2.7 – Everything Gardens

When we consider both nature and ordinary human activities, we can see that many of our actions are also performed in natural systems. Whether domesticated or wild, animals engage in similar activities. Some animals prune, such as goats or kangaroos. Many animals dig, say rabbits or pigs, and many more mow, like grazing sheep and cattle. By recognizing these natural occurrences and their results, we can learn to make our actions more appropriate for a truly productive environment, in which we and other species can thrive.
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2.8 – Yields

Learning Objectives - At the end of the video you should be able to:
- Contrast Permaculture and agriculture
- Differentiate between yields and resources
- Point out how Permaculture makes use of unusual resources
- Give examples of efficient techniques utilized in Permaculture
- Explain the holistic analysis that makes the Permaculture approach unique

Brief Overview:

Yields are different than resources. They can be measured easily and understood. A yield is simply the surplus a system produces. These can be surpluses in energy, nutrition, security or a number of things. In permaculture, we don’t push our systems beyond what is enough. Over-supplying and over-producing creates chaotic, pollutant results.

Unlike agriculture, which generally concentrates on a singular element, permaculture promotes diverse yields. We look to occupy niches that aren’t currently filled within the system. We then add new productive species to increase yield. Even our homes, roadways, and other non-living elements are used create yields, producing energy instead of consuming it.

We make sure that available niches get occupied. This type of design increases overall yield and lessens maintenance, such as with water catchment systems in the landscape. We also use efficient techniques: piecing together guilds, creating edges, adopting useful patterns, and playing with time cycles. We try to work less for a greater, more diverse yield.

Permaculture also adopts unusual resources. For example, many weeds are edible and highly nutritious, so they are a good yield, even though culturally they aren’t commonly used as food. People can be the biggest impediment to potential yield by limiting our perception of what is valuable. Instead, we design ways for everything in our system have intrinsic worth.

Our concept of a yield is holistic. We recognize the need to collect and store energy, harvest water, grow food in diverse abundance, and limit the demand to only what is needed. We measure our yields over an area, over expanses of time, appreciating how the production in our systems increases and the energy needed to maintain them decreases as the design matures.

Key Takeaways:

- Yields are the surplus after the needs of our systems are met.

- We strive to meet our needs but not overwork our systems for more surplus than is necessary.

- Forcing a system to exceed its productive potential creates excess, i.e. pollution, and chaos.

- Yields can be many different things: energy, water, food, health, social interactions, etc.

- We aim for diverse yields rather than only focusing a one crop in one space.

- Our designs are meant to increase yields while lowering the need for maintenance.

- Potential yields can be limited by human perception, such as not eating nutritious, edible weeds because they are not within our common culture construct.

- We measure our yield over an area and over time, not from any specific amount of any one crop or resource produced.