Sustainable homes and permaculture principles go hand in hand. As many people are looking to sustainability and the environment for a more peaceful life, permaculture (permanent culture) principles simplify the creation of a sustainable home. Many people are looking at specific parts of permaculture for their homestead or their urban home.
Living off of the grid to keep from losing their electricity during a storm or other outage is another aspect of a sustainable home. A sustainable home is what you make it. Using permaculture principles makes that life easier to maintain once it is set up.
What are some of the permaculture principles?
The definition by some practitioners of permaculture state three principles, they are usually stated as Care for the Earth, the People and the Future.
But how do you get to discover the ways to achieve those three principles?
-
Learn what the laws of nature are.
-
Observe how your ecosystem currently works before you start building your sustainable home.
-
Plan your home so that water runoff, snow, heat and winds will not destroy your home, but enhance it.
-
Discover which plants and animals will be encouraged to visit your land and how they will enhance your life.
-
Know the life you want to live, study your options and choose what brings you to your vision.
-
Know what foods will help you to gain and keep optimum health.
-
Take care that what you do enhances our created planet and that you are a good steward by design.
To create a permanent culture, all of these items and more, need to be present.
Imagine coming home, as soon as you get closer to your property, the stress of the day melts away. The scenery that rushes by your car slows you down and welcomes you. The trees, the flowers and the animals appear all around you. You roll down your car window to breathe in the fresh fragrance of the fields and orchards.
As you drive down your driveway, any stress from the day is gone. No more worrying about what happens at work, because you have arrived at your sanctuary. That is what a sustainable home is, your own private sanctuary that provides for you and your family.
A sustainable home that implements permaculture principles is a home that feeds and refreshes you and your family.
As I have Native American roots, I have been blessed with many teachings from the Native Elders. How to observe and live with the land. It is simple to do so, but it can be hard work to learn and implement those ways. The animals that live on and around your land can teach you much, as well as bring great opportunities for pure joy. A sustainable home allows you to honor and enjoy the earth as it has been created.
Homesteaders know this well. Many of them learned from nature as well as the aboriginal people and other homesteaders. So to create your sustainable home, know what you want, live within the ecosystem as a whole and share with all of the residents on the land that make your sustainable home complete.
So how do we help you on your quest for your sustainable home?
We start by helping you become aware of what a sustainable home is for you.
Once you know where you are, and where you want to be, life becomes an enjoyable journey. Some of the items that you will need to consider and possibly get help for is:
-
Setting up and managing your food production systems.
-
Planning out how to lay out where things go on your land.
-
Setting up energy production system such as solar, wind or water power generators.
-
Knowing if you will need a gas or diesel (bio-diesel?) generator.
-
Designing setting up your energy efficient home.
-
Developing and managing your water system for your home, garden and land.
-
Is the water potable, do you need to build a rain catchment system and filtration system. How will your garden be watered?
-
For large estates and private islands, how do you find a good caretaker to manage the tradesmen and vendors.
-
Security for your sustainable home.
I recommend that you read my new book: Permaculture Principles: how surrendering to the laws of nature provided abundant success.
Permaculture Principles is a very short read and basic book to give you some ideas of what permaculture principles are about. We have created some of our own sustainable homes, and look forward to helping you achieve your sustainable home also.
Chris Downs
The Caretaker
