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 : )
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Monday, 26 May 2008
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!
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!
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.
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.
Sunday, 25 May 2008
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!
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!
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
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 ....
"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 ....
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