Permaculture Visions

May 19, 2023April 18, 2023

Permaculture – a Mind to Connect

Permaculture thinking helps us connect with each other and with nature. principles. The ethics defy the notion of self-sufficiency. Instead, they foster respect and build community. Kerrie Anderson of Synergy Permaculture Australia lives and grows on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia. Her work has nurtured hundreds of others learn, grow and thrive. Here, in her own words, Kerrie tells us how she works to efficiently connect with others.

Kerrie Anderson talks about Mindfulness in Permaculture

Ethics at core of everything

The strength of Permaculture is the three ethics at the core of everything we do. And while they might seem quite simplistic to people, if you’re just looking at them from a superficial level. Of course, the deeper you delve, the more complex you realize they are. And they are all-encompassing. And that was definitely the aha! moment for me. Having an ethical foundation or centre is probably a better way to describe it. Because we know it’s not a building block it’s literally core to everything we do. So it informs all my decisions in my life and and that makes sense to me to bring them back to those three core ethics.

Strive to Connect

Somebody once asked me what’s my superpower with permaculture? I think it’s connection. So, connecting people with the content of what permaculture is and and really the feeling, like I really always try and work with my heart. Obviously, the head’s very important and the knowledge and and the skills that just working with the heart of why do people want to learn more about permaculture why do they want to weave it into their life and base their life around it. Then creating that with the heart really inspires people and enthuses people. And for me, that’s really central. A lot of people have the misconception that permaculture is is about just organic edible gardening, which of course we know, is much broader than that.

Some people think that they can express their permaculture as a lone individual, creating that self-sufficient lifestyle. But, once you really truly understand permaculture and work with the ethics and the principles you see that’s completely the wrong model. It’s about Community.
Kerrie Anderson

Build to Connect

Permaculture is about connection. Not just with the planet with nature, but with human nature as well. So, I realized very quickly that social permaculture, actually yes, is an area of permaculture that’s really often overlooked. But is so critically important we can get every other aspect of our practice, you know, spot on. We know the ideas, we’ve got the design down, and know the principles and ethics and we’re working with them. But if we’re not working with people in an effective and meaningful way, learning how to accept diversity in human behaviour and human interaction. And how to work with groups and how to connect with people about this message. Then, we’re not going to go anywhere as a permaculture movement.

social permaculture elements — defining their own connections – social permaculture design determined by the members

We have to lead by example. For me, I guess coming from a Healthcare model where I was that old-fashioned nurse having to care for people, learning a lot about human nature in that medical system and human frailties and and how to communicate with people well. That helped keep me in good stead. But also my personal practices of practicing heartfulness meditations helps.

Connect with the Good stuff

I’m always about trying to let go of patterns that don’t serve my behaviour. And in my communication doing better and being aware of other people. And aware of how they’re feeling in certain circumstances has been fundamental. So, I think that really helped inform my teaching style and who I am as a person. And I keep trying to always bring it back to that. So, even if you’re on the head level staff and you’re giving the theory and getting the practicing with students that you’re always very mindful of that people care. And with the Permaculture fair-share ethic. And most of all, you’re modelling that. By having that consciousness of diversity and and designing the coursework for everybody.

Find out more about Kerrie and her work at Synergy Permaculture Australia.

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April 21, 2023April 18, 2023

Albert Bates 4 Stages of Life

Prolific advocate, Albert Bates is famous for his work promoting Biochar and much more, Here he talks about his 4 stages of life and how he stays hopeful. Each stage of our lives has is a unique facet. Many of the key elders in the Permaculture movement began with an awareness, grew hopeful, then skilled and empowered. Finally they seek to be sharing and nurturing others. Here are Albert Bates 4 stages of his amazing life – in his own words.

Our interview with Albert Bates on his stages of life

Highlights of his career so far

Albert says his life is a work in progress. “I just turned 76 a week ago and I figure I got another 25 years So I got a quarter of my life still to go. And I’m having to figure out what can I do that would be different. And better. How can I do a a fourth act here. And up my game.

The Game of Life – Stage 1

So, let’s go back first stage of the game childhood through you know holding onto your mother’s skirt up to where you’re able to cause real trouble and then um I went to law school with the idea of being perhaps a one of the first cannabis attorneys who would uh who would redirect the legal system to make uh psychedelics legal that didn’t pan out all that well they didn’t Legalize It by the time I got out of law school so a lot of my courses that I took were wasted. But I got out of law school and I decided to put the city out of my blood get away from it for a while.

a hen looking back over her shoulder as she stands on a peak above a sea of mist

Walking in Elders Footsteps

So. I hiked the Appalachian Trail from north to south. That’s a trail that runs down to eastern North America along the Appalachian Ridge 200 miles. And this formed a circular perspective because my great great great great great great great great great great grandfather [Seven Generations removed] was Issachar Bates who was a Shaker poet.

Issachar was a revolutionary war soldier with George Washington throwing off the British yoke and he then fell in love with the Shakers and started to dance. He was a fife and violin player, a dancer and singer. And he wrote 400 Shaker hymns and became a missionary for the Shakers. The Shakers sent him on these long treks out to talk to the colonies. Out into the distant wilderness. He walked the Appalachian Trail [probably the same route I took out into the Ohio Valley]. This was in the late part of the 18th century.

He set up two utopian communal colonies in the wilderness. And had a confab with the prophet who was the brother of Tecumseh and was thinking about throwing off the American yolk. He was a protector of the native peoples, as well.

Issachar Bates - A Charismatic Shaker — Issachar Bates

I found that I had these commonalities in my life. And I was recapitulating my ancestors journey through life. Editorial note: Lucky for Albert Bates, the family did not stay celibate, else he would not have been born.

Common Trails with Ancestors

Here was I, walking the same Mountain trails, starting utopian communities in the wilderness, learning to make friends with adversaries [in our case the redneck Tennesseans who didn’t understand hippies]. And so, I was finding myself in my second phase age 25 to 50.

Second Life Stage – Building Community

Life in that Community Building phase, I was developing the the farm as a village. We were developing businesses like our mushroom people business that was doing medicinal forest mushrooms. And our second Foundation was a charitable organization. And our Plenty which is our International charity. I had no use as a lawyer it at first. But after several years at the farm we started noticing that there were these things called nuclear plants popping up like mushrooms after a rain around us.

And I said we had to do something about that. Those are pretty nasty and so I got asked to go out and stop that stop that nonsense. I I handled nuclear cases as a law project it was called the Natural Rights Center. And we fought four times in the United States Supreme Court. We ended the Tennessee Valley Authority’s nuclear program which had had 20 reactors scheduled. And we fought them to a standstill in North America.

I then left out of stress and got more into my mushroom business. I found the law office thing was fine for a number of years. Then, I was like the warrior in Bill Mollison’s ‘Travels in Dreams’.

Regenerative Agriculture

After my life as a lawyer I got into regenerative agriculture. And back into the the basics of of agroforestry. And I started working with Chris Nesbitt down in Belize Maya Mountain Research Farm. Chris is a big agroforestry guy using traditional Mayan style that a lot of has gone extinct. But Chris is revitalizing it for climate resilience. So, I’m still working with Chris. Even today doing Ridge to Reef programs to restore the Mayan coral reef.

Life Stage 3 – 50 years Young and Beyond

In this stage I was focused pretty much on climate change full time. I began to live as an emergency planetary technician. So, they’ve you know they dispatched my ambulance to this particular planet. And I’m doing triage. I’m figuring out what we got to do here to stabilize the patient. And I’m using all of the various means of drawdown that Paul Hawkens talks about.

Natural Climate Solutions

I have a full kit of natural climate solutions in my jump bag. And the main thing that I’m probably best known for is biochar. I’ve written a number of books on it. Mexico is my Hemingway machine, my writing space for this age of 76 and beyond.

A number of years ago I wrote Climate in Crisis forwarded by Al Gore. This was my first book on climate. It came out the same year as I met Bill Mollison 1990. I probably had it with me when I saw him. And then, the next book I’m known for is the biochar solution this one came around 2010 after I went to a permaculture gathering in Brazil.

Charcoal pencils made inside our cooktop fire. Thanks to Albert Bates tip to use a loose fitting container.

Biochar and Me

Andre Suarez introduced me to Terra Preta – the dark earth of the Indians and that led me to the biochar solution. Then more recently we started looking at the non-agricultural uses of biochar. Which led us to this book Burn : Using Fire to Cool the Earth which is now out in German. By the way, if you want to understand the German word for burn is cool down. That’s the translation! Soon it’s going to be translated into Chinese and Italian. And during the run up to the Paris agreement [I was going to the U.N regularly to the conferences], I wrote the story of how they got to the Paris agreement [2015].

Albert Bates with his book BURN: Using Fire to Cool the Earth

Planetary Technician Processes

While I’ve been in here in Mexico I’ve come out with a book number of series on planetary technician processes. One of those is transforming plastic. It is about how to take plastic and turn it from a problem to a solution.

And as this relates to the oceans, I wrote the dark side of the ocean which talks about the so-called blue economy or blue carbon. The idea that that the oceans are infinite. But they’re not. And how we’re actually destroying them. But we don’t see the destruction. It talks about alkalinity and salinity, sea level rise and extinction of of marine mammals.

fostering a love of animals helps children develop empathy and understanding of nature.

Children’s Books

And because it’s so interesting I decided we needed to create some children’s books. So I started making books for middle school. You could learn about the ocean, and cuddly sea animals. And understand the effects of pollution and maybe what you’re doing what you’re what you’re sending down the trash chute. And then, I wrote a book called Taming Plastic for kids – how they can do reduce their microplastic footprints. Showing how they can separate their different kinds of plastics and find things useful things to do, shaping a new future by using the recycled plastic.

Finally, here, during the pandemic, I came up with a book on a history of plagues. And it’s also about surviving this one. And how we’re failing on the plague the same way we’re failing on the climate. I have problems with the ways millions of people are dying from stupidity.

Beginning the 4th Phase – Publishing

What I’m doing in my fourth phase is publishing. And a lot of why I’m anxious and eager and grateful to get it out to a larger number of people. So it doesn’t just die with me!

How do you stay hopeful?

Cultivating a sense of humour helps. As does a Buddhist non-attachment. You know, we may have been screwed before I was born. The trajectory we were on could well have been set well before I was born and I’m just along for the ride. Now, I have a bailing bucket in his sinking ship. So, I’m gonna bail. Because it makes me feel good to be doing something positive. As long as I have the ability to do something I’m going to keep doing it.

If we have just the slimmest of chances that maybe we can have more forest.
We can use algae. We can pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
And we can change our lifestyle. Lets do it.

At some point we will need to. So, it’s necessary that we we show the way. For that reason I stay hopeful. I know that it’s it’s more fun to get up in the morning with a spring in your step because you got something good you can be doing.

Make Life Fun

Part of the solution has to be making it fun. If it isn’t fun – nobody’s going to do it. So, finding solutions is one thing. But then, finding ways to make solutions fun – that’s even more important. And that’s why I write kids books. And that’s why I work with Chris Nesbitt at the Maya Mountain Research Farm. Because he has children’s programs. We do this in Tennessee – we have the Eco Village training Center with a lot of programs with the farm school. And we make it fun.

You know, we make it so that you can get into the mud and make Cobb buildings. And get all muddy. Get your face all muddy and have a party. All of that is is really important. Because if it ain’t fun – ain’t nobody gonna do it!

April 3, 2023April 3, 2023

Destruction, Exhaustion and Rebuilding

Judith Collins talks about loss, recovery and exhaustion. She writes about what she has learned from fire tornado, how the water management in the initial design aided the recovery and what plants rebounded.

Judith Collins wrote the first Australian book about companion plants. She has regularly appeared on ABC radio around Australia and gave hundreds of talks and tours of their fabulous gardens. Their property was an early example of keyline irrigation and permaculture design. Many university students in Australia and internationally have learned from the site. Here is their story and how your can help gofundme

Together she and her life-long partner, Paul Collins, narrowly escaped the fire tornado that ripped through the highlands of New South Wales, Australia. In her own words, Judith shares what she has learned through the recovery and rebuilding stage. But now they need to clean up the property ready to sell and move into a retirement home. and their energy and finances are depleted.

https://www.booktopia.com.au/companion-gardening-in-australia-judith-collins/book/9780733623349.html

Self-sufficient life destroyed by fire tornado

“In December 2019 the black summer bush fire destroyed our sustainable lifestyle. Without prior warning the wind turned speedily. The property was attacked by fire on three fronts. A day earlier we had a well-equipped plan to stay and fight the fire. But It was a waste of time. Because we had only minutes to escape.

On our return to the property the scene looked bleak. The mud brick walls of the house were standing. Gone was the roof, the slate floor, stain glass windows and everything that we owned.

Gone was the processing shed where we preserved and stored the harvest. The Freeze Dryer, apple press, sausage maker and cheese making equipment , were reduced to a pile of twisted metal. Stored preserves, could not be seen amongst the tonnes of broken glass.

Also, dead animals lay everywhere. Hand reared quail, guinea fowl, ducks and chickens had perished. As did the milking cow, sheep and pigs. The food forest and veggie gardens were reduced to ash. Stored seeds went up in smoke. Tools and machinery were contorted and made useless. Surprisingly our bank of forty solar panels had escaped the fire.” The panels were still producing electricity.

The garden has begun to recover with their care and good bones in the design

Firstly, the dream to be self sufficient became reality

“In 1969, I attended a free public meeting on Global Warming. A teenager in a room filled with academics and retirees. Little did I know that my life was about to change forever and set firm on a path of sustainability, self-reliance and community education.

Soon afterwards I met Paul. A first year engineering university student who embraced my self-reliant lifestyle plan. We married (young).

Following this, for fifty years we have avoided consumer shopping through a well planned twelve months harvest of fruit , vegetables, spices, herbs, grains, eggs, milk and fish stocked dams. We also did our own building, maintenance and repairs.

Then the fire destroyed our lifestyle and stole years of its creation.

We wanted to get back to living on the property and to resurrect our self-reliant lifestyle. We cleared debris to expose the concrete base of a shed. In just five weeks Paul erected a new shed, installed power, water, toilet, shower, washing machine and kitchen. At this point we began to take stock of the personal reality we faced. The ageing process and health issues had reduced our work capacity. So did, the mammoth task of reconstruction and repair. As a result, all of these issues called for new thinking and for design adjustments.

Their once abundant food forest was baked by the fire tornado

Good Design Aided Recovery

Heavy rainfall had shown us that the hard surface water catchment system and dams were working. Swales delivered water to dead gardens. So, we fenced the area to protect it from wildlife and to watch and learn about plant rejuvenation.

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNT FOLLOWING THE DISASTER

An intense bush fire burns every plant.
Some plants recover and produce food a year later.
Grafted plants die. Root stock survives.
Very few native food plants recover.
Weeds become valued as soil quality indicators and fixers.
A Compost Heap burns on the surface and keeps earthworms safe within.
Self sown and fast growing trees such as Robinia and Paulownia after easily destroyed by bush fire. But in two years, will recover rapidly. Providing there is plant shelter and flowers for the birds and the bees.
European trees are much tougher than native trees in a fire.
Soil can burn 20 to 60 cm below the surface through tree roots.
Bees hives cannot survive the smoke. The bees die in situ.
Bird life is sparse
DIY skills make disaster recovery easier.

RECOVERY PLANTS

These plants were burnt to ashes with no sign of existence or life. But following some rainfall, they sprung to life.

Herbs: Hellebores, ajuga, parsley, tarragon, comfrey, yarrow, angelica, lavender, french sorrel, onion and garlic chives, Lebanese cress, thymes, lemon and lime balm, lemon and lime verbena, garlic, tansy, wintergreen, wood sage, calendula, violets, santolina, oregano, curry bush, herbal iris, soapwort, bedstraw, dyers chamomile, arrowroot, perennial basil, vanilla herb, Mexican sage, vanilla, grass, self-heal, golden seal, speedwell, heartease, mints, wild strawberries, curry leaf tree, African geranium spice, Peruvian passionfruit marigold, Thai basil, lovage, scented (cooking) geraniums, mugwort, southernwood, wormwood, catmint, pineapple sage and fruit salad sage, lemongrass, pregnant onion, curry leaf tree, bay tree:

Native Foods: Midyim berry, kiwi berry, native mint, native geranium, davidson’s plum, Lilli Pilli.

Midyim By Zaareo – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7583696

Fruit/Veg: Banana, olives, pomegranate, cherry guava, custard guava, Irish strawberry tree, Rhubarb, thornless blackberry, raspberry, marion berry, avocado, loquat, passionfruit, banana passionfruit, mulberry, nashi pear, seed-raised nectarine, lychee, strawberries, Monstera deliciosa, capsicum, sweet potato, asparagus, silverbeet, potato, quince, elderberry.

Miscellaneous: Abelia, photinia, coprosma repens, marguerite daisy, paris daisy, african daisy, flowering quince, shrimp plant, nandina, forget-me-knot, flowering bulbs, iris, heritage roses, may bush, cycad, buddleja davidii, jacaranda, crepe myrtle, canna, succulents, strelitzia, dwarf bamboo, agave, bromeliad, seaside daisy, plectranthus, japanese red grass, agapanthus, native hibiscus, daphne, umbrella tree, salvia, lipirope, fish fern.

The recovery plants offer a wonderful mix of food, flavours, medicine and flowers not only to be enjoyed by us, but also the birds, the bees and beneficial insects.

This list of plants closely resembles many of the plants that have nurtured the human race for centuries.”

How you can help Judith and Paul

So now, one of their interns has set up a gofundme page where you can donate to help Judith and Paul move into comfortable retirement quarters

gofundme

March 17, 2023March 8, 2023

Trish Allen’s Circular Economy Cuts Waste

Trish thrives in Matakana 70 km north east of Auckland, New Zealand. She has developed a passion for the permaculture principle – Produce No Waste! With Trish’s leadership Mahurangi Wastebusters actively reduces damage to the environment. In this short video she explains how recycling reduces the environmental damage by reducing the demand for manufacturing, mining and transportation of goods. By leading the change, Trish is forging a circular economy.

Trish Allen on Produce No Waste

Dumping Waste Worsens Climate Change

Waste is a huge contributor to climate change and reducing waste is a passion of Trish Allen. About six years ago she set up a Community Trust a non-profit organization. It is called Mahurangi Wastebusters to do waste education and provide waste sorting services at events. Because events create so much waste.

The Trust grew and became really popular. So, then when the opportunity came up to tender for two Council owned transfer stations they put a tender and got it! Now they run two community recycling centres. And they have converted them from transfer stations (where people used to dump their rubbish for landfill) into processing stations.

Trish at an education stand for Mahurangi Wastebusters

Better Sorted

They now have 28 different waste streams. And a shop where we sell second-hand items. They send items for ethical processing. For example all the E-Waste goes down to a place in Auckland called Abilities which is an organization that employs about 200 people with disabilities. At Abilities, the employees ethically dismantle everything. So the components can go for proper processing. There are also projects in Waiuku in the Waikato processing plastic bags to make fence posts. This project is called Future Posts.

Mahurangi Wastebusters is also a drop-off point for plastic bags and Silage wrap which goes off to be made into a kind of a plywood. And they are a drop-off point for Tetra pack which goes off to be made into another kind of building material called Save Board.

reclaimed metal waste Mahurangi Wastebusters at the processing facility — reclaimed metal waste *Mahurangi Wastebusters* at the processing facility

Start Young

Trish is very excited by the progress. “And now I’ve got a couple of wonderful young women working with me and one is going into Early Childhood centres to do waste audits for them. She installs worm bins, compost bins and also educates the children with stories and a little kiwi puppet. She teaches them about waste. And not making waste and not wasting things.

Repair Cafes

Also, I’ve got another young woman who’s doing well organising repair cafes. This is another kind of social permaculture that involves children and adults. It’s teaching people about waste and how not to do it, how to not just reduce waste but going back to a basic principle of permaculture – Produce no waste!

Image By G.Mannaerts, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97417808

Generating a Circular Economy

“As we know the major environmental impact happens when you extract the resources out of the earth. So the longer we can keep them in in in our system in the circular economy the better!”

Trish has also organised a screening of the film ‘For the Blue’. It is a film made by young New Zealand surfers and tackles issues around plastic in our oceans. And what we can do about it. The film will be screened at the Matakana Cinema on 5 April and 6pm. Then viewers are invited to actively participate in teams with real-life solutions. These activites include:

– join a town clean up in Wellsford

– join a beach cleanup at Goat Island

– pledge to only use a reusable coffee cup for a month ( no single use cups)

– pledge to only use a reusable water bottle for a month (no plastic bottles)