The Need for Data and Documentation to Move Permaculture Forward
Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education — by Richard Perkins May 23, 2012
Bec Helouin, France.
Photos and article by Richard Perkins
A month into our epic family global film trip and we arrive at the beautiful and incredible La Ferme biologique du Bec Hellouin, an experimental organic farm being adapted according to permaculture principles.
Bec Hellouin is home to Charles and Perrine Herve-Gruyer. Farmyard buildings are mostly newly built, however with such sympathy for the traditional styles and materials that you might never guess. The original house is mimicked with its timber framing and cob wall infills, and thatched roofs are elegantly planted along the top. It is an incredibly beautiful farm and a lot of care has gone into the details of the infrastructure. Walking out through the yard down into the growing spaces I can see this is a very efficient place, with water carefully and magically carried through the landscape, creating productive islands and growing spaces where I can see immediately how multiple and diverse microclimates have been created. It’s breathtaking here.
Comments (0)Living Freely – Valuing the Marginal and Recycling Energy
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Village Development — by Richard Perkins May 22, 2012
Plukrijp Community, Belgium
Photos and article by Richard Perkins
Wheat
We are now a month into our epic global family film journey documenting active and replicable solutions in all areas of permaculture design. Our recent trip to the Plukrijp community has left a strong impression on us, an account we feel moved to share. Situated in Schriek, Belgium, this small farm has developed into a thriving community hub over the last few years, and offers solutions in various aspects of permaculture design, but most notable is the way this community lives at vertically no cost. Around 4000 people pass through here a year in addition to a 15-strong community, and the whole thing is run on a simple magic hat. The running costs have been reduced to gas for cooking and water rates!
Comments (0)APC11 Presentation: Permaculture Disaster Response to Japan’s 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster, by Toru Sakawa
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Conferences, Food Shortages, Nuclear — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 17, 2012
At the recent Australasian Permaculture Conference (APC11) held in Turangi, New Zealand, one of the highlights for me was hearing Toru Sakawa’s tale of permaculture aid work in very unusual circumstances. I say unusual, as the triple woes of having an earthquake and tsunami followed by a nuclear disaster is somewhat unprecedented. Some parts of Japan were suddenly left without food, fuel, water and many other supports that we generally take (a little too much) for granted, and efforts to help oneself were restricted for many by the need to stay inside, out of radioactive harms way.
It was inspiring to hear Toru share how he and his peers did their best to help people in coastal areas, and how permaculture played some part in enabling them to do so. Toru and his friends, with fuel supplies cut, made their own biofuels from waste oil, and used it to transport their permaculture produce, and other supplies, to the people who needed it. They also brought people back to care for them, and to give them time away from the more radioactive areas.
It should help remind us what permaculture is really about; that being to not only create permanence, but also resiliency against abrupt shocks to the system, and the compassionate care of the people around us.
Comments (0)The Transition Trail to Resilience
Community Projects, Society, Urban Projects — by Emma Crameri
by Emma Crameri, Gustoso
“The Transition Trail to Resilience” illustrates the steps our local communities can take to transition to living with climate change and shrinking supplies of cheap energy and oil.
I was inspired by first developing The Permaculture Path to Sustainability which deals with how individuals and households can transition to a life with a smaller footprint on the earth.
I then wanted to expand these issues to encompass a community wide scope and take on the perspective of the Transition movement.
Comments (0)Enhancing Permaculture Through Research
Community Projects — by Andy Goldring May 11, 2012
Bill Mollison and David Holmgren developed permaculture through a combination of years of study and observation, many late night discussions and practical testing in the field (in fact it was a garden!) What has emerged since is a powerful network of action learners busy putting permaculture theory into practice the world over. But can we do it better? Is there more to learn? I think there is. For many years the Permaculture Association has focussed on supporting learners and educators, but more recently we have begun to realise that to do this well we need to be doing more research. Research is essentially a refined learning method that gives us the capacity to understand how things work, how well different methods work, how we could improve practice, and what we might learn from others.
To get an understanding of who is already conducting permaculture research — either as academics, or as practitioners using a research approach in their project work — we have put together a series of surveys that will be rolled out over the next six months:
Comments (0)International Permaculture (May)Day
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Economics, Education Centres, Presentations/Demonstrations, Social Gatherings, Society — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 6, 2012
Terania Creek, next to PRI Australia’s Zaytuna Farm
Photos © Craig Mackintosh
The inaugural International Permaculture Day — today — appropriately falls on the first Sunday of May, often known as ‘Mayday’. Permaculture, and its appropriate and holistic design science, is a powerful response to the world’s distress signals. Thankfully, more and more are coming to realise this, and this new peg on the annual calendar is a great opportunity for the uninitiated to get familiar with, and find some hope and security in, our transformative work.
Comments (7)International Permaculture Day, Sunday the 6th May, 2012
Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Presentations/Demonstrations, Social Gatherings, Village Development — by Gillian Kozicki May 2, 2012
Celebrates all things permaculture around the world. Get involved with International Permaculture Day!
Permaculture in Ecuador
The Permaculture Day concept is one that celebrates all things permaculture around the world on the same day or weekend, if possible. The events are hosted and funded by local permaculture people, groups or businesses with the benefits accruing to your local area whilst spreading the word about permaculture. By coordinating the events worldwide at the same time we want to present a unified face to the broader community and show just how innovative, productive and fun permaculture events and projects can be.
Comments (0)For the Love of Parks – a Transition Initiative
Community Projects, Food Plants - Perennial, Village Development — by Andrew Beard April 5, 2012
On a beautiful spring day in the heart of east Berlin, eight fruit trees are planted in Görlitzer park. The trees, mainly apples but also some plums and pears, were carefully laid into the ground. The project, ‘I heart Görli’, was organised by a group of locals with similar concerns and a shared desire to act. It started last year when they began planting trees in this same park. At first they received opposition from the local government with concerns that the plants would not be watered regularly. However, the group insisted it would be taken care of and successfully arranged volunteers to water the fruit trees. This year the local government, recognising the projects success, gave them free reign and even installed a watering system, as previously water had to be carried by hand from the other side of the park several hundred meters away.
So, who are these people?
Comments (0)Sustainable Garden Design Workshops – Event Round-up (Adelaide, South Australia)
Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Presentations/Demonstrations — by Anthea Hudson April 3, 2012
A series of free Sustainable Garden Design Workshops were held at various locations around Adelaide, South Australia, over the past couple of months and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the one held in the suburb of Salisbury, along with quite a large number of other people. All of the events were basically booked out, which shows the growing enthusiasm for creating sustainable gardens.
The day was hot, but the participants were eager and undaunted by the heat, as they soaked up the gems of knowledge our guests had to share!
Comments (0)Calling for Before/After Site Photographs for Important John Liu Documentary
Aid Projects, Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Urban Projects — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor March 28, 2012
Many of you know of the excellent work of the filmmaker, John Liu. Amongst other projects, John documented, over many years, the amazing transformation of China’s massive Loess Plateau from being a significantly degraded, and dangerous land (the vegetation-free landscape made for seriously destructive — even deadly — floods and soil erosion) to the much-improved state it’s in today (see here and here). John has also been turning his visionary eye to Africa and beyond…. For a little background on John and his work, this interview will help.
Well, John is now working on an important new documentary that will showcase the importance and potential of investing in natural capital and working with natural laws to restore invaluable ecosystem services — and at very large scale, as is needed at this historical juncture! Part of this documentary will be devoted to the work of Geoff and Nadia Lawton in Jordan, covering projects — and aspirations for their rollout on a larger scale — there.
Comments (5)Reflections on Bringing Permaculture to the White House and Meeting President Obama
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Ryan Harb March 24, 2012
Editor’s Note: I want to congratulate Ryan and the UMass team on this significant milestone, and also wish to thank all of our readers who took a moment to vote to help ensure it came to pass. Onwards!
The White House honors five young leaders as Champions of Change for outstanding leadership on their college campuses, chosen by the public for their projects that embody the President’s goal to win the future.
The past few weeks have been life changing for me, and for many others who are part of the permaculture community at UMass Amherst. Possibly others from around the world, too. Together, we successfully brought permaculture to the national stage, and by we I mean the entire global network of permaculturists who live by the ethics “Earth Care”, “People Care”, “Share of Surplus”.
Comments (6)Let’s Explore Ridley Grove Community Garden! (Adelaide, South Australia)
Community Projects, Land, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Anthea Hudson
What do you do with an old church car park? Turn it into a community garden, of course! And that’s how the Ridley Grove Community Garden — a child, pet and disabled person friendly garden in the Adelaide suburb of Woodville Gardens — came into being.
The first thing they did was to bring in the experts to help clear the grass… a herd of hard working, hungry goats! Now that’s chemical free weed control… with built in fertiliser! Next came the soil building, with lots of compost and mulch, which turned a compacted surface of gravel and dolomite into fertile, productive garden beds.
Comments (4)Community Buys Own Supermarket – Mullumbimby NSW, Australia
Community Projects, Consumerism, Ethical Investment, News, Society, Village Development — by Brian Hedge
The small community of Mullumbimby in the Byron Shire of northern NSW, Australia, is currently in the process of determining their own food supply future by purchasing their local supermarket.
This movement, which is gaining momentum daily at an amazing rate, began by chance, fate, serendipity — call it what you will. Greg Dutton, president of the local community garden approached Richard Storie, the proprietor of the local IGA supermarket, about selling the community garden organic seedlings outside the store. During this conversation he quipped, "If the seedling sale goes well I’ll be back to buy the store". That’s a lot of seedlings. Nevertheless an idea was conceived and now after a five month gestation period a movement has been born.
Comments (4)Update on Progress on the Permaculture in Konso Schools Project and Our Last PDC at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge, Konso, Ethiopia
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Village Development — by Alex McCausland March 22, 2012
An international student simultaneously gains permaculture knowledge and
experience, whilst supporting much-needed permaculture aid work
and project establishment — aka: The Permaculture Master Plan.
The latest PDC at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge was a good step forward for us, as we managed to combine and integrate several objectives and deliver satisfactory results on all of them through the course of the program:
- Training a group of folks from various parts of the world to be permaculture designers
- Giving new impetus to, and gaining quality feedback on, our school’s permaculture outreach program
- Developing a plan for the next stage of that program.
Flinders Ranges in the Spotlight – Autumn Seasonal Events in the National Park
Biodiversity, Community Projects, Consumerism, Society — by Anthea Hudson March 17, 2012
Twice a year, over the school holidays in the Australian states of South Australia and Victoria, the Flinders Ranges comes alive, with a series of activities aimed to provide an insight into this majestic, yet environmentally sensitive area.
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