Permaculture (permanent - culture) is an approach to ecological design with the aim of creating efficient, productive, and self-sustaining systems that mimic the design inherent in nature's systems. Based on the ethics of ‘care of the earth' and ‘care of people', permaculture integrates our basic human needs for food, shelter, energy, water, and waste management with economics and social science. In Permaculture design, there is no need for synthetic chemical or fertilizer inputs because the balanced ecosystem eliminates their need. The result is a whole systems approach that can be applied beneficially to such diverse areas as complete yard & gardening design, small acreage sustainability, profitable farming/ranching, community economic and social development, and large or small scale eco-businesses.

Permaculture represents a way of thinking about ecosystem design and management where all members of an ecosystem, including humans, are integrated in a manner that serves all members of the ecosystem. Permaculture could be described as:

	The art and science of designing human beings’ place in the environment
	A method of ecosystem design and management that serves to consciously maximize the abundance of an ecosystem by imitating nature’s designs
	Environmental design that blends indigenous wisdom with scientific knowledge, utilizing the best of both.