TEACHING PERMACULTUREAS IF PEOPLE MATTERED

A gathering at Dial House, Essex

JUNE 23-27 2004

'TEACHING PERMACULTURE AS IF PEOPLE MATTERED'

at

DIAL HOUSE, ESSEX, 23-27 JUNE 2004

A gathering for permaculture teachers and those wishing to develop people centred and creative permaculture teaching skills.

The eventThe main aims of this event are;

· To develop our creative teaching skills, in particular facilitating the enhancement of our person-centred teaching abilities. This would be based upon our own wealth of experiences, ideas and skills, as well as using texts such as Skye and Robin Clayfield's 'Teaching Permaculture Creatively', the UK Permaculture Association's 'Teachers Manual', David Holmgren's 'Permaculture- Pathways beyond Sustainability', Mollison's 'Designers Manual', Karl Rohnke's 'Silver Bullets' etc (plus a chance to test out in safe environment any of our own wild and crazy ideas we think might just work!) Although the final agenda will be agreed by participants at the start of the event, it is envisaged that we will spend time exploring ideas around successful learning and teaching, developing learning sessions as well as giving presentations at the end of the event for (safe!) positively critical feedback. A draft timetable for the event has been prepared by Stella, please forward all comments and suggestions to the UK Permaculture Teachers elist.

· To provide a chance for permaculture teachers to meet and network/worknet.

In addition to these primary aims, other suggested and/or requested functions for this gathering include;

· Permaculture Diploma support and at least one accreditation event · Forwarding the permaculture music CD project. This is an idea for recording a selection of

'permaculture songs' being co-ordinated by Aranya (By the way, we've had some amazing 'extra-curricular' evening jams at Dial House during our Permaculture Introductory courses)…

· To have a bloody good party! (Cos we deserve it!)

The Venue

Dial House is a sixteenth century farm cottage nestling deep in the countryside in Essex, England, fringing Epping Forest. Since 1967 the place has been an anarchist-pacifist open house, the base of operations for a number of cultural, artistic and political projects ranging from avant garde jazz events, the founding Free Festival movement (eg, Windsor and Stonehenge) and the anarcho-punk band Crass. After some years away from the public eye, residents Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher have decided that Dial House should become a 'centre for dynamic cultural change', including the hosting of permaculture events.

An area of the Dial House garden is being developed (at permaculture courses and other events) as a semi-autonomous venue for gatherings, and includes indoor and outdoor classroom space (which can double as a mini-cinema), a fire-pit and a compost toilet as well as a pond, willow dome and (I've just been told) a new living willow seat.

AccommodationPrincipally camping in the Dial House garden. There will be LIMITED accommodation in the main house at a cost of £5 per person per night. This will be on a first come, first serve basis

CateringThis will be a self- catering event. In addition to the food we will buy (Ron and I will get some supplies beforehand) we will also request food contributions be brought along. This has worked very well on the Introductory courses we have run at Dial House, with a great diversity of contributions creating some very wonderful banquets!

Food preparation will be a communal shared event, again, this has worked very well on our intro courses and has been just as important to the dynamics of the courses as official `teaching' time.

There are supermarkets in nearby Epping and an organic farm shop (Ashlyns) about a mile from Dial House. Also some basic provisions can be picked up in North Weald Village, Pen and Gee will no doubt also be able to advise of any local bargains or other wheezes for getting cheap food in the area...

Catering will be primarily vegan/vegetarian, both for reasons of `lowest common denominator' (ie, everyone can eat vegan/veggie food) plus food storage/ Health & safety issues are largely circumvented by using mainly dry goods and fresh veggies. Also please respect that Dial House is a vegetarian household.

Arrivals and departuresYou are welcome to arrive any time from Wednesday lunchtime (we (Graham & Ron) plan to be on site from about 11am onwards) and we aim to finish at 5pm on Sunday. It is likely that you will be able to stay on after if you wish, although this will need to be negotiated with Penny and Gee.

Travel arrangementsThe nearest station is Epping, which is the last easterly stop on the Central Line (The red underground line from London). North Weald is 3 miles (bus, taxi or Shankses pony) from Epping, and Dial House is one mile outside of North Weald, along a private road. Full directions (including for those coming by infernal combustion powered vehicles), including a map, will be sent by snail-mail on receipt of your booking form/deposit.

CostsBasic costs of £60 for the full 5 days per person (or £15 per day for those not attending for the full event) to cover food, admin costs/expenses, etc, plus make a contribution to Dial House. Dial House will also make an additional £5 per person per night charge for anyone who wishes to have indoor accommodation in the main house. No additional charges for those who will be camping. There may also be additional 'pay as you go' specialist sessions and workshops which can be negotiated at the start. Diploma accreditations and tutorials will also need to be negotiated as separate 'bolt on' costs.

Things to bringFood for lunch breaks and contribution to shared vegan/vegetarian meals; weather appropriate clothes/footwear & change of clothing; towel; work gloves; torch; plenty of energy & enthusiasm; musical instruments & songs for Saturday evening party and permaculture songs project; anything we haven’t thought of....

Look forward to seeing you there!

Ron Bates & Graham Burnett (Dip Perm Des).

Put forward YOUR ideas for this event by subscribing to the Permaculture Teachers (UK) e-list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Permaculture_teachersUK (NB- this link is now defunct- the Teachers & Learners list is now at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/permalearnersuk)

For more information about the Dial House Centre for Dynamic Cultural Change visit; http://www.southern.com/southern/band/CRASS/dialhouse.html

Photos from previous Dial House permaculture courses http://www.gb0063551.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/coursepics/page.html

Compost toilet building weekend at Dial House http://www.gb0063551.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bog/compostbog.htm

A bit about our hosts...

Dial House Trust - A Centre for Dynamic Cultural Change

In a culture increasingly suffocated by myopic corporate interests, it is refreshing, if not downright life-confirming, to be able to announce any victory over those interests.

As the monstrous steel and glass edifices of commerce cast their ever-darkening shadows over whole communities, the crude lottery of day-to-day existence becomes an ever more complex battle. Just who on earth benefits from the raging bull of globalisation? How are we to exist if we are to be treated as no more than cyphers chained to the production line of the corporate circus? What future is there for our culture if art, poetry and music are seen only as commodities? Just as Tin Pan Alley will never produce a Miles Davis, so Charles Saatchi will never produce a Francis Bacon. If Marx didn't say that commerce was the antithesis of true creativity, he should have done.

To write that the problem is a matter of 'us or them' might appear simplistic, but perhaps it is that simple. Put crudely, authentic and/or indigenous culture is systematically being buried alive beneath the cosy euphemisms of 'world progress'.

For over thirty years, DIAL HOUSE, a large rambling cottage set in the middle of the Essex countryside, has stood as a symbol of opposition to the all-pervading dictates of commercialism. Throughout that time, the cottage has operated as a cultural community centre with interests ranging from organic gardening to free-form jazz, from herbal remedies to direct action on the street. Of its more public emanations, DIAL HOUSE is respected for having been the birthplace of ICES 72, the UK's biggest ever avant-garde festival; of the legendary Stonehenge Free Festivals, which, until they were finally and violently crushed under the boot of Thatcherism, for over a decade offered the fun-loving public a chance to paint rainbows in the face of sobriety; and of CRASS, the anarchist punk band who may have failed in their ambitious bid to change the world, but succeeded in changing the minds of a generation.

When we first rented DIAL HOUSE thirty years ago, it was a derelict, rat infested dump with a rubbish heap for a garden. Nonetheless, we could see in it the possibility of making real our dream of setting up a communal creative and theraputic centre.

Having completely renovated the house to include studios, print-rooms, a rehersal space and workshops, we created an organic garden that enabled us to be largely self-sufficient. The more we expanded, the more we were able to share.

From the outset in 1967, the lifestyle at DIAL HOUSE has sought to offer residents, guests. visitors and the broader community a workable alternative to the all-pervading consumer ethic. For over thirty years, the DIAL HOUSE community has shared its vision of possibility and hope against a culture in which personal greed has become an accepted norm.

Over the past twelve years, DIAL HOUSE and the acres of rolling farmland that surrounds it have been a target for the greed of various corporate bodies, of whom British Telecom was the most powerful (and MI5 the least mentioned). Proposals ranging from theme parks to massive luxury housing developments were put forward, but thrown back with all the muscle of effective public protest. Enraged at having been denied the huge profits of what they thought would be easy pickings, the speculators identified DIAL HOUSE as a hornets' nest of opposition and turned their spite on its residents. There followed a spate of eviction orders, court battles and Rachman-like harassment, none of which had the desired effect. Eventually, realising that they were beaten, the fat-cats withdrew with their tails between their Armani-suited legs, and Dial House was put up for auction - bidder takes all.

If you know anything about CRASS, you will know that despite selling thousands of records, profit was never on the agenda. As long as there was food in the garden, a roof over our heads and friends to share time with, we were happy enough. Not surprisingly, we are now as broke as we were thirty years ago and consequently didn't have the necessary funds to make a bid for DIAL HOUSE. For too long we had to suffer at the hands of Landlords whose only interest in DIAL HOUSE was its material value. For too long we had had to put aside our desire for radical change simply to be dragged through the Courts or to conform to the limiting legal restrictions of our Tenancy Agreement. We wanted to grow personally and to expand our operations, but we knew that unless we owned DIAL HOUSE it would not be wholly possible.

To endsure a chance of a successful bid, we needed to raise something in the region of £150,000: a huge sum of money for us. So, because we were desperate to preserve what has become almost an institution, at the beginning of this year we took a course of action that we would not normally have contemplated; we set up an Appeal Fund. The response was immediate, and although by the date of the auction we had nowhere enough for a successful bid, we felt sufficiently confident to borrow from friends and supporters the sum needed.

Knowing that the Landlords would block any attempt made by us to purchase DIAL HOUSE, we asked for help from Sue, a dear friend who twenty-five years ago was a resident of the house, and who now runs a property management company in East London. From the outset, the advice she gave to us was so impeccable that we began to feel reasonably confident that soon the house would be ours. By the evening before the auction we had agreed that on no account should we bid higher that £155,000, and Sue had left for a holiday in Italy arranging for a colleague to do the bidding on the following morning. Later that evening around midnight, Sue rang from Italy to say that she had a hunch we should push our limit to £158,000 and that she instructed her colleague accordingly.

The next day, the bidding stopped at £158,000 and the house was ours. If Sue had been at the auction, she'd have been hugged out of existence.

Having taken several weeks for the facts to sink in, and having to keep quiet about Sue's purchase until after the formal exchange of documents on the 20th February, we were able at last to look to the future and, although now in debt to the sum of £100,000, we can celebrate that DIAL HOUSE is at last secure.

Our current plan is that DIAL HOUSE should contine as it always has been, as a 'safe house': a space where there is a welcome, where there is a bed for the night, conversation, food and the possibility of sharing ideas. On this base we will expand on DIAL HOUSE's traditions of radical creativity, offering its

facilities to an ever wider public under the new title of 'THE DIAL HOUSE TRUST - A Centre For Alternative Globalisation'.

We intend to arrnage workshops covering a range of activities from healthcare courses to literary weekends; to offer studio and rehersal space to visiting artists and musicians; to organise formal discussions and debates to contribute towards the ever growing intertnational radical dialogue; to arrnage gigs, film and art shows, readings and debates (possibly in the local village hall); to widen our own field of visions and at the same time to involve the local community, most especially the young.

Any capital raised through these activities will be re-cycled back into the Trust for further projects. We will be opening a website to broaden the network, opening the house and garden to new activities and new thoughts and opening our hears to a new vibrant future.

A management committee is being set up of around half a dozen interested individuals, made up of residents and non-residents, who will meet regularly at DIAL HOUSE to guide and adminsiter the overall policies and agendas of the Trust's running. In addition to this, the permanent residents will pursue their personal work - painting, writing, music-making, gardening etc..

The Trust aims to bring together the many diverse elemtns of a culture that over the last twenty years has been so devastatingly torn apart. DIAL HOUSE is once again opening its doors to a radical future. Be it the healing power of music or the confrontational rage of the road-protestors, the Trust will give facility both for debate and for development - the future is ours if we want it.

However, in the short term, our immediate attention must go to the essential repairs neglected for over five years by the previous owner and which at threat of prosecution we were forbidden to carry out. Once warmer weather permits, we will be repairing and partially re-roofing the house. Apart from dealing with the physical infrastructure, our second concern will be to further develop our plans for The Trust. By the end of the year, we aim to have defined both a management structure and an initial programme of workshops and events to be hosted by DIAL HOUSE. We would be interested to hear of any suggestions for activities,particuluarly if you would like to organise a workshop yourself - please put your ideas down on paper and send them slowmail to us at DIAL HOUSE.

Meanwhile, the events that we and other are organizing as part of the Appeal continue, as does the Appeal itself. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of numerous individuals and with the addition of our personal savings, we have already been able to repay £65,000 of the money borrowed from friends and supporters for the purchase of DIAL HOUSE. As the house was sold at auction for nearly twice the price we had estimated, the Appeal will be invaluable in helping us to meet our commitment of reimbursing the entire debt within three years, by which time the Trust's programme of events and workshops should be well established.

Once again, many, many thanks to all of you who helped us to buy the house and who, we hope, will continue to help us to make the Trust a reality.

Self-determination and self-empowerment are crucial tools in the struggle against the rampant forces of capitalism. The new Centre will be committed to assist in the creation of those tools.

GRAB AT YOUR OWN DREAMSBEFORE SOMEONE TURNS THEM INTO A NIGHTMARE.

From the official Dial House website http://www.southern.com/southern/band/CRASS/dialhouse.html

What do we want:

Wim Bommerz:Learn from and be with experienced teachersTake ideas back to BelgiumMarketing

Ron Bates:Meet other teachersWhere do I fit?Outdoor/environmentalGlean and learn

Looby:Net-togetherHarvest ideasStrategy for PC association to support teachers and for teachers to supportthe associationMarketing to widen participation

Graham Burnett:Dynamics between getting info across and essencedealing with moneyPulling it togetherGetting pc teachers together at Dial houseEdge pc and dial houseRobin and Skye's book - to try out some of the ideasLess experienced teachers - create a safe space for them to try things out

Shanti:Climb treesMake grass cakes with flowers

Andy Langford:RestOverall strategyPc coursesFocusEnergyEconomy links?

Chris Evans:Connect (with other teachers)

Strategic Stuff - particularly around follow up to those who have been oncourses

Anita Aggarwal:Explore practice in Pc teachingStructure vs flowScotland Pc networkDiploma (particularly opportunity to do Action Learning Guild)

Aranya*:MarketingCreative teachingRobina McCurdy course

Mark Warner:Absorb/learnStrategyPC association stuffUrban/Rural courses

Cherry Mathys:Gambia teachingCreativity and philosophyDe-stress

Merlyn Peter*:Future developmentsPossible collaborationsUpdate on various eventsRest/chill out

Helen Sheard*:People care at eventsMarketingTeaching creatively

Liesbeth Poor:Organising in HollandMarketingWhere do you start?

Steve Charter:Continuum PC teaching

Arrivals and designing the course.

Graham Burnett and other locals (Dial House and Ron) had volunteered to host the open spaces type 'teaching permaculture creatively' course for the Pc teachers network. Over the four days 15 (?) of us took part in sharing and discussing our teaching practice as well as ways to strengthen the teaching network and permaculture in the UK (and Europe - although the focus was UK we had three participants who live in other European countries).

We began by saying what we wanted from the course, identifying themes and drawing together a draft programme.

Link intro to designing to diplomaOther courses?Dial house edgeGood practiceYour best sessonInnovative/creative sessionsPower of experientialOther disciplinesFollow upMarketingZero zeroWild designTeaching co-opNet-togetherLike minded folksTimetable shareOutputs

Angus Soutar*

Nicole Freris*

Sophia*

Heggy*

Viki Haines*

(* these people arrived after the initial evening session where the first draft programme was put together)

At this point we started to identify themes. They were;

· Play/rest· Edge· Beneficial relationships (eco-village network and others)· Creative techniques and style· Processing meeting output for dissemination (minutes and reports)· Course content (principles/time management)· Music CD· Follow-on/progressions and divergences· Party· Marketing (teachers co-op and Unique Selling Point)· Ongoing teacher development· Diploma (Action Learning Guild)· Second wave development (Pc in schools and Contemporary- languages and· culture and society)

Next we tried to start to timetable these things and quickly discovered that there was too much and we would need to run parallel sessions or some people would be disappointed.

Andy made a timely and useful contribution at this point and explained how Open Spaces Technology works - which went something like this [A fuller explanation than my memory will offer now, may be useful at this point if someone wants to write it in the interest of those who were not there and may like to run similar events].

Each person can suggest sessions they would like to see happen. Someone has to agree to facilitate each session that happens. In this instance 'to facilitate' means to ensure that the session has a time and place to happen and is written up. It does not necessarily mean that the facilitator leads the session or has a major contribution to make during it.

Participants are free to attend as many or as few session as they want to vote with their feet can leave a session at any time - be a butterfly or a busy bee can add sessions if there is someone willing to facilitate are responsible to get themselves where they need/want to be and changes in the timetable can be negotiated at any time.

At this point we distributed post it notes and people volunteered to facilitate session they wanted to see happen and there was some negotiation around when what would happen to try and avoid too many disappointing clashes (although that there were some was inevitable). We also discussed the spaces available and the overall structure of the day. From here we created a timetable that (now) looks like this (see attached).

Notes by Anita

Sessions that introduce principles

How do we teach the principles of Permaculture design?

Graham/Ronin the introductory course-

Give 5 attitudinal principles- we feel that for an intro course these are enough for students to take in;- Work with nature (or everything gardens) - illustrate as applied to garden (add in heirarchies of interven-tion) and then to communities or personal (zone zero zero)- Problem is the solution e.g. ‘Weeds’ in garden and their uses, or stress/sickness can precipitate positive life-changes.- Yield is theoretically unlimited or only limited by imagination - leads to edge (stacking/succession) as strategy to increase yield. Also see Graham's friend slug story- Maximum output/Minimum input- Relative placement - leads to a zones session the next day

Ron added that participants have already seen the video on the Friday night (‘Permaculture In Practice’ by Malcolm Baldwin) and this sets them up with some of the concepts and terminology.

Give a tour of the site and point out principles the first time, second time let people spot them for themselves - people see the site with 'different eyes' - change in perspective

Images help - e.g. principles cards - shared out to small groups, discussed and then feedback to whole group

Refer back to principles constantly throughout the course

Light, water, soil, air as analogies for information, money/resources, skills/experience, atmosphere/attitude

Steve introduces

3 ethics, 6 attitudinal principles, 12 technical/design principles (its apattern)

ethics - problems of world/why pc? 3 ethics as interlinking loops with permaculture at the centre where all three intersect

attitudinal - as graham’s plus 'harvest sunshine' (or close the loop)

12 design principles- relative location- multiple function- multiple supply- energy efficiency planning (zones sectors slopes)- biological resources- cycling- stacking- accelerated succession- small scale (start at the back door)- appropriate technology- edge- diversity

Notes by Anita

Teacher care and student care

Teacher care/ Student care- Keypoints

1. What is it? What do we mean by Teacher care/student care?ü How do we ensure care for teachers and students?ü It’s the same thing- should be no differential!ü Should be:ü Mutual- we look out/care for each otherü Holisticü Traditional role of 'teachers'- Respected/authority figuresü We need to think about other ways of doing/being in order to transcend ‘destructoculture’ü What are our Roles?- 'mentor' vs 'Teacher'

2. Why?ü Permaculture is about taking control of your own life

3. Who?ü Teachersü Trainee teachersü Can be hard workü Learning curves- for all!

ü How to look after each other?ü Students

4. Self-care- some hintsü Open-ness is importantü “We” don’t have all the answers!ü Learn to say "No"ü Be realisitic about own limitsü Don't bullshit

5. Infrastructure5.1 Responsibility- for who are course organisers responsible?ü For selfü For studentsü For each other

5.2 Place- eg, course venue issuesAwareness of:ü atmosphereü dynamicsü safetyü Use different venues/places (vary)

5.3 Practices- to ensure inclusiveness and good peoplecare· Regular "Check-ins"· Go rounds· Think & listens· Build in feedback· 4 Questionsü Going well?ü Finding difficult?ü Long term goal?ü Next steps?· Are students/teaching team 'tuned in' by 3rd day?

5.4 Teaching team- some benefits of building a good teaching team· Collaborative working· Support· Sharing· Time out· Back up

6. Next steps· Wim: Communication, ALP's email group· Graham: PC Assoc should only Accredit courses where peoplecare is explicitly designed in· Chris: Open for contact & recording· Anita: Invite to visit in Scotland!· Merlyn: Retain contact with each other· Steve: Ongoing teachers ALP's· Ron: Have 'Gofers'/ mentoring structure

Notes by Graham

Balance - structure vs going with the flow

Anita wanted this session as she feels there is some tension between designing courses with outcomes and letting participants in the course direct the pace of their learning. This had been particularly apparent in a recent intro course she had lead - where she let the participants take more time with the design exercise and the feedback about this was that it 'didn't really work'.

Steve had not been able to be at the session but gave some useful input before it started - his feeling was to use a both/and strategy - let the course go to both extremes (imagine a pedulum swinging) rather than keep it fixed at one point - thus achieving a balance (or dynamic equilibrium) between structure/meeting learning outcomes and giving people space to direct their own learning.

[my notes from this are terrible - so its a bit confusing - sorry]

There was some discussion around wanting to 'walk the talk' and allow courses to be process orientated and self directing - this was balanced against a need to cover the content and people's expectations.

Each group is different and will respond differently.

If you've got a structure, its easy to chuck it away if thats appropriate - much less easy to put one in place if it doesn't exist.

Structure- is important- an intro course needs more structure due to time limitations-needs to be there but is not necessarily apparent- may be important for people to hold on to if they are being faced with newlearning techniques/ideas for the first time- people who have made a commitment have greater expectations (those thatpay more want more)- is useful to help fulfil the 'contract'- make sure breaks happen (people care)

Strategies to support going with the flow- let people make their own informed decisions/process of negotiation to establish structure (=agreement) - make it apparent what may be lost if allowing things to flow- be able to 'read' the group and their needs - a co-teacher/observer helps with this- co-teaching helps- experience helps let things flow- accept that not everything gets covered- use handouts so people still have information about things that may get missed- 'flowing' its never going to be perfect- read up on group dynamics- use small groups

It was generally felt that 'going with the flow' needed good people management techniques so we ended up creating a list of top tips for difficult people- give attention seekers attention out the group- ask other for a response to a serial 'speaker'- use silence (when people talk over you or others)- set ground rules- ask questions to the whole group- set boundaries of control- go rounds as response to time hoggers- 'interesting, can we discuss it later' (as response to tangents)- set tasks that are useful for group but take disruptive people away- ask for feedback after difficult sessions----Notes by Anita

Creative Learning Techniques … and Experiences

PMI on Creative TechniquesP: exciting; interesting; dynamic; rewarding; inclusive; empowering; revealing; fun; teacher / facilitator learns; pressure off teacher / facilitator; flexibility and adaptability; self-selecting techniques according to needs / character of group.M: Time management; preparation; can be cultural resistance; can be exclusive e.g. shy types; not always appropriate; a rigid set of ‘creative’ techniques might not work; can be difficult if not expected by students; different for different teachers / facilitators.I: New ways of thinking; going into the unknown; different reactions; surprises; many different outcomes; = guided process for one to learn for self; = creating a learning experience; it’s an art; ‘Yes’; ‘Sensai’ (from Japan / Aikido) = not teacher but ‘one who has gone before’.

How do people learn?

Principles for Creative Techniques:Readiness to learn; Self-directed learning; Choice; Variety (which is different to choice); Inclusiveness; Doing; Experiential; Feedback (in process overall, not necessarily in each session); Creative; Assessment of learning built in; Inspiring; Holding attention; Create an experience.

Use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:Physiological needs; Security needs; Belongingness needs; Esteem needs; Self-actualisation.Meet these needs for students and they will have a good learning experience.

Creative techniques suggest we are weaving a course (or an experience) together (rather than setting a time-table).

Specific examples:

Principles charades; Principles card game; Objects to symbolise session / experience; Story of Princess Bill as 5 day review.Useful things for developing creative teaching skills:

City and Guilds 7307 teaching cert. Stage 1 = 30 hours; City and Guilds 7307 teaching cert. Stage 2 = ?? hours; Cert. Education.

Notes by Steve

‘Best Session’ Session

A selection of teaching sessions that work well.

The LETS Game (Graham- adapted from a session by Mike Fiengold)

All create a table as follows, and fill in their wants and offers. Then have e.g. ten minutes to go around and make as many trades as possible with others, recording their trades by value.

After trading all explore / discuss what happened. · The exercise / experience is related back to permaculture principles, eg, that it is the number of

trading relationships (beneficial connections) that is important, not the amount of credit or debit recorded at the end.

· As game progresses, participants inevitably realise they have more to offer than they originally thought.

· Back up with “What have I got to offer?” handout (its actually useful to complete this before the game, possibly in a pair as a 5 minutes each way ‘think and listen’.)

Leaves and Think & Listen Session

1. a) a leaf (or seed, or fruit) placed under each chair randomly, or b) people choose their leaf (or seed, or fruit) from surroundings.

2. Pair up by seeing who has the same leaf, and do think and listen about self.

3. Feed back to group about what the other person said.

4. Pick one descriptive word about the person.

5. Throwing ball within the group, naming the person your throwing it to by the descriptive word.

Interactive Zones Session* (Helen)

Ideal is to have a farmstead kit e.g. blue carpet for pond, farm animal toys, string for zones, ribbon for river, toy house, orange ribbon for sun sector, etc. Set it out, bit by bit, zone 0 to zone 5, students can do, guided where to place things. Very popular and effective, breaks language barriers, can do on grass outside if short; Followed naturally by

3 Wants 3 Offers

1

2

1

2

Trading record

Windbreak Session

People can be used to ‘roleplay’ a windbreak.

Half course participants role-play elements of a wind-break, ie, trees, bushes, shrubs, etc, other half role play the wind and try to break through the windbreak. Observed that a variety of heights and forms (tall, short, arm/legs at different angles, etc) are far more effective as a barrier than all at one height.*

A Zones Session Idea

Dart board used for zoning; throw a dart and according to where it lands explain relevant aspects of zoning.

Hand Gestures, for Ethics, Attitudes and Principles (Steve)

Three fingers held over heart for ethics; Open hand with four fingers and thumb spread, and held behind and above head to indicate 5 attitudes; Arms held out to the side with open hands to indicate 10 technical design principles.

Story and Mythology As A Tool

3 Towers of a great Castle - ethics; 6 Wise women – attitude principles; 12 Knights – technical principles;

See ‘Story of Princess Bill’ session write-up for much more detail.

Visualisations

E.g. before design exercise get people to imagine the future, eg, a sustainable city in the year 2020, what would it look like, imagine you are there (good to do some way into the course so that people have plenty to work with), and then do design exercise, designing the 1st steps toward the vision.

Other examples; imagine you are a droplet of water falling through a forest. Imagine you are a tree in the forest.*(also ‘Evolutionary Remembering’ visualisation exercise by John Seed & Pat Flemming from ‘Thinking Like A Mountain’, a guided visualisation following the creation of the universe from the Big Bang, through the formation of planets, life on earth from simple organisms to fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, up to modern day humans.)

A Tale of 3 TeacupsGroupwork exercise looking at sustainability, inputs and outputs by contrasting Typhoo teabags, ‘Fairtrade’ tea and lemon balm tea (covered in more detail overleaf).

Music As PatternEg, use Gabrielle Roth’s ‘5 rhythms’ (see chapter on ‘Dancing the Wave’ in her book ‘Sweat Your Prayers’) to represent patterns. A big area for exploration …See ‘Music and Permaculture’ session notes.

Notes by Steve & Graham. Drawings by Graham from personal notes.

* Covered in more depth in ‘Teaching Permaculture Creatively’ by Skye and Robin Clayfield. Also includes a big section on visualisations, with several examples of guided visualisations.

.

A Tale of 3 Teacups- a Permaculture Teaching Excercise

This is an exercise we tried out at the Permaculture Introductory weekend we ran at Dial House in Essex last weekend with great success. It's adapted from Mike Fiengold's 'Cycles of destruction' exercise, but with a few alterations, and is intended to provoke thought and discussion around issues such as 'inputs and outputs' and the sustainability of how we currently live and consume;

Total time; @ half an hour to 50 minutes. (5 minutes explanation, 20 minutes group work time, 15-25 minutes feedback and group discussion). We slotted this session in after lunch, immediately preceded by a 5 minute 'silly' wake up/ energiser activity...

Equipment needed;

1) A box of 'Typhoo' (or similar) tea, complete with cellophane packaging. If you can find a box with some kind of gimmick (we used Typhoo 'drawstring' teabags which apparently make the tea taste much better, although it was a toss-up between that or Brook Bond 'pyramid' teabags (which also make the tea taste much better it seems...)) all the better...

2) A box of 'Fairtrade' tea bags, again with cellophane packaging intact

3) A lemon balm plant, pref. in a clay pot

4) a few loose A1 flipchart pages

5) markers or coloured crayons

Split the students into 3 groups, one group gets the Typhoo, one the Fairtrade, the other the lemon balm. Each group is asked to spend 20 minutes working as a team to consider the inputs and outputs as well as the uses and functions and any other issues regarding the particular item they have been given. Areas they might like to consider might include; packaging, marketing, labour, resource & energy inputs, cost, what happens to the waste, and so on. Each group should write down their keypoints on the flipchart paper. Stress that this exercise is not about 'guilt', and that there are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers. It’s also a good opportunity to introduce the ‘Plus, Minus, Interesting’ (PMI) thinking tool...

Bring the three groups back together and ask each to feed back in turn. Follow this with some open full group discussion on any issues raised. At the end of the session hand out the 'Industrialised cup of tea vs Permaculture cup of tea' sheet and the ‘What’s in your drink?’ table from Steve Charter’s ‘Eat More Raw’ book (see over).

As a finishing touch, the lemon balm could be planted somewhere!

Comment; Originally we were going to use only teabags vs lemon balm in order to contrast industrialised, haemoraging input/output systems with closed, self-cycling systems, but adding in the 'fairtrade' tea as well opened up a whole range of other issues and debate which became quite lively and thought-provoking, with lots of good points being made on issues such as globalisation, marketing hype, the phasing in of fairer international trading standards and so on. It certainly highlighted that there are not always easy answers!

Graham Burnett

A TALE OF TWO TEACUPS...

The Story of Princess Bill or Communicating Permaculture Ethics and Principles Through The Vehicle of Traditional Cultural Mythologies and Stories

The point of this session is that learning new ideas works well if it fits into existing frameworks within an individual’s (or culture’s) understanding – such as traditional mythologies and stories. Devin Ashwood and I started this with a guided storytelling session used as a five day review session, with everyone but us closing their eyes and relaxing. Doing this live, particularly with two teachers, and one using different accents for example, really works and is a lot of fun.

Telling the story in a very visual way, with plenty of imagery, also helps a lot of course – as does some humour.

In Europe we have a traditional mythology of castles, knights and Princesses, wise women in the forests and so on – but the story could be equally well set into a native American, aboriginal or native African or Hindu mythology for example, and so on and so forth. The possibilities are endless.

So, to get a feel for what I am talking about here's the piece from the novel I am working on called Sufficient Freedom with the essence of The Story of Princess Bill in it, though still to be worked on and completed.

It seems to me that as a Teacher you might as well just develop this as you wish.

Steve

[Setting The Scene: the main character Adam is on a ‘life change adventure’ and is at the Big Green Gathering, and has been exploring what’s on offer, including visiting the Permaculture Association tent … where he heard about some story telling that would be happening later that afternoon …]

At five to five Adam walked back into the Permaculture Field and made his way to the big white yurt … which was actually a very big and rather beautiful yurt, a good ten metres diameter he reckoned. The talk that was going on inside about permaculture in Nepal, with it’s last few very interesting and colourful looking slides was coming to an end with a good sized and very satisfied audience giving a round of applause at the end for the talk’s host …

The audience trouped out shortly after, like the animals emerging from the ark … and gradually the new audience of adults and kids took its place.

As they did so the young woman Adam had been chatting to earlier in the main marquee strolled over cheerily with a similarly cheery looking male accomplice …

All took their places in the big and beautiful yurt, and settled down for what Adam couldn’t help thinking of as a very alternative version of ‘Listen With Mother’ - which like most kids his age he’d listened to on the radio as a kid.

"So hello everyone," they said loudly, a little theatrically and in unison to start the ball rolling.

"Hello," most of the kids shouted back joyfully, with a few adults joining in enthusiastically too.

"This magical tale we are about to tell is from a little story book my friend Andy here and I have been working on. To the adults amongst you I’ll say that it’s a first attempt to translate an explanation of what permaculture is into new story-tale form … and for you children, I’ll tell you," she said bending a little and leaning down towards the kids with her eyes wide and with a big smile on her face, "it’s story of magical forests," she said with a naturally dramatic story-telling voice, "a story of great castles," she paused … "and of six wise women … and of twelve knights who travel the land … and of a rather unusual princess"

"So sit comfortably all, or lie down and relax with your eyes closed if you prefer … and let’s let the story begin … as we tell this tale let it’s spirit and wisdom seep gently and comfortably into you hearts and minds, for it is indeed a tale if wisdom, a tale until now rarely told …"

"So once upon a time, perhaps a time not so far from now, there is a wide and beautiful land that we are going to visit together … with beautiful forests … where the children play in the woods and the fields, and the adults live together happily and securely … I want you to imagine we are travelling to visit that land now, and we arrive after a mysterious journey to find ourselves looking down on that land from a nearby mountain ridge …"

"We’re looking out across the forests … seeing a river winding through the valley … with a network of streams and small lakes dotted around the landscape … there are villages down below, a little way up the valley side … and in centre stands a beautiful castle … on a small hill … with three impressive towers standing high in the skyline …"

"Now in this land … the people have lived happily for many years now … after a time before, a time that had a great and terrible effect on the people and the land … a time known as ‘The Age of Undoing’ … and through this Age of Undoing the people had eventually, through bringing on themselves hardship, sickness and great storms in the land … they had discovered the truth of their folly … their eyes opened and they new they had to find a different way … and so they looked for that new way … and in time a learned soul emerged amongst the people … one who became known as … Princess Bill!"

All the children laughed immediately at the idea of Princess Bill and most of the adults gave a grunt of amusement too.

"Now Princess Bill ... despite his silly name … was actually a very wise old man … although he could also be a bit of a crotchety old so and so sometimes … I mean, this might be a fairy-tale, but at least let’s be realistic about things, don’t you think so boys and girls?" the young woman joked as a gently serious kind of aside.

"Yeah," shouted a good number of the older, more confident kids at the obvious prompt, with some of the others not too sure about this slightly confusing question.

"Princess Bill, with many of the people of the land, had carefully and thoughtfully designed and then built the magnificent castle at the heart of the land … and they’d designed it so that it could be seen and admired from a long, long way away, in all parts of the land … And that meant it could remind the people of the land of the new way of life they were so happy living … So they’d built the castle with three great strong towers that all could see from a distance … the towers which the people knew as The Great Tower of Earth Care … The Great Tower of People Care … and The Great Tower of Fair Shares. In the castle was a great library which Princess Bill and the wise people of the land had created to house all the great knowledge that enabled the people to live successfully and happily in the land, with rich and fulfilling lives, getting all they needed from the soil, nature and the landscape, and giving the soil, nature and the landscape all that they needed in return."

At this point, there was a change in the voice, and the guy, Andy, started to tell more of the tale ...

"And in this land boys and girls," he said slowly and steadily, "there lived six wise women … and the six wise women spent much of their time travelling the lands, sharing their wisdom with the people … Each of them carried gracefully around their neck a beautifully carved wooden or stone pendent … Each pendent had been skilfully carved by great master-craftsmen … with a very special image at its heart to symbolise the wisdom that the pendent carried with it and with its wearer at all times … And each central symbol was also surrounded by smaller versions of the symbols of each of their five wise sisters … all showing themselves to be connected by a beautifully carved interwoven pattern …"

"The first wise woman would go out to the villages and smaller groups of houses in the land, and she would attend gatherings in the largest towns in the land, and she would say to the people …" And now the young woman stepped forward again, using the voice of a wise woman this time, "‘My dear friends, I carry with me the pendent of Working With Nature. This reminds us all that nature is our greatest teacher … Nature, she that knows so much more than all of us combined, even with all the knowledge in our great library in the Castle. She knows how to create a perfect tree, a perfect flower and a perfect bee … every time. She knows how to make the water flow and fall, and cycle from land to see and back again, giving life to all that meet her. She knows more than we can imagine. So if we Work With Nature my friends, and not against her, we will be truly be provided with abundance, beauty and joy. Remember this wisdom and Work With Nature good people. I wish you well.’"

Andy stepped forward again … "And the second wise woman would also travel the land and share her wisdom with the people," and then he retreated again. "I bring my friends and companions the wisdom that I am so fortunate to carry for our people… This is the wisdom that if we Harvest Only Sunshine we shall indeed live long and happy lives as the people of this land, with the land, sun and air providing all we need and more. We need energy to live our lives and to provide for ourselves and through the vast powers of nature, if we understand how to work with her energies, she provides abundantly for us. If we work with nature and follow her example, we will return all the resources we harvest to the earth, so that we maintain the fertility and abundance of that earth and the diversity of nature she brings forth. What we receive we must give back equally, in this way we will Harvest the Sunshine of happiness and contentment, as well as all we need for our food, materials and fuels. Remember this wisdom and Harvest Only Sunshine good people. I wish you well.’"

"And the third wise woman shared her wisdom across the land."

"’I bring you my friends the wisdom of the pendent that teaches us that The Problem Is The Solution. If we explore and understand the true deeper nature of the problem, then this is the wise route to uncovering a good and long lasting solution. A problem is an opportunity to learn, and can equally be called a creative situation to face. If we face our problems and relish the chance to turn them to solutions then life gets better. So do not burden yourself with a heavy attitude to problems, instead recognise the many opportunities we have to continually refine and improve our lives, and the land we live in. So remember this wisdom good people, that The Problem Is The Solution. I wish you well.’"

Once more the guy Andy stepped forward briefly, smiling gently "And as her wise sisters did, the fourth wise woman also spread her wisdom with joy across the land."

"’I bring you my friends the wisdom of the pendent that teaches us that More or Better Is Always Possible … The possibilities are limited only by your imagination, your creativity and the depth of your intentions and purpose in what you do. My friends, we can always make some change, whether it be small or large, that will bring us a little more … perhaps in terms of a harvest of food or fuel, or beauty, or shelter, or learning or whatever it may be, or even of several of these things together. We can also always seek to increase the quality of things. Both quality and quantity always have the potential to be increased by the creativity of our thinking, and the actions we take. So remember this wisdom good people, that More or Better Is Always Possible. I wish you well.’"

"And the fifth wise woman carried her pendent with pleasure and purpose across the land, meeting so many on her travels, glad of her work."

"’I bring this wisdom that is symbolised within the heart of this pendent, and at the edge of the five pendents of my sisters. Understand that Everything Gardens, to create a home that suits itself, whether it be the grand and majestic oak, the wriggling worm, or the dashing deer of the forest. All of nature works both for itself and with others to create a harmony of elements that is a good home for all. Work with others to achieve more than you can alone. All things have an effect in the world, and if we work with those effects we can create greater harmony and productivity. So remember this wisdom good people, know that Everything Gardens to make its own home and always has effects in the world. I wish you well.’"

"And the sixth of the wise woman brought her pendent to the people, with particular awareness of the wisdom her five sisters also carried and shared."

"’My friends, this pendent brings us the wisdom that if we seek to Make Small Changes for Greater Effects we will achieve more from less. By understanding her flows, patterns and energies, we can work with nature making small adjustments that have a greater effect, smaller additions of work or fertility that will bring us a greater increase in our harvest. If we harvest sunshine and understand how everything gardens around us, if we always seek solutions amd understand there is no limit to the creative potential of the earth and its people, then in we can always make small changes that will have greater effects. So remember this wisdom good people, seek to Make Small Changes for Greater Effects. I wish you well.’"

And there were twelve strong knights … each carrying their magical light-giving crystals of knowledge … and because it was a land of peace the knights had laid down their swords in the castle, and instead carried with them beautifully made, glistening silver hand-scythes, each with their magical light-giving crystal embedded in the ornate but simple handles of these symbolic yet still useful tools"

Relative Location

Multi-function

Multi-Supply

Efficient energy planning

Energy cycling

Biological resources

The edge effect

Stacking in Space and Time

Small Scale Intensive Systems

Start at your backdoor and work out on a controlled front.

Appropriate technology and economy.

Accelerated succession

etc

After the powerful effect that the permaculture story had on Adam, the rest of the afternoon rolled by into the early evening … and then into the Saturday night of the festival … the balmy blackness of a warm summers night enveloped the crowds, the tents and the hills beyond …

[I have told this story twice more since the first time with Devin, with more detail that is still to be written up i.e. the knights part of the story (which I do with accents from around the world e.g. a Rasta accent for biological resources because ‘we love dem plaaaaants maaan!’, and French for ‘a little bit of stacking’, German for energy efficient planning, etc.) is also to be written, and also bits about the land being full of forest gardens, and eco-houses, small communities, with food growing closer to the houses, and then this food growing merging into forest further away from the houses, children playing and learning with the adults, wind turbines and rivers and streams with a network of pond systems, and so on and so forth.].

Using Music to Teach Permaculture- Keypoints

Mindmap by Aranya

Permaculture and Health

Open session exploring the extent to which ‘we’ the permaculture community are addressing health:

a) in-line with the ethics and principles of permaculture - as a key aspect of people care;

b) in-line with the principles of permaculture;

c) as an issue for action learning.

Exploring:

· The extent to which teachers are addressing health in courses; and the extent to which permaculture in general is addressing health;

· Seeking of natural health thru Pc for earth care, people care (web of suffering) and fair shares;

· Seeking health by working with nature, etc. – what does that mean? E.g. Max benefits with minimum unnatural interventions;

· The potentially touchy subject of the unhealthy image of many of us permaculture folk; there are many levels of ‘self-care’ – what place does health have, and personal choice?

· Input from Dr’s Sophie, Heggy, etc.

· See: ‘Designing for human health’ section in teachers handbook;

· The Permaculture Health Care Project?

Helen and Steve to shape and facilitate a session at the NetTogether.

Notes/proposal by Steve Charter

Permaculture Diploma Action Learning Set- Anita and Wim

We used the opportunity at Dial House to have an Action Learning Set. Action Learning Sets are strongly recommended by the Permaculture Association as a way for those who are working towards their Diplomas (and anyone else) to support each other. Usually they will take place with a group who are 'local', but we are also encouraged to 'do' them whenever we get the opportunity. (For more information about Action Learn-ing see the Diploma handbook).

Wim and I were the only two present, but decided to go ahead anyway. It was a good chance to have a fairly long time each, to think and talk about how we were getting on along our Diploma pathways. Both of us work in fairly isolated situations. Wim is one of very few people in Belgium actively working with Permac-ulture. Similarly, I work in Scotland, where active and networked Permaculture people are few and far be-tween - although I have the advantage of being connected to 3 others in Scotland who are also committed to doing the diploma - we meet regularly to do action learning sets. Each of us used the four questions, as rec-ommended in the diploma handbook.

- What is going well?- What is difficult?- What are your long/medium term goals?- What are your next achievable steps?

We had half an hour each and, rather than just speaking we bent the rules and discussed some of the issues that came up. For me this was really useful, and made the session more satisfying than some other action learning sets I have done.

Many of the issues that came up were more around the 'other stuff' that we were dealing with in life than the content of the diploma itself. Balance and achievable goals seemed important. It seemed that we were both inspired by the event and looking forward to taking a whole load of useful stuffhome.

NB - in my contact with Wim since the event, it seems that things are moving forward more productively for both of us.

- Notes by Anita

Event FeedbackExtracted from plenary sessions plus also from verbal comments given to Graham and Ron both during and after the event.

What went well?· Inspiring!· Great people!· Great venue!· Relaxing/ de-stressing atmosphere· Great food· Great party· Late night chats around the fire pit· Gee’s hospitality and help· Rare chance for permaculture teachers to gather· Lots of fruitful sessions· Chris’ Nepali slide show and songs· Graham & Ron’s compost bog video· Moving forward Aranya’s CD project· Bill Hicks video· Steve Ignorant’s dog· Lots of creative ‘edge’· Looby & Chris’ cranberry wine· Self-organising; Anarchy in action!· Lots of experience and knowledge shared and lessons learned· The experiment was a success!· Lots and lots and lots of other positives...

What could have been done differently?· Some people who arrived later were frustrated that the agenda had been set by the people who were

there at the start and all the available session slots appeared to be booked by the time they arrived.· More attention could be paid to welcoming late comers, also making sure that we are inclusive, ie being

careful regarding use of ‘jargon’ and ‘permaculture speak’ around ‘non-Pc’ people, checking out how others are feeling, offering support (if appropriate), etc. General attention to ‘peoplecare’.

· More clarity needed re ‘boundaries’, eg, what parts of the house or garden are off limits (personal space of inhabitants, etc), where it’s OK to put up tents, what firewood can be used and where is sit stored, etc.

· Greater clarity and organisation around issues such as hygiene, washing, bathing, washing up, etc. OK for weekend courses (our past experience), but this was a longer event and there were more people to think about. Particular issues for women re. Disposal of sanitary towels, etc.

Long term vision?· Ongoing development of Dial House as a sustainable space for creativity, learning and refuge, including

development of outdoor bathing/ shower facilities, earth oven.· More courses, gatherings and events and cross-cultural fusions and pollination, learning from every

event and getting better each time...· Learning that ‘There Is No Authority But Yourself!’

Next achievable steps?· Documentation- write up reports and create web site from the event. Feedback of proposals to

Permaculture Association/wider Pc teaching/learning community.· Graham & family staying at Dial House in July to simply chill and hang out rather than ‘working’. Chat

to Gee and Penny for their thoughts and inputs re this event.· Create a map of Dial House garden, eg, pointing out where firewood is stored, where camping is OK or

not, where meeting spaces are, etc.· Prepare a ‘welcome’/information pack in conjunction with Penny & Gee. P & G to visit Ron & Graham

in Southend to discuss.