Permaculture Design

Permaculture Design for a 1/3-acre site near Portland Maine

Permaculture Designs can be created for homes, farms, gardens, businesses and communities.  Permaculture design takes the entire “system” of our built environment – the landscape, our homes, humans, nature, animals, plants, etc. – into account to create a truly sustainable and healthy model of living in and with natural systems while meeting human needs as well.

Properties that have been designed along permaculture principles are nurturing and beautiful, resilient and abundant.  They have a small carbon footprint while creating comfort, sustenance and support for their inhabitants – both human and otherwise!

Permaculture goes beyond ecological landscaping, native landscaping, edible landscaping, sustainable design and green building …

Imagine …

• Minimizing the amount of outside fuels and resources you need to run your home
• Harvesting rain water on site for irrigation and other uses
• A perennial edible landscape that provides food and wildlife forage for years to come
• Living within a healthy ecosystem that has been designed to work in concert with nature’s patterns and rhythms
• Creating a network of neighbors and community members working to create a low-energy, post-carbon future full of richness and abundance

Permaculture Design Options

All our design work starts with you! We consider ourselves to be “co-creators” with you of a design and plan that will work to meet your goals and needs.  To that end, we will start any design relationship by asking you to invest some time in filling out the Permaculture Design Questionnaire before our first visit.

Option 1:  Permaculture Live-Design Session - This is a great starting point for permaculture design work at your property and this service can either “stand alone” as a verbal consultation or lead to a fully drawn design if desired.  During this live-design session we visit the property (for approx 2 hours depending on property size) and provide a voluminous amount of design guidance and provide specific permaculture ideas for you to implement.  You are welcome to take notes, but for this option we do not provide a written report or drawn plan.

The cost for this service: $175 (plus mileage if >30 min drive from Portland) for up to 1 acre and $250 for more than 1 acre up to 2 acres.  Contact Lisa for other size properties.  Price is discounted for small lots less than one acre.  Price includes our advance research time to review your questionnaire and other data about your site.   Payable by check or in cash at beginning of visit. NEW:  Half of your design project can be paid for with hours from Hour Exchange Portland!

Permaculture Design for a half-acre home in Ireland

 

 

Option 2:  Complete Permaculture Design – After the initial session (see Option 1 above) we take all the information and observations away with us to create a beautifully drawn permaculture design for your property (color, poster-sized, suitable for display + an electronic copy).  We make a second visit to deliver and discuss your design.   You will receive a mounted hard copy plus an electronic copy on on disk.  We will also include a recorded “audio” walk-through of the design elements that you can play on your computer or mp3 player.

The cost for this service: Billed on an hourly basis.  The hours required depend on property size and complexity of design and can be discussed at the time of your live-design session.  Includes: creation of drawing(s), the additional visit to present and discuss the design, reprographics cost of printing, mounting and digitizing your design, recorded “audio” walk-through on disk.  Optional extra:  Full report outlining implementation steps, maintenance plan, budgets, detailed plant list and zone-by-zone strategies and recommendations.  NEW:  Half of your design project can be paid for with hours from Hour Exchange Portland!

Permaculture Design for a one-acre site near Portland Maine

Want to learn more about Permaculture?  Visit Portland Maine Permaculture, the largest permaculture meetup group in the world.