Members Enjoy Green Scythe Fair 2014

Last month, on 15th June five members of the Permaculture Association got together and enjoyed a great day promoting permaculture at the Green Scythe Fair in Somerset.

This is a one day event that takes place in a beautiful setting on the Somerset Levels and is run entirely on wind, sun and muscle power. The day features excellent live music, over 70 stalls displaying traditional skills, crafts and produce, and lively environmental debates.

Permaculture Association members stall at the fair

The Green Scythe Fair is now in its tenth year and has as its aims:

1. To raise environmental awareness through creative activities2. To promote sustainable communities in South Somerset3. To engage the local community in Green Issues

Scything master classes are run over three days prior to the fair, and attendees come together to camp, relax, enjoy each others company and sample the local cider in the camp site next to the event.

“None of us knew each other before so it was lovely to meet other permies in the area!  It's a lovely little one day event, very green, where local farmers and travellers seem happy to share the space and men and women alike compete in the scything competition. There's live music going on all day and everyone joined in and danced to the last band." - Linda Philp, Permaculture Association Member

Special thanks to Linda, Marion, Graeme and Anna for helping us to promote permaculture to a different audience!

Getting together to run a local stall is a great way to make new friends. Want to meet other members in your area? Just reply to this email or give us a call and we'll help put you in touch!

London Permaculture Festival

by Lucy Purdy 

With just days now to go, the team behind the London Permaculture Festival are poised and excited to welcome people to Cecil Sharp House in Camden on Sunday July 6.

With innovation and solutions taking centre stage, we’ve gathered together a truly inspiring group of people, workshops and stalls this year. We hope there will be something at the festival for everyone: from whetting the interest of people new to Permaculture, to innovative and exciting projects to inspire the most experienced of Permaculturalists.

On the practical side, speakers will include ‘Vertical Veg Man’ and guardian gardening writer Mark Ridsdill Smith, who will explain how to create a self-watering container garden. No batteries, timers or outside taps needed! Annie Levy will discuss lacto-fermenting with a Permaculture twist, Juliet Kemp will explain the huge wealth of possibility by practicing Permaculture in pots, while nurseryman and rare plant collector Paul Barney of Edulis nursery will tell you about 10 edible perennials which he promises will “float your boat”.

Shamaila Akram, of Tuba Seed Permaculture, will hold an interactive introduction to Permaculture, while Maddy Harland of Permaculture Magazine and the Permaculture Association’s very own Andy Goldring will speak on Big Picture Permaculture and Permaculture in Cuba respectively. Andy will also talk about what was discussed at the IPC and how this will feed into this September’s Convergence, and the next global event, to be held in London 2015.

Hart will bring a taste of music
and culture of the Baka
to Camden on July 6.

A workshop which has drawn lots of interest in the run-up to the festival is run by Su Hart who has formed a fruitful musical partnership with the Baka people of the Cameroon rainforest since first visiting there in 1992. She formed a band, Baka Beyond, and produced two albums with the Baka too. Hart – a veteran of the likes of Glastonbury Festival - was drawn instinctively to the Baka’s relationship with music: a binding force in their lives. They live in the rainforest, hearing nothing but natural sounds, so learn from birth to listen acutely to the natural world around them. They cure illness and argument with song, they raise their voices to enchant animals, to bring luck in the hunt, to soothe babies and to unite the group in purpose and in joy. Hart will bring a taste of this to Camden on July 6. Read more here.

Also unfolding on the day in a beautiful, colourful celebration of Permaculture will be experts in straw bale building, cob making, seed-bomb sculpting, and an introduction to aquaponics by a man who keeps tilapia fish in his garage! Plenty of kid-friendly events will take place too for budding Permaculturalists of the future.

A thriving new staple of the London Permaculture scene, and one which will be explored at the festival, is the Permablitz. Permablitzes involve people coming together to create or improve a community or household edible, wildlife-friendly garden, according to the principles of Permaculture. This is learning about Permaculture and gardening as you work, building community networks, sharing good food and enjoying the feeling of coming together on something worthwhile. The concept will be explained in detail on July 6.

A thriving new staple of the London Permaculture scene, 
and one which will be explored at the festival, is the Permablitz.

We urge you to come along on the day, dip into those workshops and activities which really grab your attention – all of which are explained

here – and spread the words among friends and family via Twitter and Facebook. There has been a real buzz about this year’s festival. We’ve had articles published about us in Sublime Magazine, in which Permaculture was described as “dynamic, evolving and inspiring” and on Recycleopedia.com too. This piece read: “The festival looks set to be an inspiring, action-packed day out, suitable for all ages, and most importantly, a chance for people to connect over the ideas of Permaculture. Warning: many find that once it takes root, it becomes a way of life.”

The festival will unfurl in the heart of the capital, where diversity and abundance of human spirit abound. This is what Permaculture is all about! Hopefully you can be part of this wonderful day.

www.londonpermaculturefestival.com

UK Permaculture Convergence 2014: Get ready for a life- changing event!

by Anna Schmidt

Strategic Communications Coordinator at the Permaculture Association

The Permaculture Association warmly invites you to spend an unforgettable weekend (12th – 14th September) at this year's UK Permaculture Convergence. The event takes place at Gilwell Park in London, an amazing forest location with great views!

Book your tickets online here.

The weekend will be packed with a huge diversity of workshops. Whether you are new to permaculture or want to deepen your knowledge, be sure you'll leave this event with plenty of new ideas, knowledge and practical skills. Three month before the convergence, we already have over 10 confirmed workshop leaders and speakers, which include Looby Macnamara, who is going to present her new book “7 Ways to Think Differently”; Chris Evans, who will talk about permaculture in the Himalaya; and Maddy Harland, who will introduce us to the world of unusual trees and forest gardens.

Permaculture in Norway: Coming up with creative Solutions!

by Benjamin Vidmar

Entrepreneur and Permaculture Ambassador

Longyearbyen, Norway (Svalbard) is the "northern most" town in the world
(78.2200° N, 15.6500° E) and has been my home since 2008. It is a very unique place and a bit of a no man's land  - even though Norway has sovereignty over the island. Longyearbyen is the largest city on the island of Spitsbergen, has 2000 inhabitants. Moreover, there are over 3000 polar bears living on the islands!

Spitsbergen is over 65% protected parks, and there are special regulations in place to preserve the nature here. As a result of being an island, everything is either shipped or flown up, and all waste must also be shipped or flown out. This is a process that uses a lot of fossil fuels and is very vunerable to price increases as the price of fuel goes up. Furthermore, after the waste is shipped down to mainland Norway, it is put on trucks and then shipped over land to Sweden where the waste is sold in order to make energy.

Lost Theory Festival in Croatia: Living our Dream

by  Stéphanie De Caluwé

This year is the fourth edition of Lost Theory Festival up in the mountains of Croatia. It's am adventure brought us experiences and lessons we never imagined before. The Lost Theory team grew towards being a family and fell in love with the area.

We would like to spend our future here and buy a piece of land in an area we already have in mind. It would be a perfect place to live sustainably with all its beautiful elements in a mountain climate. One of the main goals of this festival is to create a place of sharing experience, connecting with positive people and creating communities that set realistic and achievable goals for sustaining happiness, healthy living, thinking, feeling, breathing and dancing. The first steps growing towards this future eco-village demonstrates itself in our permaculture design course during the build-up of the festival and the eco-management during the event, which will transform Lost Theory into an activation zone.

Permaculture in South Africa

by Jason Hanslo

grade 4 teacher and Permaculture Ambassador

The Sunrays in flowers project was defined not too long ago on a popular South African television show as being a vehicle of change for an impoverished community of Delft South, just outside Cape Town. The project, born was born out of my concern for the learners of Sunray Primary school's nutritional well- being. Amidst the community's socio-economic ills, I managed to create an oasis; a permaculture garden.

Impoverished areas usually showcase the best examples of reusing of recyclables. Children use spent tyres instead of a ball to play catch.

Permaculture (and) Religion

by Chris Marsh

Lifetime member of the Permaculture Association

This article is a contribution to the often contentious discussion about whether or not religion (and/or spirituality, metaphysics, mysticism, god(s) or goddess(es) and associated writings, rituals and images) is/are – or should be – part of permaculture. My own position, during twenty years of being interested in permaculture as a movement for radical world change, has tended to be that attention being given to all this spirituality stuff does more harm than good.1 I now think there may be a case for seeing permaculture as religious, even as a religion, in the original sense of a shared understanding that binds a community together.