Author Helen Schwencke shows us how to build complex eco-systems that support the wildlife and enrich our lives.
In our interview, Helen shares her delight in working with nature. Also, she explains why humanity needs to support little creatures. Her book, Inviting Nature to Dinner gives us handy tips on growing your favourite foods without poisoning our environment.
She recalls her childhood playing in nature and his positive experience has fuelled her to work as a scientist and create a rich little suburban garden full of butterflies.
Invite Nature Back Into the City
Helen says: “Back in the 1950s (and I’ve realized that this is where it actually starts).. I’m a very small child. I’m running around on a block of partly cleared land. And there’s all manner of little local native plant and native grasses and little creatures are flying off in all directions like little butterflies, little native bees, little grasshoppers, all different species. And I can just remember this sheer sense of joy and delight and I realize that nearly all my life has been about embracing that joy and delight. I lost it for a long time. But it’s really led me now in the work I’m doing to be sharing and caring about nature nature focus and nurtures us it improves our health and well-being
Helen’s work is about bringing back the delight of nature
Bring back our delight in nature
The easiest way to do it and the simplest way to do it is grow local native plants. The wildlife that they support directly is mostly little creatures. “And these are food for the birds and the frogs and the lizards and the microbats which can be supporting our crops”. But nearly every system of agriculture Helen see excludes wildlife. Because of our historical point of view of being settlers in our land that we don’t understand. Permaculture systems are enriched when they are designed to support wildlife.
Bathing in Nature
Helens “stuff” is about bathing in the nature that nurtures us in our own backyards. And bringing back that sense of aliveness. “We see the colors, the movement, the shapes and the textures of all the the creatures. The vast bulk of them do us no harm at all. In fact, they’re not even interested in our crops!”
Helen has a background as a biologist and ecologist by training. In about 1987 she became involved in butterfly gardening on an inner city Brisbane block. She has watched the transformations of over 75 different species of butterflies and other creatures going through their life cycles. Helen has seen increased complexity through her plantings of native plants. Especially native ground covers. Despite being surrounded by “green desolation” of the suburbs with pools, paving, grass and introduced plants.
Simplifying ecosystems kills natures complexity
“New creatures are actually finding that space”…Helen became more aware as she collected leaves to feed to caterpillars to photograph their life cycles. “And it’s helped me understand and realize what my early childhood experience meant.”
Helen has learned how vital the animals are. And many invertebrates don’t have a name yet. So, creatures without backbones are important. They have an amazing role to play in food webs.
She can see that humanity is busy eliminating invertebrates wherever we can. And simplifying ecosystems so they can’t exist.
The core of Helen’s work at earthling enterprises is to show these animals as allies rather than competitors. “We need to interplant for biodiversity. This starts to recreate something of the amazing complexity of natural ecosystems in Australia. We can only do a little bit. But, anything is better than what we’re doing now. “
One tiny change can be a fun way to reduce waste, provide food, and connect with nature. Small solutions may appear to be whimsical yet they are inherently robust when well-designed. These tiny designs have the capacity to give you the tools, skills and understanding to make a lasting change. Starting small and feeling successful is a critical step in building resilience.
One of the core principles of permaculture is to turn the ‘problem into the solution’. For us there are some persistent little challenges. One of the greatest challenges is the bird-life. We love being close to nature but we also want to grow some food for ourselves. Generations of wild-life enjoy easy pickings from our permaculture garden. With good design tools we out-smart them. We get to benefit from their manure and let them eat the foods that grow outside the cages.
