The Twelve Permaculture design principles
The Twelve Permaculture design principles articulated by David Holmgren in his book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability
Observe and interact: By taking time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.
Catch and store energy: By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need.
Obtain a yield: Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.
Apply self-regulation and accept feedback: Discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
Use and value renewable resources and services: Make the best use of nature's abundance to reduce our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable resources.
Produce no waste: By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
Design from patterns to details: By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go.
Integrate rather than segregate: By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.
Use small and slow solutions: Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes.
Use and value diversity: Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.
Use edges and value the marginal: The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system.
Creatively use and respond to change: We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.
Layers
Layers are one of the tools we use to design functional ecosystems that are both sustainable and of direct benefit to humans. A mature ecosystem has a huge number of relationships between its component parts: trees, understory, ground cover, soil, fungi, insects, and animals. Because plants grow to different heights, a diverse community of life is able to grow in a relatively small space, as the vegetation occupies different layers.
We use the seven basic layers in a food forest, but there can be many more.
The canopy: the tallest trees in the system. Large trees dominate, but typically do not saturate the area, i.e., there exist patches devoid of trees.
Understory layer: trees that flourish in the dappled light under the canopy.
Shrub layer: a diverse layer of woody perennials of limited height. Includes most berry bushes.
Herbaceous layer: Plants in this layer die back to the ground every winter, if cold enough. They do not produce woody stems as the Shrub layer does. A large variety of beneficial plants fall into this layer.
Soil surface/Groundcover: There is some overlap with the Herbaceous layer and the Groundcover layer; however plants in this layer grow much closer to the ground, grow densely to fill bare patches of soil, and often can tolerate some foot traffic. Cover crops retain soil and lessen erosion, along with green manures that add nutrients and organic matter to the soil, especially nitrogen.
Rhizosphere: Root layers within the soil. The major components of this layer are the soil and the organisms that live within it such as plant roots and rhizomes (including root crops such as potatoes and other edible tubers), fungi, insects, nematodes, worms, etc.
Vertical layer: climbers or vines, such as runner beans and lima beans (vine varieties).
Guilds
A guild is a group of species within which each provides a unique set of diverse functions that work in conjunction or harmony. There are many forms of guilds, including guilds of plants with similar functions that could interchange within an ecosystem, but the most common perception is that of a mutual support guild.
Mutual support guilds are groups of animals, insects, plants, etc. that work well together. Plants may be grown for food production, drawing nutrients from deep in the soil through tap roots, fixing nitrogen (legumes), attracting beneficial insects, and repelling harmful insects. When grouped together in a mutually beneficial arrangement, these plants form a guild.