Permaculture market garden

Contents Origin

Introduction ..........................................................................

2

1

Farm Ecosystem ..................................................................... 21 EARTH SYSTEMS AND NATURAL SCIENCE ...................................... 23 ECOSYSTEM SERVICES .............................................................. 60

2

Whole Farm Mapping ........................................................... 73 WHY MAP YOUR FARM? ............................................................. 76

3

Holistic Planning ................................................................... 109 DEFINING THE WHOLE AND MAKING A HOLISTIC GOAL .................... 110 HOLISTIC BUDGETING FOR PROFIT RESILIENCE .............................. 118 GUILD ENTERPRISE PRODUCTION ............................................... 127

4

Design Management .............................................................. 137 WHY DESIGN? ......................................................................... 138 DESIGN MANAGEMENT ............................................................. 156

5

Our Permabed System ........................................................... 167 THE PERMABED SYSTEM ........................................................... 168 PERMABED PRINCIPLES ............................................................ 183 LAYOUT AND LAND PREPARATION ............................................... 196 ORGANIZED GARDEN PATTERNING .............................................. 205 GUILD CROP PRODUCTION ........................................................ 221 GUILD CROP DESIGNS .............................................................. 230 PERMA INVESTMENT ................................................................ 243

Conclusion ............................................................................. 251 Glossary ................................................................................. 257

6 Resources ............................................................................... 262 Index ...................................................................................... 264 About the Author ................................................................... 273 About New Society Publishers ............................................... 274

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152 The Permaculture Market Garden

Why Design? 153

Open Concept and Flow • We designed our barn with open concept; you can drive around it, right through it and move easily within its open bays. This building could be used for many purposes.

The open concept and flow increases its usability and gives it extended flexibility.

Simple and Passive Simple is best. Simple and passive systems don’t fail and cost less to operate. Our root cellar is kept cold using ice from the winter which we store at the back. This ice melts causing cooling. If the weather gets hotter, the system adjusts automatically, increasingly cooling as the ice melts in response to warmer weather.

Design management is better for the farmer’s wallet and your farm’s ecological footprint.

Permabed Principles

T

hese are the permabed principles. They keep us focused on our goal of profit resilience in agro-ecological production.

Benefits from following this system include:

• Nutrient cycling to crops by healthy soil food web.

• Use of overwinter trap crops (like kale)

• Crop-cover crops used for soil improvement, shade/windbreak and habitat.

We need to value these functioning systems and support them. We wouldn’t expect our mechanic to repair the car for free. We wouldn’t expect the stove to run without gas.

We wouldn’t assume to walk without feet.

The ecosystem services that are already essential to farming can provide us with so much more — once we give them space to function and support them through best management practices.

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