Tag: permaculture

Permaculture- Composting

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We’re honored to bring you this guest blog from Tiny SMART House owner and founder – the man, the myth, the legend, Nathan Watson. 

iNTRO TO pERMACULTURE

Everyone has heard the term “Permaculture.” But what is it? The short answer is that it is the utilization of local resources to benefit the local community. Semantics aside, it’s the philosophy of making do with what you have on hand. When there is a surplus, it is redistributed for the greatest benefit to the land and people. Everything has connections that can be utilized. For me permaculture is the process of finding better ways to live. Ingenuity is the corner stone.  

With the resurgence of sustainable living, there seems, to me, to be too much information out there. There are certificate courses available if you are so inclined, but personally I have a more casual outlook on permaculture itself. How do we start the transition to sustainable living? What are some of the things I, as an individual, can do with limited resources? Let’s jump into a few ideas that will reduce negative input and/or create positive output, preferably, both. Once you embark on the road to sustainability, your life will become your project. More than that though, “You” become the project. After all, you are the most important member of the system you live in. You can have a good impact, simply by moving away from conventional ideas. 

Composting 

This is more than using your food scraps or composting toilet to make fertilizer. Compost can be used to build healthier soil, help water retention and even heat your home. Compost for me is anything organic that can’t be fed to animals. Chickens and pigs will eat just about everything.  What’s left is basically, manure, eggshells, coffee grounds, branches and yard clippings and the like. These things need a little time to make them more useful. Healthy compost will have reached a temperature that kills any pathogens and breaks down complex compounds into simpler ones. Regardless what your thoughts are about humanure, there is a use for it everyone can live with. While it is safe, if composted correctly, it can be used to feed fruit trees and for horticulture projects. It can be used to grow plants that attract birds and bees. Compost has been used to heat homes. By using the heat generated from composting to heat air or water, the energy can then be pumped to heat living space. A pile of branches, manure and plant material on top of poly water lines can heat a home. 

I like paper towels. For good or bad, that’s my reality. Those paper towels make great worm beds. Worms help make your plants healthier. Healthier plants produce more and resist pests. Happy plants taste better. Worms attract birds. Birds eat pests. And birds are cool. They are the sound most of us associate with nature. Connections. They are everywhere. Worm casting are key to a lush garden. Worms are pretty easy to grow. They pretty much run on autopilot and you can eat them if you get hungry enough. Or sell them.  

As tiny house living goes, the hardest part has been accomplished. A small living space minimizes energy requirements and materials used to create it. When planning a life like this, outdoor spaces are utilized more and these spaces tend to get more attention. Sit outside, observe nature, plan around the findings from these observations. Make the area nearest your door the most intensive. Mid-size project should be integrated with nature outside that and the farther reaches are minimal care. Slowly adapt your space over time, leaving room for modifications and unforeseen projects. A well thought out project will integrate every resource in the system. A reasonable project will utilize the most plentiful resources first and with time adapt to integrate more and more of them. A simple project is dumping the composting toilet in to a rose garden or building a small wetland gray water system. Some projects will fail or become obsolete or too cumbersome, being replaced with new ones. Just try to help the system work better.  

Any of these ideas can be found in books, articles and the internet. If you’re just curious, working on something or committed to the idea, permaculture is more than a science. It’s a way of living with the natural world. Some people find this idea appealing and some feel it is necessary for their happiness. I am a nomad. I don’t have a piece of property to cultivate. What I do is spread the ideas around and help people develop ideas and projects. All over the world people are moving toward a more sustainable life. There are countless demonstration retreats and farms in every country. If you look you can find one near you. Go look at what people are actually doing and you’ll see healthy people and plants living the way they are meant to. Every project is different and tends to take on the personality of the creator.  A lot can be called life art and are some of the most beautiful places on this planet. 

Permaculture – Aquaculture & Rainwater Collection

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We’re honored to bring you this guest blog from Tiny SMART House owner and founder – the man, the myth, the legend, Nathan Watson. 

Intro to Permaculture

Everyone has heard the term “Permaculture.” But what is it? The short answer is that it is the utilization of local resources to benefit the local community. Semantics aside, it’s the philosophy of making do with what you have on hand. When there is a surplus, it is redistributed for the greatest benefit to the land and people. Everything has connections that can be utilized. For me permaculture is the process of finding better ways to live. Ingenuity is the corner stone.  

With the resurgence of sustainable living, there seems, to me, to be too much information out there. There are   certificate courses available if you are so inclined, but personally I have a more casual outlook on permaculture itself. How do we start the transition to sustainable living? What are some of the things I, as an individual, can do with limited resources? Let’s jump into a few ideas that will reduce negative input and/or create positive output, preferably, both. Once you embark on the road to sustainability, your life will become your project. More than that though, “You” become the project. After all, you are the most important member of the system you live in. You can have a good impact, simply by moving away from conventional ideas. 

Aquaculture

Gray water can be used to support a small wetland, which will remove some toxins, before being used to water plants. A small wetland will attract wildlife and support its own communities. With some creativity you can add a lot of diversity to your space. Just by using water that is leaving the system, the system can be enriched.  

Rainwater collection 

When we think of harvesting rain, a lot of people imagine gutters, barrels and plumbing. I imagine a system where everything is used to benefit the project. I think of runoff management. The idea is to add as much of your excess rain water to your groundwater aquifer as possible. By using divots and berms it is possible to slow the water down enough to allow it to soak into the earth while moving it to a place it was be stored or used. This concept was used in Chile’ while I was volunteering there. The cabin had an old hand dug well that was always dirty and not very secure. There was an elaborate rain water collection system put in that never worked right. The well was used to water fruit trees and a garden. As the area developed, the water table got lower and lower. The area is in southern Chile and has weather similar to the Puget Sound. Just looking at it, you could see the water was not saturating and therefore contributing to the lowered water table. By using a series of tiny connected ponds lined with vegetation,  water is be allowed to return to the ground. As a single project, the impact is minimal, but allowing nature to help nature is the first objective. Stopping run off preserves top soil and maximizes a natural resource. 

Another idea is to use rain to generate power. First thought is electricity. But, there is kinetic energy also. Water can be used to pump water up hill, providing there is a surplus. Any surplus should be used to sustain the whole. Tanks don’t have to be big plastic eyesores. They can be integrated into buildings, covered in wood, rock, plants and turned back into usable space. I like the idea of a second story fort or patio myself. They can be put in the ground, but then you need to pump it back up. If you live on a hill, gravity becomes more of a resource, allowing the tanks to be elevated, but still intergraded with the landscape. Little generators can be installed on your gutters. Once again, this is a brave new frontier with lots of possibilities. Modern technology is ready for the next leap, even if it is back to old ideas. 

Permaculture- Old Tech with Modern Materials

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Intro to permaculture

Everyone has heard the term “Permaculture.” But what is it? The short answer is that it is the utilization of local resources to benefit the local community. Semantics aside, it’s the philosophy of making do with what you have on hand. When there is a surplus, it is redistributed for the greatest benefit to the land and people. Everything has connections that can be utilized. For me permaculture is the process of finding better ways to live. Ingenuity is the corner stone.  

With the resurgence of sustainable living, there seems, to me, to be too much information out there. There are certificate courses available if you are so inclined, but personally I have a more casual outlook on permaculture itself. How do we start the transition to sustainable living? What are some of the things I, as an individual, can do with limited resources? Let’s jump into a few ideas that will reduce negative input and/or create positive output, preferably, both. Once you embark on the road to sustainability, your life will become your project. More than that though, “You” become the project. After all, you are the most important member of the system you live in. You can have a good impact, simply by moving away from conventional ideas. 

Make use of old technology with modern materials 

A hay box can save you a lot of propane. In the days of yore, a wooden box was half filled with straw, then a boiling pot of food placed on that and then the whole mess was covered in more straw. The insulating properties of the straw are used to extend the cooking time without more input. In Chile, we made one using spray foam. I got the pot boiling, filled it with meat and veggies and put it in the box before I went to sleep. Not only was everything cooked, there was no need to worry about burning and it was still too hot to eat the next morning. My wife had used this same idea when we were backpacking. She would boil water, add rice and then wrap the pot in a towel and place it in a sleeping bag.  

Thermal mass. Collect whatever heat possible for use later. Stone mantels do more than look nice. They collect heat and slowly release it. A concrete slab in the sun can warm a room long into the night. Water can be used to store heat energy. The sun can heat water and insulated storage can minimize the heat loss. In Peru’s famous Sacred Valley this idea is used on a large scale for agriculture. The terraces are built in a way to minimize frost damage and conserve water. On a scale we can use, water can be heated during the day and used to heat greenhouses or homes at night. The possibilities are endless. Find things that will work for your situation, modify them, improve them, share them. 

Permaculture- Resource Management

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Intro to permaculture

Everyone has heard the term “Permaculture.” But what is it? The short answer is that it is the utilization of local resources to benefit the local community. Semantics aside, it’s the philosophy of making do with what you have on hand. When there is a surplus, it is redistributed for the greatest benefit to the land and people. Everything has connections that can be utilized. For me permaculture is the process of finding better ways to live. Ingenuity is the corner stone.  

With the resurgence of sustainable living, there seems, to me, to be too much information out there. There are certificate courses available if you are so inclined, but personally I have a more casual outlook on permaculture itself. How do we start the transition to sustainable living? What are some of the things I, as an individual, can do with limited resources? Let’s jump into a few ideas that will reduce negative input and/or create positive output, preferably, both. Once you embark on the road to sustainability, your life will become your project. More than that though, “You” become the project. After all, you are the most important member of the system you live in. You can have a good impact, simply by moving away from conventional ideas. 

Resource management 

The first things that can be done around the house are simple. Use less of everything, reuse anything you can and some things may be eliminated entirely. I am not preaching austerity or some hardline ways to do things. I am sharing something I believe to be… simply a better way to live. Everything should be used to benefit the whole system. It is hard to talk about one thing in permaculture without all the rest. That is the main idea, everything is connected. As our environments get healthier, we do too. More than that though, it is an amazing feeling to see little changes starting chains of events for a positive effect. As we start living within the system, this becomes obvious. As the designers of these systems, everything starts at home, working its way out of the system.  

First things first. Use less energy. As we learn to reduce our consumption, it becomes easier to generate the energy on site, and more affordable. Reducing the size of the home, reduces the energy needed to power it. Using reclaimed material, lessens the impact of construction. With modern technology, efficiency not only becomes easier, it just makes sense. 

More and more people are downsizing. They are realizing they aren’t finding contentment in the standard model. There will always be the Jones’ striving toward unattainable goals. Then there is Us. The people who believe life should be simpler. Cookie-cutter McMansions are just too cumbersome. Old homes, while they have more character and are generally better built, eventually need to be rebuilt, remodeled and updated, are less insulated and more drafty Plus, you still have all the normal problems that come with owning a home. Living in a small space requires less of everything. Think about it. Less paint, less roof, less energy, less furniture, the list goes on and on. When you save money on these things, you can reallocate those resources to projects that make your life more meaningful.  

Finding ways to reuse material may seem a bit hokie, but they add instant history to new construction. While you may not want to use old windows in your home, especially if you live in an extreme environment, they can be used for mudrooms and porches, greenhouses and cold boxes and as wind walls, where we don’t want to obstruct the view. My favorite things to reuse are fixtures and cabinetry. Old wood can be used for shelving, planters, benches and more. I was at someone’s house and they had this shelf thing they had made while they were camping. The entire thing was built with stuff from an old collapsed shed. It was ugly, but we talked and laughed about it, spawning stories about ugly furniture for hours.  

I have lived off the grid, down a trail and up a mountain. Everything that was needed had to be hauled in. Gas for the generators and propane for cooking were essential. Since I wanted to conserve these resources, I reused them. Not literally, but none the less, I used every bit I could. I charged batteries any time the generator was on. I baked for days instead of meals. I did anything that needed power every time it was on. It makes sense to only pre-heat the oven once and make sure it is as full as possible. Shorter showers or better yet, don’t shower alone. Wood stoves can be used outside the home and still heat the house and water. Sunrooms use the sun to collect heat. Trees provide shade and material for composting, not to mention food for creatures. Grey water can be used to cool a slab and the same lines that heat the house can be used to cool it.