A growing movement in sustainable living has begun to take root in people’s minds — and the soil.  Athens Permaculture is a new organization, created just a month ago, that aims to bring the initiatives of permaculture to Athens.

Permaculture is a holistic system design approach to sustainability. While organic gardening is focused on just the food production methods, permaculture is a design that encompasses every part of culture.

Mounds of mulch with trees are stopping the erosion of the Ben’s Bikes parking lot that is threatening one of the last creeks in Athens. Photo by : Katherine Poss

“A lot of permaculture has to do with organic gardening, and they certainly follow a lot of the same values,” said Evan McGown, one of the co-founders of Athens Permaculture and Athens native. “But organic gardening is just one niche of permaculture.”

Permaculture is fairly new, with its ideas originating in the 1960s and 1970s. 

The movement truly took flight after the release of the book, “Permaculture One: A Perennial Agricultural System for Human Settlements,” in 1978.

The Australian authors of the book, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, are said to be the co-originators of permaculture.  

“It was started as a study of sustainable whole systems design,” said Salem Willard, co-founder of Athens Permaculture and 2006 University of Georgia graduate. “The two founders went around the world and studied different traditional cultures, like Aboriginal, Native American, several African tribes — they were looking at how these cultures survived for so long, sustainably.”

The two founders noticed major differences between those cultures and western cultures.  They came up with the idea of permaculture as a permanent form of agriculture and culture, Willard said.

It is sustainable living in all forms.  Permaculture addresses how to create a permanent culture consciously — taking everything into account. 

“So with a permaculture project, it’s not just working with the earth, but thinking about how we would build the house, and how the house relates to our garden,” McGown said.  “So we would build the house so that rain water would run off the house into the garden, and then maybe we could wash our hands with that water.”

In order to create these living systems that require minimal human maintenance, a common practice used in permaculture is what McGown referred to as the “hammock principal.”

“So we have a site, but before we do anything drastic, we put up a hammock and then we just watch the land,” McGown said.  

Observing details such as how the sun hits the land, the local plants and where the rain tends to drain are all helpful to creating a dynamic system.

This idea about really considering something before acting is what inspires McGown, Willard and other members of Athens Permaculture to follow another principal of the movement — improvisation. 

“There is value in working with what you have and adapting to each specific site,” McGown said.

Armed with these innovative ways of thinking, Athens Permaculture is trying to better the local community.

“We want to connect people in Athens,” Willard said. “And we are hoping to promote the local sustainable community.”

But this is not just a hobby for McGown, it is something much more. 

“We have the feeling that there is something wrong with people being completely dependent upon external systems for their survival, and to me it is scary and alarming how dependent we are on corporations for the basic things like food and water,” he said.

By educating Athens about permaculture, McGown and Willard hope to advocate a community that is self-sufficient.

Athens Permaculture meets at Ben’s Bikes every Monday at 6:30 p.m. The meetings alternate from informational lectures to sustainability cafés, which are basically open discussions for anyone interested in any aspect of sustainability. 

Though it doesn’t look much like a garden yet, the model affectionately referred to as “Tanyard Creek Garden,” , is the first project of Athens Permaculture. 

This garden-in-the-works is located behind Ben’s Bikes and will serve as an educational, functional and practical space. 

“We are working with Ben’s Bikes to develop this site as a hub of possibility for Athens,” McGown said.

While the paperwork has not yet been completed to allow Athens Permaculture to have a commercial space on the same lot as Ben’s Bikes, they have been given permission by the land owner to create this garden, and the people at Ben’s Bikes have welcomed their initiative with open arms. 

“The doors are a-swinging and the heart juices are a-flowing,” said Don Young, worker at Ben’s Bikes.

Tina Tinsley, a licensed psychotherapist who owns Earthsong, an eco-spiritual retreat-center, stopped by the first work party Saturday. 

“Athens would be so benefited by community gardens,” Tinsley said. “Community gardens link people together because we all eat.”  

Tinsley said there is science behind this idea of the importance of community. 

“We are a species that thrive on community and permaculture does this,” she said.

CREATING A CULTURE OF MENTORING

What: A presentation with Evan McGown, co-founder of Athens Permaculture

When: 6:30 tonight

Where: Ben’s Bikes

Price: Free