Permabyte: Your Understanding of Permaculture. Your Mentors. Your Farmers.

In preparing for the A Gathering of Farmers conference, where I'll be presenting a Permaculture 101 workshop, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to practice permaculture and then share what we know with others. How to distill that information down into something that is meaningful to mean, and not just repeating the information of those who came before. For me, that means working from the ethics down to everything else. But that doesn't mean that works for you when it comes time to talk to others. So, considering your position, think about and make a list of the influences, permaculture and non, that got you to the place you find yourself in now when it comes to this system of design. What books, authors, friends, family members, videos, and everything else were what got you here? Even if it was a conversation from 1972 that started you on that path, write it down. Then consider each of the people and other influences you wrote down. Who would you go back and speak to again? What would you re-read, or re-watch, or re-listen to, in order to ground your own ideas? Now that you know what and who, seek them out. Go and talk, read, watch, and listen again. Refine your understanding. Make your knowledge of permaculture better. Also, if you eat food and don't grow all of your own, join a local family-run Community Supported Agriculture program or start shopping at your local farmer's market. Get to know the people who grow your food. You'll make a great impact on their life, and your own as well. As you do all those things, I will do the same. Together we can take care of the earth, ourselves, and each other, and in turn build a better world.

If this show leaves you with more questions, or you'd like to talk about one of the points at hand, I'd love to hear from you. Leavea  comment below.