Let’s never stop thinking about the future: The connections between permaculture, Japanese design and homesteading in a frugal future.
The world has changed immeasurably over the last thirty years, with ‘more, bigger, better’ being the common mantra. But in the midst of this constantly evolving world, there is a growing community of people who are looking at our history, searching for answers to issues that are faced everywhere, such as energy, water, materials, food and population crisis.
In “Just Enough, ” author Azby Brown turned to the history of Japan, where he finds several lessons on living in a sustainable society that translate beyond place and time. This book presents a compelling argument around how to forge a society that is conservation-minded, waste-free, well-housed, well-fed and economically robust, including what Edo Period life has to offer us in the global battle to reverse environmental degradation.
In contrast, Retrosuburbia, by David Holmgren shows how the Australian suburbs can be transformed to become productive and resilience in an energy descent future. It focuses on what can be done by an individual at the household level with examples from ‘Aussie Street’ story and real life case studies to support and enhance the main content.
Su Dennett and Virginia Solomon have been living and promoting a sustainable households at their respective Melliodora and Eco resilience households and wider community activities including the Hepburn Relocalisation Network, Permaculture Australia,Holmgren Design & permaculture education to name a few. Virginia has also travelled multiple times to Japan, including meeting Azby and connecting all of the interview members here today on behalf of Permaculture Australia.
Video 1: Introduction and welcome from Virginia Solomon, Permaculture Australia
Video 2: Full video interview Azby Brown, Su Dennett, David Holmgren & Virginia Solomon
For more information:
Azby Brown is a native of New Orleans, and has lived in Japan since 1985. He is a leading authority on Japanese architecture, design, and environmentalism, and the author of many influential books and articles, including The Very Small Home (2005), Just Enough: Lessons in living green from traditional Japan (2010), and The Genius of Japanese Carpentry (2014). He majored in fine art and architecture at Yale University, graduating in 1980. In 1985 he was named a National Foreign Scholar by the Japanese Ministry of Education, which supported his graduate studies in architecture at the University of Tokyo. His creative work has been widely exhibited at galleries and museums internationally and he is a sought after speaker on Japanese culture.
Su Dennett is David Holmgren’s partner in life and livelihood. After many years managing the business, Su is now focusing more of her prodigious energy and passion in the kitchen and community than in the office. The vegie box scheme she initiated with local organic farmer Rod May, and her own innovative approach to bulk food purchase and distribution supports regional producers. While she remains active in the Holmgren Design (HD) office and business management she now spends as much time in community events and organising mainly through Hepburn Relocalisation Network (HRN), a transition initiative that she started in 2006 with Maureen Corbett. In 2013 she was one of two women added to Hepburn Shire Council’s Women’s Honour Role for her community work and leadership in pursuing a low impact, simple lifestyle. At Melliodora, Su’s morning and evening hour with her milking goats is her “time out.”
David Holmgren is best known as the co-originator with Bill Mollison of the permaculture concept following the publication of Permaculture One in 1978. Since then he has developed three properties, consulted and supervised in urban and rural projects and presented in Australia and around the world. His writings over those three decades span a diversity of subjects and issues, including his recent book Retrosuburbia: The Downshifters Guide to a resilient future. At home (Melliodora in Hepburn, Central Victoria), David is the vegetable gardener, silviculturalist and builder. David is respected for his commitment to presenting permaculture ideas through practical projects and teaching by personal example, that a sustainable lifestyle is a realistic, attractive and powerful alternative to dependent consumerism. David is a life member of Permaculture Australia and is about to release Our Street, a children’s permaculture book co-authored with Beck Lowe.
VirginiaSolomon has been involved with permaculture since the early 1990s. Since 2003 she has been worked on the Accredited Permaculture Training (APT), is a founding member of the Permaculture Educators’ Guild and passionate advocate for quality permaculture education. She has been a previous Board member and President of Permaculture Melbourne (now Permaculture Victoria), convenor of the Australasian Permaculture Convergence in 2005, and is the current Chair of the PA Board of Directors. She lives in NE Melbourne and has a large, productive garden and a rambling friendly house where visitors and guests are always welcome. She is a patchworker, a cheesemaker, an eco-dying enthusiast, a shoemaker (only for herself) and a dressmaker.
Additional texts and resouces referred to in the interview:
Azby Brown, Just Enough: Lessons in living green from traditional Japan
Have you ever wondered if you can implement permaculture principles in a renting setting? Yes, you can! Read more about ‘permaculture renting’ with our guest blogger, Dawn Green, from lutrawita / Tasmania, and check out some great case studies on permaculture renting properties too.
“Many of us, myself included, have lived in rental properties over the years. Some of these situations are temporary, some are long term. But no matter what time frame applies, renting brings with it a unique opportunity to make a difference in the world.
Permaculture renting refers to the practice of establishing gardens and lifestyle choices based on permaculture principles within a rental property setting.
There are two big factors at play here – the temporary nature of the garden and infrastructure (for you, but it may pay divendends to future renters and owners. More on this later). And two, ensuring you have the appropriate permission and guidelines established before your shovel hits the dirt or any infrastructure is modified.
So, how does it work?
Firstly, pen a letter to the rental agency, seeking permission from the house owner to establish a garden or make changes. Make sure you talk about your passion for gardening and include a sketch of the garden beds you’d like to put in. Ideally these will be no-dig garden beds which are super easy to establish. That way it’s crystal clear what your intentions are and you have permission in writing to proceed.
Then it’s time to consider what type of garden you’d like to plant. A great source for ideas can be found here.
While you are working on your garden, find ways to connect with your local community to access all kinds of (usually) free resources, including seeds and cuttings. Discover your local permaculture group and start networking. Together we are smarter and more resourceful than on our own.
Other ways to live sustainably while renting includes the all-important act of reducing your waste. Most urban areas have good recycling collections systems, but don’t forget it’s important to avoid packaging where possible, especially food packaging. Buy food in bulk where you can and food waste and vegetable peelings can go into a backyard compost or give your waste a second change by tracking down a local Share Waste host. Or better yet, buy or make yourself a worm farm – you and your kids will be delighted with your new ‘pets’ and you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they multiply and munch up your food scraps!
Of course we must also focus on our water usage too. The easiest way to use greywater is to place a hose on the end of your washing machine output and then divert it to the lawn or trees. Ensure you use the most natural biodegradable detergent that you can find.
You can save litres and litres of water by catching the first part of your shower water before it starts to run hot into a bucket and then use the water on your veggie garden. And it’s also worth considering standing in one of those large plastic tubs while having your shower and then dumping the shower water outside.
A great firsthand story on permaculture renting from Milkwood Permaculture will give you lots of tips and ideas to consider too.
Think of the future
Even though you may need to move on from your rental property one day (the house is being sold, or your living arrangements have changed), your legacy garden will go on helping others and helping the planet.
Planting trees or perennials at a rental property means we are leaving behind plants which will improve the soil, increase biomass, create habitat and will hopefully make a small, but significant difference to the world.
So don’t let a minor detail like renting prevent you from the pleasure of creating permaculture in your community and contributing to having a smaller carbon footprint. Do your homework and before you know it, you’ll be out there with the dirt in your hands, knowing you are making a difference in the here and now, and also laying the seeds for the future as well.
For those on Social media, you may wish to follow The Urban Nanna on Facebook and Instagram for daily tips on successfully implementing permaculture principles and building community while living in a rental property.
The Retrosuburbia Real Estate Checklist (RREC) and ‘Sun’ rating checklist aim to help you evaluate an existing property – whether it is the one you live in or one you are considering purchasing or leasing. It’s available to download free from here or purchase the entire book here (if you are a PA member don’t forget to use your membership discount code too!)
Spring has sprung with the action from communities towards this giant we face that is climate change. While in lockdown in Naarm / Melbourne, a household of permaculture folks have planned a three day summit with some of the legends of permaculture, First Nations perspectives on a just recovery, and workshops for pragmatic solutions to building resilient communities. Read more about the event and how it was developed with this guest post by Guy Ritani, PA member and co-organiser, TEDx PermaQueer.
“During isolation I have had the privilege to go to a number of climate action, youth future, climate uprise events which I am incredibly grateful for. However I came away from a lot of them thinking something was lacking. Action. The calamity we face is reasonably well known to most people and the issue of climate change has shifted somewhat into a paralysing storm. I wanted to hear the solutions and see how they were appearing in the light of day with peoples actions. Action that we can all do to weave the vast ropes of humanity through the needle head that is climate change.
TEDX is currently doing a global pulse of their platform out to communities around the world on the topic of climate change and are calling it ‘Countdown’. I applied for the TEDx license a few months ago and didn’t hear back until two weeks ago to advise the event would be in three weeks. 3 WEEKS!! So a very excited and anxious me began drafting on the whiteboard what an I thought an action filled summit would look like, one that had real impact for communities.
I live in a Permaculture sharehouse with fellow teacher and PA member Delldint Fleming, my partner and co-teacher at PermaQueer Toad Dell and permaculture student, Cicily. Together we drafted the idea of an amazing summit with all of the dream speakers we could possibly want. The drawing board featured David Holmgren, Rosemary Morrow, Damon Gameau, David Attenborough, Keitha Thuy Young to name a few. Then we set out with bright eyes on our journey to contact all our dream speakers. Some we got, others we didn’t. I wanted to curate a summit from all perspectives and all levels of industry to tackle the ways our human system works as holistically as possible and get somewhat of a birds eye view of how we can actionably respond to this crisis. We shared the outcome: a solutions oriented approach to the ways communities can build infrastructure to alleviate their dependence on carbon consuming systems.
We’ve been in isolation pretty much since March this year so we’re all just slowly migrating around the house and garden with our laptops and drawing boards organising, emailing, designing, replying to emails, calling speakers and replying to more emails again. It has been a tremendous effort from the four of us here pulling together this fantastic group of speakers, dispersing it out to our communities and establishing the infrastructure to run this event. I am immensely proud of my household, having never tried to do anything like this before and I’m pleased we’ve stepped up to the plate. Outwardly too, it’s been amazing and so affirming getting the support from all the amazing speakers we have and their deep genuine interest to solve these issues and share how they’ve done it themselves.
In terms of the actual event, we wanted it to feel effortless, like a conversation over a cuppa. The three day summit begins with a Welcome to country. We then have Tyson Yunkaporta talking on what a meaningful existence means as we move towards the future informed from the deep ancestral truths Aboriginal and First Nations peoples hold from the past. One thing we’ve really consciously tried to centre this around is First Nations sovereignty. There is no just recovery without complete considerations for the First Nations of this land and of the lands surrounding it. So as we came together hoping to speak of solutions, we tried to ensure they were coming from First Nation voices and experiences. I want the speakers to talk about this issue in the way that sang to them and spoke to their true passion as to why they do what they do. From seed saving to bringing your ethics to the workplace, decolonising our minds and ancestry to integrating medicine into our natural food systems, how activists are supporting Australia to break up with fossil fuels to fungal fabrics as the future of fashion. We have tried to meaningfully cover as much as we can given the time we’ve had so I am really looking forward to this event.
One last thing I will mention is the queering of Permaculture. We know the edge is where it’s at and to value the marginal. Our desire is to integrate all the deep pools of knowledge and open up other areas of humanity’s realm of acceptance so we can create this new future. We’re entering an era of science fiction at the moment, in that we don’t have a rulebook anymore for what’s going to happen and the outcome will be only what we make it. Now is the time to open up all our borders and collaborate with people, ideas, identities, cultures and get as creative as possible. I hope that this will be the first in a series of events on pragmatic sustainability and am looking forward to the future 🙂 “
For more information:
TEDx PermaQueer will be held online on October 15-17th October 2020 and recorded in Naarm / Melbourne. Tickets for the event are free or via donation and can be booked here. The list of speakers includes David Holmgren, Rowe Morrow, Guy Ritani, Morag Gamble, Delldint Fleming and many more. Follow for updates on the schedule and speakers here.
Permqueer is a collaborative effort to share ecological sustainability methods through the lens of permaculture and focussing accessibility to traditionally marginalised communities. Our goal is to spread knowledge of living within ecological boundaries.
Guy and Delldint (and many of the speakers at TEDx PermaQueer), are professional members of Permaculture Australia, the national member based permaculture organisation. Join up here today to help us advocate for permaculture solutions.
Congratulations to our wining artists for the Permaculture Australia T shirt design competition. The below three designs were voted by you to adorn the limited edition PA T shirts. We can’t wait to get our hands on one when they go on sale THIS Monday 12th October 2020 here. 🌿☀️
Meet the artists
“Permaculture is the solution for troubled times – inspiring, uplifting, empowering, it carries us toward a better future.” Brenna Quinlan
Brenna Quinlanis an illustrator and educator who strives to make the world a better place through her art and her actions. For the past four years she has lived a low-impact lifestyle at Melliodora, the permaculture demonstration site created by permaculture co-originator David Holmgren and his partner Su Dennett in Central Victoria, Australia. There they grow food, milk goats, build soil, engage with community and regenerate the land around them. Brenna’s design is ‘Permaculture. Compost problems. Grow solutions’.
“My aim to to use humour to inspire interest in permaculture while recalling the urgency of that wartime call to inspire people to grow their own food.” Dr Cally Brennan
Dr Cally Brennan runs her business Canberra Permaculture Design and has been drawing and painting for her whole life. While she doesn’t count herself as a professional artist, she has sold artworks from time to time and was a finalist in the 2017 Bald Archy prize. T’. Cally’s design is ‘Permaculture. Do you dig it?‘ It is a parody of a very famous WWII propaganda poster for the ‘victory gardens’ campaign and associated slogan ‘Dig for Victory.
“All the decisions we make are connected, and those made with the Permaculture principles foremost are the best decisions we can make. Permaculture epitomises joined-up thinking.” Irene Pagram
Irene Pagram works with sustainable natural dyes on silk, wool and paper, often to make a ground for drawing, or a base for hand stitching. Irene’s renewed love of textile practice came about when she read India Flint’s Eco- Colour and discovered there was a better way to practice natural dyeing, setting up a studio based arts practice in the Otways hinterland. Irene is Co-Chair of the newly established Colac Community Arts Makers’ Space and her design is ‘Earth Care. People Care. Fair Share. Permaculture joins the dots‘.
How can I purchase a T shirt?
The limited edition T-shirts will be available for puchase from Monday 12th October 2020 here
All profits from the T shirt sales will be split between the artists and Permaculture Australia, with the later supporting our work to advocate for permaculture solutions. Thanks for your support to Permaculture Australia and our member artists.
Irene, Cally and Brenna are all members of Permaculture Australia, the national member based permaculture organisation. Sign up here today to help us advocate for permaculture solutions – which are more important than ever before.
What does art have to do with permaculture you may ask? Well quite a bit actually! The old saying ‘a picture can tell a thousand words’ reminds us that visual art can be a *great* way to engage with folks of all ages to get permaculture messages out there. Empowering folks to make changes, take action & learn new information too without coming across too judgemental or prescriptive – yes please!
Which is why PA is partnering with several artists as part of our ‘T shirt’ project. A great opportunity for aspiring and current artistic folks to share permaculture messages as wearable art – while encouraging folks to take positive action.
Applications are open until the 30th Sept 2020 so hop to it – we can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with.
To get you inspired, we’ve collated a few of our fabulous PA member artists who are using their artistic talents for *good*.
Artwork by Meg McGowan
Meg McGowan, Permacoach does a bit of everything. Author, artist, designer and coach is the best way to pin it down. Meg’s approach to teaching and living permaculture focuses on the three principles of earth care, people care, fair share – and her primary goal is to find ways to get more permaculture happening on the ground. Meg releases a regular ‘Climate Choose Day’ cartoon on her blog and social media here too.
Meg’s reflection on cartooning: “I’m enjoying my new adventures into cartooning. It’s as if my writing, art, permaculture and sense of humour formed a relationship and had a baby.”
You probably know Brenna Quinlan as “that permaculture illustrator”. Her artwork is featured in several permaculture inspired books (Retrosuburbia, Milkwood to name a few), adorns badges and posters in her online shop, has been shared *hundreds of thousands* of times on social media, and is also featured on our very own PA website. In an interview earlier this year with Brenna we asked her about the power of artwork in advocacy – and we couldn’t agree with her responses below more.
“The internet and social media have drastically changed the ways that people consume, consider and access information. There is so much out there vying for our attention that the clearest way to get an idea across is the one that will prevail. Images have this power. An image can be shared millions of times almost instantaneously…
On top of this lies the fact that images are less prescriptive than text – they allow people to interpret their content in a way that makes sense to them… Most people are visual learners, so images resonate on a level that words simply can’t. Images can also suggest positive behaviour change without sounding preachy or judgemental – the power of an image to actually inspire change is really unique.”
Megan Forward
Megan Forward is one of our newer PA members (welcome Megan!). She is an author and illustrator of childrens picture books that encourage children and families to connect to permaculture and nature in everyday life.
Megan also facilitates hands-on interactive STEAM (Science, Technology, English, Art and Maths) workshops for young children using her picture books as a stimulus – involving drawing, painting & planting. Why?
“My hope is to connect children to the natural world, because you care for what you love.“
Artwork by April Sampson-Kelly
April Sampson-Kelly is a Director on the PA Board and also runs Permaculture Visions, where she teaches permaculture courses online and face to face to hundreds of students worldwide. Her online bio states:
“Performing, drawing and photographing impulsively, April values the arts to keep her happy and able to tackle dark realities of human greed and climate change. Her work in the arts has enabled her to explore a wide range of teaching strategies. A picture tells a thousand words, yes,.. and a schematic tells a thousand more…the arts can empassion people and invite them to engage in confronting political issues.”
Tassie based Hannah Maloney designs productive permaculture spaces, teaches permaculture courses, guest presents about permaculture on ABC’s Gardening Australia – and also hand draws and designs fabulous educational tea towels.
You can learn about bee friendly plants, home brew, making sauerkraut, composting, pruning fruit frees and much more – all while you dry the dishes! The latest design ‘Outgrow the Status Quo’ is “here to remind us how we can all play a part in building a truly wonderful and just world for everyone.”
More information:
Permaculture Australia is seeking collaboration with the artists in our member community to design a limited edition T shirt series. We want to celebrate the positive contribution that permaculture thinking can make to this strange new world we find ourselves in. Find out more information, including the terms and conditions and application form here. Artwork applications must be received before 11.59pm on Wednesday 30th September.
Hannah, Brenna, Meg, Megan and April are professional members of Permaculture Australia, the national member based permaculture organisation. Sign up as a member here today to join hundreds of members across Australia advocating for permaculture solutions.
What an incredible interview filmed for Permaculture Australia with Lynne Kelly (author of The Memory Code & Memory Craft) and PA member Charlie Mgee from Formidable Vegetable
Lynne and Charlie chat about First Nation teachings, reading the landscape and the links between memory patterns and permaculture. And there is a bonus song from Charlie at the end too.
Dr Lynne Kelly is the author of 19 books, including The Memory Code and Memory Craft. She has degrees in engineering, information technology, education, and a doctorate in humanities. Lynne has spent over 40 years, in education, mostly in senior secondary classrooms. She is now an Honorary Research Associate at LaTrobe University. Lynne’s research explores the memory systems used by Indigenous and early literate cultures around the world and offers a radical purpose for ancient monuments. Songlines: the power and promise, co-authored with Dr Margo Neale, will be published in October 2020. Lynne is the current Senior Australian Memory Champion. Photo credit: Abigail Heitbaum.
Charlie Mgee Growing up in a tin shed with a veggie garden, a composting toilet and one solar panel for power in the south-west of Western Australia, Charlie lived the low-impact lifestyle from a young age and realised early on that you don’t need a lot to be happy in life. In 2011, Charlie went off the study the regenerative design process of permaculture and soon after, formed Formidable Vegetable – a new kind of band based around principles of sustainable living with the hope of inspiring people everywhere to grow their own food, raise chickens and generally make the world a better place. Charlie is currently launching a side project Not Just Charlie and has co-developed a set of Permaculture Action Cards available here. Charlie is a PA member and Patron of PA’s Permafund which provides small grants to permaculture projects across the globe.
More information:
The readings Lynne referred to during the interview include:
Richard I. Ford. The colour of survival, Discover, 16-29.
Alfonza Oritz. The Tewa World, and
Patrick Nunn, The Edge of Memory on the longevity of Aboriginal stories.
Charlie is a member of Permaculture Australia, the national member based permaculture organisation in Australia. Join up here today to join a lively group of people getting active about solving the worlds problems through learning, sharing and practicing permaculture.
