Meet the team
For our new monthly fixture we will have a regular ‘Meet the team’ where we nose about in your permaculture tutors and Permaculture Trust peoples brains and find out what makes them tick! Any suggestions on questions welcome!
To kick us off this month we have the lovely Tracy Hind, Permaculture Teacher (Intros, Permaculture Design Certificate course) & Youth and Community Development Worker
Which permaculture principle do you have to remind yourself of the most?
Produce no waste. The people I share my life with are mostly not permaculturists, although they have varying degrees of consciousness and concerns about the environment. I’m far from the place I’d like to be myself in relation to waste, and when I spend time with my family and my partner’s family, and see all the endless goods, plastic and wasteful shopping, I often feel despair. I don’t want to be the policewoman or the preacher, so I try to introduce it lightly.
Which permaculture principle is always popping up in unlikely places?
Apply self-regulation and accept feedback.
Such as?
I don’t look after my health and well-being as much as I know I need to, and my mind, body and spirit, as a team, will suddenly remind me of this.
Name your permie hero?
Can I name two? Pandora Thomas who set up the Black Permaculture Network, and Rosemary Morrow, legendary teacher and teacher-trainer. I’ve not met either of them but would love to.
Why them?
Pandora because, much as we might wish to integrate not segregate, there’s still so much work to do around understanding and breaking down the barriers to inclusion, to do more work around combating racism and inequality.
Rosemary Morrow because she has done so much to make permaculture ideas accessible and teachable, and to enable others to go and teach it.
Best example of permaculture in action?
Just going by places I have visited myself, I’m still thinking about Sapote Farm, the first time I encountered permaculture, near Townsville in Australia, where I worked as a volunteer. They were obsessed, they couldn’t teach you enough, and had the most amazing library. Their main objective was to conserve rare indigenous fruiting trees and shrubs, long before ‘bush tucker’ became a fashionable thing. The farm was designed on permaculture principles, almost all needs were met within their system, and their love of the environment was inspiring. I still have some questions about Australia, but I haven’t yet seen a more beautiful and surprising land based design.
Next course you are attending/teaching? I’m looking forward to co-teaching a permaculture intro course with my lovely colleague Fran on 16th-17th September up at the Earthship.
-:- https://brightonpermaculture.org.uk/courses/permaculture/introtopermaculture