Permaculture is a holistic approach to designing spaces for growing things that scales from flower gardens to mass agriculture and focuses on permanence and sustainability.
Permaculture is grounded in three ethics:
- Caring for the earth.
- Caring for people.
- Sharing in the surplus.
Permaculture applies three tactics in design:
- Observing and interacting with natural patterns.
- Focusing on energy efficiency.
- Use permaculture principles as a guide to mimic nature.
The North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook Appendix G. provides a good overview of the Permaculture approach.