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Permalink Reply by Kyle MacLaury on May 4, 2011 at 8:41am

I have incorporated permaculture into my personal life, and have my eyes open for ways of incorporating it into my professional life.  We have landscaped our little lot in St. Paul using permaculture principles.  I have to say that there are few things more rewarding than having your own fruit trees and bushes to feast on through the summer, and the native perennials in our yard are gorgeous year round.  We haven't completely eliminated the grass from our yard, but in a few years I expect to not have to mow our lawn anymore, which I'm really excited for.

Permalink Reply by Bill Bradbury on April 13, 2013 at 11:09am

It makes me sad to see that in the 2 years this forum has been open, there has been one post and 6 views. If we were discussing the energy value of a fart in the wind, there would be this much activity in 10 minutes! We love to discuss the insides of the homes we look at, but why do we not evaluate the outsides as well?

Every dollar we spend is ultimately spent on energy. Our food, our clothes, our comforts, they are all embodiments of energy already spent. We can not say that we are saving energy if we only change the way we receive the energy.

Our goal as energy auditors, consultants and scientists is to reduce the amount of energy our society uses while maintaining or improving comfort and happiness.

The permaculture philosophy of closing every loop and creating forested gardens is idyllic, but not unattainable.

Here are a couple of photos of my own house. It is still cold here but we are still eating from our garden. My 1/2 acre lot has 27 fruit and nut trees, more than 100 berry bush and vines, chickens and large garden. The trees and shrubs also provide cooling to the structure and maintain more consistent exterior temps. All water from the roof is channeled by swales on the surface or by french drain sub-surface drainage pipe.

I am also a Building Analyst and my wife and I have retrofitted the 100 year old adobe house for maximum energy efficiency. We have not closed every loop, we are not even close, but I think this much is a start that nearly every person reading this could make.

Attachments:

• Garden.jpg, 2.9 MB
• BackyardPathway.jpg, 2.9 MB

Permalink Reply by David Eggleton on April 25, 2013 at 8:17pm

Thank you, Bill, for concern, commitment and images!