Permaculture Design Course Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Permaculture Design Course - Essay Example The location is in a dense urban environment with significant traffic and air pollution. There is little greenery in the area, a few trees on the sidewalk and street areas or found around the parking lots and yards in the area behind the buildings. The rooftop area of the house is flat, cement, and currently unused. This proposal advocates for the creation of a sprout production facility, wheat grass juice production center, manna bakery, and garden of salad greens, medicinal herbs, vegetables, and other biodiversity related or endangered species plants in the rooftop terrace area as an example of Permaculture transformation of the urban environment. This project includes a production facility that is generally considered as supplying the food or a portion of the food for the members of the household who live in it or in this instance as a supplement for fresh salad greens, sprouts, herbs, vegetables, bread, and juices. It is possible for this facility to also be constructed inexpens ively, from recycled or salvaged materials and to include a greenhouse facility on a portion of the rooftop area. The greenhouse will contain three tables that are dedicated to the production of sprouts – alfalfa seed, radish seed, garbanzo bean, and broad bean primarily. These sprouts will be grown in cyclical progressions so that a supply is ready each day for household consumption, or a seven day cycle. In association with the salad sprout production there will also be the production of sprouted wheat for â€Å"manna† bread, wheatgrass juice, and rejuvelac production. Sprouted wheat requires pure water, and this must be changed every day on the wheat berries. Similarly the salad sprouts should be grown with pure water which is changed every day. The greenhouse facilities should keep these facilities relatively protected from air pollution that is dust, particle, or ash. However, the greenhouse takes up only around 33% of the rooftop. The other part of the terrace will be used to set up a salad greens, medicinal herb, and vegetable garden that is created by filling barrels, buc kets, and clay pots with earth for planting. These barrels should be wood and organic if possible, and clay pots should be used in both for wheat berry sprouting and for containing the earth in which the vegetables are grown. This method of compact community farming was developed in Essene communities over 2000 years ago in desert type of conditions, but allowed for concentrated agricultural production co-mingled with residence. The barrels can be preferably of wood and the type that is used for wine. The earth can be transported in to the facility from a rural location using one or two pick-up trips only. The earth can be shoveled into nylon grain sacks that are easily available for carrying up the stairs to the roof area. The larger barrels can be used for mixed plantings, such as tomatoes in associations with greens or corn and beans. The smaller clay pots can be used for lettuces, basil, salad greens, and medicinal herbs and the lettuces can also be planted in cycles to be ready on a regular basis for daily harvesting and use in the house. By growing these fresh vegetables, sprouts, wheat grass juice, and manna bread, the household implements permaculture ideas into the urban environment in a manner that is at once self-sufficient, environmentally improving, and transformative to the community and individuals who participate in it. The health effects of the fresh vegetable, sprouts, and sprouted bread diet can also be considered beneficial, though the plants should be misted as well as watered on a regular basis