Permaculture 2020?

[tielan]

I'd forgotten this group existed. Joined it ages back but never posted because, well, I wasn't sure who'd be interested in interacting.

Thanks to cesy for bringing it back to my notice!

The world has changed a lot since this group was started - and even since the last posts back in 2012. People are more aware of the fragility of the natural world than ever even if they're debating whether we caused it and what we can do about it - and even if we should do anything about it. The battle about anthropologically induced climate change is on like Donkey Kong thanks to Greta Thunberg, the schoolkids protests, and the extremes of weather that we're seeing all over the world, not to mention the continued obfuscation of the politicians and corporations that just want everything to be 'business as usual' so they don't have to show leadership, tighten their belts, or take a stock hit.

While there are other groups about gardening, it's always good to be able to exchange ideas, thoughts, and ask for advice/help in dealing with the problems we're facing individually, in our communities, and as human beings. One of the three 'legs' of the branch of permaculture I learned is "people care" which is the development of communities that are capable of supporting each other. (The other two legs are "earth care" - looking after the planet - and "fair share" - not just keeping what we have, but giving to others where we can.) This could be one of those communities - perhaps not connected by physical promixity (like a neighbourhood or a local area group) but by common interest.

So, maybe people would like to post about their permaculture journey? Their interests and general location, what they're doing now, maybe along with what they'd like to be doing. Does anyone have things that they've learned this year? Plans for next year? For the older/original posters, are they still living by permaculture principles and how have they found the journey going over the last ten years?

I heard a really good description of permaculture on the weekend from the folks at Limestone Permaculture here in NSW: Permaculture is the design and planning process for ethical and principled ways to live.

The guy described it as an umbrella of a mindset that then informs the choice of action to take, whether that's growing one's own herbs on a kitchen windowsill, or going off-the-grid fully self-sufficient. What do you think?

(Disclaimer: I am not the owner or mod of this group, and haven't ever been an active poster here. I just thought I'd see if anyone's still watching this and if so, who's interested in talking.)

Comments

[tielan]

I've been interested in Permaculture for 20 years, but have only been able to actively start working on it since I bought a 1/6 acre block with a house in Sydney suburbia 5 years ago. I've been slowly developing the garden, while making plans for retrofitting the house to be better at passive heating/cooling, as well as getting involved in local groups with a permaculture bent.

Currently, I'm a part of my local Permaculture group, a local crop swap community, my garden is in for the city's garden trail 2020, and there are people working towards the development of a local Repair Cafe in the area.

And on top of it all, I've decided to run for the local Permaculture group's presidency in 2020.

Oof. Now that I've typed all that out, it's looking kind of huge and involved.

Presently, my back garden consists of a chook (chicken) run, five garden beds that can be covered by a chook tractor, 7 fruit trees, one pond, one wicking bed, one bathtub bed, and a shady flower garden. There are more fruit and nut trees in the front yard, and I have a separate space for seedling propagation, and a few garden beds down the side of the house.

A lot of my influence has been from Australian permaculturists - including the legendary Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, Linda Woodrow (my introduction to permaculture), Nick Ritar and Kirsten Bradley of Milkwood, and many other Australians who've been working on their sustainable gardens long before it was common to do so.

The recent book Retrosuburbia: the downshifter's guide to a resilient future has been really useful for reconfiguring my idea of what's possible beyond what's considered 'normal', as well as being written for a suburban future rather than the typical 'buy a plot of land and get out of the rat race' advice that is the traditional aim of permaculture. A lot of us are locked into our cities by jobs, by affordability, and by our need for community surrounding us (even if we're not part of it) so having a book that takes on the challenges of urban renewal is definitely necessary.

[loligo]

I'm the admin, and I'm still here and reading! No time to write about my garden tonight, but maybe later this week!

[tielan]

I look forward to hearing about it!

[cesy]

Thank you responding and keeping it going. I like what you're saying about the principles.

This is probably a good time to mention www.growstuff.org, started by an Australian, which I still help run and which got me thinking more about these kinds of things from listening to others there.

[tielan]

Ooh, that looks very nifty! I think I might have been on a site like that once, but it was completely missing the 'online community' feel (that I was particularly attached to thanks to LJ/DW), so I ended up joining the local permaculture group.

I've just signed up, so we'll see how it goes. :)

[cesy]

Community is still small and doesn't quite have critical mass, but every little helps.

[sporky_rat]

My Uncle Tom brought me ... uh, whatever 2 55 gallon drums equals out to in square feet - chicken guano. Despite the smell, it's getting spread all over the now fallow garden with leaves to bring the soil up (also lime! Lots of lime!).

(somehow I don't find the smell of rotting chicken guano to be bad or sickening, but the Husbandthing keeps trying to lose his lunch.)

[tielan]

Ooh, CHOOK MANURES!

Yeah, I have a container of the stuff (a friend got the dry pellets, but then it got wet, so they put it in a container and I received it - woohoo) and I really need to get it out on the garden right now. We're in the start of a long, hot summer, and I'm going to need both deep feeding and deep watering to get my garden through it.

Another heatwave this Thursday. EEP.

Does your husbandthing do much in the garden? It can be an acquired smell...

[sporky_rat]

No, he does work with pools and the stuff that comes out of them when you leave them alone for a summer.

Apparently guano is something he just can't handle. (It got covered and mixed with some brown leaves and that's helped.)

[juliet]

I have a (very small) back garden, which I mostly grow perennials in (herbs, some perennial veg, fruit trees/bushes) because I've realised that I'm not actually all that keen on gardening and prefer to have to do as little work as possible! I do grow a few annual veg too though. But broadly if it's too fussy or needs too much looking after it doesn't survive...

I need to think a bit about plans for next year in terms of my activist stuff and how that fits in with the rest of my life, and permaculture principles are going to be a good framework for that.

[tielan]

Ooh, cool. What kind of activism are you/did you want to get involved in?

[stellar_dust]

I'm at the "trying not to kill herbs on my windowsill" stage, but glad to see this comm perking up!

[tielan]

That is a perfectly cromulent stage of gardening!

I persistently failed the 'trying not to kill herbs on my windowsill' standard - and still do! Things that I grow need soil so that they don't easily dry out because I'm pretty awful at watering once they're reasonably grown.