Garden to Life Lessons: Using Permaculture Principles to Design my Son’s Room
While this little blog is mostly about food, gardening, health and sustainability, I like to cultivate the image of healthy sustainable living, in all it’s many versions, as part of normal modern life rather than just something that only skilled farmers and off-grid hippies do. So my musings will often interweave garden and health tips with real life stories of how the garden, nature and food provide lessons and perspectives to bring into our real everyday life of parenting and living in the modern world.
This week I’ve been giving my son’s room a little design update to set him and his sister up for success this summer (and by success I mean not tearing each other’s hair out, yelling across the farm at each other, and driving their parents crazy with constant messes). As I have been turning his room into a more functional and inviting space that caters to my kiddos’ style of “no I won’t play with any of these toys I begged for… I just want to tinker with random things, climb on tabletops and make forts with all your couch cushions”, I am noticing how much my permaculture design mindset plays into everything I do in life these days.
Permaculture is often only associated with gardening, that is if someone is familiar with the word at all, but it is actually a set of life design principles and thinking tools (based in observation of nature’s systems and often having indigenous roots) that when used together allow us to creatively re-design our environment, our communities, and our behavior to meet our needs with abundance while using up less energy and resources. After years of studying this design mindset, my brain tends to use it everywhere…when I designed the tiny house, how I interact with the farm, my parenting strategies, and how I design gardens, health plans, and value-based lives with clients in my coaching.
For example, the first principle of permaculture is “Observe and Interact”. On the farm that means that every morning I take a stroll through all the areas of our farm, the animals, the food forest, the high tunnel, the plant nursery area under the outdoor kitchen and I just notice things and the connections between things. I watch the sun, I notice the cycles, I note the interactions between animals, plants, soils, etc. These observations are essential to the designs of the systems on our farm.
In my garden design work with clients, the “Observe and Interact” principle means I do a pretty extensive questionnaire and site tour to find out about both the land (it’s sun, soil, water, etc) and the people/animals living on the land (their strengths, challenges, values, aesthetic), and the community in which the land is in before I ever sit down and design a garden on paper. Designs should be guided by observation and interaction with all the species the design is being made for and cater to their strengths, values, goals, aesthetic, etc.
In my son’s room redesign, this principle of “Observe & Interact” looks like watching how my kids play, what activities bring peace to their relationships, what setup reduces mess and wasted time losing important items as they do these activities, and what aesthetic is inviting and calming to them. Also, I observe the challenges of the room that need to be overcome…lack of a closet needs creative solutions, being on north side of the house makes it dark and high moisture which means a need for good lighting and airflow/reduced clutter to prevent the beloved mildew that plagues the pacific northwest.
You could extend this principle, as well as all permaculture principles, to designing anything in life whether it be a small space garden, large farm, healthy living strategy for your family, a functional kitchen that meets your values, or a community project or entrepreneurial endeavor.
The other core principles of permaculture include things like:
Catch and store energy.
Obtain a yield.
Apply self-regulation and accept feedback.
Use and value renewable resources.
Produce no waste (or as little as possible).
Design from patterns to details.
Integrate rather than segregate.
Use small and slow solutions.
Use and value diversity.
Use edges and value marginal spaces.
Creatively use and respond to change.
I know, I know, a whole lot of words that don’t make a ton of sense in the abstract but these concepts, when you dive deeper into each one, have profound insight, courtesy of mother nature herself, into functional and sustainable design for the systems of our gardens, homes, communities and planet.
In order to start to illustrate what these principles mean in more than just fancy words, I have written below about how I used each one in my son’s room redesign and in future blog musings I will share how I use permaculture design principles in garden design, healthy living design, and sustainable living design with my coaching clients so these principles continue to become more tangible and useful to you in your life too!
Permaculture principles applied to my son’s room design:
Catch and store energy - A design shouldn’t allow energy to be wasted or become destructive but should instead have a system for harnessing or storing that energy for productive uses. In my son’s room this influences my choices for sustainable lighting choices, installing an energy efficient heat pump in the house, harnessing the sun’s rays to heat a space, etc. But I also thought of this principle a little more creatively….My son has a lot of energy and when it’s applied to the wrong situation it can be a big issue for the family (throwing couch cushions on the floor, standing on tables, bugging sister, etc) so it was important to catch this energy in a productive way. Therefore, there is a sensory swing, spinning reading chair where he listens to audio books, a bunkbed to climb, pillows for building forts and wobble chairs in the design. We are catching his energy and putting it towards useful play rather than family chaos.
Obtain a yield - A design should yield the important desired outcomes. The goals of my son’s room is learning, sibling peace and connection, my son’s independence and creativity, better organization and less family mess in the house. My design is always looking to get that yield or outcome I’m looking for just like my garden design should result in a client’s desired outcomes….some food to eat and share, a beautiful peaceful place to raise a family and gather with community, and a healthy habitat to support the planet and it’s inhabitants. If the desired yield is not happening a redesign is needed.
Apply self regulation and accept feedback: Good designs (and designers) accept feedback from the reality of how a design decision effected the outcome and some systems can even be designed to self correct. For a long time there was a couch in the room which fulfilled my small-space-designer-mind’s desire to have everything meet multiple needs…comfy reading area and guest space to sleep. When I went in to redesign I thought this feature needed to be there in some form but as I watched the kids I saw they needed more space to swing and play in the room, and there were other needs the limited space need to fulfill , not to mention a big couch didn’t help with the moisture and darkness issues, so the guest sleeping function needed to go elsewhere and I opted for a comfy chair rather than a comfy fold out couch.
Use edges and value the marginal: The interface between things is where interesting things take place, opportunities arise, and where often the most valuable, diverse, and productive elements of the system reside. Consider that edge between the meadow and the forest…more diverse species always exist in these “edge” places. Back to my son’s room, by using the redesign to bring my daughter into the joint makers space, I am bringing together two people’s “ecosystems” which may create some conflict but observing the natural world shows us again and again that the creative magic happens at these places where two different elements meet and therefore I value the opportunities and bonding that might arise at this merge. Another way I thought about this principle…. since I got all the furniture for the room second hand, it wasn’t always the ideal size I initially intended. The desk and shelf set, which was a great deal second hand, was 14 inches too short to go all the way across the room as I envisioned in my design. My brain became obsessed with finding the opportunity in this marginal space at the edge of the desk…after designing the tiny house to maximize space inch by inch, I knew this space could be used to further my goals for the space and low and behold that tiny “wasted” space became a main productive/valuable feature of the room…a pull out makers cart that hides away tiny messy things behind the desk until maker space time.
Use and value renewable resources: Beyond it’s guiding principles, permaculture has three important ethics…earth care, people care, and future care/fair share. Therefore, a key element of permaculture-based designs is to use renewable resources, not take more than we need, and reduce waste. As someone who values sustainability and reducing consumerism but also really really loves pretty spaces, I constantly alternate between looking between what’s available in the modern stores of ikea, target, pottery barn, etc and then turning to the second-hand or handmade world to find a similar solution to what I am looking for. For example, that small space next to the desk mentioned above had very specific dimensions and function that needed to be met so I had a new cart all picked out to help me with the vision but then (kinda) patiently waited for something to pop up secondhand and in fact found an antique library cart that fit the dimensions and function AND didn’t use any new resources from the earth or burn fossil fuels to get to me AND looked even more sturdy and cool then anything you can find online in the modern world of crappily made things. There are times I am tempted to buy something new because it just fits so well in a design but I usually find that with patience and dedication to honor this principle of renewable resources, I find something that makes the design even better by buying used or making something myself (or, let’s be honest, asking my husband to make it!). At the same time, I get to feel alignment with my values, save money, and model for my kids that with creativity and patience we can have everything we need and all the beauty we want and still do it in a way that protects the earth or otherwise fits with whatever are THEIR most cherished values.
Produce no waste (or as little as possible): Besides the fact that my kids love making things, the choice to make the main function of the room an organized maker space is that it makes it very easy for me to stop bringing in toys and instead turn waste from our home into entertainment, learning and creativity for my kiddos….think old yogurt containers becoming a baby chick mansion, cardboard boxes turning into the gameboard for family night, and broken plates becoming mosaic stepping stones for the garden.
Design from patterns to details: From principle 1, we always take time to observe before designing and a main thing we will take notice of is the patterns we see in nature, society, or in the case or room design, our kid’s interactions with their world. These patterns are what provide the main structure to our design from which the details then flow. The pattern I observed is that my kids will choose making and tinkering over any toy and get along best in the moments of creation side by side. Another pattern I noticed was that my son seeks movement and other sensory input. These patterns led to the main function of the room being a maker space and sensory/movement play. From there the details of how to fulfill those functions can be designed including a long desk with two maker’s stations and multi drawer/bin carts to facilitate a makers space and moving elements like sensory swing, ladder to a reading nook, and cozy swivel chair. Then of course we consider the smaller details of decor, paint colors, etc.
Integrate rather than segregate: In our life designs, whether they be of a garden space, farm, or wild child’s room, a permaculture mindset encourages us to think of the space we are designing as part of a wider network of community spaces. By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between them and they support eachother. The design will benefit if rather than trying to achieve total self sufficiency within the space or element, we consider the excesses your space or element will have and where it lacks or is challenged and then build connections between neighboring community spaces or elements to aim for community efficiency. My daughter has a tiny room. My son’s room is larger. In my design I am sure to design it with my daughter’s need for more space with my son’s need for connection. By creating the maker space to include my daughter, I encourage them to come together in their mutual interest of “making” in order to cultivate the connection my son deeply craves while getting all the artistic mess and supplies out of the small room of my 10 going on 13 preteen so she can have the privacy she wants and function she needs in her own small space bedroom. His room is part of the larger household so the design should consider the connections between his space and the rest of the spaces around it to create a fully functioning, efficient, productive household community.
Use small and slow solutions: I’ve made the mistake before both in the garden and in my home design projects…you get excited about a vision and go all in all at once and then things change, your daughter decides blue is her favorite color not pink, the spot you picked out for your garden and just spent a bunch of money to fence is actually infested with bindweed from your neighbors yard or in your septic drain field. It’s best to start small with changes and then observe and get the feedback to come in for a second pass at editing a design. So I am moving slowly on my son’s obsession with pokemon decor just in case next year his preference is star wars and I chose a less than ideal swivel chair that was free in order to try out how it works in the space before investing in an upgraded more expensive (still second-hand!) version. Also, while my past life as a Economics major hammered in the benefits of economies of scale, a smaller system is easier to maintain and keep sustainable (think how chickens live on a family farm vs in mass production chicken factories or how homemade cookies can have healthier ingredients and less plastic than mass produced cookies) so I also keep reminding myself to start small with the maker space to assess the level of mess that ensues from my children’s creativity before adding more bins and materials to the mix.
Use and value diversity: In the garden we bring together diverse plants in ways that utilize their individual functions for a more productive and resilient plant community. Similarly, in all designs for our living spaces we recognize and value the very diverse personalities and set of strengths/challenges each of our family members has. We are each very unique in how we operate and what we need, and so this must be taken into account when designing family spaces to encourage and utilize strengths and support each person’s areas of need.
Creatively use and respond to change: In any garden, room or life design, I am always aware of change and how to design for making it easy to adjust the design as change occurs. In garden and community design, we are thinking of climate change or perhaps ageing/changing needs of the key stakeholders in the space. In my home systems design I am always remembering (with tears and also relief!) that my kids are growing up and will have ever changing needs for the space I am designing as well as changing aesthetic preferences. Storage solutions I put in for toys can be used for clothes later (remember lack of closet!) and the sensory swing, once no longer needed, leaves a perfect place for future dresser for the teen wardrobe. The long desk serves as a designated maker space now but will be amazing as a desk for homework and school projects in the future. The chosen paint colors can service my son’s obsessions of pokemon and geodes/gemstones now but will work for a more teen aesthetic too.
I hope this little non-garden illustration of permaculture principles gets you thinking about creating efficient, productive, beautiful and sustainable systems and spaces in not only your garden but also your daily life and home. I’d love to hear how these principles might apply in a life project you are working on right now or if you have questions!
