 This is a question that keeps coming up along my permaculture journey and one I talk about during different aspects of some of the courses I help facilitate. The first time I encountered this question was in reading Plato who was a philosopher from the 5th century BC where he posed the question - What is the good life? by this he was referring to the aspects of Conviviality (To have fun and celebrate), Citizenship (Taking care of your family and community), Artistic and Intellectual growth (music, science, arts, community) and spiritual development and fulfillment (of the individual and shared). Claude Lewenz in his book 'How to Build a Villagetown' he proposes the idea of building a habitat to not only be a wonderful place to live, but also solve all sorts of social, economic and environmental challenges facing modern society. The author, Claude Lewenz took about 20 years, and considerable research, dialogue, focus groups and real-life testing to refine. What happens if instead we build human habitat where we don't need to drive? We don't reduce or offset CO₂ emissions, we stop emitting. We burn no fuel - zero emissions. Design to remove the need for cars as local transport. What if we place everything people need... work, shopping, schooling, cafés, recreation and a wide range of housing, all within a 10-minute walk of our homes. Within that habitat. Old people need not move to retirement homes when they lose their driver license. Children play in the streets safely. People connect on plazas, no appointment needed; quality of life goes up. Streets are narrower, cost less to build and maintain. The settlement rather than development that costs less to build, needs less land, yet brings i the experience of place.  David Holmgren in his new book - Retrosuburbia, also addresses this in a different context were we look at what we already have and how can we re-skill, retrofit and fundamentally redesign our already existing households and communities for not only 'The Good Life' but for an energy decent future. How can we use our domains - Built, Biological and Behavioural to improve our quality of life for ourselves and our families in a time of financial and property bubbles, Rising costs and shortages and the potential of climate chaos. The graph below reminds me strongly of the web of life chart from holistic context and in this David asks us to evaluate our lives by simply dividing the amount of hours per week and see how it meets our needs. A simple yet powerful tool in helping to identify how we can start looking at what makes up a good life for us.  the Web of life is also a great tool in how we can 'rank' various aspects of our life to help identify our 'weakest link' and gives us the opportunity to start working on the various aspect one section at a time so not to overwhelm us - our daily statement of purpose.  So what does the question 'what makes for a complete and balanced life' mean to you?
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 In 2019 we will be taking on one person for a 26-week horizontal learning platform to help them develop their home systems, taking their knowledge and the application of permaculture to a new level Who is this for? This program is for people who are interested in increasing what they are doing on a home scale. To take the theory of what they have learned from the PDC (permaculture design course) and apply it, using hands-on approaches, to their homes and their lives. Prerequisite It is essential that you have taken a PDC (permaculture design course) before embarking on this mentorship program. The PDC gives you a solid foundation we will be building on, delving further into the Ethics, Design Principles, Process and how we can build a resilient, regenerative and abundant future. Learning objectives •A deeper understanding of the ethics and design principles •Build your holistic context and know how to test your biases •Learn how to create a soil fertility plan and build soil in a variety of ways and harness water for ourselves and our landscapes •Intensive growing methods for the garden or orchard •Practice using the design matrix from home to community scale •Have FUN  Times The mentorship program operates one day a week (Monday). We ask those accepted into the program to commit to attending . To gain the full range of experience, interns would need to attend for the total of 130 hours Cost There is a small cost to cover some of the larger expenses the participant will need for this mentorship Work Diary Participants will be supplied with a work diary to record their activities and learning experiences. The diary also guides the supervisor in providing the wide range of experience required to be a competent permaculture practitioner. Note During the course you will receive classroom & field based tuition. We aim to leave you with the design tools, skills & strategies we have found necessary in our work. You will also be given resources and design tasks that you can manage in your free time. Making the most of these opportunities is your responsibility. We greatly value experiential learning. Reading or learning about how to do something is a useful tool, but unless you practice what you have learned, it remains a tool unused.   by Cassandra Pulver. (Image courtesy of Project for public spaces) Culture is created by us and defines us. It is the embodiment of the distinctive values, traditions and beliefs that make being Australian in the 21st Century unique – democratic, diverse, adaptive and grounded in one of the worlds oldest living civilisations. Given the size and scale of Australia, place, landscape and country play an important role in shaping cultural heritage and identity. Each part of the nation has a distinctive identity that reflects geography, history and population. The sum is a shared national identity. Culture is more than the arts, but the arts play a unique and central role in its development and expression. Creative expression defines our nation. Whether it is through live, interactive or recorded media or whether it is through drama, documentaries, comedy, music, dance, design, visual art, writing or traditional cultural practices, society benefits when it is empowered to share stories. Culture is not created by government, it is created by community. What defines a “permanent culture” in terms of cultural heritage and identity and if culture is created by community, what/who determines its’ permanency? Life as we know it is in constant flux and continual change, therefore our permanent culture is evolving generation after generation. And whilst a permanent culture exists the cultural heritage and identity of it is not permanent in so much as it is constantly evolving. David Holmgren, co-originator of the permaculture concept states that: “although stability is an important aspect of Permaculture, evolutionary change is essential. Permaculture is about the durability of natural living systems and human culture, but this durability paradoxically depends in large measure on flexibility and change. Many stories and traditions have the theme that within the greatest stability lie the seeds of change.” In Permaculture Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability one of the principals we could apply to arts, cultural heritage and identity is Design Principal 12 – Creatively use and respond to change – “vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be”. Therefore WE determine the permanency of art, cultural heritage and identity by embracing differences, sharing experiences and continually telling our stories through creative expression. So, what is the importance of “art” in a continually evolving “permanent culture? The arts have the power to establish trust, build confidence and promote local initiative and innovation by building relationships between arts and cultural practitioners and the community. Creative communities are thriving communities. Not only do the arts grow local economies, the arts are a proactive way to explore complex community issues. Placemaking seeks to transform spaces into places where people want to live, work and play, thus creating a permanent culture. “It’s Placemaking, not Placemade. It’s a process. You are never finished.  Global Gardener is a documentary film series about the permaculture approach to sustainable agriculture. Bill Mollison, The father of Permaculture and auther of the permaculture designers manual along with Julian Russell produced the series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; it premiered on Australian television in 1991. Cold Climates is the second part of this groundbreaking series.  I have been putting off writing this for some time. I just could not work out where to start as there were many different things buzzing around in my head. Though much like design the hardest part is putting pen to paper so here we begin. For me, Retrosuburbia was someone of a blessing. 6 years earlier my family and I sold and moved from our more substantial property to a much smaller block on the edge of town. At the time we did receive much criticism from certain circles as the pattern at the time was for people who had done a PDC would generally move from the city and purchase a rural block to pursue the ‘permaculture lifestyle’. Why we moved was for many reasons, but the largest was that while we were producing much of what we needed, with the kids growing up and getting more into school activities and sport etc., everything required a vehicle to travel. This, plus many other incentives had us thinking about the future. The rural agrarian dream was lovely but the shadow of ‘what if’ started to hang over our heads. With this in mind, we sold and moved to the edge of town, retaining the rural feel but having everything within walking distance. We spent a lot of time looking for the right property also - Northeast aspect, the majority of the property is the backyard, 3 sources of water, soils etc. the list was extensive, but ultimately we found what has become our home. But in reading it, I could not help but draw parallels to many other works that I had read that did ultimately lead us to make that fateful decision to move to our ‘urban block.’  The Complete book of Self-sufficiency – The original version published in 1976 with the new edition published in 2003 is a comprehensive, back-to-basics guide explains how to live independently in harmony with the planet, utilizing natural forms of energy, raising crops and livestock, preserving foods, gardening, carpentry, and other essential skills designed to help build a community and transform one's life. It invited readers to respect the land, reap the harvest, waste nothing, stay healthy and live well.  While I had been shown and given many skills from my parents and grandparents, this book gave me the structure on the ‘what and the how’ on our block. It is still today a book that regularly sits on my desk as I think through different ideas on how we can apply strategies, techniques and various tools to our lives  A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander – This book published in 1977 this book was about how to design a house for yourself with your family; how you can work with your neighbours to improve your town and neighbourhood. It provides people with a framework for engaging in design. Using this book has given me the inspiration for many projects not just on our home but locally as it shows the connections from macro to micro or the reverse to help look a affects not only in our lives but also into our community – The how to  The Integral Urban House - First published in 1991. I had honestly forgotten about this book until recently when Russ Greyson recently posted a post about this book in the Retrosuburbia community facebook group. Knowing I had it somewhere here, it leads me on a search to the last box that had not yet been unpacked from the move 6 years prior (yes I was getting there). This book is a comprehensive guide to achieving a completely sustainable urban lifestyle by creating a mini-ecosystem where residents grow their own fruits and vegetables, raise a variety of animals, recycle 90% of their waste, solar heat their hot water, and use a range of other alternative technologies, all on a small urban block. Flicking through its pages shows the many ways these elements can be integrated together on a small scale.   The Economics of Happiness – While not a book, this film released in 2011 was an eye-opener for me. 2011 was when I first entered the big scary realm of internet and social media (and honestly I think I am still in shock from the experience). The film describes “a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, the government and big business continue to promote globalisation and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world, people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localisation.” While I thought I had some idea (delusional for sure), this film opened up my eyes to some of the more significant issues I had not considered, and how they can and do affect the local resilience we were trying to build in our own home Roots of Change Study Group – While neither a book nor film, I came across this curricula from my introduction to the economics of happiness in 2011. This at its core was about gathering like-minded individual and through a series of readings and discussions, come to a better understanding of not only the changes and the consequences, but also what we as individuals, family, friends and community can do about it to build strong local communities.  The Permaculture Handbook by Peter Bane – First published in 2012, I did not come into contact with this book until 2014 when I attended a talk in Brisbane by David Holmgren who was ironically giving his “Aussie Street’ presentation. The Permaculture Handbook is a “step-by-step guide to creating resilient and prosperous households and neighbourhoods, complemented by extensive case studies of three successful farmsteads and market gardens. This comprehensive manual casts garden farming as both an economic opportunity and a strategy for living well with less money. It shows how, by mimicking the intelligence of nature and applying appropriate technologies such as solar and environmental design, permaculture can create abundance, drought-proof our cities, convert waste into wealth and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.” What I loved about this book was how Peter Bane had integrated and adapted many patterns outlined in the “ A Pattern Language” and applied them in a permaculture context for his peri-urban property and incorporating his local community to help build resilience, self-reliance and abundance. This ultimately became the inspiration for what we are doing and building on our own context here on our half an acre.  And last but definitely not least, is the latest addition of Retrosuburbia by David Holmgren. One thing I have noticed about this book even before its release was that it made people excited. The idea of taking his Aussie Street presentation and expanding on it using Davids long years of testing and experience had many people talking. Retrosuburbia is about “shows how people can downshift and retrofit their homes, gardens, communities and, above all, themselves to be more self-organised, sustainable and resilient into an uncertain future. It promises a challenging but exciting mix of satisfying work, a more meaningful way of living and hope for the next generation.” Using the permaculture flower as a guide, it takes the reader through the various petals and showing living examples of what can be done. When it was published and finally arrived at my door, I could not put it down. From start to finish in one night and honestly, it was awesome. So much information and inspiration that it has generated a resurgence in people wanting to look more local start where they are and hopefully build a better, more resilient and self-reliant future. This excites me as living in a rural environment I have seen over the years a pattern of people looking for a slower lifestyle, gardens, self-reliance etc. and move to the 5 to 50-acre block to set up their dream. They spend the next 2 years commuting to and from the city for work and then spend the weekends planting trees, building gardens, tending animals and mowing. Then after 2 years, they get fed up with the idea and then move back to a more urban setting with the loss of time, money and resources that were put into the property in the first place, to be sold to the next batch of people who are beginning the same journey.
While Retrosuburbia is not the first guide to inspire people to a more self-sufficient urban lifestyle, it has once again brought it back into the foreground and given people reason to pause to consider the potential of the suburbs. And why Suburbs? because as Bill and Helga Olkowski argued "Cities are where people are. Everyone cannot move to the country or there won't be a country anymore. Besides if everyone moved to the country with their urban consciousness, the country will be transformed into the city just as happened with the suburbs. The challenge is to make the cities ecologically stable and healthy places to live"  by LACHLAN MCIVOR 10th May 2017 8:00 AM GREEN thumbs from around the Lockyer Valley are invited to congregate around what is hoped will become a hub for gardeners in the area. The UQ Gatton Community Garden was a student-initiated project started on the campus a couple of years ago. But president Brendan Fu said this year the group wanted to make it open to more than just those at the university. "I know that there are a lot of community groups in the area that are based on conservation and permaculture,” Mr Fu said. "We don't have to be isolated in a pocket of the uni and only have students, I'm sure there are a lot of resident experts in Gatton itself that can come here and teach us something. "We have a fully equipped shed, you just have to come, you don't need to bring any tools.” He hoped it would become a place for those passionate about gardening to find common ground. "I think it's hard to find a sense of involvement in Gatton town itself, where you don't have place like that,” he said. "I'm thinking this could be the place, I don't think there is one in Gatton.” They meet regularly on Friday afternoons but also plan to host regular events, like the workshop led by Michael Wardle of Savour Soil Permaculture on Monday. He recommended anyone interested to get involved as it is a good way to learn new skills. "It's not only just learning about growing your own food but also the social aspect as well,” Mr Wardle said. "It's very easy to grow stuff in your own home but sometimes you don't have that social connection. So being able to come to a place like this is ideal - share stories, share experiences and learn new skills at the same time.” Visit their Facebook page to get more information on how to get involved.  Global Gardener is a documentary film series about the permaculture approach to sustainable agriculture. Bill Mollison, The father of Permaculture and auther of the permaculture designers manual along with Julian Russell produced the series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; it premiered on Australian television in 1991. In the Tropics is the first part of this groundbreaking series.  “Are not rules telling us what to do, they are guidelines to tell us what to think about when we are deciding what to do” - Earth Charter When we build a house, the first thing that goes in is the foundation to help make it beautiful and strong. The foundation of permaculture being grounded in ethics firmly in place (asking ourselves should we do something rather than can we do something), next we need to start working on the framework that will hold our house together – The Design Principles. Below are 2 of the many different versions of the Permaculture Principles written by Bill Mollison (the Father of Permaculture) and David Holmgren (the co-creator of Permaculture).  The Principles of Permaculture from Bill Mollison and Reny Mia Slay (Introduction to Permaculture) are: 1. Relative Location 2. Each Element performs many functions 3. Each Important function is supported by many elements 4. Efficient energy planning 5. Using biological resources 6. Energy cycling 7. Small scale intensive systems 8. Accelerate succession and evolution 9. Diversity 10. Edge Effects 11. Attitudinal principles  The Twelve Principles of Permaculture from David Holmgren (Principles and Pathways above and beyond sustainability) are: 1. Observe and interact 2. Catch and store energy 3. Obtain a yield 4. Apply self-regulation and respond to feedback 5. Use and value renewable resources and services 6. Produce no waste 7. Design from pattern to details 8. Integrate rather than segregate 9. Use small and slow solutions 10. Use and value diversity 11. Use the edges and value the marginal 12. Creatively use and respond to change Like the Ethics, the Design Principles have and are continuing to go through their own evolution as we come to learn and understand more not only of our landscapes and its needs but of ourselves. I particularly like the Earth Charter’s definition of what principles are as they are precisely that – not rules telling us to what to do, but a guide telling us what to think about when we are deciding what to do, a design and decision-making matrix. I once saw a list that Darren Doherty put together for the opening chapter of his new book ‘The Regrarians Handbook’ where he lists 14 different regenerative design and living principles that others have worked from. As David Holmgren talks about, the design principles are no substitute for experience or potentially technical knowledge it does give you a robust framework to work from as thinking tools when you are deciding what to do. “Knowledge must be earned, not simply learned” - Unknown. Below is a PDF from Patrica Allison for another perspective - an enjoyable read 
 Join us for our 2019 annual one day a week over a 4-month Permaculture Design Course We need to create a vision. We need to change the climate of our minds. We need to rebuild our inner landscapes. We need a positive, solution-focused way of thinking. We need to be inspired, and we have to act. We need to heal ourselves, our landscapes, our relationship with nature and our culture & communities. We need to learn how to reconnect with nature so we can mimic it in the design of our present and our future. The Savour Soil Permaculture Design Course is committed to turning you into a better designer. The learning outcomes for this course have been built around the design framework to achieve this goal. Cost: Early Bird: $700, Full Price: $1000 During this course you will: • Take part in presentations, slideshows, site tours, exercises, games, facilitated group discussions and other learning strategies. • See permaculture in action. • Build skills with hands-on classes, practical activities and implementations. • Learn from professionals - designers, community organisers who are living the design process, not just teaching about it. We live in the systems we create, continually receiving insights and feedback to deepen our understanding of natural and designed systems. • Learn about and use an ecological design process, which has you create a vision, learn to comprehend the landscape and use the scale of permanence to catalogue data and develop a design. This process will give you a step by step approach to applying the design principles of permaculture. You will gain confidence to tackle your designs with this process. • Get the attention you need. More time for questions, conversations, and personal attention from the educators, to dive deeper into a subject or discuss personal projects you are working on • Design from day one and all through the course rather than just an end exercise. • Connect with others and build community.• Devote four months to study and live permaculture. We like to take our time going over the course material, with plenty of time for hands-on activities, group process and design, building community and fun. • Receive continued support after the course. • Receive discounts on future courses and the possibility of earning credit by referring future permaculture design course students. For Tickets Click Here
 “Are a guide to what is considered right and wrong in the relations among people and between people and the larger living world” - Earth Charter Permaculture is a design process to meet human needs while enhancing ecosystem health and it is less about what we can do, but more about what we should do. The permaculture ethics are the foundation of what we do. Much like when we build a house or other structure we need to have a solid foundation in place. If not, then the structure is significantly weakened and can fall easily. When the father of permaculture - Bill Mollison and the co-creator, David Holmgren first came together at the University of Tasmania and shared their ideas, one of the ideas they had was to look at indigenous cultures that had not only survived but thrived and find what the unifying factor was. After much research and discussion, they boiled it down to 3 different Ethics - Care of the Earth, Care of People and what is typically sloganized now as Fair share.  Earth Care (Care for the earth) is about exactly that. We only have one planet that we all collectively live on. It is about rebuilding Natures Capital. While the word capital is typically used to define the concept of monetary wealth, in this instance we are referring to the natural or environmental resources so that we not only have enough for a sustainable existence but also add to that balance sheet – enhance our ecosystem. People Care (Care of People) is about looking after self, kin and community. While most consider ourselves separate from the more extensive system, we are a big part of the system that has evolved in this environment, and we have the choice to help to not only our environment but also each other. Self-care is not ‘selfish care’ as I heard someone put it once, but more about the care of self. We cannot pour from an empty cup, and we need to understand that we need to look after ourselves if we are to help look after others. Kin (family or chosen tribe) is about the understanding that we cannot do it alone. We also need to look after family and friends. In the ’70s there was a huge movement for ‘self-sufficiency’, but honestly we cannot do it all ourselves. It is more about self-reliance and community abundance, and that starts with our family or chosen tribe. The community is the understanding that we are a part of a greater community and that this ‘cultural capital’ is something that can help us celebrate our successes and help shape our character, to help us become more self-supporting and as Aristotle wrote approximately 2300 years ago, celebrating the good life. Also, there is Third Ethic which is usually sloganized by the phrase Fair share. I sometimes think this is my favourite (if you can have a favourite ethic ;)) as it has gone through some transformations over the last 40 years. While I know this has frustrated some and has created much debate in some circles in the permaculture community, what inspires me is that fact there is a conversation about it. An evolution of sorts as it shows that we are still learning, evolving and aspiring to be more. What are we talking about when we are referring to a fair share? It could be said that we are talking about celebrating nature’s abundance while accepting and respecting nature’s limitations. Celebrating Natures abundance because honestly, it is. NATURE IS ABUNDANT. Who has not walked into a rainforest and not been in awe of the wealth that surrounds us. The trees, the animals and life within the soils. However, we also need to respect and accept that nature does have limits. If we continue to take and take without the understanding of boundaries, then there will be nothing left for that future growth – for future generations.  While traditionally there are only three ethics that are used and talked about, I like to talk about a couple of others that help guide me not only in my life but also when I do design work. While these are not strictly ‘ethics’ I think that they are just as important to consider. Transition. While there is some talk of this, mainly around the transition initiative, what I am referring to is that fact we need to understand that it will take time, that we are not going from zero to a sustainable existence overnight. We need to consider appropriate technology to help create our systems and the time frame that is required to have it happen. Even a tree that we plant on our property can take 3 to 5 years before we start obtaining a yield from it. Also, lastly is the potential of Future Care. I was first introduced to the term ‘future care’ from someone who was attending Dave Jacke’s Forest Garden Design Intensive with me three years ago. She was telling me that the idea came from an ongoing discussion in the USA about the meaning of ‘Fair Share’. Future care was about the need to not only look at closed looped systems and how the surplus needs to be distributed between the first two ethics but that we need to consider if our designs are caring for the future, not just now but the seven generations – regenerative and looking toward legacy. The Ethics in Permaculture mean different things to different people, but if we want to make real change we need to consider these in the foundations of our decision-making processes, as a guide to asking ourselves are we caring for the earth, caring for people and caring for the future. Click on the picture link below to the free download from David Holmgren with the art work and links from permacultureprinciples.com  |
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