October Permie Corner

Previous Permie Corner articles and resources can be found here

By Lorraine Sharaf

It is officially Fall, or Autumn if you prefer, and this month I am introducing the Fifth Permaculture Principle: Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services. 

The icon for this principle is a wind turbine, representing clean, renewable energy. By capturing the natural movement of air, turbines generate electricity. Its ancestor, the windmill, dates back to 7th-century Persia and is still used to convert wind energy into mechanical power for grinding grain and pumping water. Prior to 2014, the icon was a horse, another renewable resource providing transportation, manure for soil fertility, power for plowing and companionship. As permaculture spread globally and technology advanced, the icon shifted to reflect our growing focus on harnessing Earth’s free, clean energy through wind, water and sunshine.

As I write this, I am sitting at my kitchen counter enjoying the simplest form of wind—a cool cross-breeze through my open doors.

The subtitle for this principle, Let Nature Take Its Course, reminds us that nature already provides ongoing, self-sustaining processes we can use in our designs. When the elements of your land are in balance with one another, nature takes care of the rest. 

From David Holmgren in Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability:

“The proverb ‘let nature take its course’ reminds us that human intervention and complication of processes can make things worse and that we should respect and value the wisdom in biological systems and processes.”

When I listen to people talk about nature, I notice they often make a distinction between nature and humans, pitting humans against nature. But we are part of nature. Everything we need to survive is provided by Earth. We live in a closed system that has supported all life for millions of years with no outside inputs. A permaculture designer considers how elements within a whole system work together—water, air, soil, plants, buildings, animals, energy and community all relate to and influence one another. This is called Whole-System Thinking. Without it, solutions are only temporary, like a podiatrist treating a foot condition without evaluating posture, spine, how someone walks or the shoes that they wear.

How does all of this connect to the fifth principle? Using and valuing renewable resources and services is core to regenerative agriculture and permaculture. These are words and concepts that are part of everyday English, but how do we define those words and how do they connect with one another? 

Putting the Fifth Principle into Practice

For this article, Resource means something provided by nature (wind, water, soil, plants, animals, fungi). Service means something nature provides rather than machines or chemicals (like bee pollination). Renewable means something naturally replenished equal to or faster than it’s used.

Here are free, renewable resources performing services all around us, no matter where we live:

• Sunlight → Grow herbs on your balcony or windowsill and air-dry them instead of buying store-bought. You’ll save money, reduce waste, and know exactly what you’re eating. Instructions: https://theultimatehomestead.com/how-to-dry-herbs-naturally/
• Rainwater → Capture it in barrels to water your garden or balcony plants. Direct it into swales or create a pollinator rain garden. Read the July Permie article for how-to instructions: https://bucksfoodshed.org/july-permie-corner/
• Leaves & yard trimmings → Use unsprayed leaves as mulch or add them to compost. They’re free fertilizer right outside your door.
• Trees → Provide shade, cooling, oxygen, food, habitat, and materials for building and mulch. Fallen leaves provide much needed overwintering habitat for our native insects.
• Food scraps → Feed your compost pile, worm bin, or try bokashi (fermented food scraps) to enrich your soil.
• Saved seeds & cuttings → Free starters for growing and exchanging with neighbors.
• Animals → Chickens scratch up soil, eat pests, and provide eggs. Their manure enriches your garden.
• Pollinators → Bees, wasps, and native insects keep orchards and gardens productive year after year.
• Wind & air → Dry your laundry outside and open windows for natural cooling instead of running the AC.
• People-powered transportation → Walking and biking are great exercise, build community, and produce zero emissions.
• Shared resources → Tool libraries and clothing swaps save money, build community, reduce waste, and extend the life of existing materials.

Balancing Use with Care

Caring for renewable resources means balancing personal needs with ecosystem health. If you harvest firewood from your wooded property, consider the impact on trees, animals, plants, soil, mosses and fungi. Ask yourself: how much can I take so the forest not just maintains, but improves in growth and resilience? While we don’t want to take too much, some pruning and cleanup is actually healthy for the system.

Living fully sustainably is nearly impossible for most of us, and that reality can feel demoralizing. Plastic is everywhere—even local organic lettuce comes in single-use containers. Many companies deliberately design products to fail through “planned obsolescence,” a practice dating back to the 1920s when light bulb manufacturers secretly agreed to limit bulb lifespans, even though longer-lasting versions existed.

Even green energy has its problems—producing and disposing of wind turbines, electric car batteries, and solar panels damages the earth too. But we can still make a difference. Ask storekeepers to stock sustainably produced goods. Shop resale for clothes, tools, and furniture. Before buying, ask yourself: “Do I really need this?” Evaluate the full life cycle of products when possible and make better-informed choices.

Each small action—in the garden, at the restaurant, choosing a power company, riding a bicycle—collectively moves us toward valuing sustainable resources and services.

October Permaculture Tip

Avid Permie Corner reader and permaculture practitioner, Jarrett Raiguel of Earth-Fed Living, sent in this October permaculture tip:

Falling leaves are a great example of Principle 5: Using and valuing renewable resources.

Every fall, trees drop tons of leaves that most people rake up and throw away. I see them as free, natural mulch. 

Run some over with a mower or shredder—shredded leaves break down faster, hold moisture, and won’t mat down. Use them in garden beds or toss them into your compost pile. Mix with kitchen scraps or grass clippings to balance greens and browns.

Leave some leaves whole in wilder parts of your yard, around trees and hedges. Whole leaves create vital habitat for amphibians, insects, and larvae that hibernate there and return in spring to support the ecosystem. Even some of our Pennsylvania species of bats use the leaf litter. (read more about why)

Don’t have enough leaves? Ask neighbors or check local parks or cemeteries (just make sure it’s allowed and the property hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals). By spring, your soil will be richer, your garden happier, and your yard’s ecosystem thriving—all from a free, local, renewable resource! You may not even need to buy mulch.

Send an Email!!!

Please email (admin@bucksfoodshed.org) the steps that you have taken to Use and Value Sustainable Resources and Services for us to publish in November’s newsletter! I have stopped using peat moss, because it is a limited resource that has taken thousands of years to develop. Peatlands cover only about 3% of Earth’s land, but they store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined.