Permaculture: Saving the environment and a trip to the grocery store

Permaculture stands for permanent agriculture. It is the process of building a specialized ecosystem to sustain the grower, plants, animals and all living organisms in the ecosystem. It requires hard labor, patient planning, and a vision for the future.

“You don’t come in with your ideas of, this is the way I’m going to have my land, it’s a rectangle and this is going to be here and this is going to be there,” said permaculturist, Lazaro Alvarado. “You come and observe the land, generally for a year, and you then you let the land tell you where things should be.”

Alvarado has been establishing a permaculture foundation at his property in Squaw Valley for about two years now. Specific portions of land serve specific functions and include a water collection pond, a chicken coop, a garden and a food forest.

The food forest will grow to become the most nutrient-rich and life-giving portion of the property. It will bear food and medicine for Alvarado and the various animals who live in the region. It is carefully designed in layers in which different plants tend to different needs of the ecosystem.

“You are using microorganisms, pests, natural resources. You have all these other forms of life working together in an eco-friendly environment to help to provide the crop with that nutrition that it needs,” explained agronomist, Anthony Venegas.

Alvarado’s work of establishing what he calls “a permanent culture of life,” is far from finished. But when it is completed, he will have his very own self-sustaining grocery store in his backyard.