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.

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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!