Aranya - Permaculture design: a step-by-step guide

Copyright

Published by
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Hyden House Ltd
The Sustainability Centre
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Hampshire GU32 1HR
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Published in association with
The Sustainability Centre , East Meon, Hampshire GU32 1HR
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Permaculture Association (Britain) , BCM Permaculture Association, London WC1N 3XX
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Email: office@permaculture.org.uk Web: www.permaculture.org.uk

Distributed in the USA by:
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2012 Aranya
The right of Aranya to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1998

Designed by Aranya

EPUB ISBN 978 1 85623 093 3

MOBIPOCKET ISBN 978 1 85623 094 0

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, rebound or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Hyden House Limited.

This project has received grant aid from:
The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) funded by DEFRA and the EU.
The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD): Europe investing in rural areas.

Acknowledgements

Offering my deepest thanks seems simplest in chronological order, so I shall start with my parents Rod and Val whove always been there for me, even when they must have thought Id lost the plot. I love you both dearly. Next, to Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, I thank you for pulling together the best of humanitys vision and calling it permaculture. Like their own, this book is dedicated to Gaia and all those who sail in her...

More specifically, of the early pioneers, Tanya was the first to introduce me to the P word all those years ago. Steve Charter made sure I couldnt escape by inviting Stephen Nutt to teach a design course at our shared house (I am most indebted that you ran the course for just four of us). Tony Wright added a whole new angle to the big picture I was getting. I thank you all. My experiential journey then began in the Emerald Isle at Tiaia, where I learned the gifts of barefooting and many other things besides. Giri and Sagara, you challenged me deeply but showed me so much in that single year. I learned from implementing there what I read in books by Robert Hart, Patrick Whitefield, Ken Fern, Masanobu Fukuoka and Robert Kourik.

On my return to England I made gardens and connected into the network, learning much from many peers and mentors in those early days Julia, Sandra, Jane, Simon, George, Pat, Sue, Ann and Phil youve all played an important part. Andy, Chris and Looby, thanks for having the foresight to set up Designed Visions together and for all you have taught me along the way. A massive thank you to Andy Goldring for all hes done at the Permaculture Association. Hannah, Peter, Klaudia, Mel B, and everyone else Ive taught with, I love the journey. Mel C, thank you for freeing up my time to write.

On to the book itself; a great big thank you Tim and Maddy for sticking your necks out and publishing my first book. Gary and Katy, thank you both for your valuable feedback on the draft.

Finally, Jules. Without all your proofreading and looking after mundane tasks to free up my time, I certainly wouldnt have got this far. Yet the greatest gift you give is your belief in me and your love. Thank you so much for being in my life and making the journey so much fun. May it be a long one. xxx

Foreword

Some people keep their tools in a higgledy-piggledy pile, chipped, blunt and uncared-for. Others keep them in perfect order in a neat toolbox, each one in its place, oiled, sharpened and ready to go. Aranya is one of the latter and this book is his tool box. Open its pages and you can put your finger right on the design tool you need, from triangulation to the enticingly-named desire lines. Its all here.

But the tool metaphor can be taken too far. Permaculture design is not a random collection of good ideas, its a process. It starts with the receptive stage of observing and listening, goes through the creative stage of making design decisions and leads on to implementation on the ground and to reflection on whether the odd tweak here or there might not be appropriate. Aranya takes you through the process with the same chisel-sharp clarity as he describes the individual design tools.

For most people taking the permaculture design course is a major life event. It opens the door on a new way of looking at the world, a new way of being in the world. It affects you on so many levels that, however well you took notes, inevitably some of the information passes you by. Thats why I wrote The Earth Care Manual and thats why Aranya wrote the book you have in your hands.

Patrick Whitefield
Permaculture designer, teacher and author
Glastonbury 2012

Preface

This is not just another permaculture book. There are already plenty of excellent texts on this subject explaining the many permaculture design principles, strategies and techniques that can help make the world a better place for us all to live in. This guide is a little different. Its been written to help those with a basic grasp of permaculture to gain more clarity about the overall design process.

In my role as a teacher, I meet many students whove done an introductory course or read a book or two and got a basic understanding of the key concepts, yet are still unclear how to put them all together. As integration is the key to good design, this guide sets out to make sense of all this and create a useful pattern that youll be able to apply to your own design work.

This guide started out as a series of worksheets, created to assist students on my weekend-based permaculture design courses. Id noticed that with gaps of several weeks between course weekends, students were often forgetting important details. I wanted to provide them with a clear pathway that they could follow while going through their design practice at home.

After introducing the new worksheets, students design work greatly improved, so as an experiment I started giving them to the design groups on my residential courses too. Feedback was again very positive. Then some students suggested that I should publish them as a book.

So here it is. I hope that this guide helps to clarify the design process for you, and gives you the confidence to go out and gain the experience that will ultimately make you the accomplished permaculture designer that you wish to be.

Enjoy the journey!

Notes

1. See my recommended reading list in the .

How to use this guide

The first thing to say about this guide is that its intended to spend time out and about with you, to be your companion on your permaculture design projects. For this reason Ive made it small enough to fit into a bag or large pocket. In the tradition of permaculture multi-functionality, Ive written it so it can be read either cover to cover, or simply dipped into from time to time for fresh ideas. That said, I do recommend you read it all the way through at least once, in order to get a full sense of the designers journey, then work with it to put everything youve already learned about permaculture into the context of the design process. Ive included a lot of detail for experienced designers, but if youre new to this dont feel you have to do every single thing, just follow where your interest takes you. Theres plenty of time to learn the finer points.