[Pil-pc-oceania] Pil-pc-oceania Digest, Vol 5, Issue 20 Russ'es article

[Janet Millington]

Hi Russ,
Some timely thinking there and well articulated for the rest of us to get
our collective head around.

Just 2 points from me.

One.
You ask if community gardens are the main place where permaculture is being
done....
Well speaking from up here.  We would have a very minor permaculture
presence if it were just done at our few community gardens.

That is not to diminish their significance, it is huge but there is 200
times more work ....maybe 1000 times more permaculture done on private
land....and yes many, many of the practitioners heard and learned about
permaculture at their community garden.  Here they are a hub of information,
training and networking for permaculture and there would be no community
gardens without them being permaculture.

So here I would have to say the reverse is true ....that community gardens
ONLY happen on permaculture sites.

We are thoroughly across the organic movement and slow food and into schools
at our gardens and in permaculture.

If we tried to separate Permaculture and Community Gardens here both would
suffer immensely.  I am aware that in some cities that some community
gardens try to "sanitise" their work by keeping the word Permaculture
unspoken.  I have seen a few of these and am really glad they don't use the
word permaculture until they use some permaculture principles in the design.
I am sure the ethics are there but I am so glad that the word is not used
till they use and demonstrate the principles.

Really to me there is no time to tip toe around the sensibilities of people
and past perceptions of what permaculture may have been in its early and
proudly radical infancy.  We now have the runs on the board and we need to
sing the praises of those founders and pioneers who have shown the way to a
planned future that is fair to all.  And we need to strut our stuff with the
decision makers.

I so look forward to the national conference in Sydney next year where the
most dynamic and fast growing permaculture group in Australia at this time
leads us to an even higher degree of effectiveness.

The other point is about where to from here with Climate Change and Peak
Oil....speaking from here I can say....no decisions necessary.  We have
spent 13 years chipping away and running courses and speaking at shows and 
Meeting with councils and networking with ethical and sustainable businesses
and working in schools and designing properties and travelling and bringing
back ideas to the coast and putting out media releases and talking on radio
and helping new groups start and then learning from them and promoting and
supporting our activists....that now they are coming to us for help and
guidance..."Oh dear, what a surprise, human activity is having an effect on
the planet and things are changing that will affect me and my children and
my real estate values....Oh dear whatever can I do?????"  No one else around
here has 25 year old demonstration sites and people with 10 to 20 years'
experience in sustainable solutions in this region and in all the other
climates of the world.


Now we spend more time delivering information and support and setting up
local networks instead of chasing people to let them know we have solutions.

No decision necessary...we had the dots in place now we just watch them join
up....it is a beautiful thing...to have designed well and to watch the
system as it functions just exactly as planned.

Doesn't mean there isn't a lot of work we are really very busy, but somehow
it is easier and so very rewarding.  No burn out here unless you mistake
firing up as burning out.

Regards
Janet