Permaculture, for most people who’ve heard of it, recalls gardens, biodynamic farming, and perhaps eco-communes, though few really have a clear understanding of what permaculture is. After reading Future Scenarios by David Holmgren,** one of the co-founders of permaculture, I became more perma-curious. And as serendipity would have it, a Permaculture Design Class** taught by Larry Santoyo was starting up in L.A.!

So last weekend, I — along with 30 or so other Angelenos — went to the first sessions for an in-depth intro to permaculture. Larry describes permaculture not something that IS in itself, but rather as a strategy that can be applied — to pretty much anything. Permaculture design, among other things, looks for more practical, sustainable, and holistic ways of meeting needs and achieving goals — without rejecting technology.

A too-hot house, for example, could be cooled not just by installing (and spending a lot of money buying, running, and maintaining) a bigger air conditioner, but by planting a shade tree to provide natural cooling. The house may still need AC — but hopefully a smaller one that’ll save the owner money and space while achieving the same cooling goals.

You can imagine how big eco-results could be achieved by applying permaculture principles on a city, state or even nationwide scale! But for now, I’ve been mulling over how best I can apply permaculture design principles to my life — not just so I can live in a more eco-friendly manner, but also so I can perhaps save money, get more out of life, even be happier.

To that end, I’ve been attacking my permaculture homework with some zeal. The assignment: Examining my home and figuring out what the needs are (food, shelter, entertainment, etc.) and what resources are available — then considering what extras I have (what resources aren’t being taken up by needs) and what solutions still need to be resolved (what needs aren’t being met by current resources).

Seems simple enough, I know, but the assignment has me looking at my balcony in new ways. As you know, I tried to create a tomato garden last spring** — but I didn’t actually get any tomatoes, perhaps in large part due to my neglect, but perhaps also because my balcony simply doesn’t provide enough sun. Instead of trying to impose tomato-growth on my balcony — after all, I chose to plant tomatoes not because I’d determined by balcony was ideally suited for tomatoes, but because I like eating tomatoes — I can use that space as a resource for other things.

My latest idea’s this to really figure out how much sunlight and shade my balcony really has — to then determine how I can best use the space. It’s kind of odd, considering that I’ve lived in my little apartment for 2+ years, yet still have no idea how exactly the light falls.

So today, I’m taking pictures of my balcony every hour to see how the sun moves. Above’s how it looked at 9:30 am. That’s right — There’s no direct sun whatsoever. Pretty obvious why the tomatoes didn’t make it, huh? I’d love to hear your ideas on what I should use this space for instead.

In the meantime, I’ll be trying to figure out what “solutions” I’m trying to impose on other parts of my life, and attempting to figure out more organic — and hopefully easier — ways of meeting the same needs….

**You are leaving the FilterForGood Web site. The Brita Products® Company is not responsible for the content or data collection of that independent site.