Implementation
So, based upon the design points that came out of the last section, Here is how it all worked out. I've highlighted the principles of permaculture that came into play in bold green writing, and the ethics of permaculture that came in are highlighted in blue.
Furthering my permaculture knowledge - designing from patterns to details, observing and interacting, and Earth care
We followed our rough plan of the first few months by visiting three Thai permaculture centres - Tacomepai, Punpun and Panya. At these places I had the opportunities for growth in my knowledge, understanding and experience of permaculture in ways I had never expected. In my travel plan I had thought of the main pattern of my journey, but arriving at this stage I really got to experience the finer details of permaculture design. Here's some images from the three centres.
Furthering my permaculture knowledge - designing from patterns to details, observing and interacting, and Earth care
We followed our rough plan of the first few months by visiting three Thai permaculture centres - Tacomepai, Punpun and Panya. At these places I had the opportunities for growth in my knowledge, understanding and experience of permaculture in ways I had never expected. In my travel plan I had thought of the main pattern of my journey, but arriving at this stage I really got to experience the finer details of permaculture design. Here's some images from the three centres.
In Tacomepai I learned about natural building, helping to construct an adobe mud brick house. I also learned a lot about bamboo, as almost everything there is made from the stuff.
In Punpun I learned a lot about community living, they have a very strong and solid group of families living together, holding together the community of visitors and volunteers. Life is joyful and beautiful there. Every day we took part in different activities, gardening, (pruning, planting, harvesting) natural building, (making adobe bricks) alternative technologies (like building a solar hot water heater and fruit dryer). There was also so much more to be learnt from Pun pun, the place was filled with people doing interesting things. I also took a cooking course whilst I was there and learned to make amazing coconut curries.
In Panya we had an amazing time, filled with learning. Panya is very different to its neighbour Punpun, as it is entirely run by the volunteers living there at the time, many short term. Nearly everybody was a foreigner whilst I was there, so rather than everything being just Thai style there were many influences from around the world. I really liked the freedom of Panya, I felt instantly like I was a part of a family rather than a volunteer, and so we stayed on and off for several months. I learned more than I can even remember.
In Punpun I learned a lot about community living, they have a very strong and solid group of families living together, holding together the community of visitors and volunteers. Life is joyful and beautiful there. Every day we took part in different activities, gardening, (pruning, planting, harvesting) natural building, (making adobe bricks) alternative technologies (like building a solar hot water heater and fruit dryer). There was also so much more to be learnt from Pun pun, the place was filled with people doing interesting things. I also took a cooking course whilst I was there and learned to make amazing coconut curries.
In Panya we had an amazing time, filled with learning. Panya is very different to its neighbour Punpun, as it is entirely run by the volunteers living there at the time, many short term. Nearly everybody was a foreigner whilst I was there, so rather than everything being just Thai style there were many influences from around the world. I really liked the freedom of Panya, I felt instantly like I was a part of a family rather than a volunteer, and so we stayed on and off for several months. I learned more than I can even remember.
Keeping a balance between moving and staying still, resting, reflection and adventure - applying self regulation and accepting feedback and people care
Listening to what I had written in the planning of this journey, I made sure that we had some time away for adventure and travel in between staying in one place. In between the permaculture centres we rested in a national park, an island paradise, and also took some time to visit different towns and villages along the way. I feel that this worked out really well and gave me the chance to step back and reflect on where we were heading, to make sure we were fulfilling all the things that I wanted us to do.
In between the practical, physical work of volunteering I also began using the methods of The Artists way, a 12 week program designed to bring out and free your creativity. I found that this gave me the space to not only reflect on what I was going through and any changes taking place within my life, but to shift my outlook to one of positivity, creation and energy for all things new. This timed really well with my travels and my work for project 4, giving me the boost of energy and creativity that I needed to fully free my mind and start living into my ambitions.
Listening to what I had written in the planning of this journey, I made sure that we had some time away for adventure and travel in between staying in one place. In between the permaculture centres we rested in a national park, an island paradise, and also took some time to visit different towns and villages along the way. I feel that this worked out really well and gave me the chance to step back and reflect on where we were heading, to make sure we were fulfilling all the things that I wanted us to do.
In between the practical, physical work of volunteering I also began using the methods of The Artists way, a 12 week program designed to bring out and free your creativity. I found that this gave me the space to not only reflect on what I was going through and any changes taking place within my life, but to shift my outlook to one of positivity, creation and energy for all things new. This timed really well with my travels and my work for project 4, giving me the boost of energy and creativity that I needed to fully free my mind and start living into my ambitions.
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Staying in touch with friends and family - using and valuing renewable resources and services and people care
This may seem like a strange principle to link in here, but I consider my friends and family to be a renewable resource, as they are always there and their love is never ending. I really do value the part they play in my life, so wanted to maintain that connection through staying in touch whilst I was gone.
I made a photo site on Shutterfly where I uploaded photos of our trip and some updates as to what was going on for friends and family. I didn't do this as much as I was intending to, as even though I did have quite regular access to the internet, the speed was usually really slow and I would usually spend my time working on progressing diploma projects. I also found that I shared pictures much more quickly and easily on Facebook, as more friends had access to this and checked more often than my private site, so making it easier for them to keep in contact. I did keep the Shutterfly going, though just really for family that didn't use Facebook. You can see it at wanderingbears.shutterfly.com
This may seem like a strange principle to link in here, but I consider my friends and family to be a renewable resource, as they are always there and their love is never ending. I really do value the part they play in my life, so wanted to maintain that connection through staying in touch whilst I was gone.
I made a photo site on Shutterfly where I uploaded photos of our trip and some updates as to what was going on for friends and family. I didn't do this as much as I was intending to, as even though I did have quite regular access to the internet, the speed was usually really slow and I would usually spend my time working on progressing diploma projects. I also found that I shared pictures much more quickly and easily on Facebook, as more friends had access to this and checked more often than my private site, so making it easier for them to keep in contact. I did keep the Shutterfly going, though just really for family that didn't use Facebook. You can see it at wanderingbears.shutterfly.com
Working on plans to develop future income streams - obtaining a yield
As this became quite a priority, the next project I went into after this one I designed around creating a business that would help to support us. At the time I was working on this I recognised it's importance in our future and devoted myself to it's planning fully. I decided to stay some extra time with the friends family that I first arrived into, and hired a local lady to be with Ohli for 5 mornings a week, so I could study and work on my plans. After so many months of fitting in my work around Ohli and his time schedule, this was amazing! I was able to do so much work, and fully researched and began a plan to create an ethical business. (You can see the work that I did here in project 4) This new project designed our travels in many ways, leading us to the border villages of Thailand to visit weavers and spinners and then eventually into the mountains of Nepal. Working towards creating a financial yield to keep me and my family going.
Remaining open to opportunities that arise - creatively using and responding to change
I remained open to everything that came our way, as I knew that this was so important for me to find the feeling of freedom and adventure that I had been looking for. We made a new travel companion from one of the permaculture centres, and we travelled on together out of Thailand (and are still travelling on together 9 months later). I feel that by allowing my life this freedom to take any twists and turns that felt right at the time, I have enhanced my feelings of self understanding and courage in my personal choices. Taking those steps, those chances into the unknown can bring the most amazing feeling of surrendering to the universe when things work out more beautifully than you could ever have imagined. And so much has happened that I could never have dreamed of, from taking those chances. More bravery, the lesson here has been for me, to not be afraid and to take those leaps into the unknown, as the new winds flowing through my hair feel just so wonderful.
Sharing this learning with the wider world - obtain a yield, apply self regulation and accept feedback, people care and fair shares
I created a website, also on Weebly, so that I could have a place to share any interesting resources that I found during this project and this trip to help other parents thinking of a similar journey, and also in the hope that it would give me a space to connect with other similar families.
My intention was to encourage and empower other parents (and especially single parents) that they were all able and capable to make any journey they wished to with their children, and it wasn't scary or dangerous.
What I found, however, is that after I created the site I became a little de-motivated as nobody, literally no body ever took a look at it. No feedback, no comments, no other parents to chat to about things, no site visits at all, so says the site editors page anyhow. So without the encouragement of any yield at all to keep me going, I stopped updating it or adding anything to it. Now I look back at this time I realise that I don't actually know much anything about building websites, and I'm sure there's a whole load of things that you can and should do to help people find your site if you want them to. And also, to make people visit a website, you should spend a lot of time making it really interesting and worth visiting. Once I was travelling I found it difficult to keep up with contributing to this diploma website and new projects, my family blog, and other emails etc alongside a new website, it was just too much. So unfortunately it has now been abandoned.
Anyhow, you can still see it at littlenomads.weebly.com. Maybe one day I will get back to it, when the right time comes.
I created a website, also on Weebly, so that I could have a place to share any interesting resources that I found during this project and this trip to help other parents thinking of a similar journey, and also in the hope that it would give me a space to connect with other similar families.
My intention was to encourage and empower other parents (and especially single parents) that they were all able and capable to make any journey they wished to with their children, and it wasn't scary or dangerous.
What I found, however, is that after I created the site I became a little de-motivated as nobody, literally no body ever took a look at it. No feedback, no comments, no other parents to chat to about things, no site visits at all, so says the site editors page anyhow. So without the encouragement of any yield at all to keep me going, I stopped updating it or adding anything to it. Now I look back at this time I realise that I don't actually know much anything about building websites, and I'm sure there's a whole load of things that you can and should do to help people find your site if you want them to. And also, to make people visit a website, you should spend a lot of time making it really interesting and worth visiting. Once I was travelling I found it difficult to keep up with contributing to this diploma website and new projects, my family blog, and other emails etc alongside a new website, it was just too much. So unfortunately it has now been abandoned.
Anyhow, you can still see it at littlenomads.weebly.com. Maybe one day I will get back to it, when the right time comes.
Ohli and his travelling companion Max
I've really found it to be a challenge trying to do so many things that are centred around being connected to power and signal. In reality, I find it much easier and effective to speak to people face to face, I'm sure that's true for many other people too. I have shared my travel stories, advice and opinions on natural immunity, and resources (all those things that I wanted to share on a website) face to face with many many people that I have met along the way, as well as old friends and friends of friends. People I've met have passed my details onto others and we've chatted through emails and phone conversations about family travel things, and we've met other travelling families and shared inspiration through spending time together. And now friends of mine who never thought they would travel are making some amazing journeys with their children and having some beautiful adventures together. Things have been so much more easy for me to share with others in the 'real world' happening by pure luck and/or coincidence, than by planning and plotting and designing on a computer screen. Makes sense, it's pretty obvious that would happen, really.
click here to go to the next page, the evaluation
