shepherd with attitude

Portfolio ...printed out and ready for the IPC

So, here I am, preparing for my trip back to England next week to the International Permaculture Convergence (IPC), where besides designing 2 elements of the event, I will be accrediting my Diploma work – 45 minutes to tell folk about my Diploma experience, followed by 15 mins of questions from the audience and then some feedback from a fab peer group. All the elements of my portfolio are on this website now, I’ve also printed the entire thing, (207 pages!), off, to take to the IPC and make it accessible to more people there. My presentation slides are as ready as they will be …and I kind of know what I’m going to be talking about! And this time in 2 weeks my Diploma journey will be over.

Then what?

There are still lots of questions marks around this at the moment, and I have designed in some pause time to my life to observe and analyse the various diverse potential elements to my next chapter in permaculture learning and practice.

One thing is for certain though, I will continue to document and share my ideas, designs and stories, as doing so during the last 4 years has been so positive in many ways. So, I’ve decided to set up a new blog which I will start writing after my accreditation -

ktshepherdpermaculture.weebly.com

There will be one further post here, hopefully about my accreditation experience and then I will be saying goodbye to shepherd with attitude, and it will just stay as my online portfolio

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Just around the corner… IPCUK

7/8/2015

A lot of my time and thoughts are at present, spent focusing on plans for the International Permaculture Convergence (IPCUK) taking place in Epping Forest in September . It will be the only time, probably in a life time that this important international event is held in the UK, so I’m super proud and excited to be on the organising Crew.

“IPCUK will bring together leading experts and practitioners from around the world -

We have everything we need to create a sustainable world and future. Together we will create a vision of a near future society that is caring, sustainable and fair, and explore how we can collectively design strategies and pathways to make it happen.”

- IPCUK website

I’m leading the design for the Market Place – its going to be a fab collection of stalls selling a diverse range of unique goods, and representing some amazing permaculture enterprises.

I’ve also created a design for a Memories Space, which aims to provide ways that folk can remember and honour those that have died within the permaculture community, in a creative and respectful way

In addition I can now quite confidently (well almost confidently!) say that I will be accrediting my Diploma at the Convergence too. My designs are nearly ready for their second assessment…and I’m really enjoying getting the other elements of my portfolio together, plus daring to think about what my presentation will look like. It all seems a bit surreal really. 4 years of design work and so much awesome experience, almost ready to share officially with the world…the IPCUK has been a great motivator for me to get my work ready for assessment

And then of course there are the plans for my next permaculture chapter …but that’s another post

https://ipcuk.events/

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Its been a long time….but the end is in sight

20/7/2015

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Its been so long since I last posted.....

My new 'office' here in Spain...perfect for design write ups

But, I’m nearly there now…I’ve nearly finished the write up of my Diploma work.

This time last year, one of the Elders had just died and in the midst of grieving, I seriously considered saying ‘Goodbye’ to my Diploma too. I felt I had got a huge amount from being a Diploma apprentice, but didn’t really have the motivation and drive to continue the formal documenting that was needed to accredit. A quick revisit to my Action Learning Pathways and I gave myself 4 months ‘pause’ from anything ‘officially’ diploma related (which as many folk know is a bit hard to separate from the rest of our life stuff anyways!) This time out gave me the break I needed. As the pause came to an end I undertook a major evaluation about my Diploma work and life in general , and figured out that I could and would get the think finished. The journey so far had been a life changing one, and I know I wanted to keep moving forward with not only the learning, but the experience too.

I then booked myself on the annual National Diploma Gathering and, while I was there, for a catch up tutorial with my tutor Wilf.

Notes from my tutorial (c/o Wilf)...Mind Maps rock!

You can read the review of the Gathering here

Both fuelled my motivation further, and some small thoughts about the possibility of accrediting at the International Permaculture Convergence (IPC) , which I had already committed to design part of, started entering into my head.

It wasn’t until a couple months later though, and faced with a 4 week block of time at home alone, I designed some intensive study blocks into my life to really focus on getting designs for my portfolio written up. I was still faced with my age old erosive pattern of having too many designs on the go (I counted 34 in Jan 2015), most of which were only documented in (often extensive!!) note form. Knowing that if I was going to have any chance of focusing and getting completed in time for the IPC I had to be really strict with myself, I decided to just include designs relevant to my life right now. This way it meant I could still achieve projects already in place, and use the design for them in my portfolio. It also meant saying goodbye to some designs that I’d been working on throughout my diploma, but having not written them up at the time I had undertaken them, were holding back from moving forward. Another intensive Design Support weekend at Heathercombe centre in Devon with Aranya, at the Spring Equinox, also gave me a big nudge to stay focused.

At Heathercombe...working hard and drinking tea with the fab Kath Gavin

So, despite some of the biggest life changing events happening in the last few months and weeks of my life, (In this time I’ve finished a years nursing contract , spent the year saying goodbye to Hill Farming and moved our life, including our dogs and cats, to our new home in Andalucia...and then very sadly since then, we have cared and supported our second Elder as he came to the end of his life too ), I am facing the write up of Portfolio design number 10 which I will probably achieve in the next week.- there’s more writing work to do afterwards, (tweaks to some of my earlier designs for a start!) , and then 2 tutors need to pass my portfolio…

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Hello New Year.....

1/1/2015

source unknown

Over the course of my Diploma journey one of the key areas of my life I have really seen the benefits in the Permaculture Design process has been in the day to day and longer term planning and organization of my life. It’s made a huge difference to achieving aims and goals…and tbh has made some pretty big dreams happen... I’ve written about it here on several occasions : - 'Full Moon Energies', Life Planner and Reflection Tool', 'Designing for 2014 - its all about Integration'

my 2014 Vision board...many aspects are continuing this year too

So as 2015 commences, I’ve been spending time using some of the tools I design with, to reflect on 2014 and plan for the year ahead. In terms of my Diploma it’s a super big year, as I am very determined that 2015 is the year I will complete my portfolio and accredit. (There, I’ve said it...eeeek!) Because ‘stuff’ happens, and there are some other fairly major other changes approaching in my life over the next few months, I’m purposefully being flexible about when exactly in 2015 that will be. Having said that, it would be pretty special if I could get finished in time to accredit at the International Permaculture Convergence, scheduled to happen in the UK this September…atm the moment that dream is too big, to seriously look at happening, but I have a couple of weeks intensive write up time scheduled for the next few weeks, so will hopefully have more of an idea about whether I can achieve it by then.

source unknown

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winter solstice finally arrives...

21/12/2014

Today, here in the depths of the Yorkshire Dales, the gales have been constant, the rain cold and horizontal…and its never properly got light

It felt the good to walk the dogs through the wild, grey light….there was no waiting for the sun to rise, no celebration of the sun going down, (the sun was nowhere to be seen here!), but the time spent feeling the force of the wild elements was a great opportunity to think about the significance of pausing at the Winter Solstice, the shortest day. The recent weeks leading up to today are the darkest of the year, and it’s been the time when we, as the Earth does, turn our thoughts and energies inwards…from now on the light will gradually return and along with it, the plans and thoughts manifested in the depths of winter introspectiveness will slowly grow….

welcoming the new light...

So, it was great, both on the wild walk with the pack amongst the forestry tracks and then in front of the warmth and light of the indoor fire to reflect on how my plans for 2014 had gone…. and then from that, set some good aims and wishes for 2015. My blog post from a year ago, "Designing for 2014...its all about Integration" sets out some of the tools I use with the planning for my life and Diploma work, and its been really positive to see what a difference being more focused has been, I’ve achieved far more of the things I wanted to do this year because of it…more recently the "Life Planner and Reflection tool" I have devised takes these tools a step further in how meaningful they are in helping to organise my thoughts, dreams, plans and designs

Today we lit candles for our main intentions for the year, naming them, speaking them out loud and then watching the candles burn to nothing giving these ideas and aims for growth with the returning light of the next year, more energy and grounding. Tomorrow also sees the arrival of the new moon, so plans and dreams worked on at this time will have extra special significance. Tomorrow I have some time to focus on Diploma work purely, and aim to use some of the Winter Solstice patterns and rituals celebrated today to structure and strengthen my pathway.

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vegan permaculture

8/12/2014

I’ve just finished reading Graham Burnett's latest book, “The Vegan Book of Permaculture”, what a great resource this is. Full of Graham's stories, humor and his legendary art, its like an amazing recipe book backed up with lots of great permaculture theory. Yes it’s a book about permaculture design using a stock free approach, but fundamentally for me Grahams main message is about very do-able, realistic life design using accessible permaculture principles and tools. His diverse recipe ideas, (he encourages you just to use them as a suggestion, to adapt them according to taste, season, availability, energy levels etc.), are great examples for us all, (whether vegan or not), for how to truly and easily eat and enjoy locally food grown and accessed within the ethics of Earth Care, People Care and Fair shares. Can highly recommend!

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Designing how we die.....

7/12/2014

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image by me, kt x

Introduction

As a nurse specialising in palliative care, farmer and permaculture designer, with a spiritual self deeply rooted in Earth based seasons and patterns.... issues relating to death and dying are intrinsic to most elements of my life. A core part of my experience as a permaculture designer is to ensure as good a quality of life from an Earth Care, People Care and Fair Shares perspective as possible. However, within my work and life I frequently observe that how we die (in the UK) is detrimental to our care of the Earth, each other and how we share resources fairly.

The general aim of this post is to explore how permaculture design can positively influence our experience of how approach the end of our lives and how we die. My theme throughout, has been to create a space to direct and suggest resources for our diverse lives, rather than to be prescriptive with what has worked for me

Observations

Most people in the UK die in acute hospitals, often having undergone unnecessary and resource and human energy wasteful procedures. Research consistently tells us that most people would actually like to die in their own home, away from a busy acute medical environment, which the vast majority of people do not need as they approach the end of their lives

My experience as a specialist nurse working alongside dying people and their families is that the majority of people are pleased and relived to talk not only about their fears around death and dying, but also to make positive plans for the kind of death they would like. My own observations of dying people, and then bereaved relatives is that those who have talked openly and honestly about death and dying, and have planned for what they would like to happen tend to have more peaceful, meaningful time at the end of their life.

Obviously we cannot all predict how, when and where we all die, but the likely hood of having the death that we want, which takes into account our needs and wishes, plus the right support for those around us improves vastly, if we make plans for it

People Care

Within British culture, death dying and bereavement are still issues that many of us feel are difficult and indeed taboo to talk and learn about. Popular media images of death and dying often portray an image of inevitable suffering, as does ongoing media coverage highlighting the inadequacies of Health and Social services in providing good End of Life care and support.

As a result many people in live in fear of death and the dying process and ultimately do not have the death they would have liked, Unspoken anxiety, misconception, lack of control and perceived ‘bad death’ experienced by loved ones of a dying person, can contribute towards problematic grief. Research demonstrates this can ultimately lead to a lifetime of being unable to positively address issues around any loss in life (a job, home, relationship, health), resulting in poor emotional and physical health, placing a huge burden on not only the wellbeing and happiness of the person involved, but on health and social care services and the impact of that on the economy.

Health and Social Care services in Britain are pushed beyond capacity in terms of appropriate support available to people in many areas. Also, because of the pressures on them they often do not adequately offer people individualized care they need and want. Making advanced plans for how we would want to be cared for can mean that these resources can be targetd towards appropriate care for us and others, rather than being used for care we do not need or want. In addition we might want to consider other forms of support if we need it, friends, family, Soul Midwives etc.

Fair Shares

Currently in the UK, along with many other aspects of our health and social care systems, there are huge inequalities in whether or not people with progressive serious health problems are encouraged to talk about and plan for death and dying. If people are given the space to do so, it’s often at a time when they are feeling too unwell to be able to achieve what they would like to happen

Designing our own End of Life care when we are fit and well, and discussing it with friends and family, can (will, in my experience), enable others to be inspired to think about their own plans, meaning more of us will hopefully have the death we would like.

The Funeral Industry in the UK is big business and the financial cost of a typical funeral in the UK has risen by over 80% since 2004, way above inflation. And the average price of a very basic cremation, using a funeral director is about £3,400 (a burial is about well over £4000). This puts the cost of dying beyond the financial means of many people, resulting in further stress and often for a funeral, which may not be appropriate and relevant for the person who has died, as relatives have arranged it or friends who are in a state of acute grief. A significant proportion of the monetary costs charged by some Funeral Directors are for things that are not ‘essential’ (as well as being environmentally harmful) Many people believe that a Funeral Director needs to be used to organize events after someone has died, but in fact its perfectly legal for our families and friends to deal with all the aspects of our after death care and ceremonies undertaken. There are of course also professionals (Funeral Directors, Celebrants etc.) who will help us to have the care after death that fits with our ethics and personal needs and wants.

Earth Care

A growing number of people within the permaculture community and beyond are increasingly concerned about how we die is impacting on the Earth. In addition many more people do not have the awareness that this environmental harm exists within our death culture in the UK. As previously touched on, the environmental impact of death, dying and especially the Funeral ‘industry’, (cremation, embalming, clothing, coffins, large oil consuming cars, buildings used) can be deeply damaging to our care of the Earth. In addition in Hospitals and other official ‘Health Care’ resources in the rich world are very environmentally costly places in terms of equipment, power needs and location to those close to us

Boundaries

Talking about death and dying is generally still a taboo and challenging subject within British culture. People around us may be initially resistant or generally respond negatively to engage with us about planning for our End of Life. I have also found this within the Permaculture Community too, (“oh I think I’ll go to another session where there is something more positive going on”). On a personal level past experiences of the death of others, our role as carers, serious illness or any other kind of loss can make it a difficult subject to explore.

Resources

The same past experiences that we have identified as ‘boundaries’ may also bring a wealth of personal resources and add an extra level to our desire to ensure that plans for our own End of Life are created. In addition, other people in our lives may be nearing the end of theirs and have some ideas about what they would like to happen.

Locally, national and globally there is a growing awareness about how our experiences of death impact on many kinds of resources: personal, health, financial, political, environmental, spiritual… further on in this article I’ve listed some of my favorite written resources (books, websites, blogs, community events..) relating to End of Life, death and after death, which may help you with your own designing. There are also many other resources around which may be more appropriate to our diverse lives, social media has some fantastic links, once you get searching.

The evident growing awareness of others within the permaculture community to think about using permaculture design to explore issues around death, dying and bereavement ,is also a resource to be embraced. An informal workshop I ran at last years National Diploma Gathering on the subject generated some great discussion and ideas for designing and is something that I would certainly repeat again at other permaculture events

Decisions

Design

Having examined how the current state of End of Life experience in the UK is often at odds with the guidance provided by permaculture, its good to know that there are a wealth of resources available to help design our death, in keeping with how we live the rest of our lives

The following are some of my favorites and in some way address the different topics covered in this post

Books

The Dead Good Funerals Book by Sue Gill & John Fox

The Natural Death Handbook from The Natural Death Centre

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying by Starhawk

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

When Parents Die by Rebecca Abrams

As Big as it Gets (supporting a child when a parent is seriously ill) from Winstons Wish

Websites/organisations

https://www.finalfling.com
http://www.soulmidwives.co.uk
http://deathcafe.com
http://dyingmatters.org
http://www.naturaldeath.org.uk
http://www.thegroundswellproject.com
http://www.macmillan.org.uk
http://www.nhs.uk/planners/end-of-life-care/documents/planning-for-your-future-care.pdf

images from dyingmatters.org

Blogs

http://drkategranger.wordpress.com
http://lmiddletongreen.wordpress.com

Jan Martin (one of my favorite permaculture bloggers!) , created a design for her own end of life after participating the informal discussion I facilitated around the subject. Here is the link to the fantastic blog post about it

http://thesnailofhappiness.com/2013/12/06/terminal-scrapbooking/

As always the Permaculture Principles are available to guide our work and I personally found Holmgrems really useful when looking at my own End of Life design

http://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/

Implement and maintain

I have found that breaking the design into 3 sections “What I would like to happen in the time (weeks/days hours) before I die”, “What I would like to happen as I die” and “After I die” is a really useful way to think and plan

Ideas for how actually to record our designs are :

Online: - (via social media/website/blog?), though we need to consider that we may not all have power for Internet access in the future

A scrap book /Journal /box that can be added to and changed as time goes by

Statement, Letter, document (perhaps as an electronic file and printed out and kept with other personal documents?)

A document designed by someone else (there is example formats in some of the links above

Several more official legal related documents are well worth looking into as part of your plan

Organising a Power of attorney (available for either financial related decisions and/or health care/treatment issues)

Advanced Directives (‘living will’)

A Will

Again more details about these are available from the links above

Letting others know the existence of your design and dating any amendments/additions can really help others to be able to implement it if you are not able to make your needs known as you approach the end of your life. In addition having a regular ‘evaluation’ of your design timetabled into your life (for example, the day after your birthday, Christmas eve, New years day?)

Hopefully this post will have given you some ideas and a base from which to create your own design for your End of Life. As people who use permaculture to guide so many aspects of our lives, I am confident that that using the ethics, principles and other design tools to design how we die, will also radically contribute further to how we regenerate our land, communities and self.

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We are gathered (again!)

7/12/2014

Last weekend the 4th annual National Diploma Gathering took place, as last year, at Losehill Hall YHA in Derbyshire. I’ve been to each Gathering (the 1st one conveniently arranged for just after I signed up for the Diploma (in Applied Permaculture Design), and it’s one of the big highlights of my year...I’ve written about each Gathering here…and so here is a summary of this years highlights

* Catching up, networking, with other Apprentices and tutors…lots of old friends…many new ones …its always so inspiring to hear what everyone’s been up to since last year (lots of us only meet at this event!) …Gallons of tea and the odd alcoholic beverage consumed while doing so

* Workshops…as usual a great range on a whole diverse range of Diploma related topics…2 that stand out for me were Hannah Thorogood's ‘Stuck ‘ (in design work…or in my case, ‘its been so long since I completed the design and I still haven’t written it up but now I’m just really stuck with HOW to write it up’)…I came away having not only addressed the ‘stuck’ but very nearly written an outline of the write up (Yey!), and then Nicole Vosper’s excellent workshop about Prisons and Permaculture

* Design sharing….this year I was really pleased to spend some time with a couple of members of the first Diploma guild I was part of, it was great to see how much we had all grown and developed in the couple of years since we had last sat down and really took time to learn about each others work

* Working within a small group on some designs for next years International Permaculture Convergence….Not sure if I’ll actually use my own design (for the Heart and Soul space), as part of my Diploma portfolio, but going through the process will certainly help by other design work..

* Witnessing and being part of 3 really powerful and beautiful Diploma Accreditations…truly magical

Nicole Vosper's Diploma Portfolio can be found on her website,
http://www.emptycagesdesign.org.

Niamhue Robins' Diploma Portfolio is at, http://muddyfingers.weebly.com

Cat Dolleris is in the process of putting her Portfolio online, but in the meantime there is more information about her work here

Photo by Alan Charlton....Niamhue Robins presents her Diploma journey

* The opportunity to have a look and buy some of the fantastic permaculture related books, published over the last couple of years…

* A really motivating and timely tutorial with my tutor Wilf, spent walking and pausing in 4 different areas of the wonderful YHA grounds as we focused on the 4 questions…what’s going well? what’s more challenging?, what is the overall focus? And, what are the next achievable steps?

As in previous years the weekend was totally ‘all things diploma’ immersing, and for many of us, I know a welcomed motivation and time to focus in our Diploma pathways…given that us apprentices, (and tutors), are such a diverse bunch of folk, the NDG, held at the beginning of winter, isn’t always the most helpful or the right thing for everyone, and this year in particular there is a lot current evaluation and conversation around considering having smaller regional 'Gatherings at different times of the year, so that hopefully the needs of more people involved with the Diploma can be met. I personally really like the big national event, and do hope in continues in some form, but am also very much looking forward to seeing how the regional Gatherings can help support and influence, hopefully, the work of more people involved with the Diploma too.

Photo by Alan Charlton ...Nicole Vosper receives her Diploma certificate

Photo by Alan Charlton ....Wilf Richards presents Niamhue Robins with her Diploma Certificate

Alan (Treeman) Charlton likes to take amazing photos, you can see more of his photography work on his Facebook page

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Life Planner and Reflection Tool

20/11/2014

Designing a life planner and reflection tool

Observations

I’ve been working towards being more organised and solutions focused for some time now and Permaculture Design has been central within this. Making effective and self-caring use of my time has been a key goal over the last few years and I’ve come across some amazing tools and resources that have really been applicable to my life and the way I wanted to plan, organise and document things. This commitment to being more mindful about my use of time and how best to organise it has had really positive influences on my physical and emotional health and I would very much like this continue. My current way of organizing and recording impotent aspects of my life has meant that I achieve far more of my goals and aims.

It has however, meant that I’ve had various books/diaries etc. in paper/online formats and the volume of them has resulted in me not always utilising them in the way I’d hoped because of keeping track of the different resources, time available and the physical bulk of various paper tools etc. For sometime I’ve been having a think about how I could find solutions within this as we approach 2015 and have had ideas about what I would like such a tool to include, but hadn’t had a go at creating what this might look like. Then last week I saw a link shared several times on Facebook to a website for ‘Passion Planner’, a really interesting looking creation by a young woman in the US which captured the essence of what I wanted my Planner to look like, but without some of the topics more personal to me.

In summary I would like my Life Planner to have the following functions:

* To document my work and personal goals and aims for the week/month

* To effectively plan my work and personal activities each week

* To reflect and evaluate how my week has gone, have goals been achieved

* To plan for and journal about spiritual elements of my life, Earth cycle celebrations etc.

* To help identify patterns and links relating to when activities and goals aren’t achieved, and provide a plan forward

* To have space to express gratitude and thanks

* To give me space for creative expression

Boundaries

Myself is my biggest boundary, not putting the time and commitment in to a much-needed solution. A design for long lasting solution, will need to be one that takes into the need for as least fossil fuel powered resources as possible

Resources

The following websites are for the resources I currently use to organise my time, thoughts and reflections.

http://www.passionplanner.com/what/

http://leoniedawson.com/shop/kits/amazing-year-workbook-calendar-2014/

http://www.earthpathwaysdiary.uk

Evaluation

The overwhelming aim of this design is to create a system that easily encompasses the different functions I identified in my observations above.

My favorite Permaculture Principles from David Holmgren have also been key to the development of this design

Having a more effective system for how I plan and record my day to day activities will hopefully enhance how I Observe and interact with the different zones throughout my life. Being more organized and focused will enable me to Catch and store more of my personal energy. Making better use of my time and time and energy by being more focused will make it much more likely for me to obtain the personal and work ‘yields’ within my daily and seasonal goals. Appling self-regulation and accept feedback will make my design more effective. Ensuring the design helps me to apply constructive self-regulation in my life will be an important function. Creating the Planner so that I can share and discuss the design of it with others will mean that in might be adapted in order for others to use if I can demonstrate that the design has benefited my own life. Writing this design up as a blog post and then possibly for inclusion in my Diploma Portfolio will also help this process. My ideas to make the planner a paper based one rather than an digital one means that I will be able to use recycled paper products, Using and valuing renewable resources, which although use some energy for paper/ink production, use less embodied and daily power than a design that needs constant electricity use via a digital device. Paper can then be used as firelighters and then the ash composted and used for soil fertility, (meaning I will be able to grow food from my thoughts and reflections!..more yields) and of course producing no waste.

Identifying patterns in my current use of time and success of whether I am able to undertake activities relating to my life and work goals, is an important foundation to make the design even more effective by then exploring the detail relating to these patterns. Integrating rather than segregating the different aspects of my life into one tool is as previously mentioned really central to the design so as to improve its efficiency. The creation of a simple paper planner to be used throughout the year and easily tweaked if needed demonstrates the use of Using small and slow solutions and my learning and influence from others' work to create my own planner demonstrates Using and valuing diversity, as does being mindful about the diverse elements in my life One of the key things I aim to include in my design is space to be creative, as this is an important part of my life; Permaculture and ecology theory shows us that ‘edge’ is a fertile and productive place for growth to take place. Using edges for creative ideas and expression feels like a very positive and productive aspect of the design. The essence of the vision of my planner is all about creatively using and responding to change

Permaculture teacher, practitioner and author of "People and Permaculture" and "7 Ways to Think Differently, " Looby Macnamara, has a beautiful blog that further explores the use Permaculture Principles on more People Care focused designs and is well worth a read.

Decisions

The Planner will be way of daily putting into practice the longer term goals and visioning from the tools I currently use, so will run alongside them instead of them.

Based on the design process do far I have created the following as physical tool of my Life Planner: -

katies_planner.pdf
File Size:	31 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

There are 2 A4 sheets of paper for each week, including and 2 ‘blank sides’ of unstructured space to include additional artwork, mind maps, lists etc. I have purposefully left ‘edge’ space for creative writing, drawing and collaging etc. For each moth there is also a semi structured double sided sheet of A4. I am going to store these is an A4 flexible type document folder, with additional ‘pockets’ for each month to be able to store relevant flyers, notes, maps etc. the Planner sheets can eventually be burnt/composted (years after if I decided to keep them for reference), where as the document folder and pockets can be reused time and time again. There is capacity to add additional sheets if after evaluation I decide to make further changes. I will print the pages off for each month and week on recycled paper, but if need be the sections of the planner could be drawn if resources to print weren’t available

Implement

My Life Planer and Reflections Tool can be used (and therefore implemented) straight away…today! Its flexibility and simplicity means that it can become a useful tool for me right now. I may well use certain elements more at first, and patterns in my lifestyle might mean that some elements of the planner are used than others at different times.

Maintain

The only maintenance needed for my planner is to ensure a regular supply of paper and documenting tools. After a few weeks, when I am certain I am happy with the design and its working for me, I will print off pages for the next few months with the aim of being able to use the planner more effectively.

Evaluate and Tweak

As the planner can just be printed/copied out one week at a time, there is plenty of opportunity to evaluate and change the planner if needed. However I often use the energies of full moon to reflect on aspects of my life and so it make sense to timetable regular structured evaluation time for the Design then.

I'm pretty excited as I finish writing this post, because right now I am going to begin day/week/month number 1 of using my Planner. Really looking forward to seeing if it works for me, and of course to create a beautiful front cover for it!

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Samhain reflections

8/11/2014

...last weekend saw the arrival of the Earth festival of Samhain, and the start of the pagan new year...

"Celtic undersanding of the years cycle saw death and darkness as important and necessary, and this part of the cycle as a period of rest and regeneration before rebirth. Samhain …is a magical time…it’s a time for communication with the ansestors…it’s a time to drift, dream and vision, a time for inner journeys connecting to the wisdom within yourself ....."

Glennie Kindred 'Sacred Earth Celebrations'

....one evening, earlier this week, as the light faded into the crisp autumn evening, we had a lovely fire in our fire pit and outdoors kitchen space…a fire at any of the Earth cycle celebrations is good, but at Samhain, as the change in the weather and light really seems to shift, the reality and symbolism of fires seem more meaningful to appreciate these changes…we sat looking into the flames hypnotized and warmed by them, drinking good wine, and remembering and reflecting on the lives of people and animals we have loved and cared for, who have died over this past year, and further into the past….

Up to now all my permaculture designs, since have been connected to my life here as an Hill Farmer, and after having a 6 month ‘pause’ in my Diploma I am going to use the inward reflecting time as the days get shorter and shorter towards the winter Solstice to evaluate where I’m at in terms of my learning and development both as a Designer, and personally…and then start to look at ‘what next’ in terms of the direction of my Diploma, and life x

" We can honour the cycle by being aware that each end and death of the old will bring opportunity for a new start…this endless cycle of change is necessary bringing renewal of cells, of our understanding, our ideas, ourselves ..."

Glennie Kindred "Sacred Earth Celebrations"

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UK Permaculture convergence 2014....nearly time!

10/8/2014

me, at the 2012 UK Permaculture Convergence, Coed Hills

I can't believe its been a whole 2 years since the last, (and my first!), UK Permaculture Convergence, in 2012 held at the fantastic Coed Hills Rural Art Space in South Wales. The Convergence, which happens every other year, is this year taking place just NE of outside London at Gilwell Park.

I, for one, can't wait!

My 2012 Convergence experience was amazing....in a nutshell, the best kind of 'pop up' community, friends old and new, all with a shared vision of living, learning and celebrating all things permaculture .... fantastic and diverse workshops, live music, comedy, dance, arts and crafts, wonderful networking, radical thinking, kids activities, delicious food (including the required vast number of cakes for any permaculture related event!) , gallons of tea drinking (and perhaps the odd bit of alcohol consumption) ....all in a totally magical part of the UK

The 2014 UK Permaculture Convergence (#ukpc2014 - for those of you who tweet!), looks set to be even better, in a stunning and very accessible location, with some top folk already listed for running workshops...and the exciting addition of a 'market place' for us all to sell and buy our ethically made/sourced/designed stuff....

For heaps more information (including a list of confirmed workshops, so far) and to book tickets see the UK Permaculture Association Website

In the mean time here are a few more pics from 2012....

See you all next month x

...Deano's workshop!

community spaces.....

networking and sharing.....

one of the lovely community circles...

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Lammas Full Moon thoughts and reflections

10/8/2014

Celebrating the harvest...inviting in the 4 directions, Earth, Fire, Air and Water.....

This evening the Lammas full moon is full...not that many of us in the North of the UK (if any!) will get to glimpse the 'harvest moon' thanks to the lingering effects of Tropical Storm Bertha ....We had planned to celebrate by cooking a dinner made from our harvested food in the outdoor kitchen,but Bertha (bless her!) has put a stop to any thoughts of an outdoors fire.

So a key aspect of Lammas is all about celebrating the start of the harvest ....reflecting back on the seeds sown in spring and evaluating how well they have grown...

flowers, grasses and herbs at Lammas, from the hay meadow

In addition Lammas is also traditionally a time for celebrating the harvest or continuation of ideas, projects and plans, also 'sown' earlier in the year

The significance to where I am within my Diploma journey feels very relevant to this time of celebration and reflection......Nearly 3 years into my Diploma, I am very much 'harvesting' and evaluating all I have learned so far....at Imbolc (the start of spring), this year, I planned very clearly how the my final 10 current completed designs within my Diploma work would be written up by the end of 2014, and had an excellent tutorial with the the fab Diploma Tutor Wilf Richards of Abundant Earth to discuss the same....

What has actually grown out of those plans, (and integrated with other aspects of changes in my life this year), is that I am going to use the knowledge, skill, learning, development and growth gained from these designs and all the other aspects of my pathway, to start 10 new designs that will help and support me with a whole new life chapter just emerging, (more about this in a future post!) .. I am so grateful for the 'pause' I have taken in my Diploma over the summer which has really given me space and time to come to this exciting and really meaningful decision....

I recently read and reviewed the updated version of the wonderful 'Sacred Earth Celebrations' by Glennie Kindred for the current (issue number 81) edition of Permaculture Magazine

In her book, Glennie says

"Lammas is the moment to assess where you are on your path ...give thanks for what you have gained in the outer world and what you will take with you into the inner realms" (of the fading light of the year)

So as the Earth turns and the days once again become shorter, once the harvest is over, part 2 of my Diploma pathway is about to commence....and I must book another tutorial with Wilf to discuss!

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Resilience shining through in the edible garden

5/7/2014

In all honesty, my Edible Garden, like a few other aspects of my life (my Diploma write up being a major one!), haven't had their usual attention, due to several reasons (which will return to at in a future post). So the area where we grown out edible plants has had to rely on its resilience to mainly just 'get on and grow' this year...and all in all its done pretty well...diversity in crops and varieties of species, as well as lots of successional planting have really paid off, as has a fairly early 'last frost' to lengthen the growing season too.

A couple of months ago, for the first time I very nearly gave up on trying to grow any peas and beans. Even though i was using my regular practice of planting out healthy, strong young plants, started off in the polytunnel....about 95 % of the seedlings were being killed by rodent munching. Winter 2013/14 had been unusually mild and I strongly suspect that many more then usual small mammals had survived and thrived the cold months. The evidence proved there were far more little critters than my 4 moggies could cope with.

In a last attempt I took some unknown risks and decided to plant a 3rd batch of runner beans directly into this springs polytunnel hotbed (6-8 week old chicken manure and straw mix), and batch number 3 of broad beans in and amongst my well established garlic bed out side.

As you can see from the photo both legumes are doing really well and, although developing a little later than usual, both are on course to providing a good crop. In addition i've learnt some new and very useful knowledge about how to grow these plants in different environments

I guess i've also been able to see that the last few years work in using permaculture design to create and further my Edible Garden, has proved to me that increased resilience, through utilising good Design tools and concepts, really pays off when adverse events occur (ie me not being able to spend very much time working in the garden this year)

yeah x

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Balancing Act

11/5/2014

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'Balance'.......

It’s the key word I gave myself when I started making plans for this year. Mainly I guess it was about looking at and creating and maintaining balance in as many areas of my life as I could ….work (types of work), social, personal, emotional, exercise, diet, energy, relationships, study, learning …with the aim of promoting my health, well being, happiness and resilience in general to as optimum level as possible.

At the beginning of February I returned back to nursing part time after a 2.5 year break, and since then I’ve noticed that many of the good habits I had in place for creating this balance have slid! Most strikingly, I’ve virtually done no work on my Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design at all in that time…

So, 3 months into my new job, I’ve been having a bit of a review and reflect about how to get a more equilibrium back into my days and plans......

I’m really enjoying my role as a specialist palliative care nurse, but the nature of the work plus the fact that I have had a significant break from nursing has meant that is has taken a fair chunk of my time and energy, even though the post is part time.

At the same time as I started my new job, Holly also started new work and our role as carers for the Elders changed. In addition we were still midst the farming winter routine (ie animals need feeding everyday) and have just finished the very busy lambing time.

Here, in the middle of May I can look back at the last few weeks and realise that my confidence and skill as a nurse have really developed again over this time and that I am needing to put less of my resources into this part of my life. Also, lambing is just about finished and farming ’summer’ has arrived, freeing up more routine time in day to day activities. As we head towards the summer solstice there are maximum day light hours and associated energy. The activities that usually happen here over the next few weeks/ months (edible gardening, wood processing and moving, sheep clipping and social events with friends and family) usually happen in chunks of good weather time.

I’ve already kick started some good balance promoting activities for my work patterns and health & well being; daily plans for our various work, more regular exercise, better, varied food, listening to novels on landrover journeys, more focused use of social media, regular space to ground and pause, time to observe the sun and moon patterns .....and revisiting my ‘plan for 2014’

Taking on board the above, and with the aim of giving ‘balance’ another boost, I’ve come up with the following plan for my Diploma work

Get myself back into the routine of writing for my Diploma again with a weekly blog post.

Revisit my Action Learning Pathway and tweak the timing/plan for the write up of the rest of my designs…re plan and schedule tutorial support

Spend at least 30 minutes each day actually writing up design work in order to maintain focus. Aim for at least 2 days a week where I spend 2-3 hours doing this.

Re-establish more regular contact and meet ups with the Lakes and Dales Diploma Apprentices, my fab local peer group…we can be very motived when we want to be!

Reflect...on how my Diploma work is going, while walking the pack...especially if i haven't had time to actually get anything written down for some time

Be more mindful of how much I have (and am) getting out of my Diploma journey…I’ve come quite near to quitting it recently, but really of course I don’t want to, I just needed to work through this evaluation and tweak to propel it in a more onwards direction again.

So, here goes !...first up, more regular blogging from me again. Happening right now xx

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formally known as the compost system.......

23/3/2014

I knew towards the end of last growing season that 3 of the 'units' in my composting system would need replacing. I initaly constructed them 5- 6 years ago and the bottom of the pallets were disintegrating...in addition the fence behind the pallets (the edge of the edible garden, keeping chickens and grazing animals out), was also starting to fall apart.

Compost system in the height of summer...using pallets like this is a great way to use an onsite resource. Pallet dimensions also create the perfect size for the place of composting with the farm system as a whole.

Having 4-5 compost 'units' in use at one go means that within the system I have designed, each unit gets at least 2 years for the organic material to break down, (without any intervention), producing some really beautiful compost at the finish.

My initial idea was to build new units in the same location, after doing some work to repair the fencing. However when I observed the bigger picture more closely, I realised that the 2-3 years old) compost in the units was surplus to requirements this year and that by leaving the compost and pallets next to the fence in place I could create some more stability to the fragile fence, hopefully giving it a couple more years of life!

I decided to create an additional growing area on the compost site, using the pallets and some forestry 'waste' tree tubs as the edges of the beds. This meant that I obtained an instant yield (new raised bed to grow more plants in my edible garden), at the same time as reducing the human effort of moving the compost/broken pallets to another area.

The transformation in progress

....with Floss Dog' s help of course.......(thanks FD)

Finished raised bed, all ready for planting! (now covered in black waste silage wrap, to keep warm/protected for a few more weeks before some shade tolerant plants are ready to plant out

The new bed created will be in shade for most of each day so I plan to grow shade tolerant plants as part of my bed rotation system in there. (probably some oriental greens,parsley, nasturtium and broad beans along the edges this year). I've already started creating 3 new composting units (with recycled pallets) at the other side of the fence, which will hopefully provide even more strength to the boundary as well as being more accessible from my forest garden.

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Edible Garden 2014

16/3/2014

visioning and planning!

As the daylight hours lengthen and the Earth starts to rapidly wake up for another year, I’ve been visioning and planning about this years edible garden design. Its been such an unusually mild winter, I keep having to remind myself that its only late February, and there is often snow on the ground at this time of year here, and indeed things could get much colder for the next few weeks, its not unusual for us to have snow in the lead up to lambing time in April.

My hotbed system in the polytunnel means that I can get many of the annual edible plants going a few weeks earlier than without their fab heat producing help, but this extra heat only lasts for a few weeks, so timing it with the risk of the last frost is pretty crucial for many young plants.

This year I’m going to trial different seed growing mediums, commercially sold ‘seed compost’ and home made sand/molehill soil/leafmold mix. I’ve still got an abundance of seeds left over from last year, (a mix of self saved from the garden and gifted from others' and bought from the fantastic Tamar Organic and Real Seeds online catalogues), so apart from parsnip seeds (which do best if acquired each year) and some early seed potatoes, I’m pretty much all ready to get growing.

So, I’ve spent the last few days getting out my favourite edible gardening books and making a fab plan for the years growing…of course (as ever) the plan will evolve and change throughout the next few month, as some species germinate and grow well, others don’t do as great as expected and the weather does what ever it wants to! By growing lots of different varieties in succession through out the coming months, I’ll hopefully increase the resilience to challenging conditions (weather, pests, timing etc).

Happy growing everyone x

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daily pause…..

22/1/2014

Floss ….x

What I can see.....winter grass, looking healthy and alive despite the insesent rain, rain ,rain...grey subdued haunting colours with the green tinge of the spruce pushing to get through...my mixed little flock of sheep, the diversity of their shape, fleece, size and personality... But all integrating perfectly to munch on the hay I 've just brought them, some of the more feisty ewes having wrapped it around their horns as they eat.....me and Floss, muddy and wet, sat on the soft tuffty ground watching and being…. I can hear the call of the buzzard family living in the trees above us, the gentle quacking and splashing of the wild ducks in the pop up field pond caused by the over flowing beck, the sound of the sheep methodically consuming their hay, the roar of the gusting wind as it hurtles down our little remote dale and emerges forcefully through the trees... The loud pattering of the heavy , persistent rain hitting the hood of my Gortex jacket. Through my nose travels the smell of the sweet haylige, ( very sweet thanks to this summers long warm sunny days), the saturated on top, (but warm and dry beneath), fleeces of the Jacobs, Mules, Shetlands and Suffolks of the flock, the wet dog aroma of Floss and of course that magical smell of rain hitting the grass and soil.... And I can taste that rain as if runs down my face, through the streaks of mud I know are already splashed across my skin…. I can also taste the lingering treat of my morning mug of sweet hot chocolate that accompanies me outside to the land, most especially on these wet, dark, formidable mornings. I feel the cushioned chill of the ground I'm sat on, the cold sharpness of the sting of relentless driving rain in my face, the steaming warmth of the sheep sounding Floss and me, and then of course the loyal and loving warmth of Floss herself as she leans her collie body into me for some protection against the wild weather…

And then of course I feel my spiritual connection to all of this .... I am a small part in this moment but a very real and present part... I feel the pull of energy through the ground drawing my connectivity through the layers of soil and rock and deep deep down to the molten centre of our beautiful planet. I know or I guess that every other living being could be experiencing this too at this, my, brief pause in time. And that gives me an immense sense of belonging, peace and hope.

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Full moon energies

19/1/2014

Artwork by Joyce Huntington

One of the aims I have for this year is to focus more on the cycles of the moon and how they impact on my life….and then journal about patterns and connections I notice. The full moon happened in the early hours of Thursday morning of this week, so the week has been about making the most of all the extra energy that this brings.

my Leonie Dawson inspired Vision Board for 2014

On Wednesday evening I met up for the first time with a group of local women who are all using the work by Leonie Dawson to help guide their aims and goals for this year. I wrote a few weeks ago about about getting involved with this here.

It was a fantastic evening sharing stories, inspiration, ideas and very yummy food, and there was a lovely collective feeling of positivity to carry on using the special energy time of the the full moons to time our gatherings through out this coming year

one of my favourite books about the moon

….a part of my ddd (Dreaded Demon Design!)

I also completely surprised myself by setting too on my 'Demon Design' write up…I've been calling it this for some months now, because not being able to face finishing this design has been a real sticking point in me moving on with my Diploma journey in the way I wanted to. So I am now very pleased to announce that the (Dreaded!) DD is all written up, with a big tick and 'finished ' next to it. Of course it needs assessing and passing by a tutor yet, but I'm crossing all my fingers that there hopefully wont be too many tweaks to make!. …more details about this design in the near future when (if!) if passes! Planning to undertake this activity, which has given me SO many challenges over the last year, at the time when the moon was at its fullest has really helped my to complete it i'm sure. Hopefully documenting the outcomes of these full moon events in some way, will really help me to add details to how to plan my time and energy levels.

Next stop, the new moon..when its the best time of the lunar month for new projects and new ideas to be put forward and started.

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January 2014... What we are eating from the edible garden

7/1/2014

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I've really been trying hard not to descend into a downwards spiral of doom about the incredibly wet and stormy weather of the last few weeks, and to be honest, compared to some areas of the UK, and certainly to other parts of the world, the conditions here haven't been that much out of the ordinary (for here!) for winter months.

I made the most of some brief sunshine in between storms yesterday, to take some January photos

One of the positives for food growing in the garden though, has been the temperature for this time of year. I think I can count the number of frosty mornings on one hand.

Leeks and carrots are still doing well in the outside edible garden, must remember to plant more parsnips this year, they do really well here, and are yummy roasted in olive oil and garlic, but sadly all eaten now.

In the polytunnel carrots, kale, chard, parsley, sage, thyme and lots of winter salad and oriental leaves are growing and being harvested....

We started eating the green tomato chutney at Christmas, made in the early autumn, and it is good..... Going to try a jar of the nasturtium seeds I preserved too, soon. All the beans and peas we froze, have again all been munched by us now... But we still have heaps of blackcurrents in the big freezer, waiting for me to make cordial with them. I made pesto with our basil and garlic a few weeks ago, and froze in ice cube trays... Adding a couple of cubes to a tomato sauce, as we did last night, makes such a great pasta sauce that tastes and smells of summer

We are also eating lots of sprouted seeds and pulses ( easily grown on the kitchen windowsill), they only take a few days to grow, really nutritious and are fab added to all kinds of salads, risottos, stirfries etc, either raw or cooked. In addition, the sprouts are something that we can keep growing and eating all winter, and spiritually that feels really important to me. I've always just sprouted whatever seeds/pulses I've had in the store, (usually bulk bought from Suma Wholefoods) but this winter I'm planning on experimenting and expanding with new seeds/pulses, that I haven't tried before too, to add some more diversity to my sprouting.

The Organic Gardening Website has some good information about sprouting, as well as seeds /pulses to sprout, for sale.

This link to NHS Choices offers great advice for making sure you take some sensible safety precautions when sprouting your own food too.

The beautiful summer of 2013 here, seems a long time ago now, so it's been really lovely and therapeutic to pause and reflect on how much the edible garden here in our wild home is still providing us with...it's great!

And back to the weather ( sorry!!), the relative mildness has really benefited lots of things edible in the garden ( and some unexpected grass growth on the land) ......but, winter weather goddess, we would now like some cold, crisp, frosty days now.....for all the benefits they bring to land, animals and winter working experience....

Please x

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Designing for 2014....its all about integration

1/1/2014

Jan 1st 2014, and over the Christmas holiday period Holly and me have been reflecting on 2013, and planning and designing what we would like life to be like in 2014.

Of course we cant account for the unexpected, but we've found over the years that having a good plan for each day/week/month/year,means that we are generally more ready to take on the life stuff that you don't plan for.

This year we've tried something new...a local friend and homeopath, Jo Rhodes mentioned a couple of weeks ago that she and some other local women were going to be using a workbook 'Create your amazing year' by Leonie Dawson, throughout 2014, Several women were planning on meeting up once a month to support each others' 2014 journeys using the workbook. I'd never heard of Leonie or her work before, but the more I read of her totally inspirational website, the more excited I've become about giving the workbook and all that goes with it a go...2 workbooks were ordered and made a timely appearance here, just in time for a few days of reading and reflecting in 2013

Permaculture is never mentioned on Leonie's website, in her many free ebooks, videos and other resources or in 'Create your amazing year', but the People Care and Fair Share ethics shout loudly, and many of the permaculture principles and other elements of the Design Process are there in abundance.

I've found that the 'Biz' (Business) part of her Workbook, has easily been adapted for me to use with my Diploma (in Applied Permaculture Design) plans for the next year. and its good to have them in the same place and format as my 'life' plan, after all, the 2 are so intertwined anyway.

I also really love the Earth Pathways Diary, and in 2013 was disappointed that I just didn't use it on a daily basis, as I would have liked to. I've realised for 2014 though, that it will work really well alongside 'Create your amazing year', instead of using the calendar pages created by Leonie. The Earth Pathways Diary resonates very much with the spiritual and Earth Care aspects of my life, as well as its own People Care elements too.

So here we are...the start of a new calendar year, (and the additional magic and energy of a new moon too!) ..and my positive feelings about the next 12 months, I am sure are there in part because of the integration of 3 such amazing tools to help guide and ground me....Permaculture, the work of Leonie Dawson and the Earth Pathways diary....

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self care...or being selfish?

1/1/2014

Last week a farming friend put to me, that I had an awful lot of knowledge, relating to permaculture and how it could influence Hill Farming, but I was wasn't doing enough on a local and national level to make changes with that knowledge. He suggested (after a couple of glasses of wine!) that it could be argued that this made me pretty selfish. C, (the friend), is passionate about conservation farming and sharing his vision with as many people as possible. He does this through sharing many aspects of his farming work with the public (a thriving B&B and self catering business, farm tours and access to the wildlife hide on the farm, courses run at the farm field studies centre etc) and spends a lot of energy and time attending meetings to influence related farming policy at local and national levels.

I could have been a bit upset about this I guess.....

I wasn't though, ( C and myself have a good few controversial natters...), Instead its made me reflect on how I DO use my knowledge and experience for the greater good.

The permaculture ethics seemed a good way to make some sense of this

Earth Care and Fairshares
Using Permaculture Design to influence the way I farm the land has many positive ways of promoting care of the Earth. Lots of these are discussed and documented elsewhere within my blog posts and Diploma work on this website. People visiting the farm, in whatever capacity often ask me questions or make observations about the work I am doing. I write a fairly regular blog, and articles/reviews in both permaculture and non- permaculture related publications, and am active on Facebook and Twitter in sharing related information. I know, from responses sent to me, that people on a global level, have found the experiences and knowledge I have shared useful to their own thinking and work.

People Care
Alongside my farming work, I am the main carer for the Elders who also live on the farm. My role as carer means I have to be flexible and available to enable and help them for most time of most days. Making this care appropriate and timely for the Elders, also benefits the wellbeing of my partner and myself too. This is of course while caring for the land and all who live on it too.

My own self care (Zone 0 or 00), is also greatly shaped and guided by Permaculture Design too. As someone who has been hugely aware and passionate about our need to heal the Earth since a very early age, I have also being exposed to, and experienced, burnout, relating to this too. And at times this has been all consuming and has meant that for weeks, months years at one time, I have been unable to do any Earth healing work. Since consciously using Permaculture to design all aspects of my life in the last few years, I have really worked hard on preventing these kinds of meltdowns.

The time I spend on creating a balance, where I can be an activist who influences change through small, slow, steady actions, and disseminating this through writing and photos, but stay healthy and grounded, is essential to me.
Recent conversations with my friend Alan Charlton from Community Led Solutions about the book 'Active Hope' by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone and then listening to a fantastic radio interview with Maddy Harland (Editor of Permaculture Magazine), have given me more reassurance about how vital this balance is.

I constantly see the huge need for more urgent action though too, as the harm to our planet and those who live on her spirals out of control. But I also recognise that in my life at the present and the near future, I am doing all that I can.

However, as in most permaculture work, there are tweaks, I can make, and as I work on my 'plan' for 2014, I have made a commitment to both further some of the designs I have in place for my farming work, and other areas of my life. This is in addition to writing blogs and articles more frequently, and work on disseminating these to a wider audience....and re-reading 'Active Hope' is up there at the top of my January reading list.

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We are gathered here...National Diploma Gathering 2013

8/12/2013

Last weekend I ventured down country to beautiful Edale in Derbyshire to attend the fab annual National Diploma Gathering. In its 3rd year now, the NDG is one of the highlights of the year in my Diploma Journey calendar. And this year was even better than ever. 75 or so Diploma (in 'Applied Permaculture Design') apprentices and tutors from all the corners of Britain (and further!) in the amazing YHA Castleton Losehill Hall for one weekend of workshops, design sharing, tutorials, support, catching up with old friends, (making new ones), general nattering, laughing, knitting, cake eating, and the odd bit of tea, (and other beverage), drinking ……totally fab!

With lots of help from Rachel and Alan (and Permaculture Association staff), I organized a bookstall selling books (and other stuff), from various permaculture related book sellers, (Permanent Publications, Spiralseed, James Taylor and Graham Bell). It was the first time this had been done at this event but the general feedback and ‘vibe’ from doing so, was a really positive one. Am just about to write up an evaluation for the stall, but am hoping it will be able to carry on in a similar model (possibly with more diverse sellers, other than just books, to create more of a ‘market place’ where ‘right livelihood’ element of permaculture design can be demonstrated further), in future years too.

In addition I also ran a workshop ‘Designing for End of Life.’ It was an informal ‘discussion type’ workshop where participants could learn about my design, I have been working on, which has created a resource, (more details about this in a future post), to help people design what they would like to happen for their own end of life care, and death. In addition, I wanted the workshop to create an environment where those attending could start to think about designs they could work on relating to the subjects brought up in my own design, and share stories and ask questions about individual experiences and thoughts too. The atmosphere in the workshop and then informal feedback after the workshop was lovely and again very affirmative. I am aiming to get some more formalized feedback for my design, but this initial testing of the general flow and feel of it was incredibly helpful for me and how I approach the next step of the design. I am aware that the subject matter is sensitive and this kind of design is fairly on the edge of a lot of permaculture work, so my aim is to make small and slow steps with it, to make the design as beneficial as possible.

Another highlight of my weekend was a fab tutorial with Nicole Vosper at Wildheart Permaculture, who has just recently become a tutor. Nicole is super cool at organisation and time management type skills and knowledge, (besides loads of other stuff), and I came away from my hour's tutorial with a whole new box of tools to use with my Diploma journey and a realistic plan for writing up designs for my portfolio.

My journey home, up North was one of smiley reflection. The ‘positives’ I have discussed briefly here…there were many…plus the journey in the landy to get there, via the moors of Calderdale and Kirklees, then on to Holmfirth….(just stunning!!)…the ‘negatives’, well just not having enough time to catch up/meet everyone as much as I’d like to in one weekend, plus the illness of C, one of the Gatherings attendees, (thankfully she is on the mend now). And then the ‘interestings’ ……hopefully a new personal tutor for me (Wilf from Abundant Earth)…lots of new ideas and sparks of energy for projects…some of which I will write about in the coming months, and others which I have made myself file away for when my Diploma portfolio is complete.

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designing with evidence in mind

23/11/2013

Farming Research meeting at the Permaculture Association HQ (Hollybush Conservation Centre, Leeds)

Last week I attended a meeting of people from all over the UK who are interested in research relating to using Permaculture Design in farming, with the aim of the day being to generate some real plans for taking research ideas forward. Although I was the only farmer there (other's had been invited but were unable to attend), I gained a vast amount of motivation. knowledge and enthusiasm from the incredibly diverse and expert researchers and academics attending, along with several of the Permaculture Association staff and interns too. I had expected the day to be mainly about 'measuring kinds' of scientific study, but was reassured to find that qualitative subjects (an example I talked to several people about, was about collecting and documenting stories from older hill farmers) was seen to be just as relevant as quantitative ones, (for example, measuring carbon or species diversity with various systems of grazing).

I've been interested in research for a long time, and as a nurse very much valued and enthused about the part it plays in making positive change in all aspects of nursing practice and health care. I was actually all set to commence my own research in palliative care nursing through undertaking a PhD, when I made a the decision to venture down the path of further permaculture related learning instead. (yey!)

So here I am now, actively becoming involved with looking at what research is going to provide the evidence to take Permaculture Design in farming forward. Together with inspiration I took from a workshop run by Chris Warburtun-Brown (research co-ordinator at the Permaculture Association) at last years National Diploma Gathering, reflecting on the meeting last week has very much generated some ideas about trying to link in aspects of evidence recording and disseminating outcomes into most of my Portfolio work, not just the farming related designs. In particular I have been thinking about how I (and others) evaluate my designs (or parts of my design), and how this could be structured to give some meaningful data or feedback which could be used by others.

For anyone else interested in learning more about Permaculture and research, there is a section of the Permaculture Association website dedicated to telling you more. A 'Research Handbook' for those using Permaculture Design in their lives and work is also in the process of being written. More information about this will be available in the above link, when it is finished.

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designing to care

16/11/2013