Using Permaculture in Community Design

The Background
At the beginning of this term, I set out to gain "Comprehension and practice of introductory permaculture design concepts..." I also set the goal to "Investigate various models of community structure/design to help clarify my vision of community and steps to create it." The big picture provides some context for these goals:(from the intro to my contract) This contract begins building on a 10-year plan to establish an intentional community and education center in the Pacific Northwest. My vision for the community incorporates ethics of cooperation and deep connection with the natural environment, because sustainability must be informed from knowledge of local ecosystem function. Our community will incorporate a “freeskool” (for grassroots information and skill-share), long-term permaculture farm to produce a subsistence level of food for community members and guests, long-term internships in building a sustainable society, use of local resources (wild food and medicine, water, timber, etc.), and a documentary media collective. It will be financially sustained by our work as educators, foresters, artists, and farmers, and other diverse small industries.

In this contract I have actively pursued the above goals through readings, gaining my permaculture design certificate, networking, educating friends and the larger community about permaculture, practicing the skills of community organizing, and doing direct investigations of community structure.

The education in permaculture I received at the Earth Activist Training (EAT) was a perfect way to begin thinking about forming intentional community in the long term. People often think of permaculture purely in the sense of agriculture, but it is actually a way of thinking in a holistic way that can be applied to any aspect of life, including community design. Permaculture looks at the entire system and assesses how to aid and enhance the energy flows that already exist, creating balanced, regenerating systems. This works great in agriculture, because you get to use the natural patterns of nature to your advantage instead of fighting them. The same ideas can be applied to social situations. We can intentionally plan our organizations, community agreements and social behaviors, clubs, and personal relationships with a conscious eye to what would contribute to their self-sustaining, abundance-generating continuation.

At the EAT we focused on skills we can use to consciously design community, such as consensus, giving and receiving constructive feedback and dealing with conflict, addressing issues of power imbalances and learned behaviors inherited from the larger oppressive society, and doing bonding activities like intense emotional and spiritual processing.

Permaculture contains a set of principals which act as a guiding force for anyone seeking to design sustainable systems. I looked over my list of 27 principals and picked out a few of my favorite that I think are most applicable to social permaculture. Here are some examples of how I think we can apply these concepts.

The Principles, Socially
"System Yield" is the total surplus of energy produced by a system, after the system uses what it needs for maintenance, growth, and reproduction. A group of happy, well-rested people who feel close to each other can consciously generate extra energy to give away. This could be a community group helping in a societal crisis. A group generating energy from ritual or singing together uses it to "recharge" individuals first; excess is given away to the universe in intention and prayer.

"Resource." A resource is "any energy storage which assists yield." This is particularly pertinent in social application. If we focus on storing and conserving our personal energy there is more abundance in the group as a whole. Self-care prevents burn out, and makes the work we do more effective and efficient, so less work equals higher yield.

"The Problem is the Solution." We can turn our social constraints into resources--differences in communication or working styles can be used to add dynamism to group systems, conflict can be harnessed to add needed motivation for change and growth.

"Use Onsite Resources." In most cases, we need not look beyond this place and time to meet our needs. In designing, first use creativity to use what you have. In social application, look to the friends, community, and group members to meet the needs of the group before looking for outside "experts". This increases local bonding, trust in each other, and encourages skills development and sharing between people. This could also be applied to local organizing. Instead of relying on outside, far away governments to dictate laws for us, lets use the resources of the land and the intelligence of the people who live in our community to make our own decisions about how we want to live.

"Pollution is an unused resource." When a resource is present in a higher level than the system can use, it creates chaos and disorder. An example is that too much fertilizer in a garden can contribute to nutrient overload, making the nutrients inaccessible to plants. Children are wonderful, necessary members of a human community. However, if there are too many children compared to the number of adults, the joy, spontaneity, play, and wisdom of the young people go unappreciated because the adults are tired and worn out from too much giving.

"Stacking Functions." Let everything you do fulfill multiple functions--when having to do nasty housecleaning, organize a cleaning party and enjoy social bonding while you do an unappealing job. Let each person in an affinity group contribute multiple aspects of themselves to increase their feeling valuable and whole.

"Every Function is Supported by Multiple Elements." If one element in the system fails, another that serves the same function will be there to take up the slack; it's another way of saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket." An example could be a family or community's livelihood. It is better to have multiple income pathways, such as small businesses, to ensure that if one fails, money will still flow into the system.

"Succession of Evolution" looks at the dimension of time within a system. Change is inevitable and should be welcomed as a healthy aspect of a working system. Each current manifestation of the system prepares and develops the system for the next stage. Group membership will always change and develop; each new configuration of people grows from the last, building knowledge, experience, and relationships toward the collective future.

"Diversity." All biological communities, including human communities, rely on diversity for resiliency (the ability to repair itself from disturbance). As systems mature, they become increasingly diverse over time. Rely on many different people; the more individual relationships you have, the stronger the group. With time, these bonds develop and strengthen. Disturbance that may occur in the group becomes a stimulating catalyst for change, but does not crush the system because there is a strong web that absorbs the impact.

"Observation." April Cotte, a teacher at EAT, does solidarity work with indigenous people on the US-Mexico border. When we interface with different cultures, she said, we must be very conscious if we are members of any oppressor group (such as a US citizen relating to non-US citizens) to observe for a very long time before asserting cultural assumptions in the situation. She has offended people by coming into the situation with too much arrogance about what she knows. Sometimes sitting back and not asserting change immediately can be an intense challenge; I know I was not raised with that kind of cultural sensitivity. But we may not be able to notice the intricacies of interaction in a new culture right away, and it might take a long time to understand how to act appropriately in that group. When in doubt, observe.

Thinking About the Whole Group
In community, if I walk into a meeting with my own agenda, not noticing the energy of others or the group needs, I could end up dominating a space and walking all over people, creating a sense of anger and alienation in the group. That group would not likely return easily to a feeling of relaxed cooperation. However, if I walk into a meeting with observation, assess what is working well and what isn't, I can act intentionally to help the group come away feeling closer, more empowered, and relaxed. The solution could include me acting in any number of ways, including opinionated and strong, or quiet and peaceful, as an ally or conflict-resolver; in essence, I would be adapting and cooperating with the existing environment.

Thinking about the whole means being aware of social interactions that are informed by our positions in society. We cannot deny that each of us were raised within oppression, and we carry the messages from that system, even if we are seeking to heal them. Part of social permaculture for me is noticing and addressing how I may be acting out racism unconsciously, or playing into my own internalized sexism. Oppressive behaviors are not regenerating, they inhibit our true selves and prevent us from realizing our full potential as individuals and a society.

Sustainability also means thinking about how we treat each other and making conscious decisions about what kind of relationships we want, including with ourselves. The way we treat each other and ourselves, whether it be with loving kindness or harsh criticisms, creates large waves of impact around us.

How Can My Current Communities Become More Intentional?
A couple of weekends ago I attended a skillshare campout on some undeveloped land hosted by dear members of my loose-knit anarchist, queer, back-to-the-land community in the Northwest. The event held the purpose of sharing skills of wilderness survival and cooperative living with the land in an open, non-hierarchical environment. I got to thinking about this loose-knit and rebellious group of folks with whom I have been involved for almost a decade. I got to thinking about the amazing intentions of this community to create a just world free from exploitation, where local communities are free to govern themselves in autonomy. I also got to thinking about some of the problems we face as a community as we surge forward toward this goal, and I wondered, "How can anarchists create more of an intentional, self-regenerating culture?" Not all anarchists would proclaim that they want this, but most of my friends, I believe, do. We want to see this world out of misery, and we want to create a world that is good for ourselves and all life. (By the way, I fully include myself as a member of the group to whom I am addressing in the following statements, not at all above and beyond these challenges.)

1) We have to recognize that structure in itself is not the enemy. Many of us rebel against any social structure because, I believe, it reminds us of the hated oppression of enforced class and race hierarchies. In reality, form and pattern and structure are found in countless layers within nature. In fact, on a cellular level, life itself is a complex and extremely organized structure; it's what keeps everything in place. Without structure, we'd be floating particles in the void. So, we have to learn to harness and use structure and organization for our intentional uses. Many anarchists struggle with social and political organizing from what appears to me to be fear of recreating hierarchies, or by attempting to create other models but reverting back to our learned behaviors of domination and separation. We must consciously replace structures of oppression with flexible, yet solid and well-defined, structures of mutuality, respect, and regeneration.

2) Self care is not just for sissies (but we love sissies, and they need it, too)! Okay, many active, caring, people struggle with this. Under the constant desire to fix the world we forget to care for our basic needs and we burn the candle flame at both ends. This is actually NOT creating the revolutionary culture of the future, but is just a reflection of the dominant paradigm of which instructs us clearly to disregard the needs of our bodies, emotions, and spirit to produce for the machine. Producing a revolution under the same model will not yield a result that we would want to live in. Rest, people! I say no more, as this is something I over-discuss frequently.

3) Taking on leadership roles is good. For the 'under-confidenced' ones of us, being in leadership makes everything go better around us. If you are born and socialized male and forced to be in charge and given all the encouragement to be big and loud your whole life, then leadership may be something better to put on the back-burner. But for the folks born with identities that made them a target for the esteem-damaging oppressions of sexism, racism, ableism, etc., leadership is a powerful gift and taking it on will help everyone around you. Think of leadership not necessarily like you have to be the one giving the directions; instead, let it be a state of being where everything you do is self-empowered, done with a mind on what will help the whole group and world move in a positive direction. This will absolutely make it impossible to wallow in victimhood or fear, and your world will change around you to reflect your emanating power. I know this is true because of my own experiments. When I lead, things go better.

4) We need to look to traditions, as well as create traditions, because re-inventing the wheel constantly is exhausting. A multi-generational community is a stronger community, especially with strong, respected elders. There is a certain amount of arrogance in the rejection of old people by the younger generation--but we actually need them. However, we cannot take advantage of other cultures traditions because they are pretty, convenient, or comforting to us. Look to our own histories, or traditions held in common by all people, or traditions made up by your grandparents.

Those are my insights about my community, and I hope the preachy side of me didn't dissuade the ability to absorb the conviction of my thoughts. I feel a deep sense of possibility around conscious efforts to change our culture and society, and I, for one, am psyched to start with my upcoming intentional community, my current community, my individual relationships, myself.

Garden Volunteer Day at OAEC

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Occidental, Sonoma County, CA
Wednesday January 24th, 2008

Margaritte and I have had our eye on this place for at least a year because of its unique organizational structure and its apparent functionality as a combo education center business and residential intentional community. After finishing our two-week permaculture training, we take advantage of our close proximity to the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) to show up for garden volunteer day to pull weeds and pick the brains of any community member who will talk to us.

We arrive in the morning from the wild concrete mess of San Francisco, where I drove back and forth across the tangled, crowded city streets early that morning in search of lost items, and the night before, a quiet place to sleep. Tanoaks and madrone, not yet affected by Sudden Oak Death**, line the short driveway and hand-painted colorful signs bid us to slow down and warn unwanted visitors to not drop by unexpected. The rich green gardens cascade in terraces down the hill, vegetables interspersed with fruit trees, winding trails and quaint natural wood buildings. It is obvious upon looking around that this land has been lived on with love and attention for a long time. It shows up in the care of design and detailed art weaved into things functional: a dragon shaped cob bench, a shed with a metal sculpture of a face with lightning bolts on it's side, a wooden stage set into the backdrop of the creekside forest, carved intentionally for flow and beauty. I think of how my dad would love the buildings here, how his eyes would light up with fire and dreamy ambition to create spaces such as these for the development and nurturing of community spirit.

In the garden our first task is weeding and mulching the garlic. Doug and Michelle are the two main gardeners whose full time job is managing this lush system of food- and beauty-producing gardens that provide year round for community and guests to the center. The kitchen feeds community members, which number around twenty, and whoever else is present for workshops or events, such as our workparty crew. We squat in the rich built-up beds with a small crowd of other volunteers, delightedly chatting and pulling the tiny weeds away from the maturing garlic leaves. I am struck by the feeling of peace and communal ease on the this land, and I mention this to Michelle, a short middle aged woman with long curly brown hair and a round amiable face. She reveals that, in all the time the land has functioned in its current legal entity (since the early nineties), no one has left the community permanently. No one has left!!! Turn over = zero. This is incredible! Longevity is the main problem I see in the intentional communities I have been a part of and it is the key issue I have set out to understand on my personal journey of creating a land based intentional community. To me, this land looks like a model utopia. I am aware of my naivety, and ask her to define what she thinks creates longevity in community. How do you create this sense of family? What makes people want to stay? Is is possible to define? Much to my delight, she busts out with a simple three point program. It's as if she has been asked this question countless times by young idealistic community-seekers, thus developing the perfect answer to feed their hopeful idealism; her answer is exactly in line with my own thinking, and I feel a surge of creative energy within me as my wildest hopes are confirmed with her clear, experience-informed wisdom.

Michelle's Magical 3-Point Program for Community Longevity (unauthorized).
1) Begin with prior relationships with the people you wish to live with. At the very least, have an extended trial period before accepting new people into the community.
2) Have an established structure for emotional process that the community has agreed upon and is employed regularly. This foundation is invaluable for avoiding emotional build-ups of resentment and miscommunication. Michelle prefers Naka Ima as a model.
3) Create a land-based culture that is a built-in bonding system for people to feel connected to the place where they live and the natural rhythms of the ecosystem. Many community-seekers were raised in the city, or in the mindset of the city, and living with natural rhythms is not ingrained; it must be harbored and developed through regular activities that connect our life cycles with the land, i.e. growing food and eating it. We must re-create the need for local knowledge by linking our needs to those of the land.

At OAEC people also get to do their own thing; the structure is set up to allow people to follow their own inspired life's work, not restrict it. "Why would they leave?" Michelle says matter-of-factly. She herself has come back and forth several times, and no longer lives on the land but is employed by the center as the gardener and is very connected to the place.

After weeding we move on preparing a bed to plant some late-season garlic. We spread compost and manure on the dark earth; then Michelle teaches us the wonders of Tai Chi Gardening. It seems that every system in this place is designed to prevent burn-out, including the use of your body as a valued, irreplaceable, lovable tool. She instructs: your strong hand goes in the middle of the fork handle, your non-dominant hand on end (just for support-don't use the muscle on that hand). Take a wide, low stance; knees bent, one foot in front of the other with your pelvis tucked in to protect your lower back. As you turn the top layer of soil backwards you rock your body by shifting the weight from front leg to back leg; don't use your back to pull and don't exert your arm muscles. The movement is all in your legs, not your upper body or back at all.

As I practiced this extremely awkward new way of moving I noticed my chronic feelings of disregard for my body, how I use it like a cheap tool able withstand a lot of abuse for the sake of production. (For a self identified anti-capitalist, how capitalist is my own mind-frame about my own body?!) Michelle is adamant about garden workers respecting their health and bodies and not burning out in farming as we age. New radical concept! Farming (or, working in general) as a practice in body mindfulness meditation!

I left the day at OAEC with an increased sense of possibility about my own dreams, and an ambition to pursue a possible internship there. Something about the way the structure functions by keeping the legal entities of community (a Limited Liability Company) and business (a non-profit) separate from each other yet linked through the people and the land seems to create a flexible and clear situation that leaves room for community bonding and functional business like I have never seen. Could the community I want to create function like that, I wonder?




**Sudden Oak Death. Once a staple food for the indigenous peoples of this land, and still a foundational species to the wildlife of the area, the tanoaks of northern California are dying at an extreme rate due to sudden oak death. Michelle tells us that it is caused by an algae that spreads through mud and waterways. It constricts the vascular system of the trees, stressing them to the point where they are vulnerable to beetle invasion, which moves in to finish them off. Humans haven't found a way to stop it. The forests in this area are visibly affected: crispy brown tanoak leaves, which normally remain on the tree year-round, are littered thick on the forest floor. Looking across a valley, large brown patches in the hillside vegetation point to the extremity of the loss.
Once, salmon returning to spawn in the clear waters left their dead bodies as offerings of nutrients to this ecosystem. Now they are mostly gone, and their missing presence is one possible link to the cause of sudden oak death. According to a Native friend of Starhawk's, the tanoaks need the humans to tend the land just as the humans need the tanoaks for food. The loss of the human interaction with this species through food foraging and fire management could be creating its mass extinction.