On a recent course that I was facilitating we were talking about David Holmgren’s Permaculture Principles. Having looked at the whole list I asked the group if they found any of the principles more difficult of challenging. “Produce no waste!” called out one of the participants. “I mean how is that even possible?” In the [...]
Permaculture Design is about looking to nature, and associated indigenous wisdom, to take inspiration and to create all manner of things that serve as regenerative solutions for ourselves, our communities and our planet. One of the simplest ways to do this is to look for patterns in the natural world, to think about the function [...]
Notes from my Permaculture, Art and Imagination Guild, inspired by the Holmgren principle "use edges and value the marginal"
Children exploring the woods as part of a community workshop in Springwater Park Last week on an Introduction to Permaculture Course we were talking about Holmgren’s Permaculture Principles, in particular the first principle: “Observe and interact.” During this conversation we arrived at a point of interest around the difference between interacting with and interacting within. [...]
In Robin Wall Kimmerer's magnificent book "Braiding Sweetgrass" she invites the reader to think about the fact that, in her view, "All flourishing is mutual." Or put simply, that when we fail to be mutual we cannot flourish. We are only as vibrant, healthy, and alive as the most vulnerable among us. She goes on [...]
At the heart of Permaculture sit three deceptively simple ethics: Earth care. People care. Fair share. I say deceptively simple because for many people their instinctive response when they first encounter them is: “Well what’s so radical about them?” On paper I guess maybe that is a fair reaction, but when you really start to [...]
“Writing a play is like smashing that (glass) ashtray, filming it in slow motion, and then running the film in reverse so that the fragments of rubble seem to fly together. You start – or at least I start with the rubble.” TOM STOPPARD The seventh of Holmgren’s Permaculture principles invites us to “design from [...]
Each month I meet online with a group of folk from near and far, some of whom I have met in real life but most who I haven't. We come together to talk about art, imagination and Permaculture. To think about how our creative practice may help shape our Permaculture practice, and vice versa. For [...]
Late last year I visited a friend at his magical farm in Wales. As we walked around the beautiful space that he and his family have created we came to talk about the way that he was fascinated by the idea of working to ensure that his patch of the planet should, as much as [...]
I drew a map without roads for a project that I am working on. I love that in the map the two beautiful rivers in my borough are revealed as a spine running right through. And how it highlights the way that roads have come to dominate, and often blight, our communities, landscapes and lives. [...]
Liz Postlethwaite 