Experience cooking for mixed groups of meat eaters and vegetarian would be a distinct advantage. You would be utilising fresh, seasonal, organic food grown on the farm.

The Permaculture Research Institute has a very homely, friendly environment in beautiful natural settings. We get a constant stream of interesting people from every place you can imagine.

Please email education (at) permaculture.org.au with your details and expression of interest in the first instance. Be sure to send us your telephone number.

In classic permaculture style, within the problem lay the seeds of the solution. The deforestation due to conventional agriculture in these surrounding hills has caused soil erosion and during the rainy season much of this rich volcanic black top soil is washed downstream. This annual bounty has been redirected through the Ijatz site using a sequence of channels and sink holes, which in turn slows the water flow enabling the nutrient rich humus to be captured and stored on site. The earth has been moulded to create slopes, edges and contours essential for increased growing opportunity.

During the dry season any rainfall is held in the pond sequence, maintaining the local water table which is the source for the hundreds of trees and plants. While the flora perpetually contributes biomass to improve soil fertility, a micro climate suitable for growing has developed in what is essentially a few acres on the edge of town. Prior to the establishment of the Ijatz project, over one hundred homes were annually flooded in the immediate vicinity. Currently, the site can receive flood water to the depth of more than a metre during the wet season. A perfect demonstration of a multifunctional permaculture design element, the banana circle has provided the solution. Acting as a pump, that most excellent of pioneer species, the banana simply sucks up and holds this water. The spaces between the rubbery concentric rings of a banana tree are simply saturated in water. The centre of the circle becomes a compost heap for any site prunings while the worms of the vermicomposting stations make short shrift of sections of banana trunk. The composted output is another useful income stream for the coop. Of course, let us not forget nature’s own delicious potassium stick – the banana itself! All this and the local community benefits from dry homes throughout the rainy season too. This in turn satisfies one of the cornerstone ethics of permaculture: people care – positively affecting the local community.

Banana circle

The project is only thirteen years in the making and boasts a diverse range of trees and plants that reach every level of the canopy. Timber is harvested and the bamboo stands are about 6m tall. There are a number of guava, grapefruit, lime and lemon fruit trees. A vine layer producing a vegetable called güisquil (sechium edule) when boiled is similar in texture and taste to a tender swede or turnip. There are several other local tropical plants that contribute roots or leaves to the kitchen table. The annually deposited soil is then built up to form raised beds for growing vegetables. My three week stint centred around reinstating the vegetable and herb beds preparing them for fresh seedlings, including lettuce, coriander, frijoles (beans), parsley, celery and radish. This soil food web is teaming with life and I encountered countless worms, spiders and other small creatures. Thankfully, the nesting cobra we stumbled across only wrapped itself around Pancho’s arm (the head gardener). No harm done – sadly only true for Pancho!

The core focus of the Ijatz cooperative is coffee production. On the final day of my visit, the ladies of the cooperative harvested fifty kilos of coffee beans ready for processing. However, they collectively own several plots of land on the slopes of the now extinct Volcán Tolimán. Through the cooperative, the workers have generated a stable income which has funded educational programmes on child care and nutrition. They also have discussions to understand where their high value product sits in the open market. I was invited to describe the drinking habits of Europeans. My talk was graciously received even though my Spanish is woefully short of adequate.

If you are interested in volunteering your time and energy to the assist the Ijatz project and you have a command of Spanish language you can contact them directly at asociacionIjatz (at) gmail.com otherwise I can advise you. Volunteer opportunities exist throughout the year.

Read my follow up article about how Ijatz manages its core business – coffee, using permaculture principles. You can follow my blog at www.kevpermatour.blogspot.com as I travel Central America gaining permaculture experience working towards my Diploma in Applied Permaculture from the Permaculture Association Britain.

You’re trying to say that you can live in the modern way and continue to think in the traditional way. That’s not true. The way you live affects the way you think. – Danny Billie, Traditional Seminole

I’d like to recount here my impressions of the PRI, and how different it is from many other organizations. We (Tribal Networks) first came across them when looking for solutions to problems we found in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where we were starting a project to bring in a school and an internet / community centre. Searching for "dry land permaculture" soon found Geoff’s "Greening the Desert" clip, and things progressed from there.

"The Permaculture Master Plan – Permaculture Centres Worldwide" is different not just in its broadness of vision and scope, but also, and I believe more crucially, in how it is being implemented. The PRI is making no demands on us as a local organization, they are not trying to take over or control us in any way. This is a common phenomenon among the relatively big organizations; they get bigger by assimilating smaller projects they are supposedly helping out. Everything they do has an underlying urge to make the organization bigger, and aims and intentions become subservient to that imperative. In this way most big organizations, while they may have started out with the best of intentions, end up mirroring the ways of the system that caused the problems in the first place.

Which brings me to the Danny Billie quote above. The principle is the same here. You cannot hope to do permaculture successfully when operating in the ‘normal’ way. Good permaculture can only be done under a system that follows the principles of permaculture. It seems to me that the PRI has managed to do that, even while becoming an internationally recognized and respected institution. This needs to be stressed. It doesn’t just happen, it requires conscious effort to keep true to your principles and yet still find a way to promote those principles on a large scale, worldwide. This is no small achievement.

So what am I on about? How does the "Permaculture Masterplan" embody permaculture principles? Let’s take our little project as an example. Our problem was a severe lack of water for most of the year, which then causes the other problems. For example; desertification, poverty, and disease from dirty water. The Permaculture Master Plan involves setting up independent projects, which become self-financing largely by running courses. Our project will repair the watershed of the whole valley, which in turn will hold in the water and increase water flow and fertility. This provides a long-term solution, unlike such things as irrigation, which cause debt and interfere severely with the local economy and relationships.

When Geoff described it all to me, sitting outside a farmhouse on top of a mountain in Ait Attab, it all sounded too good to be true. The first thing that came to my mind (being a corrupt European) was ’scam’. Honestly that’s what it sounded like. We get a load of students to come over and do a course. They build the earthworks, pay for all the labour, and even pay for other students either locally or from poor communities elsewhere. It all costs us nothing at all!

But if it is a scam, then where are the losers? A scam always has losers, by definition. I could see no losers. The students have an amazing experience in a remote Berber tribal area, and gain experience and a qualification that can provide them with a worthwhile and fulfilling life (not to mention the chance of a future for our children!), the land gets to keep its water and become fertile again, the local people have more water and better variety of food, become more independent and regain self-respect, and our organization has a place, a root structure for future projects to sprout from and grow.

Where else do you see this win-win situation? Not in modern top-down systems, that’s for sure. But anyone who has done even just a Permaculture Introductory Course, or read a few of the entries on this website can recognize it right away. The Master Plan is planting seeds on many levels, and the principles of permaculture are carried through on each level. The design for the Master Plan is every bit as much a permaculture project as each on-the-ground project is.

Editor’s Note: People who want to take take a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course in an amazing location in Morocco, whilst in doing so supporting the education of poor locals, can check out the course for April.

We’re pleased to announce that we’re partnering with the makers of the video above, WeForest, to help establish self-replicating permaculture reforestation demonstration sites in accordance with our Permaculture Master Plan, in several worldwide locations – starting in Zambia in the first instance. Our Geoff Lawton has just agreed to be on their advisory board, and we’ll be working to supply guidance, knowhow and staff to pioneer these projects.

This is just one example of the many encouraging collaborative results we get as people boil current events down to their only logical conclusion – discovering we need to quit battling nature and get busy harnessing biological synergies to repair the earth and rebuild sustainable community interactions.

The Permaculture Research Institute has a very homely, friendly environment in beautiful natural settings. We get a constant stream of interesting and interested people from every place you can imagine. If you’re happy with the work and arrangement, and vice versa, we would also invite you to continue with us on a full-time trial basis from January, when we start our new internship program.

Please Note: This position has now been filled – we are now fully catered with two top cooks. Thank you for your interest.

Desk Top Publishing and Book Designer

Job Description

This position is all about creativity and the love of producing something of quality and value with Tagari Publications and the Permaculture Institute.

Sounds interesting? Well, if you love attention to detail and seeing your work through to completion then this may be the job for you. If you have great time management, computer program efficiency and a down-to-earth attitude this position will give you the opportunity to flex your already proficient skills and provide you the opportunity to further develop your talents.

Located in the beautiful hills of Sisters Creek, Tasmania, with a stunning backdrop of dams, hills and animals to admire, the location is only one part of this company’s offering. Tagari is home to the founding father of Permaculture and with that comes an exciting workplace with great stories and an office experience only a limited few have access to.

The work consists of laying up manuscript and images into books, booklets, advertising materials or magazines. Image and text management via electronic means is essential and you must unquestionably possess these skills. Book creation includes correct formatting of glossaries, references, indices, table of contents, title pages, imprint pages et al. An eye for detail and patience for doing a thorough job is mandatory.

Web site uploading experience would be helpful, but not required.

We have a very family-friendly work environment and encourage all age groups to apply.

To become a member of our team the following skills are required:

• MUST be proficient on the PC platform, Microsoft applications and Adobe applications including InDesign and Photoshop
• Great typing skills and the ability to read handwritten copy
• Time management
• Attention to detail and patience
• The ability to work independently or as part of a team
• Work well under pressure and the ability to adapt to change
• Great telephone manner as well as excellent verbal and written skills
• Typing handwritten copy
• Liaising with author
• Scanning images from a variety of materials
• Sourcing suitable imagery
• Indexing
• Designing book/pamphlet layouts
• Digitizing already existing books
• Follow directions
• Be thorough

The successful applicant will be working two to three days per week at 31 Rulla Road, Sisters Creek, Tasmania (with the possibility of increasing to an extra day on certain weeks).

• Hours 9.00am to 4.30pm with half an hour for lunch
• Starting pay is $17.50 per hour for the first three months and then commensurate with experience.
• There is a three month probationary period.
• This is not a “work from home position”

An application must contain:

1. your resume or CV
2. a detailed cover letter
3. samples of your work

Applications deficient in the above will be discarded.

Please send your application to sales (at) tagari.com

Thank you for interest. We look forward to hearing from you!

Australia Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) have listed the following two positions that may pique your interest. You’d be working with the Social Policy Ecology Research Institute (SPERI), a Vietnamese NGO we’ve been assisting for a few years. If you have the requisite experience, are an Australian citizen between 18 and 30 years old, are of good health and looking to broaden your experience while giving a little of yourself to poor communities, then this might be a great opportunity for you.

Click on the following links to learn more about the positions, and click here to learn more about the AYAD program itself.

• Permaculture Curriculum Support Officer
• Permaculture Project Support Officer

As with any work in ‘developing‘ countries (I hate using that word), you need to consider well your suitability before applying, but, if you feel you’re up to the challenge, successful applicants are fully funded by AYAD to fill these positons – including travel, insurance, etc.

Related Reading:

• Letters from Vietnam: The Road to Na Sai
• Letters from Vietnam: The Hmong People – Reclaiming Lost Skills
• Letters from Vietnam: Ke Village

Would you like to volunteer at a Permaculture Food Security Project at a Primary School and Boarding House in rural Uganda?

To start ASAP, preferred length of stay 3-4 months.

This project has been going for close to a year (click here for more infomation) and is at an exciting stage of its evolution. Major infrastructure work has been done this year and the emphasis is moving to productive food growing and the establishment of a chicken system to feed the children.

You will be privileged to be part of a very special school community.

There are three permaculture volunteers and two other volunteers from Australia and the US.

You must

• have experience in growing food in a tropical climate
• be resilient enough to cope with basic living conditions
• be strong and fit for work in the garden
• appreciate and enjoy the value of another culture
• be keen to have an adventure!

Clean, simple accommodation and all meals are provided at a cost of US$25 per week.

Come and join us!

Responses to clivemullett (at) gmail.com

Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge is a community oriented business operating in rural south Ethiopia in Konso Woreda, an area noted for its unique local culture and indigenous agricultural system, but suffering from repeated food insecurity due to re-occurring droughts in the last 50 years. SFEL promotes community well-being through Permaculture design training and consultancy services delivered to local schools, as well as though developing community based tourism activities to generate alternative income for the community grass-roots. The project combines a lodge, farm, organic restaurant and Permaculture school as well as organising off-site trekking and cultural activities.

More information on SFEL and its objectives:

• www.glinet.org/inspiredetail.asp?id=7641
• www.permacultureusa.org/2009/02/04/spotlight-on-ethiopia
• changemakers.net/en-us/node/20212

Our website is here: www.permalodge.org but we are still working on it and it needs some time…

Strawberry Fields now seeks someone with significant experience in sustainable building practises (e.g. mud building, composting toilets, basic solar water heating systems, basic solar electric systems, thatch construction, interior decor with local cultural and natural materials.) You will assist with general maintenance tasks and with completion of remaining small construction works which are necessary on the site which include finishing off of compost toilets and shower facilities, some interior works and carpentry, maintenance of stone wall terracing, and completion of some mud walled service buildings. You will work together with local technicians and labourers giving them the chance to develop new skills, experiencing Konso’s indigenous artesian skills, most notably stone wall terracing and thatch and mud construction. However they will be required to supervise and direct local tradesmen to produce work according to spec. as required for standards on the lodge, in ways to which they are often un-accustomed in the local villages. You will also be asked to assist with purchasing materials and to assist with store operation for the project.

Requirements:

• Significant experience with sustainable building practises, preferably in a rural environment (some but not necessarily all of the above-mentioned).
• Some experience in a supervisory role in construction works.
• A tough character and willingness to rough it, but at the same time an appreciation of standards and the western mentality – i.e. the needs of lodge guests.
• An interest to learn about a new culture, language, learn/teach new skills, and become part of a rural community for a few months.

Re-imbursement:

• Live and eat with the project staff (room and board)
• Internet time 1/2 hour per day (if connection established on site)
• 100Br ($10) pocket money per week (enough for a few drinks each evening, or a trip to Arbaminch on the weekends).

To start: ASAP

Length of position: 3 – 6 months, depending on you.

Please submit a CV with two references to alex1mcc (at) yahoo.com

1. Advice and/or Resources: If you’re seeking help for your site, please complete our project questionnaire and email it to info (at) permaculture.org.au in the first instance. This is designed to gather information about potential projects before you make contact so that our initial conversations can be more situation specific.
2. Timeline: You are also encouraged to read our timeline for project establishment as it will help focus your thought and energy on a practical, logical progression for establishment.

Although this post will slide down out of view – links to these documents can always be found via our Contact Us page. Also, these documents will likely get fleshed out more over time.