Observe and Interact

The first permaculture design principle I learned was Observe and Interact. Since then, I've found there are many ways to live out this principle. I recently moved to a new apartment with a large patio. The first week, I paid attention to where the sun hit the patio and where it didn't. There was an area of dirt up against the house that had been neglected. Since I didn't know the history of the soil, I decided to plant some perennials there that would attract beneficial insects rather than food plants. There was also an old barrel on its last leg. I planted English lavender in it. Everything else was planted in pots for easy moving. I have sun loving herbs on top of the patio wall. The lemon tree is next to the sitting area where it gets the most sun, and the olive tree is right next to the house. Marigolds are in baskets hanging off the patio wall. Choices for where to place the plants were all made from observing the patterns of sun and moisture (the microclimates) in that patio area. Now, I do additional observation to see how things change based on my interactions. These are all slow and small steps (another permaculture design principle) toward improving my sphere of influence.

For folks with a more settled life, you might consider another method of observing and interacting. My favorite permaculture book (so far) is Earth User's Guide to Permaculture (2006) by Rosemary Morrow. In it, she describes how to do a water audit for your property. Even folks who rent can do this; they just may be limited in the interventions they can do.

The first step is to estimate how much water your household uses in a day, week, and year. This is done by tracking when you are using water and how much you are using. Some will be easy to track. You can generally find the amount used by your washing machine per load or your toilet per flush written somewhere in the specs for the unit. Others may be a bit more challenging, such as how many gallons you use taking your shower or washing your hands. Of course, if you have 100% city water, you can always take the easy way out and just look at your water bill.

The next step is to look up the average annual rainfall for your area. There are several places to get this information online or in person. One online location is http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/. Here's a state by state guide: http://www.currentresults.com/Weather/US/average-annual-state-precipitation.php. If you have a weather station in your town, you can try to find out from them.

Then, you will need to calculate the surface area of your roof that you can use for harvesting rainfall. You will then multiply this number with the amount of annual rainfall. This will give you how much rain you can possibly catch. Of course, you could always take the easy way out and use http://save-the-rain.com/SR2/ to do it for you.

The next step is to find out how long it usually is between good rains and how long the longest drought is for where you live.

You now know how much water you use, how much water you can catch, and how much water you need. This will tell you how much rain you need to store to get you through droughts and emergencies. This information can be used to determine the number and size of rain barrels you need for your home. It can also be used as motivation to reduce your water consumption. For ideas on this, I recommend reading the book.

Morrow, R. (2006). Earth user's guide to permaculture (2nd Ed.). Sydney, Australia: Kangaroo Press