This morning is summer in an entirely different way than last week was, when we were scorched, wilted, and suffocated in record-breaking heat. Today, the clouds are hanging low and misty against the mountain, their undersides heaving and roiling with another load of rain. The air is damp. Every leaf is moist. I have to wear socks for a change, to stay warm.
I take my little black dog for her morning constitutional down the lane, to the wild part of our farm - the stream - its grassy bank is on one side and a thick tangled bank of blackberries on the other. It’s called the ‘riparian zone’ because the blackberries are ripe now. Just kidding. But it is called “riparian’ (from ‘river bank’) and is a crucial wild area in our Permaculture designated zones.
It’s the place with no rules.
The stream is lazy and busy in just the places it chooses ... meandering through tall reeds, rushing over gravel banks and then easing itself into shallow pools, to do very little ... to rest and reflect on the sky. The little speckled and striped fish aren’t in schools, they’re goofing off, like I am.
The tall grasses run helter-skelter, tumbling and folding and bending their heads to the ground and into the water. It would be riotous living if they were people.
But the masters of chaos and mayhem are the blackberry canes. Their growth is running amok in every direction. They have a wicked sense of humour, too ... reaching and grabbing with sticky fingers behind my back. I retaliate and steal their berries, and I take only the best, ripest, juiciest of them. They stain my fingers culprit-red.
The wasps are taking advantage too. I pick the berries that they’ve have been licking ... they’re the sweetest.
My dog tugs me away with her leash. She strains in high anxiety ... and out of the farming patch, bolts a rabbit. Its tail flashes white in teasing disdain for dogs. Luckily, it runs out, instead of deeper in. Even though the main idea of wild areas near agricultural ones is to bring balance, I still don’t think farmers want their lettuces eaten in quite the way rabbits do!
I’ve been reading about Permaculture on the web and I found Holmgren’s 12 design principles ...among them ...
• 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.
And so it is today with ... a wasp and a berry, a rabbit and a dog on the margins.
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Holmgren's 12 design principles
These restatements of the principles of permaculture appear in David Holmgren's Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability
1. Observe and interact - By taking the time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.
2. Catch and store energy - By developing systems that collect resources when they are abundant, we can use them in times of need.
3. Obtain a yield - Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.
4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback - We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
5. 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.
6. Produce no waste - By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
