Please forward widely. The Apple Tree Eco School in the BíoBío region of Chile is looking for two experienced entrepreneurial permaculture interns starting May 2010. We need: 1) an experienced administrator proficient in English and Spanish to help manage a busy permie office, planning and promotions, and 2) an experienced gardener to assist in production, processing and distribution of organic food. This is an unprecedented opportunity to work in Permaculture centre connected to Gaia University, Transition Towns and the Permaculture Research Institute. Get hands on experience in the management of Permaculture projects, relief work, design consultancy, teacher training, transition training and much, much more. All food and board provided. Successful applicants will also have opportunities to self-generate income. Start your Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design, on the edge, working where it counts. Contact Grifen Hope or Javiera Carrión with a detailed CV and a letter of application through our website www.ecoescuela.cl

People interested in this opportunity should contact me on grifenhope (at) gmail.com

Gracias,
Grifen Hope

In classic permaculture style, within the problem lay the seeds of the solution. The deforestation due to conventional agriculture in these surrounding hills has caused soil erosion and during the rainy season much of this rich volcanic black top soil is washed downstream. This annual bounty has been redirected through the Ijatz site using a sequence of channels and sink holes, which in turn slows the water flow enabling the nutrient rich humus to be captured and stored on site. The earth has been moulded to create slopes, edges and contours essential for increased growing opportunity.

During the dry season any rainfall is held in the pond sequence, maintaining the local water table which is the source for the hundreds of trees and plants. While the flora perpetually contributes biomass to improve soil fertility, a micro climate suitable for growing has developed in what is essentially a few acres on the edge of town. Prior to the establishment of the Ijatz project, over one hundred homes were annually flooded in the immediate vicinity. Currently, the site can receive flood water to the depth of more than a metre during the wet season. A perfect demonstration of a multifunctional permaculture design element, the banana circle has provided the solution. Acting as a pump, that most excellent of pioneer species, the banana simply sucks up and holds this water. The spaces between the rubbery concentric rings of a banana tree are simply saturated in water. The centre of the circle becomes a compost heap for any site prunings while the worms of the vermicomposting stations make short shrift of sections of banana trunk. The composted output is another useful income stream for the coop. Of course, let us not forget nature’s own delicious potassium stick – the banana itself! All this and the local community benefits from dry homes throughout the rainy season too. This in turn satisfies one of the cornerstone ethics of permaculture: people care – positively affecting the local community.

Banana circle

The project is only thirteen years in the making and boasts a diverse range of trees and plants that reach every level of the canopy. Timber is harvested and the bamboo stands are about 6m tall. There are a number of guava, grapefruit, lime and lemon fruit trees. A vine layer producing a vegetable called güisquil (sechium edule) when boiled is similar in texture and taste to a tender swede or turnip. There are several other local tropical plants that contribute roots or leaves to the kitchen table. The annually deposited soil is then built up to form raised beds for growing vegetables. My three week stint centred around reinstating the vegetable and herb beds preparing them for fresh seedlings, including lettuce, coriander, frijoles (beans), parsley, celery and radish. This soil food web is teaming with life and I encountered countless worms, spiders and other small creatures. Thankfully, the nesting cobra we stumbled across only wrapped itself around Pancho’s arm (the head gardener). No harm done – sadly only true for Pancho!

The core focus of the Ijatz cooperative is coffee production. On the final day of my visit, the ladies of the cooperative harvested fifty kilos of coffee beans ready for processing. However, they collectively own several plots of land on the slopes of the now extinct Volcán Tolimán. Through the cooperative, the workers have generated a stable income which has funded educational programmes on child care and nutrition. They also have discussions to understand where their high value product sits in the open market. I was invited to describe the drinking habits of Europeans. My talk was graciously received even though my Spanish is woefully short of adequate.

If you are interested in volunteering your time and energy to the assist the Ijatz project and you have a command of Spanish language you can contact them directly at asociacionIjatz (at) gmail.com otherwise I can advise you. Volunteer opportunities exist throughout the year.

Read my follow up article about how Ijatz manages its core business – coffee, using permaculture principles. You can follow my blog at www.kevpermatour.blogspot.com as I travel Central America gaining permaculture experience working towards my Diploma in Applied Permaculture from the Permaculture Association Britain.

You’re trying to say that you can live in the modern way and continue to think in the traditional way. That’s not true. The way you live affects the way you think. – Danny Billie, Traditional Seminole

I’d like to recount here my impressions of the PRI, and how different it is from many other organizations. We (Tribal Networks) first came across them when looking for solutions to problems we found in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where we were starting a project to bring in a school and an internet / community centre. Searching for "dry land permaculture" soon found Geoff’s "Greening the Desert" clip, and things progressed from there.

"The Permaculture Master Plan – Permaculture Centres Worldwide" is different not just in its broadness of vision and scope, but also, and I believe more crucially, in how it is being implemented. The PRI is making no demands on us as a local organization, they are not trying to take over or control us in any way. This is a common phenomenon among the relatively big organizations; they get bigger by assimilating smaller projects they are supposedly helping out. Everything they do has an underlying urge to make the organization bigger, and aims and intentions become subservient to that imperative. In this way most big organizations, while they may have started out with the best of intentions, end up mirroring the ways of the system that caused the problems in the first place.

Which brings me to the Danny Billie quote above. The principle is the same here. You cannot hope to do permaculture successfully when operating in the ‘normal’ way. Good permaculture can only be done under a system that follows the principles of permaculture. It seems to me that the PRI has managed to do that, even while becoming an internationally recognized and respected institution. This needs to be stressed. It doesn’t just happen, it requires conscious effort to keep true to your principles and yet still find a way to promote those principles on a large scale, worldwide. This is no small achievement.

So what am I on about? How does the "Permaculture Masterplan" embody permaculture principles? Let’s take our little project as an example. Our problem was a severe lack of water for most of the year, which then causes the other problems. For example; desertification, poverty, and disease from dirty water. The Permaculture Master Plan involves setting up independent projects, which become self-financing largely by running courses. Our project will repair the watershed of the whole valley, which in turn will hold in the water and increase water flow and fertility. This provides a long-term solution, unlike such things as irrigation, which cause debt and interfere severely with the local economy and relationships.

When Geoff described it all to me, sitting outside a farmhouse on top of a mountain in Ait Attab, it all sounded too good to be true. The first thing that came to my mind (being a corrupt European) was ’scam’. Honestly that’s what it sounded like. We get a load of students to come over and do a course. They build the earthworks, pay for all the labour, and even pay for other students either locally or from poor communities elsewhere. It all costs us nothing at all!

But if it is a scam, then where are the losers? A scam always has losers, by definition. I could see no losers. The students have an amazing experience in a remote Berber tribal area, and gain experience and a qualification that can provide them with a worthwhile and fulfilling life (not to mention the chance of a future for our children!), the land gets to keep its water and become fertile again, the local people have more water and better variety of food, become more independent and regain self-respect, and our organization has a place, a root structure for future projects to sprout from and grow.

Where else do you see this win-win situation? Not in modern top-down systems, that’s for sure. But anyone who has done even just a Permaculture Introductory Course, or read a few of the entries on this website can recognize it right away. The Master Plan is planting seeds on many levels, and the principles of permaculture are carried through on each level. The design for the Master Plan is every bit as much a permaculture project as each on-the-ground project is.

Editor’s Note: People who want to take take a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course in an amazing location in Morocco, whilst in doing so supporting the education of poor locals, can check out the course for April.

We’re pleased to announce that we’re partnering with the makers of the video above, WeForest, to help establish self-replicating permaculture reforestation demonstration sites in accordance with our Permaculture Master Plan, in several worldwide locations – starting in Zambia in the first instance. Our Geoff Lawton has just agreed to be on their advisory board, and we’ll be working to supply guidance, knowhow and staff to pioneer these projects.

This is just one example of the many encouraging collaborative results we get as people boil current events down to their only logical conclusion – discovering we need to quit battling nature and get busy harnessing biological synergies to repair the earth and rebuild sustainable community interactions.

Stacey Murphy is obviously an enemy of all that is good in our consumption-oriented world. Almost certainly a deceptively slippery character, she positively oozes with dangerously contagious enthusiasm in this clip about her Brooklyn based urban guerilla BK Farmyards network, who, like the Portland, Oregon YourBackyardFarmer people I wrote about last year, are growing food for urbanites right in customers’ own back yards.

NYC’s Cool New Backyard Farms: Growing More Than Just Produce from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.

Don’t let that smile and the gorgeous back yard greenery fool you. Let’s face it, this just plain doesn’t make sense. We, the human race, persistently tried backyard farming for thousands of years. We grew food right where we lived and laboured. It didn’t work, of course, and we headed into the bright new age of the ‘Green Revolution’ instead. How do I know it didn’t work? Well, it’s obvious. It’s because we’re not doing it any more – duh!

With the advantage of hindsight, we can now look back over the last century’s experiments in large scale industrialised agriculture. Yes, it may systematically turn fertile lands into desert and may have transformed our soils into a massive carbon source instead of being the equally massive carbon sink it was. Yes, it may pollute and use exhorbitant quantities of precious water. Yes, it may be vulnerably dependent on waning supplies of fossil fuels and might have significantly reduced plant diversity worldwide. And yes, it may have enabled the mass transformation of societies the world over – ‘freeing’ people from the land so they can huddle in cities to create all the goods and services we never needed before but now cannot live another day without. But, before you blow these and other issues like them all out of proportion, please ask yourself: If the back yard farming concept were to get out to the masses and take hold, how, I beg you, will the middle man survive? How will corporate shareholders get fed? These people would have to start growing food themselves, with potentially disastrous impacts on the shape of our globalised world. That’s right – join the dots to complete the full picture before rashly heading out into the yard with your fork in hand. Then you might see your implement for what it really is – a dangerous weapon that threatens The System with an independent, self-sufficient citizenry that cannot easily be market-managed and controlled by those who really know what’s best for them. These people might even rediscover democracy.

Thomas Jefferson may have dreamt of America being a nation of farmers – but, he didn’t have the luxury of hindsight that we have today, did he?

Rather than this simplified, land-based model that could render wonderful profit-based modern capitalism obsolete, why not consider the expensive, techno-oriented, energy intensive, hydroponics-based vertical farming concept instead? Massive investment in monolithic ‘farmscraper’ factories may not provide a natural, healthy, microorganism-fed product but it does fulfil humanity’s innate need to do things the hard way, and more importantly, it gives us the ability to persevere a little longer with the very nearly successful capitalist system we’ve been painstakingly building at such great cost in health and happiness.

Next thing you know we’ll be falling for one of the ‘Get Rich Slowly Over A Lifetime Of Hard Work‘ ponzi schemes some are trying to trick us into.

But seriously: If you’re involved in a back yard farming project, do tell us about it – editor (at) permaculture.org.au – as we’d love to share what you’re doing with our readers.

Would you like to volunteer at a Permaculture Food Security Project at a Primary School and Boarding House in rural Uganda?

To start ASAP, preferred length of stay 3-4 months.

This project has been going for close to a year (click here for more infomation) and is at an exciting stage of its evolution. Major infrastructure work has been done this year and the emphasis is moving to productive food growing and the establishment of a chicken system to feed the children.

You will be privileged to be part of a very special school community.

There are three permaculture volunteers and two other volunteers from Australia and the US.

You must

• have experience in growing food in a tropical climate
• be resilient enough to cope with basic living conditions
• be strong and fit for work in the garden
• appreciate and enjoy the value of another culture
• be keen to have an adventure!

Clean, simple accommodation and all meals are provided at a cost of US$25 per week.

Come and join us!

Responses to clivemullett (at) gmail.com

Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge is a community oriented business operating in rural south Ethiopia in Konso Woreda, an area noted for its unique local culture and indigenous agricultural system, but suffering from repeated food insecurity due to re-occurring droughts in the last 50 years. SFEL promotes community well-being through Permaculture design training and consultancy services delivered to local schools, as well as though developing community based tourism activities to generate alternative income for the community grass-roots. The project combines a lodge, farm, organic restaurant and Permaculture school as well as organising off-site trekking and cultural activities.

More information on SFEL and its objectives:

• www.glinet.org/inspiredetail.asp?id=7641
• www.permacultureusa.org/2009/02/04/spotlight-on-ethiopia
• changemakers.net/en-us/node/20212

Our website is here: www.permalodge.org but we are still working on it and it needs some time…

Strawberry Fields now seeks someone with significant experience in sustainable building practises (e.g. mud building, composting toilets, basic solar water heating systems, basic solar electric systems, thatch construction, interior decor with local cultural and natural materials.) You will assist with general maintenance tasks and with completion of remaining small construction works which are necessary on the site which include finishing off of compost toilets and shower facilities, some interior works and carpentry, maintenance of stone wall terracing, and completion of some mud walled service buildings. You will work together with local technicians and labourers giving them the chance to develop new skills, experiencing Konso’s indigenous artesian skills, most notably stone wall terracing and thatch and mud construction. However they will be required to supervise and direct local tradesmen to produce work according to spec. as required for standards on the lodge, in ways to which they are often un-accustomed in the local villages. You will also be asked to assist with purchasing materials and to assist with store operation for the project.

Requirements:

• Significant experience with sustainable building practises, preferably in a rural environment (some but not necessarily all of the above-mentioned).
• Some experience in a supervisory role in construction works.
• A tough character and willingness to rough it, but at the same time an appreciation of standards and the western mentality – i.e. the needs of lodge guests.
• An interest to learn about a new culture, language, learn/teach new skills, and become part of a rural community for a few months.

Re-imbursement:

• Live and eat with the project staff (room and board)
• Internet time 1/2 hour per day (if connection established on site)
• 100Br ($10) pocket money per week (enough for a few drinks each evening, or a trip to Arbaminch on the weekends).

To start: ASAP

Length of position: 3 – 6 months, depending on you.

Please submit a CV with two references to alex1mcc (at) yahoo.com

1. Consultations: If you’re seeking a design consultation for your site, please complete our project questionnaire and email it to info (at) permaculture.org.au in the first instance. This is designed to gather information about potential projects before you make contact so that our initial conversations can be more situation specific.
2. Timeline: You are also encouraged to read our timeline for project establishment as it will help focus your thought and energy on a practical, logical progression for establishment.

Although this post will slide down out of view – links to these documents can always be found via our Contact Us page. Also, these documents will likely get fleshed out more over time.

The theme for IPC9 is "Plan Africa – Food & Empowerment".

There are a few volunteer positions for this event that need filling. If you’ll be free during this period and would like to help make the IPC9 a success for the people of Africa and the wider international community by getting constructively involved in this exciting work, please click here (PDF) to read about these interesting posts and to find out how to apply.

The first Permaculture Project Aid Worker Course conducted by the Permaculture Research Institute was held in November at Zaytuna Farm in NSW, Australia. Geoff Lawton and Rosemary Morrow led the six-day course, which was attended by twenty-three students in total. Lawton established the course as a response to keeping up with the demand for skilled aid workers on overseas projects, as well as a vision to establish a network of permaculture education centres around the world.

Students of the first PPAWC were offered this vision as a goal for the future, as well as bestowed with concrete tips for planning, establishing, carrying out and monitoring a project anywhere in the world. Says Morrow, “A permaculture demonstration site or education centre may be the ultimate theme for a strong glue that bonds an unintentional community.” She stresses that people bring different and varied skills to a project and encouraged all students to pursue this work with a passion. “There’s room for all of you to run with it and make it your passion and do it the way you want.”

Both Lawton and Morrow have many years of overseas development work incorporating permaculture designs, leading permaculture workshops and establishing ongoing projects. Lawton has worked in countries as varied as Vietnam, Morocco, Iraq, Brazil, the USA, and Jordan, and brought to the course his expertise in working with various cultures and in refugee and disaster situations. Morrow has extensive experience working with children and to alleviate nutritional deficiency in developing countries such as Cambodia, through education and teaching people how to set up gardens. Both of their skill sets serve to demonstrate the range of projects and needs, as well as the perseverance required to carry such work through.

Both of them stressed that such work is not always easy, and presents various cultural, physical and financial challenges at times. However, having a world view that carries you through difficult situations and gives you the ability to be effective and makes you feel like you are making a difference, as well as which is “inherently tolerant of people,” (Morrow) are the main criteria which determine one’s suitability to the task. “Permaculture is disaster training,” says Morrow. “Individuals doing it won’t survive—we have to work to support communities to buffer disastrous effects.”

If you meet this criteria, then the further skills required can be learned. The first tip is to start SMALL. You want the biggest result with the least effort. Once examining your motivation to establish a project, you will want to look at four areas: How to Start, On the Ground, After the Project, and Monitoring and Evaluation.

Getting started entails looking at the climate profile, creating a concrete action plan, looking at the legal aspects of your project, interacting with local political and community systems, creating a model financial plan and budget, looking for paid work and funding, and creating community.

Once on the ground, you will need to look at cultural sensitivity, access to local resources and knowledge, the reality on the ground, hands-on practical skills, dealing with culture shock, interaction with the local economy and enhancing your skills base.

After the project is established, you should look into its financial sustainability, having a home base project, and interacting with the people you left behind.

All aid workers should learn to write at least a simple project proposal and learn to document their proposed work, which includes having an executive summary and synopsis which highlights key points and can be read quickly by a busy person.

As Lawton teaches in his courses, spend ninety percent of your time thinking and planning, and ten percent doing the work. Says Morrow, “The more thinking in advance you’ve done, the more likely you are to be happy with the result you’ve gotten.”

In terms of designing the demonstration site, you will need to prepare a site analysis and site plan. This includes water access, a nutrient/garden plan, a whole site work plan, and whole site energy and waste plan. If you are going to teach, you must have clear competency in teaching to analyse the site.

In terms of teaching a PDC in developing countries, it is helpful to talk about definitions and help find a common understanding of terminology. Don’t always assume people know what you know. Spend some time thinking about students’ needs and what facilitates student learning. Be skilled in conflict resolution, if possible. Again, start small—always start by teaching an introductory course in the community first. Later, after doing a successful PDC, you will need a plan to carry out training into the wider community.

Both teachers of the Aid Worker Course stressed the need for people to help in the areas of water and food in the future. They also indicated a need for training materials to be translated, and a need for seed saving knowledge everywhere. “We are now in the regenerative process principle,” said Morrow, “We must plan more for future needs—we need a replacement principle.” Looking to Maslov’s Hierarchy of needs for survival is one way to assess community needs—security, shelter, food, water. Carl Popper’s philosophy is also applicable—start where it effects most of the people most beneficially. However, beware of the limits of permaculture. You cannot stop a war, and you should not put your life at risk.

Outcomes of the November PPAWC were the first graduates, who will hopefully be able to carry the training out into the world through developing projects, networking and helping others improve their skills. Course administrators also received a thorough evaluation and feedback which will be applied towards improving future courses. Students’ comments revealed that they would have preferred more time spent working on practical skills and in the field, as well as a more clearly developed curriculum. This has been taken into account and students on the second course held in February will be treated to more time in the field developing skills on the ground.

The other great advantage of the course was the opportunity to begin building a network of aid workers. Students shared access to information and resources, and even created a skills database. Several students discussed creating websites for networking and fundraising resources. The hope is that this network will spread to, and help serve, the rest of the global permaculture community. After all, it is only through sharing available resources that we can have access to all.