Permaculturists frequently speak about the Permaculture Wardrobe. I first heard it from Geoff Lawton, but I am not sure if the concept originated with him. The wardrobe is an idea that describes the knowledge that can be drawn from and the skills that can be applied to a Permaculture project. I have seen the wardrobe in my head for years, and I finally decided to put pen to paper.

http://tcpermaculture.com/site...

Interesting concept. I had not heard of that terminology before. It does organize a lot of ideas in one space--but it doesn't seem to have the idea of dynamic interaction that I associate with permaculture.

That was actually my reaction, too. The graphic is neat and all but the connections between them seemed missing. I actually thought it was my fault for missing the big picture. Maybe there just isn't one.

Well, different kinds of diagrams show different things.

"Collaboration diagrams" might show connections and how things work together.
"Inheritance diagrams" might show what is a subset of what, or what evolved from what.
"Sequence diagrams" show the order in which things happen.

That drawing seemed like a list of entities or techniques: a toolbox that is mainly a list of tools.

Maybe different diagrams would list many of the same things, but the different organizations would show different ways of looking at the same set of things. It sounds as if permaculture is usually a highly integrated practice, so that any one organizational scheme would necessarily offer only one perspective at a time, about a subject that is by its nature too complex to understand from any one or two viewpoints.

You might have to look at it with one eye, then the other eye, then in a mirror, and then standing on your head to see all the inter-relationships.

When geoff lawton talked about it he made it more of the idea of hangers that you pull off and use and that the wardrobe was permaculture. One hanger could have aquaponics on it and you pull it out when it is useful. From what I understood in his talk he was trying to incorporate a lot of ideas into permaculture and that your specific needs for your area will be different so it's good to learn about everything and pull out the hangers that you need. This illustration seems really different than the idea I got.

Found this quote that seems to sum up the idea that I think Mollison said originally
"...Think of Geoff Lawton’s analogy of permaculture as a clothes wardrobe, and the various techniques of gardening as the useful hangers sporting outfits within that wardrobe."

Toby Hemenway referred to it as a toolbox of tools. I like that visual, but I think now that I've heard Lawton's quote, I think I now like the wardrobe analogy better.