Hi Permies,

As we head toward the end of the year, it’s a good time to take stock of what we have achieved this year, and what we have planned for next year. As I’m working my way through a five-year plan for my property, based on my initial Permaculture design, I can happily say that Year 2 was amazing, and I got a lot done. Not as much as I would have liked of course, but I tend to overestimate my own energy levels. I can, however, start to see just how far I will get by the end of the fifth year, and I constantly try to remember that we overestimate what we can do in one year, and we underestimate what we can do in five.

And it makes me wonder just how much permaculture design, thinking and behaviour we can cram into our lives. And I suppose that is just up to the individual. Permaculture has the capacity to be an all-encompassing activity, to the point that it touches almost every part of our life each and every day. At the other end of the scale, it can also just be a reminder of some gentle and wise principles and attitudes towards sustainability, nature and the production of food.

I’m somewhere in the middle, heading to the right, always trying to incorporate more permaculture principles and practices into my daily life. But modern life keeps getting in the way! In some ways, modern life is quite the antithesis of permaculture. I spend way too much time earning a living, away from my family and nature. My dreams of permaculture grandeur always tend to be idealistic notions of full homesteading self-sufficiency. That is until the real world sends me an email, demanding $1000 for rates, or insurance or a hundred other things…

It’s a hard one to get right. In the deepest core hippie parts of me, I want to drop out and become some full-on prepper/homesteader/permie ‘be the change you want to see in the world’ kind of guy. I even sometimes dream of a new world order, where permaculture villages slowly rise from the ashes of our dystopian future.

And at heart, there really is a massive disconnect between modern life and permaculture. The more you explore permaculture, the more you realise that the way society lives in general is very disconnected from those ideals. It’s clear that our world is in trouble and is seemingly heading towards some form of global crisis. But permaculture doesn’t have to be the tool we use to pick up the pieces of a fallen world. It COULD be the tools we use to make changes now, before that dystopian fantasy becomes a nasty reality.

But for that to happen, it needs to be more than just a trendy idea. We need to understand it better. We need to embrace it more. It needs to be a deep part of us. It needs to grow to be a daily reality for so many people that societal change can simply be demanded. The trouble is the status quo. There is a powerful force to just keep this world going as it is, simply because that’s the easiest thing to do. Reinventing worlds is damn hard work, even if it is done one property at a time. But either we do it, or it will be done for us.

Permaculture Noosa has a role to play in this, and so do you. You can take a PDC, or volunteer at the Community Gardens, or take on a role in the club. We can help educate, connect and inspire our members. We can celebrate our little victories and encourage each other in our failings. Just knowing that simply by being a member of the club means you are a force for positive change in the world is a comforting thought.

I would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas break with your loved ones and friends, and I look forward to an exciting and energetic year for the club in 2025. Wow, 2025… It even sounds like the future…

Regards

Geoff Powell

President