Permaculture

Permaculture is a way of designing our surroundings by learning from nature about efficient and sustainable ways of using energy, materials and other resources so as to minimise the stress that nature and humanity place upon each other. There are many examples of permaculture design on our holding, but perhaps the most important one is Vallis Veg itself, in its aim to produce wholesome food as close as possible to where it will be eaten.

Vallis Veg is a Permaculture Association LAND Learning Centre, with the aim of providing demonstrations of and education in permaculture approaches. We do run occasional permaculture courses either ourselves or in association with external tutors. Check our courses page for details. However, our main focus at present is on building up our market garden and establishing our residential site, so our permaculture outreach activities are currently fairly limited. We welcome visits from individuals or groups with an interest in permaculture – see our visitors page for further details.

We’ve written various articles and research papers on subjects directly or indirectly related to permaculture. See our publications page for details. Chris’s blog, Small Farm Future also touches frequently on permaculture. As you’ll see from our publications, there are aspects of the permaculture movement to which we’re amicably sceptical. For us, permaculture isn’t about accepting received wisdom – it should encourage enquiry, experimentation and an openness to self-criticism. We aim to put this into practice at Vallis Veg.

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