Creating a course plan for teaching permaculture to children and families
Here begins a project to help me to realise one of my long term dreams: to create an easily replicable framework to hold family based workshops sharing all I love and value about permaculture in a way that is accessible to everybody, young and old alike.
Me and Ohli on our PDC in 2010
When I first began my journey into permaculture I had a very young son. Like many others I have met since then, this change into motherhood brought with it an overwhelming sense of importance in playing my part in the creation of a sustainable world, that would welcome my child as he grew, and to develop my abilities to guide him into a life that was not filled with the ecological mistakes and disharmony of my own generation. For me, it was the very essence of permaculture that I was looking for.
When looking for a teacher with which to do my two week, residential permaculture design course, I was turned down many times by teachers who felt they could not manage or incorporate a child into their teaching methods. It was only when I came across Richard Perkins, whose partner at the time Michelle was expecting their child, that I felt welcomed and able to take part. Taking part in such an intensive course was filled with challenges for me as the only one present with a wee one, but thankfully I had the support of a close friend there who did offer some help. And the atmosphere of the group was very welcoming for us, with some wonderful souls who gave us both such great energy, that we were made to feel very welcome. But I always did feel, quite rightly, that I was on the outside of a world of learning and that it would be a constant challenge to balance my family needs with attending more courses and workshops.
When looking for a teacher with which to do my two week, residential permaculture design course, I was turned down many times by teachers who felt they could not manage or incorporate a child into their teaching methods. It was only when I came across Richard Perkins, whose partner at the time Michelle was expecting their child, that I felt welcomed and able to take part. Taking part in such an intensive course was filled with challenges for me as the only one present with a wee one, but thankfully I had the support of a close friend there who did offer some help. And the atmosphere of the group was very welcoming for us, with some wonderful souls who gave us both such great energy, that we were made to feel very welcome. But I always did feel, quite rightly, that I was on the outside of a world of learning and that it would be a constant challenge to balance my family needs with attending more courses and workshops.
My full PDC group back in 2010
This is, of course, a very normal thing. Our communities are filled with mothers and fathers who put a hold on their studies or work to raise their children, and continue on again when their families are grown or in school. But permaculture for me is in a different world from this - we are talking here of building resilient communities, changing the way we look at the world, rebuilding our visions of how we want to be living.... surely, the entire family could and should be involved in this in some way in order to make it a reality? To stop this being something that we learn about and something that we are living into, to be at it's most effective permaculture needs to include the entire community, and children make up a large part of that.
Many times in the past few years in my travels to different permaculture centres and communities, I have taken part in workshops and talks in how to achieve harmony within your community. We've worked with consensus decision making, non-violent communication, explored different community structures, and taken part in many activities that recognise that in any community the People Care ethic needs to run strong, otherwise the community itself is bound to disharmony and ultimately unhappiness. But these workshops and trainings are always focused exclusively for adults. Fair enough, there is definitely a place for that. But I would like to work now on creating a framework for workshops that include the needs of the entire community, and with children included the way to approach things may change quite considerably.
Many times in the past few years in my travels to different permaculture centres and communities, I have taken part in workshops and talks in how to achieve harmony within your community. We've worked with consensus decision making, non-violent communication, explored different community structures, and taken part in many activities that recognise that in any community the People Care ethic needs to run strong, otherwise the community itself is bound to disharmony and ultimately unhappiness. But these workshops and trainings are always focused exclusively for adults. Fair enough, there is definitely a place for that. But I would like to work now on creating a framework for workshops that include the needs of the entire community, and with children included the way to approach things may change quite considerably.
I'm still not sure how I'm going to go about this, so here seems a good point to begin my next project.
Intrepid explorers can continue with me onto the next page, here
