Awareness of Nature

When you REALLY start paying attention to nature, you see some of the most extraordinary things…

Two Successful Weeklong Certification Courses with a Twist

Our work over the last month has been invigorating, challenging, and fun. During two Permaculture Design Certification Courses, we have learned so much about who we are and who you are. Here is a clip from an email I recently sent to a friend and collaborator: “The world is definitely changing. I’m just so wrapped up in this beautiful unfolding story. We’re riding the most beautiful wave to sweep through this ocean maybe ever.”

As we all know, the collapse of the auto industry in Michigan has been a major blow to not only the national and global economy, but to our personal sense of security – physical, mental, and emotional. The first course we ran in Michigan was powerful: there was a sense of reality that was inescapable. The basic sentiment could be characterized like this: THINGS HAVE CHANGED. THEY ARE NOT GOING BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM. WE HAVE TO MOVE FORWARD. PERMACULTURE IS A MAJOR PART OF THAT CHANGE. LET’S DO THIS.

We finished a second course in Minnesota on Saturday. For me, in my own experience, the power of this experience came down to our being blessed with a great team of strongback “team leaders” – or assistants to the team of instructors (Mark Shepard, Katie and myself). We now had the opportunity to pull together the ropes and threads of a “leadership in permaculture” curriculum that ran behind the scenes of the standard Permaculture Design Certification course (PDC) curriculum all week. We played with this during the first course, and were met with great success. The turn out for this second course allowed us to take it to the next level.

For me, the major message is that the world is changing, and that if the the skills and sensibilities so important for the emerging regenerative paradigm are to be conveyed, the path towards leadership must be an integral aspect of everything we do. Perhaps most significantly, this has everything to do with whether the work of regenerative design and living gets carried into the next generation. It also has everything to do with how effective we are in accomplishing the work and moving forward with purpose, unity, and meaning.

Stay tuned into our website and newsletters for upcoming courses, events, and opportunities to design, work, learn, and play with us!

Webinars and Fall Check-in

We had a great series of webinars this week, getting us ready for the Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) course starting on Saturday. I’ve got a moment to come up for air right now, so I thought I’d check in on the blog. Hope everyone is doing well and the Fall is finding you excellently. This is the time of year when people around the world celebrate the harvest and the return of their ancestors to the Earth (as in Halloween, and Dia de los Muertos). I am just thankful to be alive and to have good work to do on a day to day basis. Wishing you all a very happy fall! Reach out and harvest the fruits of your labor and remember to celebrate with those you love!

Radio Interview with Master Permaculturist Mark Shepard

Check out this link to a Wiconsin Public Radio interview with master permaculture designer, teacher, and agroforester Mark Shepard! Totally worth listening to – Mark introduces permaculture and shares his vision for “permaculturizing” our food system! Mark will be the certifying instructor for our upcoming Permaculture Design Certification course, and we will be hosting him for two live webinars on Sept 28 and 30!

Why “Sustainable” Solutions Almost Never Work

From an email conversation with a planner: “As a regenerative designer, I know that there is a hazard inherent in separating, for example, ‘rural’ from ‘urban’ and ‘conservation’ from ‘industrial’ or ‘residential’, as much as there is in separating ‘people’ from ‘nature’ … Part of the reason we can’t identify ‘the solution’, is that we’re not looking at ‘the problem’ through a whole systems lens. As soon as we can loosen our attachments to our concepts – concepts such as “rural” or “urban”, we might just be able to glimpse a comprehensive solution for once in the history of mankind. I know that this is possible because this is the framework I work in, but I also understand that it may be a new concept for some…

“The modern ‘sustainability’ movement has not been as transformative as it could be for one major reason: we are attached to the perception of elements in our systems (economic, cultural, or ecological) as ‘separate’, and ‘unrelated’, or ‘individual’. The big news is: nature does not work that way. We apply this framework, albeit unconsciously, to our ‘sustainable solutions’, which, by nature, need to be integrated and multidisciplinary, and all too often, we fall short of the mark…

“The nice thing about permaculture, when it is presented by knowledgeable and experienced practitioners, is that it gives us tools to access the patterns behind the systems that cause them to suddenly start to make sense from a whole systems design perspective. As regenerative designers and permaculturists, we like to say that we design ‘from the patterns to the details’. This seemingly innocuous statement actually holds great power.

“Designing from the patterns to the details has us starting from the point of view of connectedness in all of our sustainable design work, and only once that context is established to the fullest of our ability, breaking each system down into components, elements, and projects. We do not leave out the details, we merely make sure that they are worked out in context of the whole. In this way, city design, community design, business design, farm design all fit into a whole picture. This is where we need to start if we are going to generate truly sustainable culture, settlements, and economies on the planet…”

Check out our upcoming webinars on September 28th and 30th by clicking here, or enroll for our upcoming Permaculture Design Certification course here! You can take your place in redesigning our world for regeneration!

$$$ for Feces

I just had to post this here. This is too cool. I’ve been working a lot on financial permaculture – the question of: how can we use the economic and political system to help us build a bridge to a super abundant future, characterized by equity, prosperity, and fair trade? This, my friends, is the coup de grace for regenerative finance – in addition to creating amazing opportunities for people, earth, and economy it gives us the fodder we need for a whole new genre of “bathroom humor”! What could be more perfect! Do the world a good turn, build a composting toilet in your front yard and set up a pay-per-poop station! The scary part is that I’m only half joking…

Bird Language

We just adopted an orphaned cat. Over the course of a couplte weeks, we nursed it back to health with chamomile wash for a wounded eye, a nice comfrey, calendula, and plantain salve for some puncture wounds it carried, some thyme-infused oil for mange, and a pennyroyal wash for fleas. It’s rebounded completely and is fattening up by the day. I’m amazed to see how the birds in our yard have reacted to its being around. I notice that the jays have come in in with a force they haven’t displayed since our last cat died. Now, there are there are at least three jays that are on patrol in the yard all the time. Particularly when the cat is in the yard, they are watching it out of a cocked eye, even though it may be half the yard away. They seem to have a system worked out, where they can almost triangulate its location between the three of them. They use this low whistle call when they first locate it, as if dropping their voices and whistling will allow them to evade any other alarm systems of the forest.

The robins are also spending a lot more time in the trees, since the cat has gotten its strength. As I sit inside at the computer typing, I often wonder where the cat has gotten to. I just have to listen for a moment or two. The sentries in the yard will always give away its movements within a short period of listening: jays, robins, and chipmunks – they all have their own way of saying it: I don’t really trust this little bugger! Keep an eye on him, will ya?

If you’re interested in learning Bird Language, the secret art of tracking, to a high level, enroll in the Art of Tracking or any one of our permaculture or nature connection trainings. This is a core practice in our bundle of nature awareness and nature connection education! And, of course, keep us updated on what you’re learning about the patterns of nature and the language of the birds!

Aloha,

NRM

Back from A2 Wilson Talk

In Ann Arbor, it was so good to see so many eager people ready to think about and engage with regeneration in their community! I just really want to thank Bill Wilson (www.midwestpermaculture.com) for his presentation and all the passion and energy he puts into his work. I want to thank Claire Maitre, who has held so much of the psychic energy around creating a space for this work to take root in Southeast Michigan. And, all the others behind the scenes who created that experience last night. For me, it was a total breath of fresh air and a message: it’s happening. The world is changing rapidly – for the better. Our children will have a powerfully and positively reinvented world passed to them where they will be able to play and do their work. Yes!!!!!! Good, good, good, good, good!!!

Aloha,

NRM

Week with Bill Wilson

We’re off today to begin a week of visits to four different cities in SE Michigan. In order: Ann Arbor (today), Detroit (tomorrow), Flint (Thursday), Ypsilanti (Friday). Bill Wilson, founder of Midwest Permaculture, will be doing tours for clients, and giving talks in the evenings. SE Michigan Permaculture Guild is hosting. They are doing good work. I wish them the best. A major part of why we’ll be going out is to support their work. In order to really do the work that needs to be done, we have to learn to work together, and that means, in a large part SHOWING UP for each other. I’m looking forward to spending some time with Bill, meeting some interested people in the area, and doing some of our own networking and marketing. I just finished a flier that features all of our courses and services and set up PayPal on our website. I’d love to see the courses we’ve got coming up do something for catching and directing the energy that Bill’s going to generate over the next four days. This, too, will require a team approach to getting the work done. If we can use team Aikido to really funnel that energy and make the change effective, we’ll be in great shape!

If you’re in the area, join us. The information you need is here.

Aloha,

NRM

From Rumi – translated by Coleman Barks

If we’re not together in the heart,
what’s the point? When body and soul

aren’t dancing, there’s no pleasure
in colorful clothing. Why have

cooking pans when there’s no food in
the house? In this world full of

fresh bread, amber, and musk, so many
different fragrances, what are they

to someone who has no sense of smell?
If you stay away from the fire, you’ll

be sour, doughy, numb, and raw. You
may have lovely, just baked loaves

around you, but those friends cannot
help. You have to feel oven fire.