My first encounter of permaculture was 4 years ago. I, at the time was applying for Greencorp, an environmental advocacy agency. I had been working on this application for over a year, out of thousands of applicants they choose 30 people per year to hire on to the company.
In college I was an environmental policy major and I was dedicated to and passionate about everything I was learning. I even considered applying for law school.
There was one essay question for the Greencorp application, "If you could successfully install one program nationwide for the environment, what would it be?" This was a fascinating question for me. I had absolutely no idea what I would do. If I could succeed at anything, what would it be?
Lucky for me, the year before I graduated, I studied abroad. It was the same year I decided that I would apply to Greencorp my final year of college. It was lucky because my year abroad, I had ample of free time on my hands. I studied in Norway and basically I had virtually no classes during the week and no homework, they emphasized at the school the need for students to reflect and get to know themselves. This was a very different kind of an opportunity for me, since, somehow, every piece of electronic equipment that I had previously had before going to Norway, was either stolen or mysteriously or not working/broken.
My computer had been stolen, my phone broke, my camera broke, my mp3 player broke - very depressing.. I feel like one last thing went out of commission but I am not recalling what it could have been.
The 2 things that kept me company in that room, in all of my spare time was a journal, a wall to stare at, my danish/english dictionary and I managed to maintain one electronic device - a walkman!! LOL.
I know, I'm a bit oldschool.
I can't tell you how many hours I sat on my bed, staring at the wall. Often I would stare out the window. The scenery in Norway is absolutely breathtaking, I was very lucky to have been able to have that experience.
I managed to read to letter j or k in my danish english dictionary. And I have no idea how many times I listened to Coldplay.
With all of that time, I was really able to think about that dang essay question. I wrote pages of ideas down in my notebook about what I would do.
Over the 5 months I was in Norway I slowly added more detail to all of the ideas. It would be interesting to go through the list again, today. I'll have to write another blog about it!!
But I narrowed it to one thing.
Building greenhouses across the nation - USA - I had been referring to. It's hard for me to remember all of the details now, but basically it was about getting healthy local food options available to everyone. And teaching each person about the importance of growing your own food.
Speed forward a bit - Remember it took me most likely 8 months or more to refine this idea. By the time I was getting ready to submit my essay - almost exactly a year later. My brother was helping me revise my final draft.
After working with me on this draft, he shows me a video, that changed the entire course of my life.
He showed me a video called, 'greening the desert'
It was a permaculture video about Geoff and Nadia Lawton creating an oasis out of a completely barren landscape. I saw this film and something inside of me just clicked.
This is it, this is exactly what I want to do.
Turned out my application was accepted by Greencorp and they wanted a phone interview.
I was so extremely nervous for my phone interview, and it was the strangest thing, while I was speaking with the lady, I realized that this wasn't what I wanted to be doing. I didn't want to spend my life arguing with the world about how important the world is!! How important greenery, nature and wild animals are! I wanted to be actively creating these places, actively protecting these areas in tangible ways where I could see the results on a regular basis.
The phone interview somehow was so awkward because I realized I didn't want to do it, and I'm pretty sure simultaneously the lady realized that I didn't want to do it. I didn't get accepted but it was great!
This new thing, Permaculture, was gonna be my life. I wanted to dedicate myself to it fully and know everything there was to know about it.
Although I grew up on a farm. I felt I really knew nothing when it came to actually knowing anything about what permaculture was apart from .. creating beautiful spaces!
I started researching every avenue of possibility within the permaculture movement in the US.
I was looking for the longest apprenticeship/ internship/learning possibility that I could find. I don't know how I managed to do this, but the longest one I could find that included a PDC was 2 months. This was not long enough for me! I wanted to become an expert, I was looking for something in the term of years! But regardless of my search I found nothing. Which is strange because at this point in time, I know of several places that offer long term apprenticeship programs.
I decided to take it on, and in my search I also found Rico Zook. Voila, you've come full circle. This blog was originally created to document my experience in India.
Welcome to the story behind the scenes!!
Rico Zook at that time had a permaculture site in New Mexico. I had been considering going there before heading off to India, however, since I was already studying in NY, it turned out for me to be easier to go to the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute in Ithaca for an apprenticeship along with my PDC.
I was interested in also going to India, because I had felt that in school I had learned so much about the environment in all parts of the world, but I felt that none of it really could be validated unless I actually saw it first hand. How can we be one world, when so many nations use more resources than they can produce. And they take those resources from nations who give more resources than they can re-create. How can we know the destruction if we don't see it first hand. How can we even know if there isn't any destruction if we don't see it first hand?
I knew I wanted to study more on permaculture after studying in Ithaca, I have always been fascinated with tropical climates and I was ready for an adventure. I was ready to face my fear of the unknown. And I was also ready to embrace a new culture and a new land.
Despite my family being a little against my will to go, I was determined, nothing at that point could hold me back from my heart felt decision to take the leap of faith and learn something new.
India turned out to be one of the best, craziest decisions I have ever made in my life.
Not only did I learn more about my self, the world and life in general than I probably ever did up until that point, but I met my husband! Which of course while I wrote the blog at that time, I was very careful to ever mention him or our time together because, well I had a lot of family reading my blog and keeping up with my travelings from afar.. .lol it definitely would have been a little much to find out your daughter was engaged from her blogpage!!
An email was bad enough.. Lol... anyway.. that is a totally different story..
My point was about permaculture, and how my perception of permaculture has changed dramatically over the years.
I used to think that permaculture was this magical knowledge about growing plants where it was virtually otherwise impossible to grow them.. But now I view permaculture as such a a broad spectrum of light. When I received my PDC, I felt like I wanted to learn about everything.
- aquaculture,
-plant relationships
-composting
-grasses
-food forests
-native plants
list goes on and on and on and on.
I bought book after book reading everything I could get my hands on, regarding the specifics of botany to how to restore a polluted piece of land with mushrooms.
I loved the essence of permaculture. When I started learning the specifics, I realized there was absolutely no end to learning. It's about creation. It's about living as one with your surroundings.
Today I do live differently than maybe I could have ever imagined for myself, even a year ago.
But I am passionate and excited everyday, because I feel my life has purpose. I feel that in my little way I am contributing to the greater whole 1% towards a more sustainable planet. And that fills me with so much joy.
I have taken on this project with Sadhana Forest to help raise money for an eco-project in Kenya - which is ever rewarding, I've started something else which is, to me, just as much a permaculture project. If you break down the word permaculture, it means, perma-culture -permanent culture.
What enables our culture to be permanent? Not other than a lifestyle which is sustainable correct? What entails a sustainable lifestyle? Living the way humans were meant to live... and in what way is that?
Bare with me on this one. This may be where the title gets its name. In no way am I regarding what I am saying as ultimate, but as of now, so far in my life, this is how I view my world and how humans can live which is sustainable.
- small units of people - with a reverence toward the elderly, and no categorization based on age. Everyone works together and everyone helps each other. Ages are intermixed, children and grandchildren assist the elderly. Elderly assist in taking care of the children. Everyone is responsible for proper management of resources and how many children are brought into the world. No new land is allowed to be taken for homes. The unit of people have to manage with what they have. Everyone is equal, and all different skillsets are honored within a group.
-Food is simple, plant-based, non processed, mostly raw and is used as medicine. No animal products are used, except perhaps in an emergency.
-the purpose of life is joy. the purpose of life isn't about climbing any social ladders of success or trying to attain more than your neighbor, its about having a good time, enjoying the beauty around you and inside of you. It's about laughing at the wonderful simple things and enjoying a good hug.
- Everyone has a reverence for life. All life. Every tree, every rock, every cloud, every bug, life is never taken for fun. Life is honored, respected and admired. We use everything in moderation and with common sense, we do not take more than our needs, and we leave enough behind for all other life aspects to thrive as well.
I could easily make this list go on and on.. but it's getting late.. and I haven't gotten to the whole reason I am writing this blog! :)
Don't you love how long winded I am :)
My grandmother has had cancer for over 15 years. A few months ago it has gotten to the point where it's very difficult for her to swallow, because the tumors are lining her throat. The doctor really has no options left for her, as she has already undergone several treatments and surgeries to remove all sorts of growths and body tissue. The only thing left is to put a tube in her stomach to feed her and wait til the end.
My grandmother doesn't like this outcome very much. Neither do I.
A week ago, I asked her, if she wanted to do a crazy experiment, which actually may not be so crazy after all.
She was so happy to even have an option of such, she readily agreed.
She has always been a lover of food. A lover of every single kind of food, yet mostly just animal based foods. I am not sure she has ever gone a day without meat, or milk.
I offered to help her do a juice fast.
Today is day 2 of the experiment, and so far, it's going well.
She is funding all of the vegetable material, and I am getting up every morning eager to make juice! Day 1 I made 7 juices for her. I realized that she doesn't eat a whole lot. So we will be reducing that number to 4.
In helping my grandmother in whatever way I can. It may be a stretch, but to me, it's permaculture. It's taking care of our elders, it's promoting natural medicine as opposed to large corporate industries, it's promoting as much local organic produce as possible.
If this works, if this juice fast works, it will most likely have huge effects on the town I live in. Maybe it won't, I really have no idea. But the possibility of this kind of an option spreading, of gaining strength through organic fresh produce, is just a delight to me.
The more people who become interested in whole plant based foods, the more we can support those farmers doing it right. The more we support the farmers doing it right, the more we don't fuel the industries that destroy our natural, beautiful world.
This is why, me, making juice for my grandma everyday, is in essence, one of the most amazing permaculture projects to date.
And even if nothing comes of it, at least I know that for those times that I provided her meals, those meals were making a positive impact on our world. And of course, the fact that I get to spend more time with my awesome grandma. And that's what counts.
Thanks for tuning in... more on the this later :)
I know I know.. super long.. lol oops.
In college I was an environmental policy major and I was dedicated to and passionate about everything I was learning. I even considered applying for law school.
There was one essay question for the Greencorp application, "If you could successfully install one program nationwide for the environment, what would it be?" This was a fascinating question for me. I had absolutely no idea what I would do. If I could succeed at anything, what would it be?
Lucky for me, the year before I graduated, I studied abroad. It was the same year I decided that I would apply to Greencorp my final year of college. It was lucky because my year abroad, I had ample of free time on my hands. I studied in Norway and basically I had virtually no classes during the week and no homework, they emphasized at the school the need for students to reflect and get to know themselves. This was a very different kind of an opportunity for me, since, somehow, every piece of electronic equipment that I had previously had before going to Norway, was either stolen or mysteriously or not working/broken.
My computer had been stolen, my phone broke, my camera broke, my mp3 player broke - very depressing.. I feel like one last thing went out of commission but I am not recalling what it could have been.
The 2 things that kept me company in that room, in all of my spare time was a journal, a wall to stare at, my danish/english dictionary and I managed to maintain one electronic device - a walkman!! LOL.
I know, I'm a bit oldschool.
I can't tell you how many hours I sat on my bed, staring at the wall. Often I would stare out the window. The scenery in Norway is absolutely breathtaking, I was very lucky to have been able to have that experience.
I managed to read to letter j or k in my danish english dictionary. And I have no idea how many times I listened to Coldplay.
With all of that time, I was really able to think about that dang essay question. I wrote pages of ideas down in my notebook about what I would do.
Over the 5 months I was in Norway I slowly added more detail to all of the ideas. It would be interesting to go through the list again, today. I'll have to write another blog about it!!
But I narrowed it to one thing.
Building greenhouses across the nation - USA - I had been referring to. It's hard for me to remember all of the details now, but basically it was about getting healthy local food options available to everyone. And teaching each person about the importance of growing your own food.
Speed forward a bit - Remember it took me most likely 8 months or more to refine this idea. By the time I was getting ready to submit my essay - almost exactly a year later. My brother was helping me revise my final draft.
After working with me on this draft, he shows me a video, that changed the entire course of my life.
He showed me a video called, 'greening the desert'
It was a permaculture video about Geoff and Nadia Lawton creating an oasis out of a completely barren landscape. I saw this film and something inside of me just clicked.
This is it, this is exactly what I want to do.
Turned out my application was accepted by Greencorp and they wanted a phone interview.
I was so extremely nervous for my phone interview, and it was the strangest thing, while I was speaking with the lady, I realized that this wasn't what I wanted to be doing. I didn't want to spend my life arguing with the world about how important the world is!! How important greenery, nature and wild animals are! I wanted to be actively creating these places, actively protecting these areas in tangible ways where I could see the results on a regular basis.
The phone interview somehow was so awkward because I realized I didn't want to do it, and I'm pretty sure simultaneously the lady realized that I didn't want to do it. I didn't get accepted but it was great!
This new thing, Permaculture, was gonna be my life. I wanted to dedicate myself to it fully and know everything there was to know about it.
Although I grew up on a farm. I felt I really knew nothing when it came to actually knowing anything about what permaculture was apart from .. creating beautiful spaces!
I started researching every avenue of possibility within the permaculture movement in the US.
I was looking for the longest apprenticeship/ internship/learning possibility that I could find. I don't know how I managed to do this, but the longest one I could find that included a PDC was 2 months. This was not long enough for me! I wanted to become an expert, I was looking for something in the term of years! But regardless of my search I found nothing. Which is strange because at this point in time, I know of several places that offer long term apprenticeship programs.
I decided to take it on, and in my search I also found Rico Zook. Voila, you've come full circle. This blog was originally created to document my experience in India.
Welcome to the story behind the scenes!!
Rico Zook at that time had a permaculture site in New Mexico. I had been considering going there before heading off to India, however, since I was already studying in NY, it turned out for me to be easier to go to the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute in Ithaca for an apprenticeship along with my PDC.
I was interested in also going to India, because I had felt that in school I had learned so much about the environment in all parts of the world, but I felt that none of it really could be validated unless I actually saw it first hand. How can we be one world, when so many nations use more resources than they can produce. And they take those resources from nations who give more resources than they can re-create. How can we know the destruction if we don't see it first hand. How can we even know if there isn't any destruction if we don't see it first hand?
I knew I wanted to study more on permaculture after studying in Ithaca, I have always been fascinated with tropical climates and I was ready for an adventure. I was ready to face my fear of the unknown. And I was also ready to embrace a new culture and a new land.
Despite my family being a little against my will to go, I was determined, nothing at that point could hold me back from my heart felt decision to take the leap of faith and learn something new.
India turned out to be one of the best, craziest decisions I have ever made in my life.
Not only did I learn more about my self, the world and life in general than I probably ever did up until that point, but I met my husband! Which of course while I wrote the blog at that time, I was very careful to ever mention him or our time together because, well I had a lot of family reading my blog and keeping up with my travelings from afar.. .lol it definitely would have been a little much to find out your daughter was engaged from her blogpage!!
An email was bad enough.. Lol... anyway.. that is a totally different story..
My point was about permaculture, and how my perception of permaculture has changed dramatically over the years.
I used to think that permaculture was this magical knowledge about growing plants where it was virtually otherwise impossible to grow them.. But now I view permaculture as such a a broad spectrum of light. When I received my PDC, I felt like I wanted to learn about everything.
- aquaculture,
-plant relationships
-composting
-grasses
-food forests
-native plants
list goes on and on and on and on.
I bought book after book reading everything I could get my hands on, regarding the specifics of botany to how to restore a polluted piece of land with mushrooms.
I loved the essence of permaculture. When I started learning the specifics, I realized there was absolutely no end to learning. It's about creation. It's about living as one with your surroundings.
Today I do live differently than maybe I could have ever imagined for myself, even a year ago.
But I am passionate and excited everyday, because I feel my life has purpose. I feel that in my little way I am contributing to the greater whole 1% towards a more sustainable planet. And that fills me with so much joy.
I have taken on this project with Sadhana Forest to help raise money for an eco-project in Kenya - which is ever rewarding, I've started something else which is, to me, just as much a permaculture project. If you break down the word permaculture, it means, perma-culture -permanent culture.
What enables our culture to be permanent? Not other than a lifestyle which is sustainable correct? What entails a sustainable lifestyle? Living the way humans were meant to live... and in what way is that?
Bare with me on this one. This may be where the title gets its name. In no way am I regarding what I am saying as ultimate, but as of now, so far in my life, this is how I view my world and how humans can live which is sustainable.
- small units of people - with a reverence toward the elderly, and no categorization based on age. Everyone works together and everyone helps each other. Ages are intermixed, children and grandchildren assist the elderly. Elderly assist in taking care of the children. Everyone is responsible for proper management of resources and how many children are brought into the world. No new land is allowed to be taken for homes. The unit of people have to manage with what they have. Everyone is equal, and all different skillsets are honored within a group.
-Food is simple, plant-based, non processed, mostly raw and is used as medicine. No animal products are used, except perhaps in an emergency.
-the purpose of life is joy. the purpose of life isn't about climbing any social ladders of success or trying to attain more than your neighbor, its about having a good time, enjoying the beauty around you and inside of you. It's about laughing at the wonderful simple things and enjoying a good hug.
- Everyone has a reverence for life. All life. Every tree, every rock, every cloud, every bug, life is never taken for fun. Life is honored, respected and admired. We use everything in moderation and with common sense, we do not take more than our needs, and we leave enough behind for all other life aspects to thrive as well.
I could easily make this list go on and on.. but it's getting late.. and I haven't gotten to the whole reason I am writing this blog! :)
Don't you love how long winded I am :)
My grandmother has had cancer for over 15 years. A few months ago it has gotten to the point where it's very difficult for her to swallow, because the tumors are lining her throat. The doctor really has no options left for her, as she has already undergone several treatments and surgeries to remove all sorts of growths and body tissue. The only thing left is to put a tube in her stomach to feed her and wait til the end.
My grandmother doesn't like this outcome very much. Neither do I.
A week ago, I asked her, if she wanted to do a crazy experiment, which actually may not be so crazy after all.
She was so happy to even have an option of such, she readily agreed.
She has always been a lover of food. A lover of every single kind of food, yet mostly just animal based foods. I am not sure she has ever gone a day without meat, or milk.
I offered to help her do a juice fast.
Today is day 2 of the experiment, and so far, it's going well.
She is funding all of the vegetable material, and I am getting up every morning eager to make juice! Day 1 I made 7 juices for her. I realized that she doesn't eat a whole lot. So we will be reducing that number to 4.
In helping my grandmother in whatever way I can. It may be a stretch, but to me, it's permaculture. It's taking care of our elders, it's promoting natural medicine as opposed to large corporate industries, it's promoting as much local organic produce as possible.
If this works, if this juice fast works, it will most likely have huge effects on the town I live in. Maybe it won't, I really have no idea. But the possibility of this kind of an option spreading, of gaining strength through organic fresh produce, is just a delight to me.
The more people who become interested in whole plant based foods, the more we can support those farmers doing it right. The more we support the farmers doing it right, the more we don't fuel the industries that destroy our natural, beautiful world.
This is why, me, making juice for my grandma everyday, is in essence, one of the most amazing permaculture projects to date.
And even if nothing comes of it, at least I know that for those times that I provided her meals, those meals were making a positive impact on our world. And of course, the fact that I get to spend more time with my awesome grandma. And that's what counts.
Thanks for tuning in... more on the this later :)
I know I know.. super long.. lol oops.
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