Great post which really resonates for me. All of the courses I convene are pay what you can using "Green Bottle Tool For Economic Justice" to help folk decide how they can contribute. There is no application process or gatekeeping - you say what works for you and that's what you contribute. Means there is a great mix of folk on each course and hopefully it helps with accessibility.
Also love your thoughts on the level of design skill that is taught on many courses. On all my courses from Intro to PDC focus is on learning design tools and techniques that can be used straight away to start making change. I am confident all participants finish the course as proficient designers. As a Diploma tutor I am often surprised at the level of design confidence many folk have after a PDC.
Another irritation is online PDCs with very little in person contact, mainly comprising of recorded material. It's such a poor experience for participants and totally misses the collaborative peer learning that I think should be central.
Anyway, bit of a long response there. But thank you! I really value everything that you share on here.
I did have Bill Mollinson's book too but I gave it to our local forest garden. Thanks for sharing Mollinson's hierarchy. I think that's been my approach too. This is a good example of being pragmatic rather than dogmatic. May be their needs to be more thought about ageing or potential disability in Permaculture design. I love what people are doing with OPDs in Wales but worry what will happen in these scenarios. If you're not able to meet the required percentage of your needs you risk losing everything you've worked for and have t to 'restore' the land to it's original state.
I helped with a design recently for a sort of mini retirement collective but I really tried to point out the problems that crops up when it's mono-generational and the occupants are getting on in years.
I think I was rather going off Permaculture mainly because of the way some people behave and an element of 'group think' can creep in. When I did an introductory course my tutor said it was pragmatic rather than dogmatic and it wasn't necessarily 100% organic. It was also scientific in it's methods. I am now 77 years old and have had Fibromyalgia for many years so my energy has declined steadily over the years. Some time ago I realised that if I applied Holmgrens principles of 'obtain a yield' and 'work with nature', and that if I included my nature too there was no way I could be 100% organic, 90% ok but not 100%! A year ago I had a nasty road accident too and although I can now kneel down, just, I can't get back up again! Although, at the end of the season I often say I'm not going to try to grow food anymore when spring comes I can't help but do it! Last year I realised it was probably the first time for nearly 40 years I'd not grown any tomatoes! Also you've reminded me that Permaculture is about much much more than growing food. Thank you so much
Hallo Louise. Thanks for your feedback. I consider tomatoes to be the equibvalent of the fishing person's 'big fish' ! People judge your garden by the size and quantity of tomatoes. I don't particlularly like them so I don't grow them much.
If you've already read Homgren's book Mollison's Designers manual might by worth a go. In my opinion it's more complete and visionary.
Difficult for anything to be 100% I imagine, especially one's health. In terms of food production what am I going to say to people facing a catastrophic crop loss and potential famine? "Don't use that chemical?" That won't work. In Mollisons heirarchy of interventio it goes 1. do nothing, observe, 2. manual control or assisted by animals 3. intervention with products accepted in organic farming 4. if faced with catastrophy synthetic chemical control but as an extreme last resort.
N°1 means giving time for natural predators etc to arrive, if they don't and if we come to 2, 3 or 4 then it is very likely we need to revaluate the design.
In terms of human health the above is similar to the ecosystemic approach to health that has been brought about through all we've discovered about our microbiomes.
Great post which really resonates for me. All of the courses I convene are pay what you can using "Green Bottle Tool For Economic Justice" to help folk decide how they can contribute. There is no application process or gatekeeping - you say what works for you and that's what you contribute. Means there is a great mix of folk on each course and hopefully it helps with accessibility.
Also love your thoughts on the level of design skill that is taught on many courses. On all my courses from Intro to PDC focus is on learning design tools and techniques that can be used straight away to start making change. I am confident all participants finish the course as proficient designers. As a Diploma tutor I am often surprised at the level of design confidence many folk have after a PDC.
Another irritation is online PDCs with very little in person contact, mainly comprising of recorded material. It's such a poor experience for participants and totally misses the collaborative peer learning that I think should be central.
Anyway, bit of a long response there. But thank you! I really value everything that you share on here.
I did have Bill Mollinson's book too but I gave it to our local forest garden. Thanks for sharing Mollinson's hierarchy. I think that's been my approach too. This is a good example of being pragmatic rather than dogmatic. May be their needs to be more thought about ageing or potential disability in Permaculture design. I love what people are doing with OPDs in Wales but worry what will happen in these scenarios. If you're not able to meet the required percentage of your needs you risk losing everything you've worked for and have t to 'restore' the land to it's original state.
I helped with a design recently for a sort of mini retirement collective but I really tried to point out the problems that crops up when it's mono-generational and the occupants are getting on in years.
I think I was rather going off Permaculture mainly because of the way some people behave and an element of 'group think' can creep in. When I did an introductory course my tutor said it was pragmatic rather than dogmatic and it wasn't necessarily 100% organic. It was also scientific in it's methods. I am now 77 years old and have had Fibromyalgia for many years so my energy has declined steadily over the years. Some time ago I realised that if I applied Holmgrens principles of 'obtain a yield' and 'work with nature', and that if I included my nature too there was no way I could be 100% organic, 90% ok but not 100%! A year ago I had a nasty road accident too and although I can now kneel down, just, I can't get back up again! Although, at the end of the season I often say I'm not going to try to grow food anymore when spring comes I can't help but do it! Last year I realised it was probably the first time for nearly 40 years I'd not grown any tomatoes! Also you've reminded me that Permaculture is about much much more than growing food. Thank you so much
Postscript- now I have to go and see if I still have Holgrem's book. I have a nasty feeling it went as part of my ongoing purge of books!
Hallo Louise. Thanks for your feedback. I consider tomatoes to be the equibvalent of the fishing person's 'big fish' ! People judge your garden by the size and quantity of tomatoes. I don't particlularly like them so I don't grow them much.
If you've already read Homgren's book Mollison's Designers manual might by worth a go. In my opinion it's more complete and visionary.
Difficult for anything to be 100% I imagine, especially one's health. In terms of food production what am I going to say to people facing a catastrophic crop loss and potential famine? "Don't use that chemical?" That won't work. In Mollisons heirarchy of interventio it goes 1. do nothing, observe, 2. manual control or assisted by animals 3. intervention with products accepted in organic farming 4. if faced with catastrophy synthetic chemical control but as an extreme last resort.
N°1 means giving time for natural predators etc to arrive, if they don't and if we come to 2, 3 or 4 then it is very likely we need to revaluate the design.
In terms of human health the above is similar to the ecosystemic approach to health that has been brought about through all we've discovered about our microbiomes.