WHAT IS PERMACULTURE?

Permaculture is the development of a sustainable, self-sufficient, food and product-producing environment based on mimicking the natural ecosystem. We learn about what works in nature in our region: relationships between plants, animals, fungi, insects, geographical topography, water flow, air flow, weather patterns, and the like; and we utilize these relationships in our applications on the farm. No synthetic chemicals, no pharmaceuticals, and nature thrives.

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There are many books on this topic, the first ones published by the "father" of Permaculture, Bill Mollison, in the late '70s. (Near the bottom you'll find a list of our favorites, so far.)

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Maybe you've checked our Sales Barn pages and have seen the boxes explaining how our animals get to do what they love and provide us with useful services, too. Permaculture always asks what the "problem" is, and works to find solutions that are good for the earth, have layers of benefits, and (ideally) lesson our work load quite a bit--sometimes right away and sometimes eventually.

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Chickens, for example, are a solution to many "problems" in our region--even if they are not indiginous to Tennessee. They eat bugs, they utilize garden and plant waste, if left on a patch of grass long enough they will turn it to dirt (think--garden preparation), they can provide meat and eggs and feathers. They spread fertilizer and leave their own. We probably missed quite a few, perhaps you can think of more. The point is, we can create a closed-loop system here on the farm with permaculture. Nothing is wasted and it all rejuvenates the land: building topsoil, stopping erosion, creating a balanced environment in the woods, the pastures and the garden.

 

Using these practices, even the "bad bugs" aren't bad anymore because there is balance: good bugs, beneficial pollinators, birds, etc. feed on them. The plants are healthier because of a strong fungal network (allowed to prosper because we aren't adding synthetic chemicals that would otherwise destroy them and the other millions of beneficial organisms that exist in the soil). This prospering flora is better able to defend itself from disease and pest attacks. We save seeds, so the stronger plant genetics survive and are better able to grow the next season, and the cycle repeats itself, while getting stronger.

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We are not the only ones implementing these methods. Many others have worked at it far longer and have achieved more measurable success. We are excited to keep going, though, and make the land we've dubbed Three Many Acres the absolute best it has been, and can be, in the many years to come.

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You'll find the list of some of our favorite resources for doing what we do, below. We've included links if you want to follow them to learn more. We do NOT receive any kickbacks from you checking them out--these are really just our most loved resources that we use time and time again.