Chapter Six
Economy and Sustainability
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Chapter Six Economy and Sustainability |
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Households: The
Basic Unit
In
corporate-capitalist industrial culture, the primary role of the
household is to consume factory produced goods. In fact, an analysis of
marketing trends through the 1990s showed a marked pressure toward
single person households, each containing "all the comforts of home",
including all the appliances and furniture that was designed to support
a household of four or more.People in industrial culture are expected to find their satisfaction outside of the home, along with all of their material needs. They are considered incapable of entertaining themselves and most have little or no idea of how to maintain or repair what they own, much less create what they need. They are expected to spend a third to a half of their time working "for a living" under someone else's supervision to meet someone else's standards and increase someone else's profits. As a result, there is little sense of independence or opportunity for self-expression, and resulting depression, frustration, and related illnesses have become widespread. By contrast, in village life, each household produces most of what they consume, with some variation, depending on a person's skills and interests and role in the village. While urban industrial people spend 40 to 60 hours per week earning the money to fulfill their needs, village gardeners spend 4 to 5 hours a day 6 days a week (while "primitive" hunter-gatherers spend 1 to 2!) supplying their basic needs and comforts. Those hours are even shorter for permaculturists, because once established, the food production system practically cares for itself. Helen and Scott Nearing, whose self-sufficient life was documented in their series of books and videos on "The Good Life" proved to many that living on the land is, in fact, more efficient and more satisfying than living in the city. With their system of working "four hours for the household and four hours for income" six days a week, they lived long, interesting lives, enjoying many hours of music and meditation, entertaining visitors, traveling, and writing. The permaculture approach makes this lifestyle even more appealing, since fewer dollars and many fewer hours are needed to support the land and its food production system. So what would an individual household produce in a permaculture village? Consider a permaculture system for a Temperate Zone region (like Hungary, France, Midwestern USA, or Tasmania): A passive solar house with supplemental wood heat is built to maximize solar light and heat, with most windows facing south and skylights and a greenhouse helping to light as well as heat the home in the winter, but block hot sun in the summer. Water from the roof is guided to a cistern at the rear of the house where it goes through a filter for drinking. Some of the filtered water flows through pipes in a masonry chimney that is heated by the sun during the day and a small fire at night, radiating that heat to the floors of several rooms in the house and heating the water for bathing. Along the south side of the house, reflecting light into the greenhouse, is a pond where lilies, reeds, and catfish (or trout) help to clean the "grey" water that flows into the pond from sinks and baths through a sand filter and a series of waterfall forms that aerate it. The plants and fish are food supplies as well as water cleaners and the water is used to irrigate during the two-to-three dry months each year. Behind the house, to the north, is a stand of trees. Evergreens on the northeast protect the house from winter storms and provide pinecones for fuel, greens for decorating and craft uses, and wood for building. Fruit trees on the northwest block summer evening sun, keeping the house cool, and providing wood for fuel and carpentry, leaves for mulch, fresh fruits during the summer months and dried, stored, and canned fruits for the winter. A beehive at the far end of this small orchard provides pollinators for the trees and garden, wax for candles, and honey for the table. Berry vines act as a fence along the east side of the property, with alfalfa as a ground cover, providing food for the chickens and rabbits that are housed on that side of the property. Beyond the vines is a pasture for the goats that eat the grass and control weeds while they provide milk for cheese and wool for clothing. Grape vines cover the lattice house on the west side, providing a cool, shady place for outside work or relaxation on hot summer days. The ground cover around the lattice house is strawberries, and under the fruit trees shade loving herbs, lettuces, and periwinkle cover the soil, retaining moisture and returning needed minerals when they die off in winter. Between the lattice house and the pond, sun-loving plants are grown in combination: corn with beans, squash and melons; tomatoes with onions, garlic, and marigolds; etc. A willow tree shades the pond in the summer, lets the sun reflect off it in the winter, offers a swing and a great place to picnic or read on the lawn below it, and provides willow branches for baskets and furniture. Below the pond, a bed of rice is planted in the wet months and harvested in the dry summer. The grains are stored with the fruits and vegetables in the root cellar under the house and the straw is used during the winter as mulch and for the nesting boxes in the hen house, goat pen, and rabbit hutches. With this system, less than an acre provides fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, nuts, grains, hides, wool, wood for fire and construction, and beauty for the soul. Everything serves at least two purposes. No water, fuel, or food need be imported and a family of three or four could be quite comfortable for years by spending a few hours a day caring for the animals and gathering and preparing the food and other products of their permaculture system. During the quiet winter months, depending on the size of the household and the interests of the occupants, wool, goat skins and rabbit skins could be used to make clothing and bedding for their own use or for sale. Plant based dyes make beautifully colored yarns. Reeds make lovely baskets, and even paper, with the right know-how. Willow and other branches can be used to make baskets or furniture, evergreens and grapevines make festive garlands and wreaths, and fruits could be made into jams, wines, or brandies. Creating such things can be a joyful, spiritually satisfying process when there's no supervisor or critic insisting on a particular style or look being accomplished within a specific timeframe. Selling their excess food or crafts for a few judicious purchases (things like paint, salt, tools, and seasonings), the members of this household are in a position to live a healthy, creative life with all their needs met, no requirement to depend on someone else to make it possible to "earn a living," and little impact on the natural environment around them. Some households, for example those located in mining or timber areas where gardens are difficult to maintain, might produce fewer of their direct household needs and more materials that other villagers might use, thus relying more heavily on trade. Still, a standard of self-sufficiency would encourage each household to be designed in such a way as to permit the majority of food and fiber needs to be produced at home, with a minimum of labor and effort on the resident's part. This might be through the design and layout of the house itself, incorporating greenhouses and hydroponics. This permaculture approach to household design is the most effective way to fulfill humanity's yearning for self-sufficiency while also making it possible to live in harmony with earth's processes and each person's lifecycles. By building our lives in a way that supports ourselves and our families, we feel a deep satisfaction and no longer fear that others will deprive us of our livelihood. In recent decades, increasing numbers of people of all ages have been exploring the riches of this way of life and have been sharing their experiences, both positive and negative, on internet blogs and in books and articles in magazines like Mother Earth News. They're demonstrating that it's possible, even on a suburban lot, to meet virtually all the needs of a family, with some to share with others, as well. |