Back in early spring, a WWOOF host in Shropshire was selected as the venue for a short but popular fully-funded course entitled “Permaculture at farm scale”. We think the contents would be interesting for WWOOF members so we’re publishing the notes below.
Steve Jones of S39 Permaculture (previously Sector39 Permaculture) ran the course and it was fully supported by Shropshire Good Food Partnership (Jenny Rouquette) and the Farming In Protected Landscapes (FiPL) fund
Overarching question: Our natural capital is being eroded at an alarming rate. How do we meet our needs within the confines of our planet?
The strategy is resilience – the ability to withstand external shocks. “Nature is the model for sustainability”
Treflach Farm in Oswestry, Shropshire was used as an example of a permaculture farm doing well. It’s a 100 acre stock farm run by Ian Steel since 2009 and was passed from father to son
Longview Farm in Ludlow, Shropshire was used as the venue because it has been a permaculture smallholding hosting WWOOFers for 9 years so there were examples to show, learning from crossover to be had and also suggestions to be made if a more business-based future was envisaged.
Permaculture principles are derived from observing nature, which give us a frame within which to design and operate
Let’s think about the three Permaculture Ethics in the context of agroecological farming:
Earth Care
- Build soil – support and enhance long term fertility on farm. Specific example is biochar, which can be made from an otherwise low-value product of small diameter brash from the hedge creating a high value product. Kiln can be made from the heat bricks of an old storage heater. Biochar is a fantastic soil amendment and builds porosity. Can put in the compost heap, in the ground directly or feed cows (? fact check)
- Increase soil carbon
- Support and increase biodiversity (habitat) e.g. widen hedges, diversify into the edges ‘value the margins’
- If you have grazing animals, consider different grazing patterns. Examples include mob and seasonal rotation grazing, family herds, silvopasture and hedge forage
- Eliminate toxic inputs. How close can you get to a close looped system? Farming needs to see how it can eliminate external inputs e.g. red diesel
- Catch and store energy – strategies for water management. Slow water and understand the ‘downstream’ effect. Water doesn’t respect boundaries, if you pick a fight it’s a battle you’re going to lose. Look at the whole catchment area
- There’s no such thing as waste. Natural systems typically are diverse, multi layered, inter connected, constantly shifting, yet operate on simple rules. The out put of one system is the input into the next. Cycle all of outputs: output of one = input of another e.g. processing apples then feed pith to pigs
- Consider heritage orchard or food forest / foragers garden
- Remember – 55% of the world’s food is grown by subsistence growers!
People Care
The majority of the time if an enterprise fails, it’s because of the people element.
- Farming should be a communal activity, not draining the life out of one poor farmer who then gets burnt out. Support your farmers!
- Remember, Holmgren principle 3 – obtain a yield. Yield can apply all sorts including mental health
- Think about relationships with customers, community, family and friends, other producers, suppliers
- Create spaces for people to be on the farm and make them feel welcome by e.g. having good signage ‘giving them permission’ to be there and inspiring confidence
- Create opportunities for education (volunteers, interns, trainees, WWOOFers) and getting involved e.g. citizen science
- Remember people like nice, creative, arty things to look at e.g. mandala garden and even the classic / cliche herb spiral (note from author: I took out my mandala garden because it was a pain in the neck to plant out!!)
- Team up with others so there is a chance to rest / avoid burnout / have fun together!
- Remember, start small, develop a nucleus and expand from there or start at the edges and come in from there
- Every situation is unique, we all have different priorities and personal goals, but there are observable patterns we can all learn from
Examples of people spaces for farm diversification and increased footfall
- studio for yoga etc.
- school visits and child-centric areas
- dog walking areas
- education facilities
- shop to sell direct and value add e.g. butchers, jams
- pop-up cafe
- camping and glamping
- therapeutic gardening and social prescribing opportunities
- Living willow dome / story telling area / secret garden
- Pick-your-own opportunities
Fair Shares / Future Care
In the natural word, everything is connected to everything else. Don’t be greedy. Ask yourself the question ‘what is enough’? Set limits to your own consumption. Then you need to do less work to sustain yourself and this in turn gives you a surplus. Permaculture is about what you do with that surplus. Strategically invest surplus to build relationships. Oh, and don’t hoard!
Everyone needs to make money to live on but to be part of a sustainable system, the way that money is made needs to be good for the planet and for society. In line with Mollison’s principle ‘each important function should be supported by many elements’, diversification of income is needed. Microclimates will help e.g. polytunnel. Thought had to be given in how to add value in order to extract greater market value. Everything needed to fit together – integration, holistic plan. Remember to retain a clear overview because it’s easy for things to get lost on a blizzard of detail. What is your long term goal? Think through a strategy.
Make sure you give back e.g. community events, passing on surplus to needy causes
Permaculture design
(the actual process of designing is more fully covered in an up-coming article)
Author and photo credits: Scarlett Penn
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