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 Kevin Topek is a resident of Bellaire, Texas and an old family friend. He is the owner of Permaculture Designs, LLC and has implemented many wonderful Permaculture projects in the city. He agreed to an interview to share his expertise about Urban Permaculture with our readers.
When did you start being interested in Permaculture design, and how did you get your start? Probably in the mid eighties, 1984, while gardening organically here in Bellaire, Texas. Mindy [Kevin's wife and environmental chemist] studied with Patricia Michaels (DuBose) in 1991 and I studied with Bill Mollison, Scott Pittman and Larry Santoyo in Glenn Rose, Texas in 1993. What was your motivation for studying Permaculture to begin with? I wanted to learn a less labor intensive method of cultivating food crops. Many of my fellow students from then have gone on to do great things in Permaculture. What do you like about food crops? How does Permaculture decrease labor in cultivating them? You can eat food crops, and I like to eat! Permaculture methods build soil fertility and increase water retention so food crops need very little care and attention while growing. What are some of your fellow students up to now? Some of my fellow students have their own institutes and others are successful PC Designers. What were your first projects, and some initial successes and setbacks to doing Permaculture in Houston? Initially I deigned some landscapes and installed them by myself and in conjunction with more experienced landscapers. I had one design I presented stolen by the client, not paid for and it was installed by another contractor. I only had to learn that lesson once. The County DA, Terry O'Rourke, in the early 1990's asked me to design a plan for retention ponds for Braes Bayou just west of Loop 610 West. A poor facsimile was installed there in the late 1990's.  What were the retention ponds designed to do? Retention ponds hold water for long periods of time if not indefinitely. Detention ponds only hold onto storm water runoff until it can access a channel to a larger body of water. Are proprietary issues difficult with Permaculture design since the results are rather public? Proprietary issues are and are not a problem. Any good designer borrows good ideas from others, but makes those ideas come to life in a unique way. Have you specialized in any aspect of Permaculture design, and if so, what aspect? Urban Permaculture, Permeable Paving and Flood Mitigation. What is Urban Permaculture? Urban Permaculture focuses on smaller spaces in the urban environment. It is important to create food and habitat for people, animals, birds, insects and soil borne life forms.  And Permeable Paving? Permeable paving allows parking and driving areas to double as water detention areas so that the surrounding soil gets recharged from precipitation.
What are some challenges that you think are specific to doing Permaculture design in an urban setting? Many of the principles were designed with rural spaces in mind, so how do you adapt them to fit small lots or to city codes?
Lack of space requires the designer to maximize the function of all elements installed in an urban system. This can be challenging, but it is a lot of fun too! City codes are usually there to protect the health of the general population. When they are bent or broken, it needs to be done with sensitivity and ensures public health. I give eggs and honey to the neighbors, so they are supportive of my keeping chickens and bees. The neighborhood children love to play with the chicks and see where honey comes from.
Do you see things like animal husbandry eventually accepted by urban planners? Animal husbandry is absolutely necessary for any controlled biological system. Animals were part of the system before humans tried to control it and must be returned to the system for it to remain viable. Each unique animal in a growing design increases the soil fertility by an order of magnitude (x10). This occurs because of the unique bacteria associated with the feces of that species. These bacteria make different micro nutrients available to plants and soil life forms growing in the system. What do you see as the future for Permaculture, especially in an urban setting such as Houston? Do you see the design principles reaching the level of public policy or remaining mostly consumer driven?
Permaculture will address more urban issues as it matures as a design system. Currently most Permaculture clients in the Houston, Texas area are private citizens, but the public and military sectors are interested. There is a move afoot to clean chemical waste fields at army munitions facilities with PC methods. The City of Houston is installing Detention/Retention Lakes to contain the Bayous when there is a major storm event.
What type of issues are most important for Permaculture design to address in urban settings? Urban systems require shade and moisture. Trees provide both. Trees create rain due to the bacteria living on the leaves acting as cloud condensation nuclei for water droplets. They also act as tanks to store water and evapotranspire water back into the atmosphere to create more precipitation. Urban wildlife needs habitat; food & shelter. Urban settings also need to accommodate for their human inhabitants by creating places to relax and renew their spirits. More information can be found at http://www.permaculturedesign.net. Last update: May 26, 2009
03:41 pm
1 Comment 
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an amazing man |
February 23, 2009
11:28 am |
This guy is so cool. His property is small but he has maximized every inch
- Sandor Stockfleth
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