In this section, I will apply the permaculture ethics and principles. The information that has been gathered from the previous stages will help guide how these are used in this design.

 

Earth Care

A goal of the network is to help people appreciate how they can incorporate permaculture design into their lives. The result will be a greater understanding of this very ethic, earth care.    

As much as I enjoy pottering away in my gardens from time to time it is nice to meet other people practising permaculture. Usually, this involves getting in my car and driving at least 30 miles but often many more to connect with these people. The older I get the more I dislike having to drive, taking the car out is something I try and avoid, especially on a weekend. Through the creation of a local permaculture network, this need to travel will be greatly reduced, preventing the need for the use of a car to connect with people. This will also apply to other people involved with the network, having local people with similar interests removes to need to travel long distances to be with like-minded people.

It would also be good for the town to see more people connecting with where their food is coming from, we have a lot of gardens in the town with only a few growing edible plants. Garden lawns are not adding to our food supply and utilize lots of resources to maintain. A network that delivers meaningful results through diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems is something worth aiming for.   

 

People Care

It’s always nice to spend time around people who share at least some of your passions in life, even if it’s only for a friendly chat to pass the time of day.

The past few years have left many people isolated and in fear. Almost every day I’m hearing that somebody I work with or know is having some form of mental health problem. The demand for support is far outweighing what is available. Networks that bring like-minded people together, indirectly provide a sense of community. If the building of a local permaculture network in Richmond connects people and helps to remove the thoughts of isolation, then it’s worth building.  

Empowering people to create healthy environments and lifestyle abundance by mimicking the patterns and relationships we can find in nature reconnects people with the very thing that is getting removed from everyday life. In the technological world that is growing exponentially around us, nature and its natural patterns have deliberately been removed. As an example, I now find myself having to provide 24-hour IT support, 7 days a week for a company that never sleeps. I’m not alone in having to work at unusual times of the day. Therefore, it’s important to reach out and help each other. People often just need a very small amount of encouragement or guidance for their lives to be improved.

 

Fair share

Whenever I visit a permaculture project or listen to someone talk passionately about what they are doing, I come away inspired. My garden designs have come about because of being inspired by what other people have accomplished.

During my PDC at Ragmans Lane farm, the most valuable information I received was when Matt Dunwell talked about all the failures, they had experienced in the earlier years of the farm by following known permaculture ways of design. A design that works incredibly well on one site may fail on a different site. Through sharing of knowledge, so much time and expense and be saved. After all, the best stories are always the ones when something unexpected happens.

Of course, the sharing of plants, seeds, and tools, along with anything else that can be of value to others will also add a great value and a purpose to building the network.

 

Here I will look at the 12 permaculture principles through the eyes of this design.

 

OBSERVE & INTERACT

Of all my designs this will be the most observed of them, I’ve started, stopped, started, and stopped this design so many times over these past 5 years that I should have a good foundation to work from by reflecting on all my thoughts about creating a permaculture network in Richmond.

Time

It’s only now that I’m coming towards the end of my diploma that I’m thinking about the next steps in my permaculture journey. Since 2014 when I completed my permaculture design certificate, I’ve been constantly enrolled in various learning courses. It’s time to switch gears and start to share the things I’ve been learning.

Network

The logical next step will be to expand out from my gardens to the local neighbourhood. The joy of living in a small town is that the whole town becomes the local neighbourhood, the place to interact with local people with all things permaculture.  

The past few years have also generated interest in people growing some of their food, whether this was due to having more time at home due to lockdowns and being furloughed from work, or a desire to take some control over their food source. What is apparent, food security is going to become more and more significant in the next few years as the current farming crisis expands throughout the world.

It's probably a good time to put together this network.

 

CATCH & STORE ENERGY

Over the past five years, energy has been the limiting factor for this design. I have been unable to commit enough of my energy to grow a network of this kind. Instead, I’ve been learning to develop ways that will help improve how I use my energy.

Not burning out

I find it very easy to commit to more activities than my body allows, understanding how energy affects my body has been a constant dance these past years working on the diploma. A big part of this design will be not committing myself to things that will burn through all my energy. This also applies to other people who become involved with the network. The energy we put into the network must be replenished along with an additional amount to develop the network further.

 

OBTAIN A YIELD

This flows nicely from talking about replenishing energy. One yield of this design will be found in the shared interactions of the people that make up the network.

Storytelling

A large part of my life is learning, my preferred method is through stories. All people have many stories to tell. When a person is speaking from the heart, sharing life experiences I often find myself lost in amazement. Bringing people together from different backgrounds who share common interests can give so much to people just through talking. At the very foundation of civilisation, storytelling has brought people together.

Growing

Another yield of this network will be a focus on food systems. As mentioned in the observe and interact section, building sustainable food systems is becoming ever more crucial. It would be good to have a network that along with sharing knowledge, the sharing of seeds, plants, produce, and materials would be possible. 

 

    

APPLY SELF-REGULATION & ACCEPT FEEDBACK

Something I do not want this network to be is “Stephen’s permaculture network”. I want to keep this separate from my permaculture project, the pollen gardens. Having a stand-alone website and domain name for the Richmond permaculture network will help divide the two projects.

Early days

From the onset, I will share my design work through the Richmond permaculture network, this will be necessary to help promote permaculture design that is taking place in the town. As time moves forward the promotion of other people's projects will be pushed more and more.

Listening

There will be things that I may not wish to get involved with directly but could support by helping to provide a platform to build from. To reiterate, I do not want this to be Stephen's permaculture network.   

  

USE & VALUE RENEWABLE RESOURCES & SERVICES

Through Information, knowledge, and skill shares, or even nothing more complex than just bringing people together to talk, we are adding value to our lives with nothing more than words and actions.

Deprogram

We have got to shake off the idea that has somehow got ingrained into our culture through social programming that we all need to own at least one of everything and that we should not trouble other people for help or advice.  

The heart as a source of renewable energy

People have greater power when they work together, outcomes can be changed that would have seemed impossible when alone. Having a local permaculture network will benefit those involved, it will enable people to share resources and services, most of all we are those renewable resources in the sense that through giving from the heart we also receive.  

 

PRODUCE NO WASTE

Having a clear direction for this design will be very important to help prevent wasting my time along with others. I’m very conscious of how much time running a network could take up if the design process is not thought through.

 

DESIGN FROM PATTERNS TO DETAILS

A big advantage of this design is that I’ve been observing how for the past five years how little movement there has been in setting it up.

Example

Using myself as the best example for finding reasons why to hold off on this design I’ve observed patterns in how I use my time throughout the year. I’ve learned how each summer when I should be enjoying the garden, I end up burnt out from constantly working weekend after weekend on my projects through the early part of the year. Or how when the weather is nice, I do not want to be sitting in front of the computer on a weekend working on researching and writing up designs. Another pattern is the things that I’ve been saying I really would like to do each year like going fishing that I never do. 

Details

Coming into this design now with five years of pattern observation, I now have a much better understanding to look at the detail of what I can put into this design. This could be helpful when guiding other people in what they perhaps would like to offer to put into the network.

 

INTEGRATE RATHER THAN SEGREGATE 

What Does Network Mean?

A network, in computing, is a group of two or more devices or nodes that can communicate. The devices or nodes in question can be connected by physical or wireless connections. The key is that there are at least two separate components, and they are connected.

The scale of a network can range from a single pair of devices or nodes sending data back and forth to massive data centres and even the global Internet, the largest network in existence. What all of these networks have in common, from the smallest ones to the largest, is that they allow computers and/or users to share information and resources.

From computers to people

Richmond is not a very large town, the internet is a very useful tool to move information around and to keep people connected, this design will be to focus on in-person interaction with the internet acting as an element, a single part of a whole design. The website will be basic, and social media will not be built into the initial design. In any case, there is already an excellent regional permaculture social media group. (See appendix)  

People

People coming together to enjoy time spent with each other is what this design is about. The formation of like-minded communities is more important than ever in these times of uncertainty. 

 

USE SMALL & SLOW SOLUTIONS

I’ve already done an excellent job with the slowness of this design.

Having a network that grows organically through word of mouth will help bring together people who genuinely have an interest to learn about permaculture or share similar interests.

A network that grows organically should also prevent me from becoming burnt out by draining all my energy into creating a network with people who perhaps would be suited to other areas of interest but may have got caught up in a promotional campaign for the network.

  

USE & VALUE DIVERSITY

The value diversity has in any system, is in how it is used. It’s one thing to want as many people in the network as possible but if that means the value people receive is minimal, the system will fail.

The scope of permaculture is so diverse when practised. Having clear aims will be key to holding the network together.

 

USE EDGES & VALUE THE MARGINAL

Most people will have never heard of permaculture design, even after all these years it is still a design method that is very much on the edge. What this means is that there are great opportunities in a town like Richmond to use permaculture design.

Gardens

My gardens are excellent examples of adding value to a marginal space. Not to miss an opportunity, the back garden is next to a public footpath close to the centre of town enabling people to view it all year round without having to ask to visit. Interested people can just stand on the footpath and look in, and this they often do. A small sign including the word permaculture could make all the difference to engage people as they walk past.

 

CREATIVELY USE & RESPOND TO CHANGE

Always an important part of any design is the “creatively use and respond to change” principle.

By following all the other principles along with the ethics, this principle will be constantly presenting itself.  A permaculture design has a continuous process of evaluating, maintaining, and tweaking designs. 

I do not doubt that this design will evolve and change many times in the coming years. Like all my permaculture designs, they are just experiments expressing my thoughts in physical form.