that mutually benefits everyone. It’s more of a relational term than a term specific to natural resources. Permaculture and conservation, within this perspective, are cousins.
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is a design philosophy that aims to integrate system elements in ways that mutually benefit humans and non-human life.
Imagine a system or way of being, thinking, and doing that starts from a place where everything belongs. It’s a complex concept to accept and live in, where even the eye sores (i.e., weeds, powerlines, etc.) and other liabilities can serve a purpose and where, culturally, we are so used to and taught to remove those components.
For example, the powerline we mentioned above may be an eye-sore and also a highway for squirrels to drop acorns and other seeds to jump-start plant repopulation.
Another example: a problem with ticks is not seen as a tick problem but as an opportunity to hunt deer (in the absence of its primary predator) or an invitation to add chickens, who are voracious eaters of ticks. Both options provide food and safety. A reductive approach would either fence off a yard or exterminate—a reasonable response amid a crisis but not a sustainable solution in and of itself.
In a world where the only fundamental constant is that things change, permaculture offers a lens to view these changes as opportunities for renewal and growth – similar to how a sailor can adjust their ship’s sails to ever-changing winds to reach its destination.
From another perspective, permaculture leads one to accept problems as invitations to observe and adapt to a bigger relationship with yourself and your surrounding community—human or otherwise.
Practical Application
To demonstrate these concepts, Matthew Trumm (Treetop Permaculture) guided workshop attendees through exercises to instill the practical applications of permaculture with everyday scenarios. For example, at the end of the day, attendees got together in groups each with a unique problem set (e.g. invasive weeds, rowdy neighbors, fire protection, etc.). On a template site, each group worked through the problem set, taking each scenario as an opportunity to build a design environment.
In another exercise, the whole class participated in creating an “element wishlist” or things they would like to see in their landscape. Examples included chickens, pizza oven, fountains, outdoor shower, and fruit trees. With that, we began an imaginative exercise to draw the connections that each of these components shared and how they could work together through an “element analysis”.
Similarly, in another exercise, rope was used to connect different resources together to illustrate how resilient a permaculture system can be under stress or when one component fails – diversity was the key word. For example, a fruiting vine could climb a tree which provides shade for the house but also drops fruit (like a Mulberry Tree) on a chicken coup, providing food for the chickens as well. And this process went on until we had to make our selves stop!
In Summary
In summary, the Introduction to Permaculture Workshop provided attendees with a comprehensive understanding of how permaculture principles can transform their backyards into sustainable and productive habitats. Through hands-on exercises and collaborative problem-solving, participants learned to view challenges as opportunities for innovation and growth. They left equipped with the knowledge and inspiration to apply permaculture practices in their own spaces, fostering resilience and harmony between humans and nature.
The Placer Resource Conservation District is committed to supporting community members in their journey towards creating sustainable and integrated ecosystems. By empowering individuals with the tools and knowledge to implement permaculture, we can collectively enhance our environments and build a more sustainable future.
For more information on upcoming workshops and resources, sign up for the Placer RCD newsletter. Together, let’s continue to explore and implement permaculture principles, transforming our communities and landscapes into thriving, interconnected systems.