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Grassroots Permaculture: Implementation on a Budget

Have you studied permaculture, are feeling inspired, and ready to begin implementing, but have a limited budget? How can you have the greatest effect, while making your money stretch?

After all that you’ve learned you’re likely filled with ideas, but if you aren’t careful, you could very well end up spending all your money and be left with several unfinished projects.

Whether at the beginning of a project, or partway through, budget can be a limiting factor or a nourishing one. How you plan your systems can either make or break the bank. Yet it is too often overlooked.

Here we will explore a step by step approach on where to focus your energy first, and how to budget for systems implementation. You don’t have to learn it the hard way!

Abundant information; limited resources

After a Permaculture Design Course, we have learned a lot. We want to begin, design systems, take action, and see results. We may have a favorite topic from the course, something we have always wanted, or an idea of what we need that drives us to begin implementing without clear foresight. Permaculture systems take a lot of up front energy, and therefore can tap our resources if they are not well thought out.

For example, after my family and I bought a farm in Costa Rica, we were super excited to begin implementing the systems that we had been dreaming of. I had recently given birth and we had a lot of grass, so I thought we could get some goats and have goat milk to support our nutritional needs. Well, there was not sufficient foresight in this decision, and it ended up costing us. We bought all the electric fencing, a milking goat and a few others, and began milking. As it turned out, the goats didn’t thrive on the grass, the standard feed was depleting their immune systems, and the tropics increase their susceptibility to disease. So they got sick. I quickly learned how much responsibility they were, and as a mother of three children, felt overwhelmed. In retrospect, my haste and idealism was the reason they died. I wanted to raise them naturally in an environment that they weren’t genetically accustom to and I depended on the abundant grass as their main diet, not realizing that goats are browsers and depend on leaves, bark, and a diversity of different plants. Had I tempered my enthusiasm for goats, focused more on a design created from sufficient research relating to goats in the tropics, and planned to incorporate them into our system after the plant fodder for them was growing, I would have had a very different, much cheaper, and more rewarding experience.

Haste makes waste

Permaculture is all about careful observation; watching the land, the sun, the shade, weather patterns, the ecological web of life, nutrient cycles, animals, and so on. A wise permaculturalist does this before implementing a design, he/she grows the design from an understanding of the location, firmly rooted in permaculture’s principals, ethics, and local wisdom. Intelligent regenerative design begins slow and small, with intensive systems that support our individual needs. However, I have experienced and seen, again and again, focus on planting fruit trees hastily because they take several years to get established, or getting animals without having a place ready for them, or without considering all that is involved in their care and maintenance. Instead permaculture calls for patience, observation, and design.

Our ambition and drive can often be cause for haste, which ends up costing us more in the long run, than had we taken our time. The endless possibilities of permaculture solutions are so inspiring that we often want to start activating them as soon as we can. In many cases, we search for practical information offered through permaculture design, find it, and are ready to run with it. Yet, many times, it is this very drive that causes us to become disenchanted, broke, over extended, or worn out when we end up with too many systems in place, that are not sustainable. When a system is young, the maintenance itself can be more than we expect.

Planning is powerful

In order to thrive, we must take the time to observe, consider, plan, and design systems that can support us from the short term through the long run. When beginning a project, we can first list our genuine needs, discern our desires, and decide which desires are most pertinent for a specific quality of life. Taking time to watch the land and ponder the most efficient ways to fulfill those needs and wants, is crucial for that long run. When racing in a marathon, runners pace themselves, they begin slowly and warm up, so that they will have the endurance to continue. They train for months and prepare themselves, mentally, physically, and emotionally for the race. Implementing permaculture systems is much like a marathon, we must be prepared.

How then, do we prepare financially? Once we know our needs and desires, we can prioritize them, and design systems to fulfill them. Begin with just one or two, don’t try to multitask, there are plenty of studies that show that focusing on one project at a time is much more efficient than many. Once it is finished, or productive, move on to the next.

For example, you may decide that your need is food and that your diet consists of mostly fruits and veggies, with some eggs, dairy, or meat. Animals have many needs and you have to prepare spaces for them to live, so you decide to start with a garden. You assess your soil and begin to build it, by creating compost, setting up a worm bin, and adding appropriate minerals, micro-organisms, and organic material to the garden beds that you are working with. After you have gotten seed, planted it, and have a rhythm of maintenance, then you can begin considering spaces for your animals. This approach will save you money because you are contemplatively producing the foundation of your food supply without being distracted, chasing around animals that can destroy your efforts in a single escape.

Creating a budget, before implementing systems, will further save you money and reduce wasted energy. Assess your needs, design a system to fulfill each need, and try to stack multiple needs into each system. Then determine which materials you will need for each project. This may take time and research, but it will pay off in the long run. What’s more, if you keep good records, you can share the information that you learn with your neighbors!

Steps for success

Here is a step by step guide to creating a budget, so that you know exactly what to do to prepare for implementing your systems. Let’s say you bought a piece of property with a simple house on it and you are assessing what you need to do, to create a productive life-enriching homestead.

  • Observe – Begin by observing your needs and those living with you. Watch your food bill, notice what you eat, and write down how much you spend on eating. Consider what grows near you. Are you eating locally? Observe the house, is there anything that needs to be done to make it safer or more comfortable?
  • Needs & Desires – Make a list of your needs and another list of your desires. Include food production, shelter, waste management, water management, animal systems, and social elements. Number those items on a scale of 1-5 to determine priority in establishing the foundation of the quality of life that you want. If your list is rather long, you can add a letter to your numbers (i.e.1a-1c, 2a-2c, etc.) Consider which needs you can fulfill in a single system, stack as many needs and wants into a single system as is appropriate. Re-organize the list according to your priority labeling, re-analyze according to budget availability, make any changes that may be appropriate.
  • Design – Create a system for fulfilling as many needs as you can. In this case, let’s start with a garden. You analyze your soil, water source and movement, the arc of the sun, shade, proximity to other infrastructure elements, and find a good location for your garden. You can create more than one design, but commit to implementing one at a time and finishing it. The feeling of accomplishment will far out-way the enthusiasm of spreading your focus far and wide. (But always start every part with the whole in mind!)
  • Steps of implementation – Determine the steps you need to take to cultivate enough food for you to thrive. Consider soil building, fertilizing, pest control, and any compost or insect repellent teas you need to make. Write down the steps in one column and then in the other make a list of materials you need for each step.
  • Budget – Take the material list you made and go price it out, either online or at the store. Consider where you will get each material. Can you use recycled materials? Is there a place where you can find these materials for free or cheap? Are there materials or labor that you can trade for? What are the savings you will make once you have a thriving garden? Lets say for this project, you want to do a soil analysis, so you pay for that. You want to buy chicken wire for making the compost, mineral rich powdered rock, seeds, materials to build a worm bin and worms, and barrels for compost teas, micro-organisms, etc. Do the research and make some calculations (and always plan for it to cost a little more than you initially imagined!)
  • Implement – Here is your action step, go build your compost bin, your worm bin, build your soil and garden beds, make your supplemental teas, and plant your seeds. Keep track of how much it cost and determine if your budget was correct, or was it over or under estimated. Once the rhythm of maintenance is established, assess the feedback loop. How is your system functioning, are there any problems you are encountering, what changes can you make to make it more efficient? Add any costs to these changes to your budget list.

By following these steps with each project, you will have a clear picture of what it takes to accomplish a project, and be able to gauge what is the most efficient use of your funds for your total site design. Each of these experiences will guide you to make a more accurate assessment for the next project.

When you are doing the research for your designs always take into consideration the costs for different design techniques and styles. Decide where you want to spend more money and where you can use more resources from the land. Consider which investments will pay off in the long run and which will in the short term. Plan for investments, both in fulfilling your needs and cultivating financial sustainability. Once you have done this a few times, you will have a remarkably more clear and realistic picture of how your overall project will blossom and about how much it is likely to cost.

Share your wisdom

Have you had an experience where your excitement for action ended up costing extra in retrospect? What did you learn from that?

Can you share an example, in your life, where appropriate planning saved you money and avoided a problem that would have arose from action without design?

8 Comments

  1. Thanks for validating my approach. Due to budget restraints and a desire to observe this property for a year first, my biggest savings was in the realization that because of a neighbors aggressive dogs, switching my zones backwards was the best way to get piece of mind. If I had had a big budget and been able to sheet mulch and import compost into my former zones 1 and 2, I would have been set way back, progress wise.
    I have been relying on my own home produced compost, while growing material to chop and drop, all the while thinking this wasn’t really permaculture because it wasn’t fast.

  2. My approach to Permaculture has been a step by step process. Taking each small step has shown progress and given me confidence to take another step.
    Proper planning (building a site design first) will show you where to start. Sure putting in trees is a priority, but you have to know which trees, and where to put them. Taking your time, and allowing your design to grow and change over time is the process. Nothing stays the same. Some things work, and some don’t. The advantage we have as Permaculturists is that we have a bit of training, and the experience of others successes and failures to help guide us.
    Take your time. Design well. Get the earthworks (water catchment/management) stuff done as you can. Build your topsoil and most of all, take your time. Remember that this kind of sustainable systems design takes lots of work up front, and not nearly as much once it is established.
    Good luck!

  3. Thanks for sharing your experiences. It is amazing how much patience can pay off. Sometimes, even when things are moving slowly, the are gestating and growing ripe. If we push it, so often it isn’t ready and we have to start over, pay more, or stress out.

    Observation
    Small slow solutions
    Intensive systems

    Keys to success.
    keep up the good work permies.
    Alana

  4. I think using the term “grass roots” completely discounts the work permaculture is trying to do, it’s time to use a more appropriate language technology… I think the term “tap root” organization better describes our goals.

  5. Good article, it’s so easy to let over-enthusiasm take over when you finish your PDC and your heads buzzing with an abundance of information.

    If you absolutely must get on with something, zone 1 is a good place to start implementing design, chances are your back door is not going to move throughout the course of time :)

    Another thing to prioritize if constrained by a tight budget is a plant nursery area, it doesn’t have to be a permanent fixture, and it will save a ton of cash, with the potential to bring in some income. Your average pack of tree/plant seeds will only cost £1, they’re easy to source via mail order/internet. You can gather seeds for a lot of local species for free, and they will be more likely acclimatised to your location. Your average tree will cost a lot more, and if you grow too many (easily done) you can sell them or swap for extra income/resources.

    Sometimes it’s best to use grafted fruit trees so you can pick the rootstock and aim for desired heights/size. If you have a large area to plant consider for e.g. Apples from seed too, they can be coppiced later if too big, or grafted with desired varieties later, you may be able to get the grating material for free from neighbors, or a wider variety of stock by volunteering to prune a heritage orchard. You may even find a new variety that can be sold to commercial growers, worth it’s weight in gold!

    (from https://www.cooltemperate.co.uk/own_root.shtml)
    “Own root fruit trees can have many advantages over grafter stock, better health – although not altering the basic susceptibility of the variety to disease
    fruit development is typical of the variety, giving:-
    best possible flavor
    best storage life
    typical fruit size for the variety
    best overall fruit quality

    – best fruit set, given adequate pollination. Fruit from OR trees have more seeds, indicating increased fertility.The only disadvantage of OR trees is that some varieties may be more vigorous than is usually wanted, though the average size of an OR tree is not large. This can be seen when observing self set OR trees grown from seed along roadsides, railway embankments, footpaths etc.. These trees are often quite small, and even when large seldom exceed the height of accompanying hawthorns.”

    If you do end up with some unwanted trees in the wrong place, cut them down below the soil line, leave the stump/roots to add organic matter etc.

  6. Thanks for sharing, your article had me smiling, as the excitement felt in creating a design sometimes overtakes the natural processes of natures own wonderful design. I am currently building and have sketched a lot of different designs in preparation for commencing my sustainable garden, but have not had a chance to really spend a lot of time living on the property as yet. It was a great reminder that I need to spend time there first and draw up plans then. But it has been a great way to express the thrill of creating sustainable solutions by sketching them at least a dozen times with different layouts without spending a lot of money on purchases that clearly are not ready to be made.

  7. Very well written Alana. Your advice is timeless and always good to hear no matter which stage you are at in your own project. Day 0 to year 5+. I know know from personal experience that I’ve had the desire to move fast and install large areas within a few years. Some need more attention than others and honestly could use a lot more interaction in the beginning to ensure the vibrancy that you desire. This year will be for ‘filling in’ the gaps and helping push the existing systems forward.

    Build the soil and you build life.

    (P.S. great meeting you this year at the Gathering of the Guilds!)

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