Permaculture is a design practice as much as it is a scientific topic of inquiry. When asked to sum up permaculture in a single word, my teacher and my friend Geoff Lawton used the term ‘design’ to encapsulate the purpose of the study. I’m pretty low-tech, so I drew my maps by hand. I believe this is the most accessible way to create maps. Almost anyone can draw on paper!
Some examples are:
Contour: Contour lines tell us where land slopes and where gravity sends water to drain.
Wind: We can’t help where the wind comes from, but we can buffer it.
Noise: Most of us have to deal with some noise that is out of our control such as a busy road or a neighbor with a yappy dog
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Sunlight: Include the effects of neighboring trees as well as your own.
Snow/Fire: If these are common for you, map what direction they might come from so you can buffer their effects.
Wildlife: Map wildlife patterns that are significant challenges. I’ve mapped the most popular deer route on my map below.
Flooding/Drainage: Demonstrate how water moves on your site according to the contour lines and seasonal flooding.
Views/Privacy: Mark where you’d like to improve or retain privacy plantings, and where you can enhance beautiful views.
Crime: What direction might thieves or unwelcome folks come from? Certain components may help to reduce the threat.
Air/Water/Light Pollution: A neighbor with a floodlight, a neighboring farmer who sprays his/her crops, etc…
Identifying these sectors can help you brainstorm ways to minimize their effect or find a way to turn the problem into an asset
I discovered some things in the process—things I wouldn’t have thought about until it was too late, things that would have cost me a lot of time to go back and fix. Believe me, if it seems like drawing maps is a waste of time, it won’t be. But you’ll never know until you give it a try.
Zeljko Serdar, CCRES
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