Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback

“The fundamental truth of our time is that this culture is killing the planet. We can quibble all we want—and quibble too many do—about whether it is killing the planet or merely causing one of the six or seven greatest mass extinctions in the past several billion years, but no reasonable person can argue that industrial civilization is not grievously injuring life on Earth.” Derrick Jensen

The tenants of permaculture came out of the 1960’s, a time when there were half as many humans on the planet, there were no GMO’s riding the winds decimating heirloom seed, and an awareness of the need for man to Self Regulate waste, chemical farming, reproduction and consumption were clearly identified. How brilliant would it have been if personal permaculture had been embodied by the masses in the 60’s? …If wishes were fishes…

“The fundamental truth of our time is that this culture is killing the planet.” At what point does this reality kick in and every fiber of our being, every action of a lifetime, law, religious doctrine all fall into alignment with our sustainable future? There are those for whom the bio-ethics took root, who have been living, designing, planting, creating, and prospering sustainably. But even with the most evolved beings I know there are gaps. Those funny little spaces when an aspect of self is not in step with the rest. The friend with the all Green-Home and fresh organic food who had a bug control company spraying Malathion quarterly under and around the house to keep the flea population down.  The person who owns the Prius to protect the environment but routinely dines on diet coke and fast-food.

Is there a psychological or biological resistance to owning personal responsibility, feeling one’s connectivity to everything, and integration of a sustainable life? Seemingly YES! The internal directive to CONSUME has become the vampire among us and the illusion of being independent autonomous beings a potentially deadly game.

When self regulation fails, traditionally laws and religious doctrines would fill in the gaps- “Thou shalt not kill”, “Don’t litter” come to mind. Sadly, preservation of resources and self regulation have not been in the short term interest of business and governments. Corporations that sell and earn billions of dollars, no matter how toxic or wasteful- are celebrated as successful. People would much rather hear their president tell them to go to the malls and spend money- as did Bush following 9/11, than to pay down their debt and save- as did Obama after the collapse of the Banks, even though the latter was in their best interest. The reality is religions lag and governments dally. This is an evolution of consciousness moving from ground to plant to person.

The embodiment of sustainability is as fundamental to the evolution and survival of the species as was learning to stand up-right, or a written language… It is our next frontier and our only future option. 

Produce a yield

Somewhere outside of vows of poverty or lust for greed, nestled in a system of sustainability, lives the third tenant of permaculture…Produce a yield.

Is it just me or does that strike a chord of the profoundly obvious which wedges bits of sky into one’s imagination. For me, Obtain a yield- has an organic resonance of abundance.., a bushel of apples, a leg of lamb, and invokes an image of thriving land and community.

In permaculture, obtaining a yield can never live outside of a sustainable system which includes
Observe and Interact, Catch and Store Energy, Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback, Use and Value Renewable Resources, Creatively Use and Respond to Change. It’s capitalism with built in do-no-harm guiderails.

Obtain a yield. The yield can be love, health and wealth, art and beauty, or adventure, ecstatic, play and avocados. Think multi-cropping…Sweet!

So, how to apply Obtain a Yield to self?
Well…returning to permaculture’s agricultural roots, one must know the intended harvest before deciding on which seeds to plant. Intention becomes the key word once harvest has been identified.

It’s important to sow intention with care because life’s yield soon follows. There was a time when I lacked the attention span to notice that the manifest world I was stepping through with disregard and sometimes disdain was the litter of my yesterdays’ longings, each one dismissed for the next but with no real intent behind any. For me it took owning the outcome of the shotgun-spray of my mind’s vomit, (life drama which demanded loads of attention with no real Tah-Dah,) then learning to excavate beyond ever-changing whims of desire to tap into the deeper yearnings of soul. It is to those deeper yearning I marry my intent and creativity.

Somewhere between awareness and discipline I’m learning to articulate creative-intent in such a way that I can obtain a yield which sustain me… and can be shared. Intuitively I know my garden and grove both exist to produce a yield, and that my fruitless banana trees must be replaced by banana plants which yield bananas. And that our fledgling accreditation company, A Bee Organic must produce a yield to fulfill its function of Certifying the World Organic but just until the use of chemical farming, irradiation, growth hormones in livestock, sewage sludge, and GMO foods are outlawed rendering the USDA Organic seal obsolete. At which time we can joyously retire the Bee! If I refocus into the linear-capitalist perspective, the dictate is to make money. From make money I would not so want my industry to succeed as to make us obsolete. So at some level energetically I’d undermine the USDA Organic seal, which honestly happens (I’m sure unconsciously) within the industry.

Being a from-the-ground-up, systems-based doctrine, permaculture gives the blueprint for getting downright global and not losing connection with the lines of energy I know and trust, so Obtaining a Yield resonates a big YES!!!

Where else can we Obtain and share yield???

Awe...

“When men lack a sense of awe, there will be disaster.” ~Lao Tzu (531 B.C.)

I think if Lao Tzu were coming to dinner we’d have much to discuss.
I spent the day on-line catching up on Ted-Talks, the Bioneers Annual conference postings, cutting-edge organic and environmental art, and other relevant planetary doings…from the hopeful to the hopeless, taking in the global picture. I will say that there are a lot of remarkable people, projects and lines of awareness emerging at this time. Right along side are critical global issues which could so easily render me frozen, mute or lost in despair. If he were to be at dinner I would tell Lao Tzu that awe and disaster have arrived as the Siamese-twins of this era. Then there are the oblivious…until disaster finds them too.

Disaster is being felt each day in a billion ways by millions of beings, as the norm of their lives is being irrevocably altered. It is felt in the faceless-wild spaces where climate is changing, and man has infringed deeply into the sacred balance of nature, fracturing once-whole systems… and those are the first waves. Disaster is setting up house.

Meanwhile…I am in awe… In awe of the guy who is making fat-free (elegant organic low-material) furniture. In awe of the artists who sculpt amazingly sensitive detailed sculptures out of used tires and the photographer who photographs the largest tire dump in the world so that the horror and beauty coexist within the viewer. In awe of the man who while working out the details of using radio waves to cure cancer discovered he could make an engine which will run on salt water. In awe of the multitude of thoughtful, creative, sustainable ideas being birthed and midwifed into form.

Yes disaster is on the march… but the brilliance it provokes in mankind is so awe-inspiring. I wonder what Lao Tzu would have to say about that?

My shaman friend keeps directing me towards my wonder. Awe and wonder seem similar if not the same, although wonder seems child-like and awe seems more adult and age appropriate. I may need to invite him to dinner as well… I was struggling with wonder and feeling discomfort in the naiveté and innocence which accompanied wonder. I did have a dream in which I had “eyes-of-wonder” sort of like glasses which I could take on and off. In playing with them I learned that I can’t wear “eyes-of-wonder” while doing organic review work, but I could wear them in nature…

The point being- I’m finding my way. I’m choosing my side, I’m choosing awe and I’ll continue to work on wonder… It’s a comfort really, a clear job description that I can handle. I don’t have to have answers to problems large or small. I can own my awe.

Disasters will come.

Our power is in our searching and supporting all that is awe worthy.

If Lao Tzu is right… rediscovering awe could be our salvation.

Cautious People Wanted

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each one of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."
~Robert Kennedy

"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations ... can never effect a reform."
~Susan B. Anthony "

Robert Kennedy’s words were born of the 1960’s, a pivotal era which began to shed light on the damage being done to the planet and its inhabitants through the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, global warming, endangered species and all manner of planetary degradation. It’s now 40 years later… and we are in far deeper shit. The planet’s population has more than doubled since 1969, the widespread use of genetically modified seeds, cross pollinating with our heartier heirloom varieties bred over millennia, is rendering major grain sources mutant and useless.

When the Permaculture map of whole systems made of whole elements it blown up to encompass the planet it runs squarely into the Gaia theory, as suggested by visionary scientist James Lovelock, that the planet is a single, complex, interrelated organism finding itself infected with an out of control virus called mankind. Just as you and I when we need to kill off a virus, she is raising her temperature a few degrees to kill it back. Lovelock has calculated that the climate disruptions ahead will shrink the planet’s population down from 6.6 billion to 500 million. That’s pretty drastic even if he is off by half…

According to the Gaia theory’ as we quibble over the ethics of abortion on our personal and political levels, the planet herself is moving towards a near do-over with mankind….How does it feel to be labeled a parasite, an out of control virus, a mutant species to be aborted?

I do believe in the ingenuity of people. More and more each day are willing to think, (an almost dying art) and dialog, (a potentially rich source of mental evolution when activated). Where do we start?
Do we control our population numbers?
Do we switch to clean technology?
Would we stop mindlessly abusing our planet’s resources, poisoning our finite soil, air and water?
The answer is: All of the above and more.
What can you do today?
What can be done every precious day we each have left on the planet?

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each one of us can work to change a small portion of events”,… What if careful cautious people could preserve their reputations … and effect reform? I think when it comes to doing the right thing, even the cautious person will want to participate. We can each change a small portion of events by,… planting a garden, supporting a farmers market, using natural cleaning products and pest control, buying organic food, and learning how to grow through shared dialog.
…., “and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."
~Robert Kennedy

Where ever two or more are sutainably gathered...

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. ~Margaret Mead


It has, with great pain, begun to dawn on me that the masses do not like or want change. As a matter of fact there are a remarkable number who have yet to digest the basics of their own evolution. Recently, I’ve begun to wonder if what passes for our News should institute an opposable-thumb-check policy prior to letting people share their views. I’m not saying that they should not be allowed to speak, but there should be a warning on the tape at the bottom of the screen, (the person you are hearing lacks opposable thumbs, and frontal lobe may not be properly activated.) Politicians should not be excluded. At a time when we should be having real dialog, and making hard global changes, humanity as a collective finds itself staring blankly down the corridor of extinction and finds itself thinking… “Do I want fries with that???” And I think, well if they’re organic and vegan, maybe…

Thank you Margaret.

I’d forgotten my history and somehow thought that we could all wake up together. Not a chance, as the masses are none too quick to assimilate new ideas. It’s been a while since Jesus said “judge not,” even his followers can’t seem to live that rule. The constitution is over 200 years old, and while the right to bear arms seems to have captured the imagination of many… other amendments like the right to the pursuit of happiness got radically stomped, (think paying for sex, recreational drugs, and gay marriage) they got all prissified and judged off to no-no zone. When bedrock concepts like non-judgment (different than discernment) and the right to pursue happiness provide such cultural and individual challenges…integrated sustainable?

The planet and our children can’t wait for those busy arguing for their limitations, and according to Margaret they are not even necessary for change, ( happy thought). The rule in evolution is; embody the change, own the ground, and find a way to replicate. If you’re the first lizard to get wings, you don’t wait for everyone to get them before taking flight.

And that is being done. Everyday, in every corner of the globe someone is waking up and finding a way to live, love and create in a sustainable field of play.

Hence, the small dedicated group is my soul’s joy and a point of personal recalibration, because there is definitely a small and growing group of thoughtful committed citizens dedicated to changing the world. There are astounding scientists, entrepreneurs, social activists, sustainable organic growers and producers, community gardeners, recyclers, green builders and consumers, zero-scape gardeners, teachers, comedians, citizens, bloggers, and politicians dedicated to making their slice of the system integrated and sustainable and from their personal wholeness.

I just have to show up, own my ground, my consciousness…and welcome those who show up to take their place.

Welcome reader!

A Point of Creation

“It’s not how busy you are, but why you are busy- the bee is praised, the mosquito is swatted.” Unknown…
Busy-ness like most everything in life is a double edge sword...
A sword which, when wielded from wholeness as opposed to this or that, can manifests as true power. How is it possible to live in alignment with so many variable factors?
History tells us we can either live by outer rules such as laws, religion, or we can live from within.
Living from one’s internal ethics only works well when those ethics have matured to the point where they meet or surpass social and cultural expectation. Imagine that my internal impulse was towards cannibalism in that at some level I believed I gathered power by eating the body of the more-powerful… I could maybe still find sanctuary in the Amazon jungle or Wall Street, I could act it out and risk imprisonment, or I could find symbolic ways of implementing cannibalism into my life such as joining the Catholic Church and enjoying communion. Cannibalism is an extreme stretch but it’s a fun example of a primal impulse having found a sociably acceptable outlet.
Whether the directive for action comes from within or without, there is still the issue of personal alignment with the whole. There is a lot of doing going on taking us as individuals and community further away from a healthy sustainable life and planet. How does the personal alignment switch become lit and available for use?
To dogmatically assign rules, maps or “thou shalt & shalt not’s,” is old school and I probably wouldn’t listen, so why should you? I’m well versed in inspiration but I’m distrustful of the process. For some reason the act of trying to inspire… can inadvertently lead to deception and lies; Think positive, love, light and darkness will not fall…
In exploring Personal Permaculture, I find myself circling like the buzzards in the canyon below our house, scavenging from all who came before. Those who pondered the same riddle: On what ground do we stand to witness evolutionary change? Change so big that the multitude of little changes necessary to globally alter the course we are on, would fall into place, like seeds in fertile soil, taking root and bearing fruit...
What if;
Instead of thinking everyone needs to know more, be more, do more, my self included,
I stop.
Hold what is treasured in me…
and consider…
What if each window of awareness needs its watcher?
… And I’m mistakenly thinking my window is more important?
That thought…
Takes me to a place of interest and honor,
In looking through an-other’s window of awareness…
It would be folly to forget
My window and viewpoint as I adventure into other points of view…
Because in remembering …
We could share,
Exchange, be challenged and inspired…
And that is a point of creation!
Maybe even communion…

Personal Permaculture Transcends Duality

A permaculture model transcends duality. This is a good thing. Duality is for training, it’s perfect for children, yes/no, right/wrong, good/evil, using polarities is the simple answer for young minds. Life on the other hand is dimensional, it can not be encompassed or artfully created from the limits of duality mentality.

As the mind develops it can learn to hold ambiguity, it can perceive gradations of grey, and understand value based on the relationship of elements within a specific context. Fire is no longer no-no-bad but rather an element or tool to be partnered with and respected.

Making the shift from a duality framework over to a systems approach is self empowering and it makes life more interesting. Under duality rule, there is no real choice. The only question becomes does one compile or rebel against the pre-described set of values. Follow the rule of church, parent, authority or not?

There was a time when I thought that the ongoing drama of my life was helping me to grow and was making me a better person. Later I became aware that the dramas were only allowing me to react to my life and keep me feeling productive while I stayed in the same place. I began to wonder if it were possible to grow through grace or if grace meant further stagnation. It took me a while, as the drama had its ways of trying to convince me, that it was my path to salvation. The drama was lying of course.

Personal Permaculture is an archetypal explanation of the answer to my question. Permanente, sustainable agriculture finds ways to arrange and support elements to create a culture in which growth happens. Our grove has self supporting systems which allow for healthy fruit production even when we are not home. One example would be mulch. We applied a thick mulch to the grove, which is still young. The mulch helps to limit erosion and weeds, it maintains moisture, and is habitat for some of our predator bugs. Predators in this case are the good guys. They eat the bad bugs which would damage the fruit.

Growth is a natural state of being. Life promotes it. But healthy growth takes a supportive environment. How as individuals can we manage the elements like food, housing, work, the needs of the body, to create a safe growth enhancing environment? Then, how do we include family, community, planet? The map which works for sustainable plant and animal systems can be creatively modified and apply to us.

What do you need to thrive?

The Foundational-Four Elements of Self

Before we can focus more on resource management it will first be necessary to have a map for identifying the elements or resources. When looking at a plot of land there are the foundational four, Earth, Air, Fire (sun), Water, elements to consider. When considering self I can start with the very same foundational four.

Earth- Body
Air- Mind
Water- Soul
Fire- Creative Expression

Every grower knows the importance of feeding the soil as many natural amenities as one can find or afford. Bodies are pretty much the same. It is difficult to become obese eating whole natural foods. Beyond food the body and the soil have further needs and desires. The trick is to own your body. Create a comprehensive plan and implement it. Include things like, chemical-free, unprocessed foods, stretching, exercise, tactile nourishment, and all things which help the body thrive.

Air and mental can seem a bit abstract. In my grove most of the year the soft ocean breeze caresses the land from the West creating what is called the banana-belt, a sub-tropical oasis with the ability to actually grow bananas. Then there are the Santa Anna Winds. Sometimes they are gentle and bring warm winter days, sometimes they are relentless strong and dry; dropping fruit, shredding leaves and spreading fire. In the management of mental resources, there needs to be an ongoing challenge of learning new things, partnered with a format for teaching and giving back. Maybe not as much for the young as the emphasis there is on the learning; but mentoring, tutoring, educating, completes the cycle and closes the circle. That, and ask questions. The answers might surprise you.

On our land, all of the surrounding hillsides drain to one spot, then the land drops steeply away. Some fabulous being before us, had the land shaped so that the water would have a chance to pool and fill a good sized pond, before tumbling happily down the canyon and into the lake below. It is divine and it feeds my soul. Some years, because of drought the pond does not fill. Then I’m on my own when it comes to feeding my soul. It would take more than a blog to describe the wonder I’ve found in the process. Make friends with your soul. Let it teach you how it is filled and how it can fill. Much like the spring which magically springs forth to fill my pond, create the container and soul will show up. Really…it will.

Each morning the sun rises and sets. It warms the earth and creates photosynthesis in the plants making the leaves on the trees and grass green. I do not want to hear (in a whining voice) “But I’m just not creative.” The fire to create is in each of us. We use it to create children, homes, gardens, music, art, communities, and countries. Life is an ongoing creation in which we have no choice but to participate. Own your creations, then dream more.

Self & Resource Development

A large element of Permaculture is resource management. Collecting rain in cisterns, supporting or improving biological diversity, planting a cover crop to increase soil texture, fertility, and protect land from soil erosion, are examples of recourse management.

With Personal permaculture the primary resource to be managed would be each of us. The primary managers would be us as individuals, taking responsibility for ourselves; something that from an ecological point of view as a culture we are failing, so it must fall to the individual.

My greatest passion is in the cultivation of the interior realms. When One wakes up within life- to feel the connectivity of all things… one lives life in an integrated fashion. The problem being the masses are not awake and not integrated, so their psyches and the environment suffer.

Because the Environment’s clock is ticking, I’ll rant briefly before moving onto the interior realms.

Let’s start with lawns. Lawns are a strange American religious icon. So much so that in many subdivisions there are rules which dictate every home has a lawn. In San Diego County California where we live, 60% of the water goes for lawns. For those who don’t know the region, the climate is semi-arid so the water is begged, borrowed and stolen to support a mass addiction to lawns.
But wait, there’s more…

Last year access to agricultural water for our grove in Fallbrook was reduced by 30%. No water restrictions were placed on lawns. Thousands of trees in our county were cut down, stumped, or let to struggle without adequate water, something which will weaken the trees immune systems and increase disease. Crop production plummeted, while lawns flourished.

Weird weather from climate change means disruption in food production. Bee Colony Collapse (virus enhanced because the new pesticides deplete the immune system,) is reducing food production. Choosing lawns over agriculture and forcing growers to cut down producing trees is frightening. More than 100 trees were cut down in our small grove alone. This year our water will be reduced by 40%...

Your Personal Permaculture advice is Food First. Plant some soon. Grow it organically. Eat it.

Tuck a tomato plant in-between the rose bushes, basil between the society garlic, which (by the way) those little purple flowers can really add flavor and beauty to a salad. Green onions and chives can grow most anywhere, and you may already have rosemary growing in the yard. If you have an unsightly fence plant beans, berries, passion fruit. Better yet, get a book on landscaping with food along with reducing or eliminating the size of your lawn.

Oh, and stop using chemicals on the lawn and flowers. They stress the environment and poison pets and food.