planetary Permaculture Pilgrimage - Day 3 to 4

Planetary Permaculture Pilgrimage - Day 3 to 4

Hello beautiful people!

My camera is on the blink so this blog is mainly words... but Delvin has been taking pics - and day 5 will be almost entirely pics!

The afternoon of day 3 saw everybody giving a 5 minute presentation. I chose animals - birds, insects, mammals etc. We broke into small groups shared out the topics. The people who were newer to permaculture chose first and then Alex and I took the rest. I had animal husbandry, animals essential to diversity and I tried really hard to stick to Geoff's suggestion of breaking it down minute by minute to hit a start, a mid point and a close, and to make people laugh once, get serious once, and tell a story. I told a story about Smithy, the boar I looked after last year at Bill and Lisa Mollison's farm, a very friendly large black pig who fathered the piglets I also looked after and who used to push me into the electric fence when wanting a scratch.

Day 4 started with Geoff excitedly telling us that our blog was up on PRI website, Delvin and I were so stoked!

Geoff showed us the World Wide Permaculture Network - connecting permies everywhere. It showed us projects, people, climates. I felt strongly that it was time to put a larger profile up of myself and the places I have done projects after asking the appropriate permissions.

Geoff spoke about the master plan sites – that become a PRI in that area. Two of the people in the course are setting up a site together in Victoria, about an hour from Melbourne. One thing that struck me about this is that I hope they and the local Melbourne permaculture network could get to know each other in a positive way, and a wish that it was possible to build a bridge between all the different styles of people within the movement.

We looked at curriculum in the afternoon. Geoff went through all the different teachers notes he's used over time - he showed us Scott Pitman's notes – who is at PRI USA - which come from the 1983 teacher notes that Bill Mollison wrote. They are wonderfully simplified, a distillation written just beforet the designers manual came out.

Geoff told us he'd mind-mapped the whole manual - these things are on the resources page on the pri website. He also told us about a class he taught with men who in a refugee camp and he needed to write on butchers paper and put them all up on the wall. He also said that when he is teaching an into to Permaculture he uses the chapters from Intro to permaculture. That afternoon we again broke into groups to brainstorm curriculum and put all of that info into a 90 minute timeframe for a class. I didn’t hear what we were supposed to do and Geoff was unavailable for me to ask questions so we slightly buggered up – but we still got to apportion the time for each topic area into percentage. 

It was really really hot that day - a precursor to a storm coming - so Delvin and I stayed in a B & B that night - so we didn't have to pack up in the rain and a treat for us to get through the first week. Thanks Delvin!

Love to all out there - and more soon xxx

PPP Blog day 2

PPP Day 2 blog

Blogging this morning begins with the yellow tail black cockatoos calling and waiting for the breakfast coffee to come out…

Day two started with Geoff, Nadia, Tim and the interns killing an 8 month old calf. I didn’t attend, I’ve seen sheep killed and I always cry. That was in 2007 in Tassie when Geoff and Nadia did a practical fortnight down at Bill and Lisa Mollison’s farm in Tassie. I felt embarrassed that I was crying, as no one else was, but geoff and bill both pulled me aside privately and told me that whenever indigenous people kill an animal they shed a tear of reverence for its life. That made me feel better.  The interns felt much the same as me – that if we eat meat we have a responsibility to know where that meat comes from and to know that it has had an ethical life and the best death we can give it. It was in stark contrast to what was exposed on the Four Corners program earlier this year – where cattle exported to Indonesia watched while the cow in front of them was slaughtered, without stunning before their throats were cut and other horrific violence. The Live Export trade ceased briefly due to the public outcry but it was resumed with new rules that are designed to supposedly protect the cattle from this. I don’t think it goes far enough and want live export banned – something I continue to work on.

Ethical treatment of animals is one of the reasons I practice and teach permaculture. A chicken deserves to be used for its natural labour – scratching, poo-ing, collecting bugs and basically doing the work of the gardener in a chicken tractor vegie bed system. Ethical eggs and potentially ethical meat is better than a short life in battery cages or a barn full of chickens with no access even to sunlight outside.

So – there are things I am against – but permaculture is about positive action – and so I act in a positive way to stop the cruelty of the factory farming of animals of unthinking consumption. 

The Hex - our classroom, made of strawbale and designed for the sub tropics!

Ok, on to the classes! Geoff took us through teaching techniques in the morning – beginning at the end of the PDC with the final night party – where students do a performance for their classmates. It is a raucous occasion, I’ve been to one and I love it. It is an emotional and transformational night but demonstrates that we can still be self sufficient in fun.

Hooray!! Coffee has just arrived!!!!! With pikelets – Yummy. Blog will be getting better directly!

Geoff has “must touch points” on each topic over a 90 minute lecture. He tells 2 stories, 2 analogies, 2 laughs and 2 almost tears moments. He also ran us through some blackboard diagram and timing techniques – and developing a repotoire of symbols for explaining concepts and designs. He reminded us of mapping and sunside depending which hemisphere we are in, and drawing contours and plans. He explained an interactive game he used to do with students using a zone map, plasticine animals and building a design.  

Then! We found out we had to do a 3 minute presentation from one of the chapters in the Designers Manual. I am pretty good at thinking on my feet but I chose a familiar topic – arid strategies - using my childhood home as an example of sites. I went ok, but I had a big pause in the middle – but picked it up again. People did much better at their presentations than yesterday, I had improved too, getting more eye contact in. In the evening we looked over the film with our classmates again. I have to say I felt very supported after what I had considered a bomb! They liked the hook of my stories but would have preferred just one topic in the 3 minutes. This morning Geoff said I was ok, but wanted me to round out the topic more – rather than being site specific. We have a 5 minute presentation today and I'm hoping to make some improvements using the comments from every one.

The pilgrimage begins!

Hello beautiful people!!!!

Today is day 2 of our teacher trainings here at Zayunta farm with Geoff Lawton, and we blog this morning as we spent last night looking at videos of ourselves presenting to the class for one minute, critiquing ourselves and allowing feedback from our class mates. What I thought would be unpleasant turned out to be a fun and positive experience sharing with our new future teachers. This is our group having lunch :)

The class we have joined is mainly interns for the 10 week program they run here. I have to say we have all gelled together really nicely - I think the one minute presentation of a topic we're passionate about being filmed brought us together in a caring and supportive environment. So of course I introduced the wonderful Ducky - who else am I so passionate about? My critique - I need to make proper eye contact, not just scan the room!

So arriving here on sunday, after nearly missing my flight out of melbourne (thanks mum for getting me there!) and then traveling by taxi - who got stuck on a driveway drain as he was reversing out of the place we asked directions from - we put up our tents, met lots of new people and had dinner at the local tavern. And then an early night - the sun goes down early here - 8pm - which was good as I was ready to hit the sack at 7.30! 

Day one started early with a meeting at 7.30am for the new people, while the interns went about their morning tasks of looking after animals and doing some gardening and their projects. Wellington boots are essential for all morning work here - the condensation is thick every night as we are so close to the sea.

In the morning we covered the types of students we're likely to have and some of the personality types were likely, which was confronting as I could find myself in that list.

There were a couple of highlights of the day - the first one was to Chile - a desert location 2400 above sea level and the driest place on earth - Geoff did a live cross to the PDC being taught there and answered lots of questions they had. He also did some teaching - there are specific pages in the designers manual that are applicable to the desert - permaculture 2 has good desert stuff too. We did a skype call so we could see each other - I've put a pic above of the students - fuzzy but it was a great connection.

The second highlight was the milk and cream straight from the cows here. Real fresh cream on our scones - and it appears I'm not allergic to real, raw milk like I am to the commercial stuff.

Real cream on our scones!!!!!! And me enjoying those scones!!!!!!

The final highlight was for Delvin and I to hang out with Nadia, Geoff and Latifa - their baby girl at the end of the day, catching up with our lives. Latifa is a gorgeous girl - she had been so sick last year but now she is almost walking and a happier baby I have never met. What an amazing first day!

We even bugged Geoff for a pic :)