Class One: Gathering Your Data // Introduction to Permaculture Mini Course

"It's time to start gathering your data so you can make appropriate and informed decisions. The cool thing about permaculture is that the answers are already there. We just need to know how to read nature's information."

The biggest thing that turns off folks about practicing permaculture? It's not easy. There's not a one-size fits all solution about anything. That's the kicker about this practice--you have to do the work and know your land in order to implement solutions designed specifically for it. Every idea, intention, and execution is totally customized and 100% created to suit the exact site you're working on. But this is also why it works. You're not retrofitting someone else's solutions and trying to mold or shape them to suit your needs. So with all that said, it's time to start gathering your data so you can make appropriate and informed decisions. We're going to dive right into collecting information for your site, so if you'd like to learn more about what permaculture is as an ideology, you can read more here.

What You Need
First things first, grab a notebook. Tracing paper is great too but not required. And if you want to go ahead and pull up your property on Google Earth, it helps to print out your site so you can trace over it for drawing out wind directions, sun exposure, animal traffic patterns, etc. A land survey of the property can serve the same purpose. Be sure to make a copy so as not to modify your original copy. Pens in varying colors, crayons or colored pencils are great if you intend to draw all of your information out on one map only. Color coding will help immensely later on when referring back to your data.

Be sure to document all of your findings in your notebook, on drawn maps, or by printing the information below. There is A LOT of info to know and it can be overwhelming for sure.