UMASS Permaculture

Although Permacutlure (permanent agriculture) has been developing and growing since the 1960s, the practice is far from mainstream so here is the official definition, via the Santa Fe Permaculture Institute:

"Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities and much more."

It's about doing what is best for the land, most aligned with the natural eco-system, and developing increasingly self-sustaining human settlements and agricultural systems, and highlights the ever-important question facing sustainable gardeners: To dig or not to dig? I bring it up today in light of a new project happening up at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in which a quarter acre of turf was transformed into a thriving garden. The video above is one of several in their documentary series about the initiative.

Pretty incredible, huh? Learn more on the Umass Permaculture blog.

(thnx John Mowbray and Treehugger)