I’d always been intrigued by permaculture but didn’t completely understand what it was. After seeing a permaculture garden at a festival I decided to take an introductory course and learn more.

An Introduction to Permaculture 

I used to live in Brighton, UK, and it is the home of The Brighton Permaculture Trust so I was lucky to have access to this great resource. During that introduction course a penny just dropped in my head, nature has already got all the answers, we need only to work with, rather than against her.

Permaculture Design Course

I was hooked and signed up to a full Permaculture Design Course (PDC). During that course I met some great people and we learnt how to use nature to help us design projects in a better way. One thing that stuck with me is that any element in a system should have at least three functions, a tree for example has several.  By taking time to think about the properties and benefits of certain features you design an abundant system.

Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.

Bill Mollison

Permaculture is based around 12 design principles and I apply these often when embarking on a new project, this can be from creating a new garden to building a new business.  Permaculture has an element of self care that I love, we should be designing in ways that allow us to thrive, so natural systems end up largely looking after themselves, so people have time to do other nourishing things. There are so many great solutions in permaculture, from swales to soil building that take the reliance out of consumerism, chemicals and machinery, taking time to build natural strength that can last.  In a world where things can sometimes look bleak, permaculture has given me hope.

By Kat, March 2023