In Lesson 1 you watched the land. Now you decide where everything goes. Permaculture gives you two simple tools for that: zones, which come from inside your daily life, and sectors, which come from outside, across the land.
Together they answer the question every homesteader eventually asks: why is this so much work? Often the answer isn't laziness. It's that the chickens are at the far end of the property, the herbs are behind the barn, and the woodpile is uphill in the snow. Good placement makes a place easy to care for.
- 1Explain the six zones and give examples of what belongs in each.
- 2Calculate how much walking a layout costs you each year.
- 3Map the sectors: sun, wind, water, fire, views and noise.
- 4Choose a design response for each sector: block it, catch it or open to it.
- 5Place elements so each one does several jobs.
Zones: from the kitchen door outward
Zones are numbered by how often you need to be somewhere. The home is Zone 0. The things you tend every day go closest to the door, and the places you visit rarely go farther out, until you reach the wild edges you mostly leave alone.
A few placement rules
- If you pass it, you'll tend it. Put Zone 1 along the path you already walk: between the door and the car, or the door and the clothesline. Herbs by the kitchen door get picked; herbs at the back fence get forgotten.
- Zones follow paths, not circles. A busy path pulls Zone 1 and 2 out along it like a finger.
- Start in Zone 1 and grow outward. Get the area closest to the house working well before planting the far orchard. It's easier to keep a small place beautiful than a big place half-finished.
- Small yards have zones too. On a city lot, Zone 1 might be a few pots by the steps and Zone 3 the back fence. The idea works at any size.
The cost of a few extra steps
A hundred extra feet doesn't sound like much. But walk it twice a day, there and back, every day of the year, and it becomes miles. Rain, snow and full buckets make it feel longer still.
How far do you really walk?
Enter how many times a day you visit each place and how far it is from the door. Change the distances and watch the miles add up.
| Place | Visits a day | Feet from door | Miles a year |
|---|---|---|---|
Miles a year = visits × 2 (there and back) × feet × 365 ÷ 5,280. Hours assume an easy pace of about 250 ft a minute, plus nothing for carrying buckets.
Shorter daily paths mean more time to sit on the porch and enjoy what you've made. A well-zoned homestead feels calm, because the things that need you are always close at hand.
Sectors: energies from outside
Sectors are the forces that cross your land from beyond its edges: sun, wind, water, fire, cold air, views, noise and even wildlife. You can't stop them, but you can design for them. Each one gets a wedge or arrow on your map, drawn from the direction it comes from.
Three ways to respond
Shelter
A windbreak against winter storms, a hedge against road noise, cleared and green ground against fire.
Harvest
South windows and solar panels for winter sun, tanks and swales for water, a pond to catch the downhill flow.
Welcome
A porch facing the best view, windows that catch the summer breeze, a path to the sunset.
| Sector | Where it comes from (Northern Hemisphere) | Typical design response |
|---|---|---|
| Winter sun | Low in the south | Keep the south side open; place windows, greenhouse and winter garden there |
| Summer sun | High overhead, rising northeast, setting northwest | Shade the west side in hot climates with deciduous trees or a vine-covered pergola |
| Cold winds | Often the north or northwest | Windbreak of trees and shrubs, sheds and woodpiles on that side |
| Fire | The direction of hot, dry fall winds and brushy slopes below | Irrigated garden, orchard, gravel and pond on that side; no woodpiles near the house |
| Water | From uphill neighbors, roads and roofs | Catch it high, slow it and soak it in (Lesson 4) |
| Cold air | Flows downhill at night | Keep tender plants out of low spots; don't block the flow with a solid wall |
| Views and noise | Wherever they are | Frame the good ones, screen the rest |
Every element, several jobs
Two more permaculture ideas tie zones and sectors together. Each element should do several jobs, and each important job should be done by more than one element. Where you place things decides how many jobs they can do.
A hedge on the northwest
Blocks winter wind, screens the road, feeds birds and bees, gives berries, and makes a wildlife corridor.
Water for the garden
Roof catchment, a pond, mulch that holds moisture, and a well as backup. If one fails, the garden still drinks.
Good neighbors
Some elements work better side by side. The chicken run next to the garden lets hens clean up spent beds. The compost between the kitchen and the garden is on the way to both. A greenhouse against the south wall of the house gains warmth from the wall and gives warmth back. When you place an element, ask: what does it need, what does it make, and who nearby could use it?
Map your zones and sectors
Bring out the base map you made in Lesson 1. Today you'll lay zones and sectors over it and find at least one thing that's in the wrong place.
You'll need
- Your base map from Lesson 1
- Two sheets of tracing paper (or clear plastic sheets and dry-erase markers)
- Colored pencils
- A compass
- Your land journal notes on sun, water and wind
Do it together
- Track a normal day. List every place each person goes outside the house, and how many times. Draw the paths in pencil.
- Draw the zones on the first sheet of tracing paper. Use the paths, not perfect circles.
- Draw the sectors on the second sheet: sun arcs for summer and winter, wind wedges, water and cold-air arrows, fire, views and noise.
- Stack the sheets on the map and look for conflicts: something you visit every day that's far away, or a garden in a cold pocket.
- Choose one move. Pick one thing to move, plant or block, and write why.
Little designers
- Count steps from the door to the chickens or the garden
- Color the zones from dark (close) to light (far)
- Draw the sun's summer and winter paths with a crayon
Older designers
- Measure the real distances and run the walking calculator
- Use a compass to mark sector directions accurately
- Write three "one element, many jobs" ideas for your place
Keep both tracing sheets with your base map. In Lesson 7 they become your full site plan.
Everything in its place
A homestead with good zones and sectors feels almost obvious once it's built. The herbs are right where you reach for them, the wind passes over the house, the winter sun pours into the kitchen, and the wild corner is left wild on purpose. That ease is designed, one placement at a time.
Next we go underground, to the soil that feeds everything you've just placed.
Your Lesson 2 worksheet
Work through these together. Your answers save on this device as you type, and print cleanly for your records.
Progress record
What this lesson practices:
- MathRates, unit conversion and multi-step problems (Common Core 6.RP.A.3, 7.EE.B.3).
- ScienceSeasonal patterns of the sun and weather; designing to reduce natural hazards (NGSS 5-ESS1-2, 3-ESS3-1).
- GeographyCompass directions, map overlays and spatial relationships.
- EngineeringDefining a design problem and weighing solutions against constraints (NGSS 3-5-ETS1-2).
Standards mapping is a draft. If you use charter or ESA funds, confirm it with your education specialist.