If their plans work out, Lauren Thyme and Paul Obler will casually be plucking fruit and nuts from trees and bushes as they hang out in the shade with their 40 chickens, and maybe sheep or a cow, in about five years.

The couple moved from Southern California to a 2.5 acre farm they call Prime Time Acres on Central Whidbey six months ago. Their dream is to create a working example of a permaculture farm and forest. Sort of a Garden of Eden with chickens.

Permaculture is not a new idea, but it’s a practice that has been spreading around the globe since two Australian ecologists introduced the concept in the 1970s. It’s a contraction of “permanent agriculture” and also “permanent culture.”

Simply put, permaculture is the practice of designing sustainable habitats by following nature’s example. The idea is that Thyme and Obler will create a miniature ecosystem that at some point, in about three to five years, will function on its own without human interference — no fertilizing, weeding, planting or tilling.

“It’s a lazy person’s kind of gardening,” Thyme said. “Eventually, we will not have to do anything but come out and pick.”

John Petersons, president of South Whidbey Tilth, said it’s a movement with a big following backed up by a lot of literature.

“It began in semi-tropical areas,” he said, “with eight to 10 crops and farming year-round.”

For now, it’s a lot of work for Thyme and Obler. Anyone who drives by the farm, located just north of the Outlying Field Coupeville, will probably see the couple outside in sun or rain, hauling compost, digging, pulling weeds or feeding the fowl.

Thyme explained that they designed the landscape using many different principles of permaculture. She said they planted a wide variety of fruit and nuts trees, bushes and other perennials in the “food forest.” There’s walnut, chestnut, apricot, filbert, hickory, peaches, peaches, plum, artichoke, comfrey and more rare plants, like seabuck thorn.

They planted the trees and perennials in “plant groups,” she said, mimicking nature. They planted, for example, Siberian pea shrub and flowering plants at the base of fruit trees. The pea shrub fixes nitrogen in the soil and the flowers attract pollinators.

They designed the perennial garden in a circular pattern, surrounded by hand-dug swales full of mulch. They keep the swales, which are shallow ditches, moist. They act as an efficient irrigation system for the garden.

In fact, Prime Time Acres is accepting garden waste from the community. Thyme and Obler use the plant material to create mulch using a sheet method in their backyard. Mulch, which keeps in moisture and keeps down weeds, is an essential component of the operation.

“The key to permaculture is keeping topsoil where it is and building more,” she said.

Another important part of the operation, and perhaps the most enjoyable, is the chickens. Thyme and Obler keep egg-laying Rhode Island reds in “chicken tractors,” a type of mobile chicken coops. They move the wire enclosure around the grassy acreage, allowing the chickens to eat up the vegetation and dig up the ground.

Each night the chickens get to run free under the watchful eyes of the permaculturists.

The chickens serve multiple functions within the permaculture setup. They till and fertilize the ground; eventually a crop will be planted. They control the insect and slug population. They produce free-range eggs, which the couple sells to the community.

Thyme pointed out that free-range eggs, as compared to supermarket eggs, have half as much cholesterol and are twice as rich in vitamin E and beta carotene, according to a recent Mother Earth News study.

Thyme also said the chickens provide her with relaxation. She spends hours each day hand-feeding buckwheat greens and Swiss chard to “the girls.”

“I do chicken meditation,” she said. “I just love them. They’re more fun than dogs or cats.”

Thyme and Obler urge folks to stop at their farm to buy eggs, drop off garden waste or just visit.