Permaculture Principle 4 – Apply Self-Regulation & Accept Feedback

Permaculture is a way of life and a journey, not a destination. As a Permaculturist, you continue day in and day out to be guided by nature and what would translate into leaving a lighter footprint on the earth. Nature is never static and we can overlook or misinterpret a situation on the ground when planning or designing a certain area. It could be a lack of knowledge, not spending enough time observing (principle 1), or simply experience with regard to that particular piece of land. The important thing is to notice, reflect and review what is happening. Be open to possibilities that you would not have expected and make the necessary course correction. Be curious and ask why? Don’t be afraid to try different solutions and continue to seek knowledge and solutions to things that are simply not thriving. Accept feedback from nature and use it as a teaching moment. Speak to people who have more experience on the land and be prepared to try something that might seem completely counter intuitive.

We live in a world where we are encouraged to buy the next shiny thing and thus we now find ourselves in a consumer society where we buy things we do not need and discard them almost as quickly as we have bought them. Our landfills are getting out of control spewing out tonnes of methane and other gases into the atmosphere. Not to mention, the resources that were wasted making a lot of those unwanted products that simply end up in landfill. Principle 4 encourages us to regulate our own consumption. Some of the things we can do is to eat in season which avoids those thousands of food miles as  result of something that is required to travel half way around the world because it is not the growing season where you are. A big one is to try as far as is possible not to use single-use plastic. We have all seen what is happening to our oceans and wildlife due to our indiscriminate use of plastic. Another way to apply self regulation is to select perennial and self-seeding plants instead of a plant that only produces its crop once.

Allow yourself to make mistakes in your garden or on the land but don’t allow yourself to not take action to correct it. Be present in the moment, notice and observe, the solutions are mostly right in front of you. In Permaculture, we say that the problem is the solution.

If you are interested in obtaining more in depth knowledge about Permaculture and Permaculture design, Gympie Landcare will be hosting a 2 day workshop in July 2019. To book click here

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