permaculture

["Debi Prather" <dprather1@austin.rr.com>]

I've been lurking on this list for a year or so and the recent discussion on
course prices has echoed some of my own thoughts.

When I first read about permaculture, I was intrigued by the ideas and eager
to incorporate them into my own project, reclamation of 10 acres of arid
cental Texas land that was originally overgrazed and then subdivided into
recreational property. While my husband and I enjoy a better standard of
living than probably 98% of the world, we are of middle class means with
family obligations. Buying the land, tools, equipment and building our cabin
takes up a good bit of our discretionary income. The cost of a $600-900
week-long comprehensive class is prohibitive in terms of both time and
money. I've noticed that some major metro areas, like Houston, offer the
classes as individual weekend components, which is certainly the most
appealing arrangement to me.

My impression is that there is "permaculture" and then there is
"Permaculture". Capital P Permaculture seems to me to have a lot of emphasis
on personality, on certifications, what seems to me to be an almost network
marketing approach to the distribution of its ideas, where one group goes
out and recruits another paying group, which then recruits others, etc. It
reminds me strongly of a spiritual community of which I was once a part,
until I realized that the community's main interest in me was in my
continued participation in their $500/weekend "training levels" that were
its main source of income. At the time I was a single mom with almost no
discretionary income and tried to pay my way through volunteer labor rather
than cash. When I realized the organization really had little interest in
reaching out to anyone other than a small group of well educated,
financially secure folks, that their emphasis on "prosperity" seemed more
like greed and self-satisfaction, I decided it was not for me.

I have no objection whatsoever to people being paid for their time, energy
and knowledge, and I understand the desire of making one's living at doing
what one loves rather than making a living and doing what one loves in one's
spare time. We'd all like to do it, no question. However, just because I
understand the desire of some of my friends to make their living as a
fishing guide, for example, doesn't mean that I hire guide each time I fish
or go to Orvis for casting lessons. Instead, I find the company of others
who like to fish and we share our knowledge. And in the community of
fishermen and women, that works very well. If your main aim is to promulgate
permaculture ideas into the community at large, it seems to me that sharing
knowledge, in the long run, will succeed best. I'm sure there is a place for
expensive certification courses taught by Permaculture "stars" for those
already knowledgable, involved in the movement, and wishing to teach, but
I'd bet there are far more people who are just seeking short, affordable
courses to learn specific permaculture techniques, not the history and
philosophy of Permaculture.

I don't mean to disparage anyone, especially Toby--I enjoyed and learned
from Gaia's Garden immensely and always like to hear what he has to say. Nor
do I mean to put down the local permaculture group, with which my contact
has been very minimal, mostly because I don't care whether the food's
organic or vegan or whatever, I'm a bbq gal myself, and I really don't have
time for preaching to the choir. What I've seen so far doesn't really meet
my needs and so I'm still researching on the web, reading books, mostly
borrowed from the library, trying to integrate information from various
sources (permaculture, xeriscape, native plants -- all little discrete
communities of their own with some similarities of purpose but mostly
exhibiting a big interest in protecting their own turf (so human)).

Your mileage may vary.

Texas Riverlady