This month we lost a Permaculture elder, author, teacher & educator. Dr Ross Mars was many of those thing’s but he was also a husband, father, pop, brother, uncle, friend and mentor to many. Not many people know, but we actually have Ross’ wife Jenny to thank for bringing permaculture to Ross. It was her who first did a Permaculture Design Course and suggested Ross do one too.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Ross’ contributions to permaculture were numerous, and if we tried to list them all, we’d be here until tomorrow and would probably still forget some. Ross’ involvement in Permaculture has spanned more than three decades during which time he had two “Candlelight Farms”, wrote and co-authored twenty books for the beginner Permie, the Permaculture classroom, Permaculture disguised as Science in the Garden, and his last one on Regenerative Agriculture, which only went to the publisher this August. He played an integral role in establishing approved greywater and black water recycling systems in Western Australia, and was a member of the Greywater and Wastewater Industry Group. He was one of the main organisers for the 2016 Australasian Permaculture Convergence here in Perth and contributed to many others. Ross was a teacher, a high school science and math teacher in fact, and he brought that skill into Permaculture facilitating and delivering numerous courses – Introduction to Permaculture, Short Workshops, PDCs, Advanced Courses, Teacher Trainings, Permaculture Earthwork Courses and all levels of the accredited training sector. He wrote and established the accredited training for Permaculture from the Certificate I to Diploma level and made WA the forefront of accredited Permaculture training in Australia. In addition, he also brought Certificate I & II Permaculture qualifications into high schools through the Vocational Education & Training in Schools system. As a designer and consultant, Ross’ name and “Candlelight Farm” will be found on numerous designs for schools, colleges and community gardens as well as his work with property owners helping them achieve their dreams. We could go on, but what we really want to talk about is how many lives Ross touched in doing all this. How many people felt that he changed the direction they were travelling in and his influence on their life. He changed not only people’s properties, but also their worldviews and in many cases the directions of their life.
Two themes keep coming up when speaking with people about Ross: His humour and his generosity. We are the best examples of that and neither of us would be where we are today without Ross. He taught us much of what we know and encouraged us to go out, start our own business’ and to teach others – sometimes with a (not so) gentle kick in the behind. He supported our baby steps with patience, and trusted us as we grew wings and found our own teaching styles. We could also question and disagree with Ross and he would listen and take on our point of view or differences in opinions, but we always knew we were still mates. How many weekends were spent at Candlelight Farm learning from him? Financially, it was never worth it for him, he did it to inspire others and because of his love of teaching and his belief in what Permaculture could do for a community. He would say to us on more than one occasion, “When it comes down to it, Permaculture is about Community, Soil and Water” and although we’ve tried to think him wrong, he had a point. Permaculture is about Community and that was what Ross fostered by his actions and innate generosity. I remember doing one of the courses with Ross around 2011 and he brought in these MASSIVE Bunya pine cones happily declaring he was going to harvest the seeds and make us a gluten free, Bunya Pine Nut Chocolate Mud Cake for our next teaching session. True to his word he did and I’m yet to find a better chocolate mud cake than Ross’ “Bunya Pine Nut Chocolate Mud Cake” – he was onto gluten free before we even knew what gluten was. That was the lengths Ross would go to for his students to harvest enough pine seeds to make us a chocolate cake just so we could experience it.
We like to think that our countless hours of fixing his reticulation, propagating new plants, making mudbricks, building straw bales, sanding, concreting, surveying or building something was actually helping him. Most likely though, he spent more time fixing it up afterward but you would never hear him complain. What his approach taught us though, was that it was okay to have a go and learn on the job. To use tools we weren’t naturally comfortable with, and that circumstances didn’t need to be perfect to work. Ross had an uncanny sense of smell for cake and a knack for materializing out of thin air whenever it appeared. If we needed to speak to him, all we had to do was announce morning tea to our students and his cheeky grin would poke around the corner under the pretence of “selling” books, or needing to talk to our students about something. Teaching was carried out in a refitted shed with the ablutions consisting of a homemade composting toilet with a bucket, a toilet seat and a container of sawdust. This proved a little too overwhelming for many students as in the end it was upgrade to a “normal toilet” that flushed. Ross handed over the teaching reins to us a few years ago so he could enjoy more time with his beloved wife Jenny, their dog Bruno and all the family. We hope we can do him proud and continue his legacy. He was a teacher and mentor, but to us, and many more in the permaculture community – he was much more than that, he was our friend and he will be greatly missed.
Here’s your chance to win BIG and elevate your permaculture lifestyle to the next level. Get ready to be educated and inspired like never before.
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📅 Full Terms and conditions can be found below
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Terms and Conditions
For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions, “The Promoter” refers to Permaculture International Ltd trading as Permaculture Australia. The “Prize” refers to bundle prize of 1 set Permaculture Ethics & Principles Fridge Magnets, 1 2024 Melliodora Permaculture Calendar -7 books including RetroSuburbia: The Downshifter’s Guide to a Resilient Future: by David Holmgren, Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture by Rosemary Morrow, Essence of Permaculture booklet by David Holmgren, The Art of Frugal Hedonism by Annie Raser-Rowland and Adam Grubb, Our Street (Retrosuburbia for Kids by Beck Lowe, Brenna Quinlan and David Holmgren, 470 by Linda Woodrow, You Can Have Your Permaculture and Eat It Too! By Robin Clayfield Approximate total prize value AUD $322.00
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Some time ago we inherited a very large garden. I was not a gardener but strangely enough I come from generations of farmers. So, I learned fast. I also wanted a method that would suit my wife who was injured in a car accident and sometimes found bending painful. Trawling the internet, I found Strawbale Gardening.
This was some seventeen years ago. I have experimented with the method, and it works very well. I have taught it in the UK, Australia, America and Canada.
Firstly, you do not need soil. So, it follows that you can start your new strawbale garden almost anywhere. On grass, concrete, on your drive, patio or in the backyard. There is no digging and best of all no weeds. There is no waste. When the strawbales are “tired” having had no soil borne diseases they make first-rate compost.
Speaking for myself and a few friends these seem to be the most popular vegetables to grow in strawbales. Pole beans, onions, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, spring onions, marrows, pumpkins, peas, beetroot, cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, and cauliflower to name but a few. I have had extremely mixed results with sweetcorn so I would probably advise you to steer clear until you have mastered the technique. Strawbales fit in most spaces, you can grow on the surface of the bale, being careful to plant right to the edge, and vertically using poles.
One of my favourite strawbale systems uses three bales and seven canes. I grow three varieties of tomatoes up the canes and lettuce, cabbage and marrows on the surface. I have attached a bad drawing to illustrate. You can also plant flowers to act as companion plants. Strawbale gardening is not simply a question of throwing a few seeds in the bale and hoping for the best. It is a little more complicated than that. But it is very doable and very worthwhile. The main thing is to get the strawbales composting. You achieve this by adding water and a nitrogen-based feed over some time and in varying quantities. This gets the bales “cooking”. I have devised a seventeen-day “maturing” schedule and by the end of this time, the strawbales should be ready to plant and or sow into. This is a vital part of the whole operation and when done correctly ensures good crops.
Potatoes are great fun to grow in bales. There are two lengths of bailing twine going horizontally around the strawbale. This is one of only a few times I removed both the twines. It gives the potatoes a bit more freedom. Choose a potato that is not generally available in the shops. My favourite is Pink Fur Apple. It is a great little salad potato and super tasty. When you pull apart the strawbale to reveal your potato treasure it should come away in slices. If you lay this down it makes a great bed for marrows and pumpkins, so not a thing gets wasted. Incidentally, this method is great for children and makes a good classroom project.
One last thing, a strawbale garden looks great. I hope this has whetted your appetite to have a go at strawbale gardening. If you need any further information, please use the Contact Us page on my website. If you want all the lowdown, then I have written an e-book that covers everything.
by Greta Carroll – Permaculture Australia Board Member and Chairperson
The Permaculture design ethics and principles have always been used in physical landscape design. Growing in popularity and importance is their application in social landscapes and businesses. For example, Meg McMgowan used the ethics and principles to teach new officers in the NSW Fraud Squad, Permaculture for Refugees uses them for an approach to working with people who have experienced displacement, a museum curator uses them to set up new exhibitions, and PermaQueer use them to demonstrate the difference between extractive, reductionist cultures and more syntropic, regenerative ways of being in the world.
For the last five years most of my work has been in permaculture education. I spend a lot of time thinking about the way culture, methods, and tools create effective learning environments, and designing and delivering educational experiences in Australia as well as overseas.
Below is a non-exhaustive and constantly evolving list of some of the ways I use permaculture ethics and principles as a teacher. I’ve drawn on content from Rowe Morrow’s Permaculture Teacher Training Book where I think it’s useful.
Ethics
Earth Care – What options do we have for catering in our courses? Can you passively heat or cool the venue to rely less on fossil fuels? Sitting under the shade of a tree is often much nicer than a hot, stuffy classroom.
Can I find teaching tools that are reusable, recycled, multi-functional, biodegradable and/or locally produced?
What does the language I use say about the relationship I have with the Earth? Do I speak from a power-over- or anthropocentric paradigm?
People Care – What are the roles and responsibilities of learners outside of the classroom, and how can we ensure we’re accommodating them in our course designs? A needs analysis might tell us we need to offer childcare, provide something for breakfast for students who haven’t eaten, not teach on a Friday or start and finish earlier to miss peak hour traffic.
In our facilitation, are we catering for a variety of learning styles, cultures and mobility needs?
Teachers must be expected to model best People Care practices, including avoiding using sarcasm, ridicule or violence towards their students. There is never ever any excuse or reason to exploit the power a teacher is given by virtue of their role as a teacher. No sexual approaches by teachers to learners are ever OK. When they happen, a serious breach of trust and permaculture ethics has been committed (Morrow).
Fair Share– This can be expressed in many forms; from sharing questions among all participants rather than allowing one or two people always to answer, offering scalable fees or scholarships to allow people of all resource levels to learn, and sharing the boring work of cleaning and washing up.
PRINCIPLES
Acknowledge the local knowledge, custodians and history of the land (Principle 0) –
What is my relationship to the land we’re teaching/learning on? Do I have permission to be on that land? Have I acknowledged the history and the custodians of the land we’re gathering on?
Sometimes I teach in places where rightful custodianship has changed many times throughout history, and I acknowledge all the people, plants and animals who have passed through that landscape, carrying and sowing seeds, cleaning water and building soils over time.
I think about the blindspots I have due to my social/cultural background. Is there someone better placed than I to share knowledge of certain things? Who can speak to the local languages of regeneration? Can others share their own story?
And especially when I am in cross-cultural teaching spaces; What cultural ways of knowing, being and doing are in the room? How can I maintain and support existing ecological knowledge rather than imposing my own learning, opinion or culture? What are your seasons? How do you build soils? What foods do you like to grow? How do you store water and seeds? Can you draw your grandparents’ house?
Finally, whose voices, knowledge and perspectives am I referencing and sharing through my teaching? Are they all of the same straight-male-settler demographic?
Observe and Interact –
Who are your learners? What do they already know? Can you observe what is happening in class and adapt to better suit their needs? This might mean returning to a topic to explain it more clearly, changing the class plan to better suit students’ learning edges and interests. Change lunch hours, or opening and closing times, speak louder, slow down, use graphics not words. You can think of more.
Catch and Store Energy –
Education itself is a practice of catching or gathering energy (information, skills and even physical resources) from people, projects, and landscapes around us and storing it in our communities and relationships for future use.
As Tyson Yunkaporta says “relationships are the only way to store data safely in the long term”.
Integrate rather than Segregate –
Learning in groups is an effective teaching method that functions to accelerate learning and produce creative solutions and ideas. When the right conditions are created, cross-cultural exchange enriches learning environments and can build confidence in students. Are there opportunities for peer-to-peer learning?
Did you know that group discussions are a highly effective tool for creating attitudinal change? When peers share stories in small groups, attitudinal change is more likely to occur through than through lectures (Morrow).
Design from patterns to details –
Can you design learning experiences using this principle? Start with a needs, functions and products analysis of the learning ecosystem or community you are in. This will help identify your overall course objectives as well as the structure (length, days, times etc). Next consider the flow of the learning journey; the order and layering of topics or information. Write the session learning objectives, and finally choose teaching methods and activities to match.
Obtain a Yield –
I teach to learning objectives and ensure I can measure them. We know learning has happened when participants can explain it, make it, draw it or do it. Our yields in education are the competencies we see demonstrated by the end of a session and at the end of a course. This is critical.
Produce No Waste –
Linked to the two principles above. How can you minimise wasted time? When we have structure and teach to learning objectives, we reduce the likelihood of going off on tangents and wasting students’ time.
Also linked to Earth Care, can I choose learning/teaching materials that aren’t polluting? Such as refillable markers, pencils over pens, crayons or pastels over textas, masking tape and bulldog clips over blu tack or sticky tape (Morrow).
Use and Value Diversity –
We need the student who always answers first to help us break the ice, we need the person who just gets on with the task just as much as we need the contemplative who asks us why we’re doing it. We need the enthusiast, the analyst, the artist, the expert and the critic. A healthy learning ecosystem recognises and values everyone; what they bring and where they are on the path.
Value the edges and the margins –
The ecological edge is often the most productive. Our social edges are also just as abundant when they’re properly resourced. Can we build learning environments that welcome and support people of all genders, abilities, religions, worldviews, languages, and incomes? I consider whose life experiences aren’t included in the mainstream content or when I say ‘we’.
Look outside the walls of the classroom to use often overlooked teaching environments. For example, erosion by the side of the road, the effect of boundary fences on vegetation, the moss growing between pavers.
In the middle of Kuala Lumpur – a densely populated and disturbed urban landscape – Rowe taught part of an environmental water class standing around an open concrete drain. Sure enough water snaked along the drain creating tiny riffles and pools, just like a river or delta.
Practice self-regulation and accept feedback –
Self-regulation is different for everyone. As educators we might ask ourselves some of the following questions: Was I telling people something, or asking for their knowledge? How long did I talk for in that session? Am I taking on too much in the coordination? How accurate is my content for this subject? Is ego getting in the way of being able to say “I don’t know” when I don’t know? Can I stay open to receiving feedback from participants and other co-teachers? If participants are not understanding a concept or task, can I be attentive, humble, and responsive enough to ask a different question or change the teaching method.
Creatively use and respond to change –
When things don’t go according to plan – which happens at least once every course – how can I best respond? If it’s raining and the workshop can’t be in the garden what are the other options? What if the projector doesn’t work or the power goes out, how else can I move through this content? Adaptability is the greatest asset as an educator.
Each element is supported by more than one function –
According to David Kolb, there are four modes of perception/processing (audible, tactile, kinesthetic, visual) and four ‘learning styles’ (reflective/analytic, creative, commonsense, active). Every person has their preferred or dominant combination. Knowing this, how can we design learning opportunities to suit all learning styles? Include a combination of facts, theories and evidence, discussion and reflection, active learning (such as group tasks, observation, videos, experiences) and practical skills (such as doing, designing, making). Using multiple teaching methods within each session will increase the number of students able to connect with new information and improve the quality of all learning in the class.
Memory is scattered throughout the brain. To assist memory, learning in two or more modalities is very important, e.g. listen and take notes, see and try, do and discuss. (Morrow).
Cooperate don’t compete –
We need as many teachers as possible. When someone emerges in your geographic area and wants to teach, can you welcome them? Consider how you can work together to create more effective education experiences for potential learners. Think of resource sharing guilds and distribute your work in different spaces and times. For example, someone offering design courses spread over weekends whilst someone else offers full-time residential courses, or working in different social demographics. Also remember no one can teach forever – can you embrace social succession?
Further exploration and discussion on these ideas is welcome.
“Sociocracy is like permaculture for people”- Erin Young
Article by Alex Aguilar – Board Member
I think back to my first corporate experience as an intern for a prestigious company in Mexico. Although the pay was great and the work was relatively easy, I quickly realised there was a lot of toxic politics at play – I would hear whispers in the corridors about management, complaints about meaningless processes and how no one’s opinions were valued or needed; a rather dreary feeling that nothing would ever change. Back then, I wished there was a different approach to this ‘traditional’ corporate world.
I’m happy to report things weren’t that bad after that experience, and I have had my share of excellent supervisors and coworkers. Even then, sometimes it seems intrinsically hard to work in a group. At worst, I have inevitably ended up feeling like my voice didn’t matter all the time. I’m sure some of you will agree with me: this feeling that our voice doesn’t matter is detrimental to us as individuals, and also to the group’s work.
Dreaming of something different is what first led me to find permaculture. I think we have an obligation to do better for every living being on the planet, and yes, that includes ourselves. I also feel a tremendous sense of urgency. We’re at a time when climatic instability is affecting the world’s energy systems, which are becoming overwhelmed more often and with more serious consequences.
I don’t know about you, but ’overwhelmed energy systems’ is not how I want to describe 2023. The bucket is already full. Our traditional models and ideas need changing with the times, and they need to adapt as fast as possible. And this my friends, is where sociocracy and permaculture intersect, as options to try something different right now.
Permaculture is based on simple, core ethics and principles I resonate with – the foundations of Earth care, People care and Fair share. It is a framework upon which everyday actions align with ethical values and vice versa. It can be practiced anywhere in a myriad of different forms. Jonathon Engels wrote it beautifully in an article for the Permaculture Research Institute on “Why permaculture?”.
Also based upon basic principles, sociocracy focuses on the social aspect, covering the delicate intricacies of communicating effectively with other human beings in a group that aims towards a common objective. Much like Permaculture Australia’s mission of supporting, promoting and advocating for permaculture ideas, solutions and strategies. This is why the PA Board decided to look at sociocracy more in depth.
Enter Erin Young, member of The Sociocracy Consulting Group (TSCG) and a fellow permie. Erin helps organisations to be adaptive, responsive and effective by consulting in collaborative decision-making and governance, based in sociocracy. In August, she facilitated 2 sessions to a small group of volunteers and paid staff as a taster to sociocracy (Thank you Erin!).
The beauty of working in circles
From the get go – this felt different. We kicked off with an opening round where each of the participants got a turn to share their name and location, a word that described how we were feeling coming into the meeting, and a sentence that enshrined what we hoped to achieve through sociocracy. I had a turn to speak and a turn to listen. This opening round allowed a space for our collective intelligence to be informed for the meeting.
Erin defined sociocracy as a living design systems approach for organising work and making decisions to guide that work so it is effective, transparent and equivalent. A simple definition that carries a lot of complexity – much like people whenever we gather in groups!
We humans are influenced and bound by our past experiences with organisational culture. We are naturally wired that way. Therefore, sociocracy’s realm exists within invisible structures of power which are inherent to any group. These sessions with Erin served to “point to the fish, the water they’re swimming in”. Sociocracy allows us to envision a possibility where we can distribute leadership and design that organisational power effectively, transparently and equivalently.
We were encouraged to think about a system that changes and adapts. Since creating adaptive and effective culture requires long-term application & steady discipline (not always so attractive!), keeping it simple and working in small steps are key. Much like slowly building back up a parcel of degraded soil.
Communication sets the bar to how well we can work with each other –imagine how much we could achieve collectively with a very clear sense of purpose and existential equivalence.
1. Existential equivalence can be felt in our human bodies. Each of us operate as a living system riddled with feedback loops, made up of self-organising parts doing their job in order to stay alive (achieve its purpose).
As we continued, we were introduced to the 3 principles of sociocracy:
1. Circle organisation: any defined team or department with a specific aim and domain
2. Circular feedback or double-linking: keeping the whole system informed, adaptive and responsive to changes
3. Consent-based decision making: make decisions together that are “good enough for now, safe enough to try”, with clear measurements and timeframes, and no paramount objections
Contrary to a regular top-down system, Erin mentioned the importance of reasoned objections. She drew the example of someone going on a hike with a sore knee or ignoring the oil light in a car – without feedback, the system blows up. Specifically for the Sociocracy Circle-organisation Model (SCM), objections are welcome. However, objections are not an argument or a feeling, they are a reflection of how well the aims of the circle are being met. I personally loved that the process of giving/listening to feedback is built at every stage of every policy and decision being made.
Elements are the fundamental qualities of the sociocratic infrastructure, with a contribution that’s clearly observable. The most basic and implementable pieces of this governance model. Without going too much into details, Erin shared 9 elements with us:
1. Circle: A container for members to adapt & respond to their area of responsibility. “When members are defined, colleagues are aligned”.
2. Aim: Gives each circle a clear & visible purpose – aligned with organisational vision, mission and aims. It orients policy meetings and is essential to reach consent. “Clear with purpose we decide what to produce/provide”.
3. Double-link: Consists of an elected member & operations leader. “Connecting people & information for cohesive perspectives”.
4. Policy: Enshrines collective intelligence. We trial, track & measure each of them for improvement. “Co-designing guardrails for working together”.
5. Operations: Activity that gets it done. Effective, clearly defined & aligned with circle aims. Designed by circle members, feeding back to policy on effectiveness. “Getting stuff done with oversight and action”.
6. Round: Speaking turn-by-turn without interruption, it is the pattern of the sociocratic process. Creates opportunities for honest, transparent and safe feedback & for relevant info to be heard in a tempered & useful way. “Turn by turn to focus, share & discern”.
7. Consent: Lubricant that allows an organisation to be greater than the sum of its parts. Brings collective ownership & clears the way for group intelligence to respond to areas that each circle is responsible for. Objections are for realising collective aims and to be separate from personal opinion. “Safe enough to try – on track with the Why”.
8. Aim Realisation/Workflow: Order of actions/operations. Allows circles to coordinate & self-organise.
9. Domain: Sets clear territory & describes terrain of circles. Establishes autonomy to achieve aims. Avoids overlaps with other circles to prevent conflict & duplication of effort. “Distributing work & responsibility in the terrain”.
For the 2nd session, using the information provided, Erin had us practice a policy proposal as an example. Even here, I noticed the differences with the traditional approach – she gave us the option to opt out as no one was obliged to participate. Stay tuned, as we’ll make sure to share around the outcomes of that proposal.
At the end of each of these sessions, we closed up with another round. This was a fantastic way to gauge how everyone was feeling after the meeting and the key takeaways from the group – something I had never experienced in a corporate setting before!
In conclusion
In a nutshell, the sociocratic governance model is based on circles/teams with well defined goals and membership, that are interlinked together, and that have several feedback loops built into all decision-making processes; all circles cooperating together towards the aim of the organisation as a whole.
Much like permaculture, sociocracy is a living, learning journey. Erin has simply opened the door to a new way of thinking about group work for me. I can wholeheartedly see the sociocratic governance model as something worth studying more and pursuing in my personal life.
During my time as a Board member, I have seen the passion and determination from each and every single one of our members to improve the status quo. It is what binds us together, our common objective.
There is still much to know about how this process will look like for PA, and the Board knows there’s many questions on the implementation of sociocracy. However, it is clear to me, that the PA Board believes that embodying and embracing the principles and elements of sociocracy in the organisation will allow us to reach our potential towards better policy and decision-making processes, interconnecting existing teams with the whole, bringing in different ideas and helping us achieve our goal, to further permaculture everywhere!
