An affront to my soul!

In the sunny blue day that was, I practically hopped and skipped to Valentines Park in pursuit of my hometown's first ever Farmer's Market. Being totally prepared, I had a backpack with me to stuff all the locally-grown veggies I was going to buy into.

I should have known something was up when the park seemed a little quiet - no throbbing mass of shoppers .. instead I saw a paltry three stalls and none of them were selling fruit or veg! One was selling hot sausages (not very useful if you're not a pork sausage eater). One was selling bread that came from 30 miles away and the other stall was selling nuts and olives and the seller couldn't tell me anything about how they were grown/ were they organic etc. It was an affront to my soul!! Especially as I'd been in touch with the organisers asking if they wanted any voluntary help (my excuse for befriending local people in the green-foodie scene) and they said they had it all wrapped up. I was totally shellshocked!!! After the wonderful Farmer's Markets of California where street parties happen around the selling and the store holders can tell you all about their farm and their produce and there are veggies aplenty - this was insane !!!!!!!!!!!

I still feel very cut off from food here and am counting the days until I get my organic box delivery. Tomorrow, I may hit the forest in the quest for some local blackberries. Haven't picked them in my hometown area since I was a kid!

I want to find my tribe on my doorstep and I'm not quite sure where to look ...

Summer wrap up

So .. I'm sitting in London and wondering whether the impetus will be the same to write about everything in past tense. However, for the sake of chronicling the last few weeks of my trip, I'll type away ..

After I left the island, I spent a rainy two days in Vancouver and a sunnier weekend in Toronto catching up with friends I'd not seen in many years. Verdict: it felt like a few weeks since the last get-together, not 8-10 years and everyone was doing great.

Then, I had around 12 hours of overground travel to New Jersey and found myself in the coccooned walls of suburbia. It was a somewhat hard transition to make as my freewheeling, independent, crunchy-granola self had little room to stretch and breathe. Suddenly, I was living in a place where without a car there was not much to do apart from stroll around the hotel parking lot - and the waste I saw in the hotel was quite a shock: cleaning staff who'd run a dishwasher with one item in it, clean towels every day, disposable everything. It was also the first time all summer I was away from folks who grew the food I was eating or had a strong relationship to local/ organic food. So, there was a yearning to return to the wholesome life.

Anyway, my reason for being in NJ was a very nice one - my brother's wedding. I was totally excited in the morning - the waitress in the hotel caught me doing a barefooted twirl in the corridor! The party and ceremony were lovely and I look forward to reliving it all on dvd - the food was yummy-licious and the speeches were warm, funny, poignant and from the heart. What more can one ask for!

So, now I'm back and around 80 per cent unpacked. The final act of unpacking means it's over, finito. What can I put my teeth into now? Where do I want to focus my energies? Can I live life at the level I want to from this little spot of ground I'm at now? What shifted for me over the summer???

I've decided that I will carry on blogging when I have things of environmental interest to add. I want to be local (a big permaculture principle) and see what's on my turf while I'm geographically here. I want to get my hands in the earth again. I want my practical learning to continue. I want to take some time to be an activist about the things I care about, whether that's writing letters, signing petitions, sending charity money to the causes that whisper and shout to me. I want my own life to be sustainable. I want a relationship with the land, the weather, my community, my food. I want to grow herbs, to live consciously, to read the Omnivore's Dilemna, to go to the Hazon food conference in December, to learn.. learn .. learn ... to be a SLOW food groupie, to one day grow my own veggies. To have another amazing West Coast experience soon. I have faith it will all happen. Watch this space !

the nature of love ...

If you want to read a candid and conscious love story, do I have a recommendation for you !!! "The Unimagineable Life" is co-written by Kenny and Julia Loggins (you may have heard of Kenny as he's a famous musician). The book is a sharing of their journal entries, love letters, poems and reflections since they met as friends, then became lovers, partners and parents. They are both fabulous writers and are very naked with their souls and their truths. The book comes highly endorsed by the likes of Deepak Chopra, Julia Cameron, Marianne Williamson, Jack Canfield and Neale Donald Walsh. I mentioned this book as i wanted to share some quotes!!

"What is relationship? Isn't it something like two people sparking each other into their higher selves - or rather reminding each other of who they are - assisting each other on their path"
"What's a soulmate? the one you were born to love. The one person whose love is powerful enough to motivate you to meet your soul, to do the emotional work of self discovery, of awakening."

This book came my way at a very synchronistic time! I'd just seen the mystic on the boat (more about her in another entry) and the very first thing she told me was that my spiritual path is going to be through love ...

Victoria's Dirty Secret

Since my last blog post, I had the good fortune to listen to a lady called Tzeporah Berman who is an amazing activist on behalf of the trees and forests of the world. She founded her own organisation, Forest Ethics and has also worked for Amnesty on tree-related things and is on the board at Hollyhock. She is one of Cortes island's 900 residents. It's amazing how so many influential people are on one wee bit of land. Proof that you don't need to be in a big city to move and shake the world.

Her organisation has saved around 7 milion acres of ancient forest in Canada and Chile. Through finding out who the logging companies are selling to, she is able to then go in at the corporate level and persuade newspapers, stationery suppliers and other large consumers of wood to source more ethically. To date, she's had huge success with Staples and Home Depot among others. Forest Ethics is currently campaigning against Victoria's Secret www.victoriasdirtysecret.net, who are using ancient forest to make their catalogues - many of which arrive on people's doorsteps as unwanted direct marketing. I say, get incensed now and write Victoria's Secret a letter and pass this info on far and wide!! Activism can make a difference.

Tzeporah had some stark statistics for us .. by 2020, we'll have only 50 per cent of the amount of fresh drinking water available to us now. Time to get water conscious! I've started turning the shower off while I shampoo. What can you do to be more water resourceful?? And global warming is expected to create 150 million climatic refugees by 2020 - compared to 30 million or so at present. To get this into perspective, Hurricane Katrina created 1 million climatic refugees.

So please everyone, get savvy about sustainability and support groups like Forest Ethics, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace. Write letters, sign petitions, give charity money to organisations supporting green causes, hold corporations accountable for their actions, invest in alternative energy. There are all sorts of solutions. Complacency is not one of them. www.victoriasdirtysecret.net

Dr Andrew Weil

Yay!! I get to meet the author of "Eight Weeks To Optimum Health" twice in two days. This book is something of a bible to me. The principles of his programme are now ingrained in my lifestyle. What I love about the book is that the regimen is simple, holistic and anyone can do it. I truly believe that by adopting the habits in the book, lives can be improved and even saved.

Dr Andrew or "Andy" as he's known on the island gave a talk here on Fri eve. He came across wonderfully as a human being. Someone asked him how it feels to be "a brand" and he explained that he only did this as he needed an income stream for his university research into integrated health - as the state funding wasn't enough for everything he wanted to accomplish. All the profits from his vitamins, health bars etc go to the Intergrated Health centre at the Uni of Arizona. Last year, he brought in $4.5 million through his brand. For those unfamiliar with the term integrated health - it's about getting the best of complementary and western medicine to work side by side. Preventative medicine, mind-body connection, good bedside manner, making hospitals into nurturing/ wholesome environments, alternative therapies, healing by nutrition etc are all part of this. Dr Weil started his med career at Harvard (which I believe also has an integrated health dept). He is a total pioneer!

I asked him whether he got evangelical about his work - as I know that when I see people who are not looking after themselves physically or emotionally I want to bop them over the head with his book and wake them up. Yet, good manners prevents me from doing so! He said that his evangelism is directed in a different place. He wants society to make it easier for people to be healthy - by lowering prices of fruit and veg, raising prices of junk food, making exercise options more affordable and accessible with cycle paths/ walking trails/ cheap gyms and so forth and by pumping more money into preventative medicine programmes to educate more people about healthy diets and habits...

My second Andy encounter was today, when he was in front of me in the line for the ATM. We exchanged good morning pleasanteries. Swoon !!!!! Wish I'd bought my book to Canada for signing. Now, had I known ....

Very sad news ..

Sad news. The second death of the summer. This one unexpected and tragic. My brother's future brother-in-law (ie - his fiancee's brother) aged 24 died on Friday. I think the circumstances were similar to my uncle's death - in that the family heard a large thump, went to investigate and found Eric dead on the floor from a heart attack. The funeral was yesterday.

I met Eric last autumn when he came to the UK for the engagement party and his first trip to London. He loved being a tourist and went to the London Eye and goodness knows how many other touristy spots and was full of warmth, cheer and chat. Definitely a character! He was at medical school and wanted to be the kind of doctor or psychiatrist who really helped people.

My brother said that Eric was busy planning the bachelor party for him and was really looking forward to the wedding. Very, very sad news. I can't quite believe it and it seems so unfair, both for Eric who had so much to look forward to and for his poor family. In my mind he is still so alive .. I can't quite believe he won't be physically with us at future family gatherings.

One of the other volunteers here said "Death reminds you to live." Tragedy certainly puts everything into perspective and lets the pettiness and the unimportant things in life fall away to insignificance.

If you would like to do something kind or lovely in Eric's memory, that will be very sweet. Thank you.

permaculture - using water rsourcefully and respectfully

I've been meaning and meaning and meaning since June 25 or so to write up the last bit of my permaculture course. And here we are .. WATER .. as we, as humans, are 70 per cent water - taking care of the limited water on our planet and ensuring that we use our resources well is so important..

The average American uses 100 gallons of water per day - of which only 2 gallons is used for drinking. Half of all water used in suburban areas goes into watering gardens. Where I am now, on Cortes Island, there are signs up saying that every flush uses 6 gallons of water. Baths, washing machines, dishwashers etc also take a lot of water.

There are three ways we can be more mindful. The first is to recycle our used water, so that it becomes a resource, rather than a waste product.

RECYCLING WATER

Have you heard of the term greywater before? This is used water that's not too dirty to re-use - such as the water from bathroom sinks, showers, baths, washing machine and so on - with some rechannelling this can be used for washing cars, watering plants and so on. This changes it from being waste water to a resource. In Australia, which has been in a drought for several years, it is illegal NOT to have a grey water system in your home.

Black water refers to the water from kitchen sinks and dishwashers (which would contain foodscraps) and toilet water. Through innovative systems such as the Living Machine at Esalen this water can go through some fairly natural filter processes, to zap the bacteria, so it is good enough for irrigation.

The second way is to capture rainwater, which would otherwise run into drains and end up as a lost resource in the sewer system.

RAINWATER HARVESTING

Another great way to conserve resources is to catch the rainwater that falls onto the roof and channel it into a tank. If you're interested in rainwater harvesting, here are some factors to take into account:

RAINWATER - what's the max of rainwater that falls in a day? What sort of seasonal rainfall patterns are there? Is the water drinkable? Is acid rain a problem where you live?

ROOF - is the material something you would want to drink from? Asphalt and tar roofs will contain petroleum. PVC, vinyl and plastic are also toxic, especially when hit by the sun. Commercially bought woods or canvases with fire retardant are also toxic as is concrete that contains fly ash. If the roof has old paint containing lead, that's also toxic. You'll be wanting a roof made from these materials to rainwater harvest:
1 - Slate (if it's local to your region)
2 - Tile (although some algae will form in it)
3 - Baked enamel
4 - Painted steel
Although they are non-toxic, living roofs are not good for rain harvesting as the plants will soak up too much of the rain.

You'll also want to have mesh over the gutters to filtrate the water and keep leaves and debris out of it.

A house with a 1000ft square area will capture 600 gallons of water on its roof for every inch of rain. California has 30 inches per year which would provide 18,000 gallons.

The average suburban American uses 36,500 gallons per year (100 gallons per day). When rainwater harvesting, we become more respectful and resourceful about how we use our water.

The third way to conserve water (and this may seem radical to some) is to minimise the amount of water needed to carry our pee and poop into the sewage system.

Urine in the morning is 18% nitrogen, which is wonderful for plants. There is also the "mellow yellow" practise of letting the toilet bowl fill with urine and only flushing when it gets stinky or when there's a number two coming in. Six gallons for every flush is a waste of a lot of precious water - especially when our pee could be making the plants happy!! For advanced practitioners of sewage consciousness, there is the humanure system for poop - whereby you dig yourself a hole in the ground - put earth/ seaweed/ sawdust etc on top of your doings and when the hole becomes full, you seal it up and move your toilet elsewhere. After 2 years, the material has composted sufficiently for use on non-edible plants.

MISCELLANEOUS WATER THINGS ..

1 - Plastic paddling pools are also toxic, unless made out of HDPE plastic.
2 - If you want to minimise mosquitos in your garden pond, put a fountain in - as this will keep the water moving, rather than stagnant

Dreamy day off

Yesterday morning I woke up and thought it would be really nice to befriend a local with a boat who'd take me sailing. Nothing like the power of intention as it actually happened!!

I asked someone who I knew liked boats where would be a good place to put a sign up requesting a ride on a boat. He said, "Hey, I'm going sailing in 5 mins with another friend - come with!!" So, I did!

We hitched to the dock, took a speedboat out to the real boat and three of us had an enchanted afternoon. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, the sea was glassy and the boat was white (sorry about the postcard cliches). We sailed around some of the Gulf Islands and the scenery was so pristine. We anchored by a bay with clear, emerald water and whiled away many hours skinnydipping on our secluded beach and sunning ourselves on the rocks of our deserted island.

Quote of the day:

Me: "I've never been naked in a speedboat before"
Reply: "Then you've not been having enough fun!!"

Free Store

On the island, there is a store with the following sign "shoplifting is encouraged". It's the Cortes Island Free Store, located next to the recycle centre. It runs like a thrift store, in that you take your unwanted goodies there for others. However, as a customer - you don't pay for anything - you just take!!

I donated one of my sweaters on Saturday and on Monday spotted another islander wearing it. Delighted it has a good, new home! I came out of there with one cardie, one basket and one book. Very excited about dumping my unwanted goodies there at the end of the summer.

getting buff

Yikes! I'm gonna be buff by the time I'm done here! The day began with a 90 min fairly hardcore yoga/ pilates class in the sun and then 8 hours of clearing brush/ growth/ weeds from trails. Am exhausted in a pleasant way! Was chatting permaculture while pulling out weeds with someone else who's also done a course - was good to be able to band around sentences like "unknown good benefit" and have someone who understands the lingo.

Am reading such a cool book "Superbia" - all about how to make the suburbs superb by making them sustainable and community-oriented - in short how to change an anonynous/ isolated/ car-dominated landscape into an eco-village. Am loving this book! As I was saying to my weed-pulling buddy - there are so many amazing tools to make this world a better place - it's just a case of getting out there and spreading them.

Island life is pretty good - went for my first swim in the ocean yesterday after an 8 hour shift in the kitchen. The shifts may be long, but it is only a 4-day week. Have my first day off tomorrow. Am super-excited! Will be kicking off with a pre-breakfast kayak trip at 6.45am (told you this is get-fit boot camp!!). Lie-ins don't seem to happen as I'm either working at 7am or doing yoga .. Was very sleep-deprived my first 5 days here because of a snoring room-mate. We tried multiple brands of earplugs, but to no avail - and have now opted for seperate sleeping spots. I've since had two great nights of sleep in a row and am feeling far more human.

Have I told you that baby deer are all over the place (like chomping the grass outside our house) and the beach is littered with beautiful oyster shells and large pink starfish. The water is totally clear and still and it's easy to see little sand crabs scuttling around on the sandy bottom of the ocean. I enjoy chilling out here on the deck and enjoying the great view of ocean, mountains and fir-tree covered islands. If my eyes stay open, I am going star-spotting on the beach at 10pm (and there may be a meteor shower...)

namesdropping

Life continues to be very sweet! The food here is amazing - mainly veggies, grains, cheese and eggs (mainly local and organic) and the flavours are so good as the vegetables just speak for themselves. I'm on a firm diet of two portions of dessert a night - last night we had the most amazing baklava with baked strawberries and peaches. Every food offering put infront of me gets greeted with exclamations of "wow - yum" etc..

This week's programme is a party for people who are highly influential in their field - with the aim of weaving great connections between visionaries who want to co-create a better planet. There are 103 amazing invitees - all very sweet, humble and down to earth people, with great intentions. I was chatting on my first day in the tubs to a guy who I mistook for the cleaner (I found out later, he was the co-founder of Greenpeace). I just found out that one of my rideshare buddies who greets me with daily hugs and shoulder massages was the founder of the first ever Earth Day (he never ventured this information!) and during my last stint in the computer room a lady said to her companion "oh - I've just got an e-mail from Michelle Obama" (Obama's wife).

I think I'm gonna like it here (Canada!)

So, at 6.45am yesterday morning,I was standing outside Maxine's home in the drizzle waiting for my ride. I was sharing my journey with 2 Hollyhock old-timers who were going back for a week of reunion-celebration etc as they are friends with staff and a lady called Nancy who lives on the island.

There were all kinds of dramas - Mark forgot his passport, we took the wrong turn in the road and missed our ferry - but somehow it all turned out magically! The sun came out and we still made it to Cortes Island (where Hollyhock is) by the end of the day. The fear was that with 3 ferries to take, we'd miss our last connection and get stranded on a dinky little island overnight. That would have been a different adventure!

When i hear the word "island" I'm used to thinking of the tropical kind with palm trees. Cortes Island is very different - it has thick forest and forest floor that is as spongy as carpet to walk on. Everything is pristine, the air is sweet and gentle and bugs are minimal : )

Originally, I was going to sleep in Bryce's car (as I was arriving a day early) but used some chutzpah and asked Nancy (our local passenger) if I could stay at her place. She was delighted to oblige and what an adventure!! I have to namesdrop here - her next-door neighbour is Dr Andrew Weil - who is one of my heroes! I told her to pass on the message that I love his book "8 Weeks To Optimum health." She said that I'm bound to see him around the island, so can pass on that message in person! How exciting!!

Nancy decided at the age of 60 to buy a piece of land and do it up very sustainably. She has a small wooden cabin on her land, a large tent on a platform, various hammocks, and a "humanure toilet" (ie - non flushing - you cover up your doings with beach sand and seaweed - and one day it will be compost). the water on her land is all from rain catchment. I was seeing the stuff I learnt on my permaculture course in action!

This is probably the most exciting bit - Nancy was eager to hear my thoughts on what to do with her property based on permaculture principles. I gave her some ideas about zones (putting the things that she needed the most - like her water - close to the house) and also "framing her view" - trimming some of the growth blocking her ocean view - and she loved both suggestions. I suddenly realised that "I am a permaculture designer" and i can give people valid info that makes a difference. Exciting !!! At times on my course, I was so overwhelmed with the info - not having a background in farming or engineering or architecture or environmentalism - that I never really saw myself being able to advise people - but the suggestions fell easily off my tongue. It was an empowering moment when I recognised all that I'd learnt.

I feel that my environmental education will be continuing at Hollyhock as sustainability and social vision is at the heart of what it does. Eager to learn more!!

In the middle of the night, I got up to pee in the bushes and the stars were amazing and the sea was glowing in the dark. I'd heard that the sea here has this special quality (bio-luminescent). It was very enchanting to see it! We combined breakfast foods and had raw oatmeal with granola. Delicious! Nancy gave me her bike to use for the month I'm here and off I went - feeling that I've gained a new friend.

My programme begins at 5pm - so I have 7 hours to explore and enjoy. I think I'm gonna like it here!!!!!

To Seattle

So! On with the adventures! I found someone on the Craigslist rideshare board who was driving up to Canada in a campervan and wanted a buddy for the road. We got on really well and it was a fun trip. I am now smitten with campervans.

I had a fab time in Seattle reconnecting with my friend Maxine who I'd not seen in about 5 years - she is 13 weeks pregnant, so i was present for her first purchase of maternity jeans! Got to meet most of her good friends (and her hubby). Ran into two people I knew at shabbat dinner on Fri night (olam katan - small world!) and we went for havdalah on the beach on Saturday night. Maxine is an educational consultant for an intentional Jewish community - so it was also very interesting to go along to their meeting and be exposed to some great minds and great questions as the parents are trying to figure out the curriculum for their kids and how to create a family educational environment. How to do it without dogma, what sort of values they want passed onto their kids, how to create community through their decisions and so on. It was such an interesting meeting! The community was set up by someone who worked for microsoft - made a fortune, retired and now in their 30s wants to community build. Maxine said that there are so many retired Microsoft millionaires around turning their hands to philanthropy and social action, that it is hard for regular social and community workers to find paying jobs as all these well-intentioned folk are doing it for free!

I realise that Seattle is home to two things that greatly impact millions of lives - microsoft and starbucks (the coffee shop phenomenon). I even saw the world's first ever Starbucks (full off Japanese tourists inside taking photos!!)

In short - a great and very liveable city! Leafy, conscious and lots of lovely neighbourhoods.

I see it's been two weeks since my last post -wow-wee! what have I been doing? I got to reconnect with an Esalen friend in Berkeley for a few days and much fun was had by all. On July 11, I joined a week long camping tour to rugged/ outdoorsy places with The Green Tortoise www.greentortoise.com . I was a little torn about going as I had so many good options here in the Bay Area as well that week, but off I went ..

We drove through the night and I woke up on July 12 in Lassen National Park (apparently California's least visited park - but what a treasure). As I was hiking through bubbling mud and butterfly dappled fields of flowers and waterfalls, I knew that I'd made a very special choice.

The week was a blur of amazing places - each day was scenically very different. On day 2, we were at Lava National Monument which is volcanic and out in the desert with sagebrush and bright orange sunsets.

Then came Crater lake - the 7th deepest lake in either the US or the world (I forget which!). the blue of the water was so deep and gem-like I could have sat and meditated on its colour and the clouds and mountains reflected in it, all day ..

next was an overnighter at hot springs in the Oregon rainforest along the Umpqua River. Hiking to the springs at night was an adventure in itself - steep inclines and having to balance on a log to cross a gushing stream. We got lost on the way back from our dip. Another bunch of people got lost SEVEN times!!! I made sure by daylight and darkness that every time I went, I was with company and we still succeeded in getting lost. I think I still bare the mozzie bite scars from my stay there. In the rainforest, the mosquito is king.

next came Ashland, a cutesie, artsie town nestled among hills - some golden and bare - others thick with Alpine trees. I fell in love with their co-op (health food store and restaurant). I was reading their annual report, their newsleter and even asked about job opps as that's how good the place felt!

Then came the Redwood forest full of trees 300m high - I took a 9 mile hike there and felt like I was at the ankles of tall, wise elephants.

Now, I'm back in San fran. The sky is grey and I am oh-so-itchy to move myself on. It wil be either today or tomorrow.

Esalen fire update

I've been going to the Esalen website every day www.esalen.org to get updates on the fire situation. Last night, some gallant people I know saved the water supply from going up in flames.

I came across a nice video on You Tube made by Alyce Faye Cleese (John Cleese's wife) which in a few mins gives a great visual intro to the place. I recommend a viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNrDSxJ6h7I

Please hold the safety and wellbeing of this beautiful place and community in your thoughts.

Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory aka Google HQ

Anyone who's read Roald Dahl's "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" will know that Willie Wonka's factory was every kid's and chocaholic's dream. And Google HQ in Mountainview, California has to be every employee's dream.

I was there thanks to Monika - who I know from Esalen - who has the rather amazing job of being Google's coach and heading up their Personal Development University. I asked if I could come and workshadow her and she said "sure". So at 11.30am today I entered the Google "campus" and saw a beach volleyball court (with real sand) and jacuzzis with folks relaxing in them. And this was before even getting to reception!

I am going to list all the wonders I came upon. I'm sure they are every worker's fantasy. 18 state of the art gyms; 18 amazing cafes serving free organic food - all sorts of cuisines from sushi, to Indian, to salad bar; fridges all over the place to grab free soft drinks from; various points to grab homemade cookies and banana bread; ice cream dispensers; smoothie bars (and yes - it's all free!); places with wheatgrass shots; a massage centre that employs more therapists than any spa in the US (200 to be precise); massage chairs; sleeping pods (for naps!); beautiful outdoor areas to work and hold meetings; not a suit or tie in sight - plenty of shorts, jeans and skateboarders; heated toilet seats; beanbags and sofas around every other corner; places to leave clothes for dry-cleaning/ repairing etc; free bicycles and rickshaws to travel around the campus; free shuttle buses to Santa Cruz/ San Francisco and other locations; an organic garden; loads of amazing classes and lectures; ping pong tables and arcade games dotted around the office space; rooms for nursing mothers to express their milk; gourmet dog biscuits (because you're allowed to take your pet to work). I'm sure there's plenty more I could say. I felt like I was in office heaven !!! I wish every disgruntled employee in the world a taste of the Google good life.

Happy compost tale

Somebody I met at yesterday's Cuddle Party we held in the house was telling me that in San Leandro (a place in the Bay Area) the council gives everyone a composting bin as well as a recycling bin. Once a week, the trash people collect the scraps for compost and take them to a big composting centre. What a wonderful idea - I'm sure it encourages many people who wouldn't compost themselves (too much bother - got to deal with worms, etc etc) to put their waste to good use. Go San Leandro! I wish in time every municipality takes this on board.

I've noticed since my course, I'm definitely seeing the world through new eyes - and it makes my heart plummet when I see resources being put to waste and it makes my insides glow when I see facilities for recycling and composting.

I'm reading a fantastic book - "How To Make The World A Better Place" - Over 100 Quick And Easy Actions - by Jeffrey Hollender - it's the 1990 edition (2nd hand book) but still speaks loudly and clearly to our times.

When the phone goes at a strange time ..

When your mom calls you at around midnight UK time and you only spoke the day before - you know it's not going to be good news. So this is what happened .. my aunt in South Africa was in the kitchen getting the Friday night dinner ready. She heard a thump, but didn't think anything of it. Around 30 mins later she went to the dining room to put food on the table and found my uncle dead on the floor with the two challah breads he'd been carrying to the table on the floor next to him. He'd had a huge heart attack. It doesn't seem quite real - especially as as he was the youngest of the brother-in-laws - only 63.
Just the day before, my South African family had had the good news that my little cousin (I call her little because I was 8 when she was born) had passed her actuary exams after many years of slog. I'm so happy her dad got to share in her good news - but what a shock to go from celebrating one day to mourning the next. Proof again that life can change crazily from moment to moment.

Happy Bday America!!!

So, on July 4, I find myself in another great community of people - this time in Silicon Valley. I'm in "Cuddle Comm" as the house has been named. Home to two Cuddle Party facilitators and an avid gardener. As three of us bumped into each other in the kitchen in the morning there were big group hugs in jammies and dressing gowns - and we did our grocery shopping in "Free Hugs" t-shirts.

I was loving being in a place where everything gets composted and recycled, clothes get dried in the sun and the produce in the garden became our salad for dinner (and boy, did it taste good!)

With a car boot full of blankets and pillows, we set off for the local July 4 firework show - which interestingly was taking place next to a piece of land deemed unusable for building because of all the toxic waste dumped there. We set up our cushy, padding atop some plastic (so we didn't get too contaminated!) and all snuggled in under sleeping bags to watch the fireworks. I made the gang sing some patriotic songs as a musical backdrop. When the sky got lit with fireworks in the shape of smily faces - I oohed and aahed. Yvonne said: "If the government has to manufacture explosives, let them be for firework shows - not for killing people." Hear! Hear! After the fireworks ended, we were left with the stars and the cricket chirps - which for me was an equally spectacular night show.

Yo for SLO!

I had such a great week in SLO (pronounced "slow" and less of a mouthful to say than San Luis Obispo). I loved all the people I spent time with - there were 3 people I had really strong intentions about spending time with and I have lots of lovely memories of them all.
I'll give you some snapshot memories: I got to walk barefoot on the beach 4 times - one time I even got to see dolphins play! I felt really part of the lives of all the people I was with. It was so lovely to be there, that I couldn't quite tear myself - and I'm grateful to my hosts for making me feel so at home and saying "Yay! Stay another night!!"
The trauma of leaving Esalen abruptly transformed itself into a sense of deep gratitude and happiness, thanks to the wonderful community and hospitality of my friends. I loved the light purple of the Jacaranda trees and the clear blue skies and mountains I saw every morning. In many ways it felt like a soul home.
There were lots of food memories. Sipping wine as we cooked together, picking veggies straight out of my friend, Tiffany's back garden; buying lots of yummy farm produce, going to delectable restaurants. I love the tradition Karen has with her friend and neighbour, Carol. They eat together every night in Carol's back garden and share the cooking - with kids and guests coming to join. Lots of great conversation and support - which I think has helped these two amazing ladies endlessly while they are both going through difficult divorces.
Some conclusions from my time in SLO.
Conclusion one: True richness for me is about the quality of people around me, the natural environment I'm in, the ability to eat fresh, healthy food made with love and to be feeling joyful with every step because the scenery makes me so happy.
Conclusion two: There are moments in life that transcend time and all dimensions and leave my soul happy and soaring - and some connections which seem eternal. I was blessed to bathe in this kind of yumminess on Thursday.
Conclusion three: I thought an extra 7 or 10 days at Esalen after my course was the best plan for me - however life presented me with something different (my SLO week) which I wouldn't have swapped for the world!
My heart is definitely still sitting in SLO !

update ..

So.. we wrapped up our permaculture class on Weds night which was very lovely - it was sweet to all be sitting in the same space together and breaking down the huge amount of experiences and learning we'd gained over the two months.

My room-mates were doing lots of coughing on Weds night and one chose to turn the light on at 2am to read. Apparently, the headaches and nausea I'd been experiencing (alongside insomnia) are all signs of deprivation of good oxygen.

I knew with absolute certainty on Thurs, that I needed to leave temporarily to be able to breathe properly. It all worked out with amazing synchronicity. I awoke to an e-mail saying come stay from a friend (far more preferable than the Red Cross shelter!) - I then had to figure out how to get there and was panicky no cars would be heading that direction - but my co-worker who was heading to LA offered me a ride to my doorstep. He has no generator where he lives, so is minus fridge, air con, freezer etc while the electricity is out (estimated another 2 months before it's repaired). He had most of his possesions in the car - incase his home burnt in the interim - but we got all my luggage in, too.

It was a crazy goodbye as it was so quick - i trust the folks I never got a chance to say farewell to will forgive me and I hope we get the chance to meet again. I left feeling wrapped up in hugs and good wishes and with the sense of a community that will now exist on the web.

Around 1 hour south of Esalen, my headache lifted and I could see clear blue, sky. I knew I'd made the right decision!

My friend, Karen has been a darling - I'm sleeping in her 3 year-old daughter's princess-theme bedroom. It's been lovely and girly and relaxing - painting toenails, patting the fluffy pets, checking out all the cute stores in San Luis Obispo, hiking, reading books in the sunshine, nattering over salsa and chips and so forth.

I'm feeling very grateful for the way this has all worked out. Karen's boyfriend (ex-fireman) is still at Esalen being a hero - so we're getting regular updates. Around 90 people are left on the property. They've been clearing brush around the site to make it as fireproof as possible, just incase.

Esalen is closed to guests all this coming week (a good idea, methinks) and I understand that it is still likely to be safe from the flames.. So hold it and all the other businesses and homes in Big Sur in your prayers ...

Anyway, there's still plenty of permaculture to update y'all on. That will come in time!! Wanted to let everyone know I'm safe, well and in good hands xoxo

Preparing for refugee status ...

So - the road blockade (which was once 3 miles south of us) has now been moved to our front door. Rumour has it that all guests are being evacuated this afternoon. There's an official meeting at 1.30pm to see what's going on .. I went to the hot tubs this morning, sensing it could be the last time, if the whole property gets evacuated. My room mates say they were told to pack their bags to be ready to leave. I've checked with two people in our emergency response team who say this is unnecessary right now. Every cell in my muscles wants to be heading south towards sunshine and life (it feels eerily dead here with most of the guests gone). I have sent out a couple of e-mails to people I know who live that way to see if I can apply for refugee status on their couch for a night or two.

It's funny how you get out of bed with one plan for the day and life can pull the carpet out from under your feet. It was my first day off in what felt like eons and I was excited about hiking, dance classes, chilling out and being on vacation. Instead, I'm pulling ash flakes out of my hair and feeling a sense of imminent dispersal of my village and "community" with people on my program making plans to get the heck out of here.

A lady wants to use this computer so I'll say no more for now .... curious to see where this adventure will lead and eager for some hard news about what is really going on ....

the heat goes on ..

The ash is still falling from the sky, the light is still eerily orange, the sky grey ... still being powered by a generator, no laundry is being done as there are water shortages, phone lines are going down, news is trickling in of people in the extended community who have lost their homes, the road north is still inaccessible - and it is business as normal - the food yesterday was delicious - tonight my study group is giving a presentation and we're about to open the office for the day .. all is surprisingly calm and relaxed despite the ash and inferno around us -

Ashtray

Ashtray - Pompeii - Crematorium are some of the words that came to mind this morning as I stepped out my room and saw the smog in the sky and layer of ash on the car roof parked right outside. Suddenly the fire seemed more real and I got an image of petrified animals running for their lives and it made me think of nameless ancestors of mine who had to pick up their belongings and run. The human need for snugness and safety is so paramount.

Apparently, Saturday's lightening sparked 12 forest fires and there are 100 fires going on in this state right now. As someone said, "California is burning" - despite most of our guests having to add 3-4 hours to their drive time (as there is no access to here from anywhere north) we are still full and most guests persevered with the journey. When there is a will, there's a way !

Tinderbox

This part of the world is on fire. Yesterday at lunch there was some thunder and lightening going on and I thought this was a natural break to the heatwave we'd had the past few days. Apparently, the lightening started forest fires in two places. The road going north of here is closed. I believe the fire is affecting places 6 or 7 miles away. I feel snug and safe although there is an eery silence and stillness in the air. Last night, one of my group members arrived here at 9pm with his wife and dog as they had been evacuated from their nearby home. Esalen was providing floorspace and blankets for folks needing a bed for the night. Possibly linked to the fire, our electricty got cut off - so the whirr of the generator put me to sleep last night. I'm curious to see what Highway 1 looks like without cars on it. It will take people heading north approx 5 hours longer to drive home. I trust what i heard that Esalen will be fairly OK in a fire as it has a ring of succulent plants strategically placed at its edges - we also have the highway separating us from what might happen. I'm feeling somewhat optimistic that the blaze will be controlled. It must be awful to be someone who has left their home behind - unsure of what they may have to go back to ......

Permaculture - if you ever want to build a house in the tropics ..

If you ever want to build a house in the tropics .. make sure it's raised a long way off the ground so it won't be affected by monsoons and flooding (think tree house or house on stilts). All this space under the house also helps with ventilation. Have an overhanging roof with eaves to help the rainfall run off easily and to provide shade. Don't let the jungle come right up to your home, otherwise you'll find that the rats and snakes will be joining you in your home. Instead, scorch a large area of earth around your property and keep it barren. Have chickens and pigs in this area to gobble up unwanted animal/ insect visitors heading towards your home.

After listening to our guest speaker John talking about his life in the tropics and hearing tales of dyssentry and 250 mosquito bites in one evening from classmates who'd lived for extended periods of time in South America - I came to the conclusion that the tropics are a romantic and atmospheric holiday destination, but a tough place to live.

John said that there is so much sun and rain in the tropics that life (including bacteria) can only teem and reproduce itself at a crazy speed - which is somewhat overwhelming. 'Get off the plane," he said "and the sweaty heat and strong odours of both flowers and things more noxious will put you under a spell."

I tend to do best in drier Mediterranean climates. With the overcast weather we've had here this weekend I am feeling sorely sun deprived!

For the record, places I've visited that are officially "tropical" - falling between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn 23.5 degrees above and below the equator are .. Fiji, Queensland, Tanzania, Thailand and Hawaii.

permaculture - natural home decor

Another inspiring class! Kate Lundquist spoke to us about using natural materials to decorate homes with. Her definition of "natural materials' are materials that will return easily to the earth (rather than toxic materials that may not decompose). There are plenty of advantages in using natural materials - aesthetically they're great, they're better for our health and they are breathable.

With kitchen ingredients such as egg yolks and milk, alongside colourings taken from the earth - natural paints can be created. I painted in a dark brown colour - there was no yukky paint smell and i can only compare the experience to painting with liquid chocolate! In "The Natural Paints Book" by Edwards and Lawless, I saw how the juice from boiled beetroots can be used to stain wooden picture frames a gorgeous reddy brown (different vegetable preparations can be used to create different coloured stains for the wood).

We were also given recipes for creating our own natural plaster.

Kate reminded us that it's not a good use of resources to tear down a conventional building to replace it with an earth-friendly one - however there is much we can do with natural materials when creating the inside of our homes and offices.

nice permaculture quotes

"Stability in a community/ organisation is created by having as many mutually beneficial relationships as possible."

"See problems as a shake up out of which new life will grow."

Yoga and Permaculture

At the end of the day permaculture, like yoga, or religion or vegetarianism is a way of being in the world - it's a lifestyle and a philosophy system - a way of being. Our very lovely teacher, who has both deep yoga and permaculture practices did a session where she interwove the two to show us how yoga could be connected to nature things and how permaculture can live in our bodies. As the holistic person, I am, the whole class really resonated with me.

We brainstormed on the following: "What I know to be true about life is .."

Here are the answers that rung true for me (my own included!)

"We are designed to thrive. Life is expansive, it has a pulse, it is intelligent, it's always changing, yet patterns repeat."

Taking the idea that everything starts from within, we can look at every thought we have and every act we do as gardening. What kind of gardens are we creating in our lives? The teacher mentioned that our hearts are designed to beat a certain number of times in our lives - so the slower the beats, the longer we'll live! That's a good incentive for slowing down!

Some other yogi like quotes that have come up (as we've just had yoga week here):

'Enlightenment is having intimacy with everything and no preference."

"Be happy for someone in their happiness, even if it doesn't resonate with you - unhappy people don't want advice, just compassion - when we see people doing good, support them, delight in them and be inspired by them (our culture has a tendency to tear them down) - if people are doing something bad, don't focus too much of your energy on them."

Permaculture - emergency response

We had a rather bleak class, looking at everything that could go wrong in both the world and then at Esalen. The idea behind this was to have a crisis management plan to cope with worst case scenarios before they happened.

In the case of Esalen, we were introduced to scenarios where:
1) Forest fires in the area were raging out of control. Spookily, the next day a fire broke out just 20 miles away, which made the light go strangely orange before the smog set in. As I ate my dinner al fresco, I noticed the ash falling onto my hair and sweater like grey dandruff flakes.
2) Petrol went up to such a crazy price that only locals and the super-wealthy could afford to come stay here. The thought of a world in which travel outside of your country or hometown is a financial impossibility is a very scary one for me. It made me think I need to be in a place I absolutely adore before we run out of fossil fuels. My room-mate who dislikes her current town of residence, felt equally depressed at this prospect!
3) The recession in the US got so bad that local people couldn't afford to come to Esalen and refugees from outside were trying to get in for food/ shelter etc.

Many people in the group seemed to think that scenarios 2 and 3 were certainties. Maybe, I'm an optimist, maybe I'm burying my head in the sand - but I can not live in a world without hope, possibilities and solutions.

We learnt that making Esalen as sustainable as possible from the inside and making the structures here more resilient are the keys to be prepared for a possible crisis. I'm part of a group of 8 who are going to make a presentation in 2 weeks time about just how to do this vis a vis the management structures here. Other groups will be researching other areas such as energy production, food production, etc. My one classmate, has found out about some kind of sustainable energy solution - that would require 100 miles square in the desert to provide enough energy for all the world's needs from sun. That has restored my optimism !

Our leader, Benjamin, who has volunteered in various emergency scenarios had the following to say about being a leader in times of crisis.

It's important to spread calm in emergencies, so watch your energy. "The slower we do things, the faster they get done." Start calmly, as it allows momentum to build naturally. If you start with high energy, it will be impossible to sustain this and you can only go down.

He also spoke of the importance of standing up even when you don't know all the answers. I know that too often I don't do this and wait for others to stand up who I feel know more than me or are better equipped to lead than me.

Lar's wedding!

Gosh - I believe I forgot to write about my friend Lara's wedding at the beginning of the month in texas!! I stepped off the plane at 11pm and thought yikes as the humid air hit me - no joke, the weather there was around 100f each day and very sticky. My poor friend lar, was kept awake most of the night with me coughing - and I feel sad that i wasn't healthier for her special occasion - whatever I'd been sick with had morphed into a spluttering/ bronchitis kind of thing - thankfully there were no coughing fits during the ceremony and the lovely make up artist told me how to conceal a tissue around the bouquet incase of need for a big nose blow.

As this was lar and Paul's 2nd wedding - they'd done it all 6 weeks earlier in South Africa for lar's folks, the atmosphere was light and relaxed and fun. I got to walk lara down the aisle as her UK/ South Africa representative. The ceremony took place overlooking a lake which reminded me a lot of Sydney harbour - aqua and emerald water with little white sailboats gliding past. During the ceremony a huge bird and a water skiier glided past (I believe at the point in the ceremony when the rabbi talked about how important desire is). It all seemed like a very good omen!

I fell hugely, madly, deeply in love with the flowergirls - Chinese twins aged 4 and three-quarters who were adopted 2 years ago from an orphanage in China. Apparently, when they arrived in the US they were totally malnourished and traumatised to the extent they couldn't have visitors - would have hysterics if they saw a teddy bear etc and now they are outgoing, loving, friendly, delightful human beings. The transformative power of love and a good home is quite amazing.

I came back wanting my own outdoor wedding and Chinese babies!

I'm back!

Gosh! it's been about a week! I think my lack of blogging is partly due to how difficult it is to find a free computer - but here I am nestled in the e-mail booth on a foggy saturday afternoon with tissues and ginger/lemon tea in hand - yes, I'm sick again : ( I believe i was well for about 4 days before re-catching some kind of cold-flu thing. I look on it as my body's way of cleaning out. I'm feeling fairly resolute that I'm going to be healthy for tomorrow. I notice when I'm sick, how I gravitate towards reading, writing - doing art - they're my soul medicine - and in the art barn here, I found a stash of Oprah magazines and some of the articles spoke to me in such a good way, that I almost laughed with the synchronicity! I feel that I've settled nicely into Esalen life - I'm going to stay on for a bit after my program finishes as a volunteer - which basically means that I will get food and board and a lot more free time than I do now. Looking forward!!! I put a few plants in the soil last week which was very rewarding - I love how tactile it is to work with the earth and to pat the seedlings into their dark, earthy new home.

I have new room-mates this month who are as pleasant to live with as last month's room-mates (no snorers!!!) - I am no longer the newest person in my department at work and i feel more and more like I'm living in a village as I recognise an increasing number of characters on my walk around the Esalen property.

Permaculture - Social Change Activism

Our guest lecturer Dave Henson has worked for social action NGOs in around 20 countries. Here is his lowdown on working for societal change..

Often we channel all our efforts towards the symptoms of social problems, rather than tackling the root causes. Not a very effective strategy! The analogy Dave gave is that if abandoned babies kept on appearing in baskets floating down the local river, taking the baby out the river and caring for it would be only dealing with the symptom. Someone would need to go upstream and see who is putting the babies in the river and deal with them to effectively stop the problem.

Dave highlighted 4 root causes behind most of today's social problems:

1 - ASSUMPTION OF NEVER-ENDING ECONOMIC GROWTH. The average American will need to tone down their lifestyle and consumerism 7x to get to a point where their behaviour will be limiting global warming.

2 - PRIVATISING THINGS WHICH SHOULD BE IN THE HANDS OF THE COMMON PEOPLE - eg. schools, healthcare, intellectual property, seeds, water etc. Private capital funds most non-profits, including the arts, so this private capital decides what the public can have access to/ enjoy etc and what causes are championed.

3 - OUR ECONOMIC DECISIONS ARE GUIDED BY PRICE, HOWEVER TRUE COSTS OF ITEMS ARN'T ALWAYS DISPLAYED ON THE PRICE TAG. For example, petrol really costs $9 a gallon, but sells for $4 a gallon (with the surplus coming from taxes) so car users are unaware of the true economic cost of buying fuel. If they were, there would be more demand for public transport. Supermarket strawberries from a 3rd world country may be cheaper than the organic ones sold at the local farmers' market, however the price doesn't include the transport fees, the healthcare fees for the local workers adversely affected by the pesticides, etc. Although buying conscientiously, can make a small difference, the real difference will come when the pricing structure is changed to reflect the true cost of what we are buying.

4 - BIG CORPORATIONS' SUPPORT FOR POLITICAL LOBBYING AND FUNDING MEANS THAT BUSINESSES' AGENDAS INFILTRATE POLITICS.

Dave has a few suggestions for social change:

1 - The best way to effect social change is to hold public office.
2 - Wait until the moment is ripe before lunging forwards with action. The world needs to be ready for you!
3 - Social change does not happen without organising.
4 - As well as spending time addressing current problems (fire fighting), have equal amounts of time devoted to building alternatives and dismantling the structures causing the problem

Permaculture - In reverence of soil ..

In my city upbringing, soil-dirt-earth - the stuff in the garden and in the little square patches surrounding the trees in their concrete homes on the pavement was considered almost taboo. Stuff to stay away from, stuff of dog poo and germs and to wash off your hands and feet. So, I never had a deep relationship with the soil of England. I had a crazy love of the soil of Africa with its deep redness and wanted to crawl into it and cover myself in it - but as for the stuff in the back garden where I lived - I barely noticed its existence.
Last night, I really got to meet soil - the kind of soil that belongs to gardens - the commonplace brown earth. It was almost a spiritual experience!! Touching it in my hands it felt so soft and bringing it to my nose it smelt like the earth after rain. "Good soil," said our instructors, John and Benjamin, 'will look and feel like chocolate cake. You can roll it into little balls and then watch as it falls apart in crumbs."
The soil we touched was black and spongy. Something I never really appreciated about soil before is that this is where life begins. "If we focus on growing the soil,"said John, "the crops will take care of themselves."
Just like we, as people, need good surroundings to optimise ourselves in - good shelter, good love, good food, good community, good air, good opportunities, good mentors and so forth - plants also need to be provided with this warm, cushy environment in order to thrive.
So, by creating good soil, we are creating good food, which in turn will feed us and create healthy cells and bodies for us, which will impact who we are and how we are in our lives and on this planet. I love how everything in life is connected!!

Starting with the basics, what is this stuff we call soil? Basically it's 50 per cent space (the space being made up of air - and this space will hold the water that drains into the earth); it's 40 per cent mineral (and I've often heard it said that various nutritional supplements are needed because the soil is no longer as mineral rich as it used to be) and the final 10 per cent of soil is the living component - this is made up of earthworms who do a fabulous job of ploughing the soil, bacteria which break down decomposing plant matter, fungus, compost and so forth.
Industrialised farming has done a lot of harm to the soil due to the use of foreign chemicals (pesticides, fertilisers etc), through not giving the land time to recover between planting and not encouraging bio-diversity. It takes a forest 1,000 years to create 1 inch of soil through the gradual decomposition of materials - with bad practice, we can lose that much soil in one year through erosion.
The message to me from last night's class was a clear one - our job is to create good soil! It is no accident that in the UK one of the main organic certifying bodies is "The Soil Association" - as good soil is at the heart of the organic philosophy. So many people back home, who don't understand my passion for organic food, think it's all about spending more money than required on groceries - but it's about so much more - it's about creating a healthy planet and ultimately being nourishing, rather than harmful, to both ourselves and those involved in the growing of the food that gives us life. It's about putting the sanctity back into our relationship with our earth and with our bodies.
Ok _ off my soap box now!! And onto some practical information .. what can we do in our back gardens to create good soil?

1 - Compost, compost and more compost seems to be key!! The darker the soil is, the richer it is in organic content. When i asked what the secret was behind the chocolate cake Esalen soil (which my gardening friends Yvonne and Mike admired when they visited last week) I was told it was all in the compost. Last year, when I spent my summer at the Isabella Freedman Retreat Centre, the organic farmers there grew the most fabulous and enormous vegetables - and again composting was a way of life. I feel proud of my ma and pa as I write this, who fill up old yoghurt tubs with vegetable remains and put them outside in the council-supplied compost bin - I feel proud of our old London mayor, Ken, for his green policies and providing houses with compost bins. I think i am about to become the compost queen!! I remember feeling repelled at the idea that you needed to have worms in your compost bin - but now I understand that worms are amazing soil tilling machines. Charles Darwin said in 1881 that having oxen plough the land is something pretty modern - however earthworms have been ploughing the land on their own initiative since their inception.
2 - Keep the soil nicely aerated with tilling. John said that as well as composting this was part of the secret of good Esalen soil. He adds compost then tills the soil once a week - he will do this for 10 weeks before beginning planting.
3 - If you feel so inclined, pee on soil - your urine is nitrogen rich and plants will love that! Your pee is far more useful in the soil than in the sewage system!

My eyes were opened last night and I am in deep reverence of soil and it's life-giving properties. I hope you have the experience too, to hold good soil in your hand and recognise it for what it is. so much more than dirt. Something that we want at the heart of our lives - not something to stay away from and label as unclean. I want good, dark, chocolate-cake earth to cover our planet and I want us all to care passionately about the kind of soil our food is grown in. I feel a missionary's zeal about this issue and unabashedly want to convert you all!!!

Permaculture - Leadership: Organisations as Organisms

We had a great guest speaker come in - Adam Wolpert - who is a consultant to organisations and communities on facilitation. Too bad our classes take place from 8-10pm when my eyelids are struggling to stay open. I do good until the sky gets dark. Once that happens, the lull of the ocean and the waning of the day pulls me to slumber. So, sadly, I slept through some information.

Here is what I gleaned while still alert!

A good facilitator:
- humbly serves the process
- watches, listens, learns
- keeps the meeting focused and on track
- creates a safe container
- works with the energy in the room
- includes everyone
- quickly and gracefully finds the points of friction/ tension
- remains calm and neutral
- catalyses decision making
- summarises regularly

Organisations are similar to organisms in that they need to adapt to change and evolve in order to survive. It's important that organisations make decisions that are durable and sustainable.

it's important to decentralise power in an organisation/ group. Very often power tends to concentrate itself into the hands of a few. This makes the structure power-centric, with many getting marginalised. A good facilitator will always work to adjust imbalances of power. Traditionally, power is associated with privilege. If this equation is knocked down and power becomes associated with responsibility, people will be keener to share their power as power is then about having extra work to do!

Where does the real power lie in groups?

- With the agenda (who controls what gets addressed?)
- With the speaker (who is given a voice?)
- With information (do only a few people have access to key knowledge?)
- With organisation (efficient people often become very valuable and take on multiple leadership roles)
- With emotion/ drama
- With relationships (the one with the most personal connections to others in the group holds the most power)
- With process literacy (being familiar with how the organisation works and does its business is a form of power)

Internal Power (empowerment) vs External Power (power over)

flexible rigid
agile slow
adaptive immutable
stable unstable
creative (dynamic) prescribed (stagnant)
resourceful resource depleting
non violent violent
inclusive exclusive
decentralised centralised
collaboration control
love fear

Hope you got something useful out of these college style notes : )

Raw food hidey-hole

I've joined around 50 others here to do a week long cleanse. So that we are not tempted by the excellent Esalen fare, our raw delights are served in another building (Fritz) way on the far side of the property. I tottered up the hill this morning and was greeted by the smell of woodsmoke. A log fire had been lit in the carpeted room. Cushions abounded to chill out on, books on healthy living and intimacy were scattered around the hearth and there was a beautiful silence as people were sitting around meditatively or digesting a book.

As I'm ill (ish) the leaders put me on a special diet for the morning. No solids, just smoothies and hot drinks with ginger and lemon juice. My orange, apricot, ginger and coconut smoothie was quite divine. Lunch was a raw veggie burger (equally delicious) and I took a coconut to work for the afternoon stint. Great multi-purpose snack! Stuck a drinking straw in and slurped up the juice (lying down next to the swimming pool) and then scooped out the innards when hunger struck in the afternoon.

Dinner was - oh so delicious - roasted nori with avocadoes and all sorts of other things to roll up inside - a little like sushi, but without the fish and rice. And there was a chocolate mousse desert made out of cocoa beans, avocado, raisins and other goodies - all blended together. No sugar, no nasties, 100 per cent pure yum!

Nice Quote

"It's not your duty to seek for love, but to notice where you refuse it."

Permaculture -- Climates

Some interesting morsels from our class on climate ..

In tropical climates, 80-90 per cent of the nutrients needed to sustain a plant are found within the plant. In temperate climates, most of the beneficial nutrients are found in the soil.

Tropical and arid environments require more management when designing a home/ garden/ farm etc to make best use of the natural resources. In the tropics, we need to take into consideration that there will be more bugs and pests and more rainfall. In the desert, we need to be really smart about catching the rainwater that falls during flash floods. FYI, the official definition of a desert is a place where there is less than 10 inches of rain per annum.

I've become a bit of a climate geek! Maybe it comes from growing up in a place where the climate is so unpredictable and a nice weather day is rarely guaranteed. So, knowledge is power. Here on the California coast it can be very foggy and this is all to do with hot air rising. We have mountains behind us and the temperature up there is hot, hot, hot. When this hot air meets the coolness of the ocean, fog is the result.

I also learnt that Redwood trees (of which there are plenty round here) are natural cooling towers as the Redwoods here are pulling in 2000 gallons of water daily. It's very true that there is a micro-climate here in the area where the Redwoods grow as the air is far cooler. When forest fires strike, Redwood trees tend to only get liked by flames, due to their high water content.

Permaculture - Turning straw and sand into a loveseat!

On Saturday, we were told by our visiting teacher, Massey, to write a name badge for ourselves. 'Write down whatever you want to be known by for the next 36 hours." I've always thought it would be interesting to try on a new name. To will on some better weather, my weekend name became "Sunbeam". I responded well to it as did the weather!!

We were learning about alternative building. Some clay-based soil, some straw and some sand from a nearby beach were going to transform themselves - with the help of our hands - into a bench for the Esalen garden! After some discussion, it was decided that there was a lack of discretely placed benches for snuggles around the property - so we'd create a love seat. Alas, the spot we were given to install our creation, is close to the garbage and when the wind blows a certain way the fragrance of decomposing garden mulch wafts over. I suggested planting some aphrodisiac plants, such as jasmine, close to our love bench, so that sweet, heady, romantic aromas would permeate the air.

Massey showed us how to create cob - the natural building material we would form the bench with. The recipe goes something like this ..

1 - The mixing bowl is a piece of tarp laid out flat on the ground
2 - Ingredients are 1 part clay-based soil to 1 part sand (this may vary according to the texture of the local sand/ soil). Water and straw are added to get the texture just right.
3 - First of all, the dry ingredients of the sand and soil are mixed together. This was done by kicking it around with our bare feet - and then doing interesting shaking and folding manoeuvres with the tarp.
4 - Next buckets of water were added until the goo was the texture of cheesecake. It was a total sensual delight to be mixing the mud with our bare feet. We spontaneously ended up doing tribal dances and singing African rhythms to help us with the task.
5 - The final ingredient to add was the straw. More mixing with the feet and tarp folding followed. By this stage feet and ankles were mudbaked with the straw attaching itself like feathers. We were told that when the mixture looks like "a dead seal" (or more recognisably, to those not familiar with dead seals, a giant poo) we were getting there. The next step was to see whether the material was dense enough. To test we stood on top of the dead seal/ giant poo to see if the structure would support us or swallow our feet like quicksand. When all four of my group were able to stand on top of the mound with our arms around each other, we knew we'd succeeded!!

So, now we had our raw material. Our leaders guided us on how to shape it into a bench. Twenty-four hours later, our bench has a flowing curve to it and the start of a backrest. A design team are working on finding the perfect angle and curve for the back of the bench to ensure optimum comfort.

Working so physically in the sun was exhausting! I have newfound respect for all those who work in the building industry. Much though I love the look and feel of natural building, I think at this stage of my permaculture studies, I'll be hiring someone else to do the heavy work for me!

scratchy throat : (

There's a scratchy throat thing doing the rounds and I seem to have succumbed! Everyone is being very nice - my work department (bless them!) told me to have as many naps as I need and that i don't have to come back to work tonight. My one coursemate gave me essential oil of lemon to gargle with. My spirits are good - it's a little sore when I talk too much and my energy is good - so I have no desire to nap! We're having a chilly snap, so I'm wondering what to do this evening - too social in the indoor spaces to get by without talking and too chilly to sit outdoors and watch the sun set into the ocean. I am confident that something sweet will come my way! Actually , someone on a massage course volunteered to practice on me - so some gentle massage may be part of the recuperation plan!

Permaculture - Being The Change You Seek

Last night's speaker was a community activist whose words rolled from his tongue like persuasive poetry- here are a few choice quotes about being the change you seek in the world:

"When you know different - you do different"
"When you show up lit, other people who are lit are drawn to you and you find your people"
"Find your highest light and schedule it and live it"

I'm still unsure if I'm burnt out on being a trailblazer (and am in need of recharging batteries) - or whether a lazier, quieter life is more for me ... at the end of last night's class, my primary agenda was to pull up the covers and go to sleep ...

Night class, plus day job is taking its toll .. thank crunchie for day's off ....

Permaculture - Food Gardens of Eden

I've been learning how to munch on plant life I find along the wayside - during a hike into an area of Redwoods, I discoverd that clove leaves are oh-so-tasty (surprised they don't find their way into more salad bowls!!) and the guy who has arrived to lead a 7 day cleanse introduced me to flowers as food. I'm very smitten by the juice from passion flowers (which we are lucky to have plenty of on the property). I sampled nasturtium (good for salad) and calendula (bleeeuuurghhh !!! not for my palette).

Permaculture keeps on feeding me these Garden of Eden images where plant life is lush and bountiful and we walk around plucking tasty morsels off the foliage. Happy to have started living it a little!!! I believe the correct terminology for this is "a food forest". We've seen interesting footage of food forests being created in poor areas - such as rural Zimbabwe and India - and how bare earth became a thriving, teeming food-abundant garden feeding whole communities. I am still clueless about how to create this .. but it's good to see possibilities in the world!

Permaculture - Oil Peak

So, I'd never heard of the term "oil peak" before, so possibly you haven't either. Basically oil production in the world is beyond its peak. We've used more than we've got left. Infact, for every 5 barrels of oil that we use - we are only finding one barrel of new oil. So, we definitely need to get smart about energy alternatives.

We saw an interesting documentary about life in Cuba. During the early 90s, trade embargos to Cuba meant that the country received hardly any oil - so had to totally adapt. Environmentalists believe that we can look at what happened in Cuba then to get models for how we can adapt to the oil peak.

Things were pretty grim in Cuba to start with.. power cuts lasting 16 hours per day - no refrigeration for food - no air-conditioning - busses that were out of fuel and unable to run.

As nothing was reaching Cuba from the outside, solutions had to come from the inside. People began to use bicycles and grow their own food. The country started to develop organic methods and everyone became a gardener or farmer - with plentiful produce being grown on rooftops and in all available urban space. Today the country is 80 per cent organic.

I think the message is clear. It's time to become resourceful and trade in consumerism for something more wholesome. Every little thing we do is something positive!

I'm thinking of how much money I could save if I grew all my own produce (as my diet is about 80 per cent fruit and veggie and grain based - my food shopping needs would be very minimal). If you haven't already read it, I highly recommend Barbara Kingslover's "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" - all about a year of eating only local food.

Out in the big, wide world

I've taken an afternoon trip out of Esalen (my first!) and am already totally excited about going back! Sometimes it's good to step out of my life for an hour or two to really appreciate everything that I have.

I'm thinking of all the great people there I know and am yet to know, the powerful sound of the water as it rushes down the creek and hits the ocean, the pound of the surf, the womb-like feeling of being wrapped in the steaming hot tub waters, the beauty of the plants ... and I know I am very lucky!

Carmel By The Sea (where I am now) is pretty neat too!!!

We have 53 people doing a 5 rhythms class this week - so I go to bed at night hearing pounding music (as the dance hall is just below my room). It feels like a great party is going on that I'm not invited to!

I did a great dance class this morning. the teacher did it in honour of her father who passed away exactly a year ago. She quoted us some beautiful lines (I think from Hafiz):

This dance of life is a few magic moments -
How damn lucky we are

So enjoy life - cease it - be it !!!!!

creating life

I make lots of holes in the soil with my fingertips and plop two to three seeds into each - seed for amaranth and dill. Then I sprinkle a light layer of soil on top. I feel like a scientist at a reproductive medicine centre as I pat the soil down in the seed tray. In this little action, I am creating the beginnings of life. It's my first experience in memory of planting food. A historic and potentially lifechanging moment! (Friday morning 10.30am)

permaculture - nature is the best design teacher!

One of the principles of permaculture is that good design of buildings, infrastructure and so forth will mimic the patterns of nature.


To get us attuned to the patterns of the natural world, we were sent out at sunset to collect natural items with a pattern that appealed to us. I picked two beautiful pink petals with a burgundy splodge in the middle of them and a hint of sunshine yellow. Their texture was the kind of silk you want next to your skin when you sleep.. and they reminded me of butterflies' wings. "Nothing in nature is similar randomly," says our teacher Benjamin. "It's all for a reason". Pressed to think harder I realise that the butterfly and the flower petals are both trying to do the same job - to attract, so that they can reproduce themselves. I wonder if I doll up in a bright pink garment with a silky texture whether it will have the same effect?? I catch myself smiling as I see what t-shirt I have on today - it is bright pink and depicts 3 butterflies. There are no accidents in nature ...

* * *

So, back to the patterns of nature .. we have many patterns going on within our human bodies. When these are reflected in the external world, they are soothing to us (eg - the drumbeat is like a heartbeat, wallowing in a hot tub is womb-like and so on ..).

It was pointed out that we are 80 percent water, so it's good to look at the patterns of water flow..and mimic these when we design environments for ourselves. Water meanders when it cuts a path across land. It doesn't go in a straight line from A to B. For that reason, when creating a garden path, it will feel much more pleasing to us if it curves and meanders in the way that a river does. This made me think of feng shui, where angles and points are "bad' and curves are "good". I'm very excited to observe more about the overlap between feng shui and permaculture and to see how nature is replicated in architecture. The artist in me looks forward to learning more about people-friendly interior and exterior design tips..

Pumpkin Power

Tip: If you think that because of pollution your garden soil may be toxic, plant pumpkins!! These veggies draw out heavy metals from the soil. Please refrain from eating the pumpkins when you harvest them as they'll contain all the nasies you wanted to remove from the soil (they can be used for Hallowe'en carving instead!) Once you've harvested your first batch of pumpkins, feel free to grow and eat whatever you desire!

Permaculture - meet Heather - an amazing community activist!

We had the pleasure of a visit by Heather Flores, author or "Food Not Lawns" www.foodnotlawns.com

Heather said that for her "permaculture was a means to a higher quality of life and it doesn't have to be about saving the world." One of the high spots for her about permaculture is the amazing community and relationships it brings. She is a community activist and has been part of some amazing projects such as:

1 ORGANISING SEED SWAPS - We had a little seed swap on the lawn and oh boy was it fun!! It reminded me of going into a bead store and marvelling at the variety of beautiful shapes, colours and textures. I never knew that runner bean seeds were so pretty! We had little envelopes and helped ourselves to seeds for everything from tomatoes to poppies to kale.

Heather said the first time she organised a seed swap, 6 folks came along and none of them bought seeds with them - but they had a great chat about seeds and shared some drinks. pardon the pun, but the seeds had been sown as the next year over 100 people came along, of all ages. Many of them bought packets of unfinished seeds they'd bought in stores to swap. The next year people bought seeds from the plants they'd grown themselves (apparently one lettuce can contain many thousands of seeds). There was a total abundance of plant seeds - no need to go to a store and buy expensive seeds and everyone was sharing and doling their seeds out lovingly. Self-sufficiency and community were being created!

Btw, there are plans for an International Seed Swap Day on Jan 31, 2009 - in 100+ cities - if you'd like to be involved or to start one where you live, drop Heather a line via her website.

2 FEEDING FOLKS - Heather and friends approached farmers markets, health food stores, farms and box schemes and asked for donations of any surplus organic produce that was going to get thrown out. Her gang then set up a cooking spot in a local park and served vegan, healthy food to all who wanted it for free!

3 CREATING NICER COMMUNITIES - Here are some ideas you may like to apply (all have been done in the Pacific North West).
- Install a bulletin board in your front garden for people to post info about local things
- Have a 'Random Acts Of Kindness Day" - dress up as superheroes, get on your bicycle and go around town being a kindness hero, actively seeking out people to help
- Think of one skill you'd like to offer to your community and donate it for free once a year
- Create communal pizza ovens on street corners (this is being done in Portland, Oregon). Organise street parties and street beautification projects.

4 GROWING VEGGIES IN FRONT GARDENS AND STREETS - Heather said that our culture has a huge separation between landscaping (which is seen as pretty and for residential areas) and growing things to eat (which is seen to belong to the world of agriculture and takes place for city dwellers in the invisible countryside, far, far away). She is here to mix things up and is an advocate of using front gardens and lawns on the street to grow fruit and veggies. Her world is one, where you can be walking along the street and pick a pear off a neighbourhood tree to munch on (no need to pop into a convenience store for a snack!) She showed us slides of a work party that took place in Southern California where in 4 hours a gathering of 40 people turned one front lawn into a veggie growing area. There are other stories of veggie growing pioneers who began to grow in their front gardens and then the neighbours got inspired and followed suit. The slides showed how with nice design features, a veggie growing garden can have its own kind of beauty.

**
There are countless numbers of plants that have come into the world thanks to Heather - and probably lots of people who have built friendships through planting and gardening together!! I loved the passion she has for what she is doing - she lived in a chicken shed and cleaned houses for a living while writing her book!! She then completed her book in a home that a woman had built completely from things she found at the rubbish tip where she worked (and we saw the slides and it was a magnificent structure!!) So many alternatives in life to getting a mortgage and being conventional!

As someone who is yet to plant a vegetable, I look forward to what lies ahead!

another lovely day in paradise ...

For anyone with a background in psychology, there is a building here named Fritz (after Fritz Perls - father of gestalt therapy). Apparently, Esalen was very much the birthplace of gestalt practices and Mr Perls spent alot of time here. There are also buildings named after other old Esalen teachers - Rolf building for Ida Rolf the bodyworker and creator of rolfing (very painful massage that changes the body's structure), Huxley building after the author Aldous Huxley and Maslow after Abraham (?) Maslow who came up with the hierarchy of human needs pyramid which I rmember from my psychology 101 textbooks .

Anyway, back to Fritz Perls.. Esalen is still very big on gestalt practices and if my timetable was not already overflowing with an abundance of juicy offerings, i can now attend a gestalt practice group twice a week. I went along yesterday, to see what it was all about and along with hot tubs, good food and interactive learning, it presents something else I can see myself getting addicted to more of!

Got chatting in the hot tubs today to a lady who is the lifecoach for Google (and am excited as I can probably go and workshadow her when all this is over) - and over a breakfast of live muesli a sweet Brazilian gentleman was telling us about his job - to help people die. Another lady at the breakfast table said she had a near death experience when she was 19. she described "heaven" or wherever it is we go to post-living as feeling like a warm bath at just the right temperature - nothing to be afraid of and very nice! I'll leave you with that thought ..

Day off activities for today are going to include receiving a massage from a friend I took a massage workshop with here sometime back and going on a nature hike. The rest is all chill out and make it up as I go along.. I really feel like I've landed here and am loving it!

permaculture - how to design your life!

We've been looking at how to design environments, so let me share a nice common sense principle with you called zoning. The idea behind this is that you want to place the things you use most often close to you, so you spend minimum time, energy and travel in your journeys.

This is going to read like a map of the London underground, as we have 5 zones. let me explain more!

Zone 1 includes the places and things in our home we use at least 3 times per day. If you get on your bicycle 3 times a day - you want it in an easily accessible place, where you can shoot out with ease - rather than in a shed at the end of the garden where it's a hassle to get it out. We can also take a holistic look at zone 1 and say that ourselves and our inner state make up zone one and to be really in this zone, we need to be centred.

So, make a list of locations you visit 3x plus a day for certain needs. Make sure these are close to you!

Zone 2 is for functions that we perform once or twice a day. Make a list of 3 locations you visit to do these. In terms of proximity to you, this should be in the next zone - again fairly accessible.

Zone 3 is for places you may visit once or twice a week for your functions (eg supermarket - shed for the lawnmower) and these can be physically further away.

Zone 4 can be quite remote. These are the places you need to get to no more than once a month - maybe a few times a year.

The theory here is energy efficiency - put the things you need most in your life closest to you. I know from my personal experience that when I made the conscious choice in 1999 to live within walking distance of work - it freed up huge amounts of energy for me as this was a zone 2 function. Working from home and within the community where I'm living is the ultimate!

And if you're saying, what about zone 5? I'll explain more here! Zone 5 is the wilderness. Instead of being able to manage and control this zone - we are visitors here. This is where we go for inspiration. In some cases, we can spend as much time in zone 5 as in zone 1. In class, it was suggested that zone 5 can also be an inner state and that meditation can be a zone 5 activity if this is what we do to get our peace and inspiration.

So, to summarise - when planning anything from how to organise your office space to a move to a new location, put things in the right zones, according to how much you're going to use them or need them.

sleepy permaculturist seeks hammock

spent too long soaking in the hot tub last night after class - although it was awesome to lie back in the warm waters while getting a shoulder massage and marvel at all the stars. I had some stuff keeping my mind awake, so probably only got 3 or 4 hours sleep last night, so am a little sleep deprived! I sense my lunch hour will be spent catching up on zzzz napping in the sun on the lawn.

so ..onto my learnings!!

I have a new permaculture philosophy to meditate on these next few days. It's called protracted and thoughtful observation. It means don't just jump in there with action, but use time to observe and evaluate what is going on and then act. In a natural setting, this would mean looking at the land over a period of time and looking for patterns in the elements, before planning any design. It would not be fun to build a house and then find that it's in a spot where it gets wind-battered, sun deprived, gets the smells from the local rubbish dump going through and so on. One of our projects is to befriend a spot in nature and spend 30 mins every week sitting there, drawing sketches, taking notes and getting to know the spot very well. Apparently, lying back on a hammock and watching the land is a legitimate permaculture activity! I remember ordering a mattress without actually measuring how long I am and when it arrived, my feet dangled off the end. This would be an example of jumping in there without enough prior observation.

I have a personal situation going on right now, which I am applying some thoughtful observation to before taking action. In some ways it's nice to be able to take a step back and wait rather than responding out of emotion in the heat of the moment. Feels calmer, wiser ..

Brain Food

My time here continues to be intellectually stimulating .. a true mind, body experience! At the weekend a guy who was Clinton's secretary of state for labour (William Reich??) came to speak to us. Amazing speaker - very witty! Apparently, he once went on a date with Hillary C. a long time ago in his student days ... he believes that Hillary will be dropping out of the race soon as her funding is running out and that she'll strike up a behind the scenes deal with Obama - whereby she'll drop out on the condition Obama pays off all her campaign debts and that he appoints her as head of the supreme court (can't remember the correct title for the role).. Anyway, if it happens - you heard it here first!! The guy appeared to be very astute and bright, so I'm curious to see..

Last night there were some guest teachers who'd taught various well known psychlogists such as Nathaniel Brandon - doing a piece on money and mindfulness and our psychological relationship to money. Fascinating stuff!! They are doing a 5-part series. If it wasn't for the fact I had permaculture class the rest of this week, I'd be back for more..

there is definitely an abundance of learning and good food to be had at this place. At some point soon, I'll share the most amazing chocolate dessert recipe with you ..

weirdly, I've had conversations with people who're just not all that into this place .. to me it's a little slice of heaven - but I guess that our slices of heaven all look different...

Permaculture in the city

Last week's guest speaker, Kat Steele is an urban permaculturist. As half of the world's population now lives in the city - what goes on there environmentally is so important.

A few things I heard about that excited me ..

1) Sharing schemes where people in the neighbourhood share resources. No need for everyone to own their own lawnmower (as it spends most of its time sitting in the shed doing nothing apart from taking up space) - have one for a collective of people and share it around. So many ways to share and build community. eg - someone may have a garden, but may not have the physical health to look after it. Someone else may want to grow vegetables, but not have their own land - so person A invites person B to look after their land and they share the veggie harvest 50:50. Other schemes involve the group going each week or month to someone else's home and helping them with a project that would be too big for them to do alone. eg - one group member gets everyone to paint their hallway - with the whole team working it takes half a day and is a fun social event for everyone. The next time - a group member asks for help to clear out their attic and take unwanted goods to a charity store - the next group member may ask for help in planting a vegetable garden and on it goes ... Sounds like a great way to make new friends, be fit and make nice improvements to your environment.

2) Neighbourhood harvesting scheme. I believe this took place in Oakland. Some community activists took note of people who had fruit trees. The fruit tree owners were approached to see if they wanted to come on board. If they said "yes" then a group of people came round to help pick all the fruit. the harvest was divided up between the fruit-pickers and all the tree owners (so people got a variety of fruit) with an agreed percentage going to homeless projects.

3) Neighbourhood healthy eating scheme. Believe it or not, many disadvantaged people in urban areas do not have access to fresh fruit and vegetables. When I was working in Newham, I met a man who set up a project to deal with this. He went early in the morning to a fresh fruit and veg market, bought a lot of fresh produce and then went into "fresh food deserts" (places where there were no veggie shops in walking distance) and set up shop. Most of his selling points were in the middle of big, concrete housing estates. I met him at a healthy living project where we were introducing many people to smoothies for the first time. Most of the tasters were in raptures and one drinker claimed he felt "almost tipsy".

In the Bay Area, something similar is going on. A non-profit bought an ice-cream van, painted it in funky colours, filled it with organic produce from local growers, blasted out hip-hop music and went into deprived neighbourhoods. As well as distributing fresh food, the team also do healthy eating education. Sounds like one cool project!

4) Green roofs. OK, even my mum had heard of this one. So maybe I've had my eyes closed recently! A green roof is a roof where grasses and plants grow - basically like having a park or lawn on top of your house. It helps neutralise the co2 emissions in big cities and cool down city temperatures (caused by all that asphalt and concrete that hold the heat in). Apparently, large municipal buildings in the US are starting to go green on top - places such as museums and municipalities (I believe the mayor of Chicago is currently working on a green roof). I have a vision one day of being on a plane as it comes into land in a big urban area and seeing this amazing layer of green as we get closer to the ground - with city workers sitting on the roof, lazing in the grass, enjoying their lunchbreaks.. a whole new layer of green and nature above the ground .. yum !!!!

Permaculture - some stats that woke me up!

The US uses 1.14 million paper bags every hour.

The US uses 60,000 plastic bags every 5 seconds. Pause for a second and think of what this figure may be like globally, especially in countries with little environmental awareness. The US does have a few progressive towns that have banned free plastic bags in their stores..

It takes 98,000 tons of ancient plant matter to create 1 gallon of petrol. i was told that the average American car takes about 18 gallons. Do the maths and think of how many tons of ancient material is being depleted each time you fill the car.

Permaculture

So! The whole purpose of me being here is to learn about permaculture and I do that every night from 8-10pm with the lovely Benjamin and his guest leaders. It's probably about time I share some learnings with you..

So.. what is permaculture? Basically it's a whole range of systems and philosophies that look at creating not just environmental sustainability, but something that goes beyond it - rather than just putting back what we've taken out - permaculture looks at creating systems that regenerate and give back more than was taken out and in a way that is as effortless as possible. The principles can be applied not only to land stewardship and gardening/ farming but to everything in life from finance to health.

One of the co-founders of permaculture was a teenager - something that I find very exciting - as it's proof that everyone can be a mover and shaker on this planet.

We're being taught in a very experiential way (my favourite!) so every 3 days we have a different permaculture principle to meditate on. Mine is something called "stacking functions" - or in plain old English killing two (or 3 or 4) birds with one stone ..

Let me give you some examples .. rain falls anyway from the sky. If a household sets up a system for collecting rainwater, they can use it for washing the dishes and can then create a system to use the runoff water from washing the dishes to water the plants with. So, no water is being used from the tap and two needs are being taken care of ..

Another great example .. there's a plant that grows here called poison oak which many people are highly allergic to. It's growing around the kindergarten here. Rather than getting a gardener in to hack it away (expending human energy) the farmyard goats were moved to that part of the property. The goats enjoy eating this plant - so they got rid of it. And if we were to milk those particular goats and consume their milk (in the form of cheese, yoghurt whatever) we would in turn get immunity to poison oak through the antibodies in their milk. No gardeners required! No allergy medicine required!! And the byproduct of some tasty dairy foods.

I have yet to develop such bright systems in my own life - although one idea is making me excited. Every class, I have to turn in a response to what I learnt in the class before. I've been told everything from an essay to a piece of interpretive dance is fine .. So, dear readers - how would you feel if I use my blog to share with you what I learnt the night before? In that way, I'm doing my homework, sharing my learning with a wider audience and not wasting paper. I think as long as I'm able to find a free computer each day (this is the hard part!) I will be doing this .. I'll write something in the headline, so you'll get an idea about whether the post is going to be about permaculture or more general stuff.

Still lots of permaculture things I want to share with you - but this post is getting long and I've used up my 15 mins on the computer! Let me conclude by saying that one thing I love about it is that it is totally solution-focused and uses problems to find solutions (rather than getting bogged down in negativity). This sits very nicely with my lifecoach hat.

A quote here from our visiting teacher Kat Steele - an urban permaculturist. "There's a seed of a solution in every problem. Permaculture is about taking responsibility for our world."