You might associate the word permaculture with gardening— and you’d be right, but only partially right. Because the ethics and design principles that form the foundation of permaculture aren’t so much about how to garden; they are more about how to think about how you garden.
The West Boundary Food and Resources Society held a Permaculture 101 workshop at the Rock Creek Health Clinic on July 26. A dozen people came to hear Permaculture design consultant Allisa Bennett from Kelowna.
A handout she passed out mentioned a website (permacultureprinciples.com); and that website says permaculture “guides us to mimic the patterns and relationships we can find in nature and can be applied to all aspects of human habitation, from agriculture to ecological building, from appropriate technology to education and even economics.”
Permaculture, it seems, is more than just something you encounter in your garden.
Bennett told those attending that the ethics that underlie the philosophy of permaculture design are earth care, people care and fair share.
“If you bring those into your daily meditation, I guarantee you it will move toward a more sustainable way of being on the earth,” said Bennett.
Over the course of an hour and a half the room heard her well-informed discourse as she added detailing to the ethics and principles.
She recommended that planning for a site should be done only after carefully studying the site, that it should be a long-term, multi-generational plan and that it be done in detail, and very importantly, on paper.
FAR funded the workshop with the ‘Seed to Table—Passing on the Knowledge” New Horizons for Seniors Grant.
You can follow Bennett on Facebook—Allisa C. Bennett. The West Boundary Food and Resources Society is also on Facebook—FAR Society.
The workshop was recorded on video. For information on accessing a copy, contact Erika Tafel at 250-528-1000.