Permaculture Principle #3: Obtain a yield

If you are enjoying the fruits of your summer labor, you are living Permaculture Principle #3. This principle encourages us to ‘obtain a yield.’ We can see these efforts all around us—in the bees collecting pollen, in the hummingbirds drinking nectar from flowers, and in squirrels harvesting and storing acorns. 

 
Many of us will take time this fall to celebrate our harvests—of apples and squash, onions and garlic, melons and stone fruits. Or maybe you will relish gathering sufficient firewood for winter or seeds for the next growing season. Perhaps you already recognize the nutrient-rich value of fallen leaves—at your home or your neighbor’s. 
 
Obtaining a yield can vary for each of us depending on our situation. Those of us with gardens or forest acres may have many opportunities to obtain a yield. And those of us in apartments or similar situations can obtain a yield, too—by creating or nurturing sourdough starter, by building community networks that share and swap, by foraging or community gardening.
 
 When we strive to obtain a yield, we are working to support ourselves and our loved ones in sustainable ways. Obtaining a yield can also be a celebration of living local, which means using to best effect those things we have at home or nearby. Many of us appreciate too the natural rhythms central to obtaining a yield—actions like planning, planting, tending, harvesting, and preserving according to the seasons and to our needs.
 
Examples of obtaining a yield:

• Creating, nurturing, and sharing your own sourdough starter
• Saving seeds from this year’s plants to use in the future
• Harvesting fruits and vegetables, and preserving the excess for future use
• Obtaining firewood and processing it from downed trees to which you have access
• Scouting out resources no longer used by you or others that can be repurposed for future needs
• Collecting leaves and grass clippings for mulch for your gardening beds
• Swapping with friends and neighbors to share your own yield and gain that of others 

 
Take action:
Learn more about obtaining a yield at the website Permaculture Principles, and experiment with obtaining a yield of something you have not tried before. This fall, I harvested elderberries and made syrup for the first time. And I’m striving to use the bounty of our apple trees by dehydrating some and freezing many. What do you see around you that is ready for harvest? 
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​Contributors: Jennifer Montgomery and Rebecca Cowser