The Permaculture Education Institute is dedicated to making permaculture education accessible to all. Particularly at the moment, there is a great need for permaculture teaching and practice in refugee camps around the world.

My main criteria for selecting recipients for this Scholarship, is that they are seeking to ripple out positive action in their local communities through permaculture education programs and demonstration gardens – sharing it amongst their community and supporting people care, earth regeneration, food security and local economic development. Also that they can participate in the global network of mutual learning.

I first met Tom at the September Global Permayouth Festival

The Global Permayouth Festival is an online event that enables youth from all around the world, who love permaculture and sustainability, to come together and collaborate for positive change. Tom was encouraged to attend the festival by my friend, Marie-Pierre at Refarmers. Tom does a lot of incredible work in and around his local community.

After speaking with Tom again at the October Global Permayouth Festival, I was blown away by his drive to learn permaculture and use the skills to help his community and the world. He is 19 and lives in Kitgum Town, in the very north of Uganda.

Kitgum – as Tom explains in further details below – was devastated by the LRA insurgency only 20 years ago and still today faces food insecurity, poverty, pollution and many other challenges.

Before COVID-19, Tom was at school in Kampala

Due to the pandemic, he had to come home from school and effectively end his education. This is when he was recruited by Refarmers Project Manager, Paul Kidega. These unexpected events have now completely changed his life and offered him so many new opportunities.

At only 19 years of age, Tom has already started his own climate action youth group called Green World Initiative, and reached out to the Permayouth group in Rwamwanja Refugee Camp to organise future learning opportunities for people in his home town. As well as applying for (and receiving) this Scholarship through Permaculture Education Institute, he has also applied for Abundant Earth Foundation and Permaculture Magazine‘s $5000 Permaculture Youth Prize (which hasn’t been awarded yet). 

What’s even more impressive? He has done this all of this in his own time and through his own volition. We found out through Refarmers that he even saved up his small stipend from working on the Grandmothers Kitchen Garden Project this year, and has used it to buy himself a laptop!

Photo credit: Refarmers

Tom’s mission

Tom is only 16, and already he sees the challenges that we are facing in the world and is striving to make an improvement.

“I want to learn permaculture primarily to contribute to solutions in my local community, nation and the globe. I am seeking to circumvent its various challenges and hardships, which I believe through permaculture can be solved. Secondly, I developed passion and desire to learn and grow in permaculture from my experience at Permayouth Festival, which has totally changed my whole perspective of life.

“I am living in a post insurgency region, a region which had been in war for twenty years and challenges such as mental illness, food insecurity, hunger, poverty, gender based violence, pollution, climatic and environmental destruction forms part of the just unending list of the many challenges my community is facing.” – Tom

About the Scholarship

The Permaculture Educator’s Program is the only place to earn an internationally-recognised Permaculture Design Certificate and a Permaculture Teacher Certificate together online. The scholarship is valued at $2497 and will help Tom connect with other students in 6 continents. He will also have the support of a group who are also participating in the Course (through scholarships) in Uganda and other parts of East Africa.

“This double woven permaculture course will empower and give me the foundation on which Actions and alternative problem solving measures can be ushered grounded on its principles and ethics. The PTC will contribute much to the psycho-social supports, attitude and mindset shift in my community.

“Generally, this course (the Permaculture Design Course) will transform me into an all-round change maker capable of doing and as well showing my community how it is done (by putting into use my skills learned in the Permaculture Educators Course).” – Tom

Where to from here?

Tom was awarded the scholarship only a few weeks ago, but I’ve heard from my friends at Refarmers that he has already started the online course. Before we know it, Tom will be a certified permaculture educator and will be able to support his goals and create positive solutions in not only his own community but around the world too. 

Update: 16th November

Tom is on his way now to meet Bemeriki in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement. Bemeriki is the leader of the Permayouth in Uganda. They will be collaborating on an exciting new opportunity – more details to come shortly!

From myself, and everyone the Permaculture Education Institute and Permayouth, I can say that we all feel so blessed to be able to support Tom’s mission by providing him with this course Scholarship.

Welcome to the Course Tom! Keep up the amazing work.

Morag Gamble 🙂

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The post Meet 19 year old Tom – our latest Scholarship recipient appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

This is an exciting opportunity on so many levels! Sakina was born in DRC, but she hasn’t been there in 11 years since she was forced to flee to the Kakuma Refugee Camp due to political unrest in her City. 

About the opportunity

Recently an organisation called ‘Act in Solidarity with the Vulnerable of War’ invited Sakina to teach 20 war veterans in DRC about Permaculture. This organisation aims to help support these 20 war veterans, who have suffered hardships during the war and are now homeless due to the destruction of their properties. Sakina will run a program with them to teach Permaculture farming methods. This will help them earn money and begin to rebuild their lives. Sakina has told us that a lot of these people believe it is not possible to grow food without chemicals. This belief often leads to dangerous chemical exposure and crops that don’t provide an income. She believes that by teaching them about Permaculture, it will help to improve their health and the health of the environment. Beyond even this, she hopes that it will start a ripple effect that could change farming practices in DRC forever. 

When Sakina approached us early last week to help fund her trip, she spoke about what the opportunity would mean for her.

“I would like to go and teach permaculture in Bukavu (DRC). Firstly because I love my people and have seen the great importance of permaculture and its many benefits. I have been fortunate to be well educated – I would like to share this education so that it can be good for my country and my people too.”

Meet Sakina

Sakina was sponsored by Ethos Foundation to complete the Permaculture Educators Course through the Permaculture Education Institute. In her refugee community of Kakuma, she now leads many initiatives including a Permayouth group (pictured below). 

Sakina goes on to say

“I know that my country (DRC – her origin country) is large and is rich and valuable in many ways – it has forests and rivers – but people lack the education to use these resources. I believe that the way I received an education about sustainable farming is good. It has meant that people around me can also benefit from better farming practices. If I can spread this knowledge, then the people who I teach can teach others and this will mean that people in my neighbouring countries will eventually benefit from good food by these permaculture farming techniques.”

The current situation in Sakina’s town of birth in DRC is still dangerous, which means she is unable to return there. However, she is able to visit Bukavu, where the situation is a lot better and it is now safe for her to return. While it’s not exactly the reunion she was hoping for, Sakina is very excited to go home to her birth Country. She hopes to head to Bukavu next month, to begin teaching the group of 20 war veterans about Permaculture. 

How can you help? 

Please donate at www.ethosfoundation.org.au to help us reach $2000 before October. This money will be used to sponsor Sakina to travel from Kenya to DRC, her accommodation while there, and any teaching expenses. How to donate? Click the ‘Donate’ at the top right of the website. Once there, select the ‘For Sakina to teach Permaculture to Homeless War Veterans in DRC’ option.

We guarantee that 100% of the funds donated go directly to Sakina and will see her heading to DRC in early October (or as soon as she can). 

If you are unable to donate, then please share this blog to help spread the word. The more people who see this, the more help we can get to make Sakina’s goal a reality. 

Thank you for all your support and for reading this blog. If you have any questions about Sakina, this project, or Ethos Foundation, please leave a comment below.

– Morag Gamble

The post Sponsor Sakina to teach Permaculture in DRC appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

I am paying attention today because they are so cracked and sore, and because we made some lovely scrubs and salves yesterday at a workshop I held here in my garden (DIY Natural Health and Beauty Products) – just what my feet are calling for. These things can be made easily and cheaply.

Homemade mint sugar scrub – see below for instructions.

I knew my feet were in need of attention, but I recently bought a new pair of summer season shoes that seem to be ripping up my soles and aggravating the problem.  Back to closed shoes I think and a week of intensive care….

I’m going to take pictures every day and show you at the end of the week how well this has worked.

This is my three step process. It’s easy to do in the evening while I sit here and write, and catch up on emails.

1. Apple Cider Vinegar Soak

The warm vinegar soak softens the skin making it easier to remove the dead skin. I put in half a cup of vinegar into enough warm water to cover my feet and soaked them for 15 minutes.

2. Mint Sugar Scrub

This was the biggest hit of all at the DIY Natural Health and Beauty Products yesterday class I think. It immediately makes your hands and feet feel great, and it’s super easy. Immediately after the vinegar soak, while my heels are soft, I am using this scrub to help remove the dry skin and to soften, revive and nourish too.

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp raw sugar
• 6 leaves chopped mint
• zest of half a grapefruit (optional)

Soften the coconut oil if solid (I put the coconut oil in a bowl, then place this bowl in hot water till softened), then mix in the other ingredients. Store the scrub in a sealed jar/tin in the fridge and soften just before use.

NB: Make sure you don’t add the sugar to hot oil otherwise it will melt and not be a scrub, and don’t soften later in hot water either.

Collecting fresh ingredients from my garden for making herb oils for homemade beauty products.

3. Herb Beeswax Salve

• 1/2 cup olive oil infused with comfrey, chickweed and calendula infused oil. (see my previous post on how to make a simple cold infused herbal oil http://our-permaculture-life.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/making-comfrey-oil.html)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup pure beeswax
• 2 tbsp cocoa butter

1. On a double boiler (or with a ceramic bowl over boiling water), gently melt the beeswax, coconut oil and cocoa butter.  
2. When fully blended remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. When still runny, but warm (not hot) add the herb infused oil.
4. Pour into jars or tins and allow to cool and solidify.

I’ll be repeating this every night for the next few days and going to bed with more salve and bed socks.

These are the things we made in the workshop. Everyone went home with a collection of herb oil, healing salve, hand and face cream and lip balm.

At the end our our day together, this was our board of things we covered.

The last two workshops for the year are:

• The Simple and Abundant Garden on 29 October 
• Harvest to Table on Saturday 12 November. 

There are still places on both of the these if you’d like to come and spend a day in my garden with me learning and creating. We have fun, learn a lot from each other and eat deliciously healthy food!

Workshop participants collecting herbs and flowers in my garden yesterday to make the products. The lovely ladies at the DIY Natural Health and Beauty Products workshop yesterday putting their hand and face cream in jars.

The post Three Simple & Natural Cracked Feet Treats appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: Morag Gamble on Permaculture Education: Living a full life, simply and in conjunction with nature’s principles. 

I teach practical permaculture to kids ….

…high school students…

… and adults.

At home in our garden.

I was inspired to live a simple abundant life after volunteering in Ladakh, in the Himalayas in 1992 and 1995. My experience there had a profound impact on me.

For 18 years I have lived in a permaculture ecovillage with a vibrant community and beautiful natural environment.

We designed and built our home in affordable, ‘buildable’ modules – before this, we’d built a coffee table!

Our edible landscape surrounds the house and provides an abundance of vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers, medicinals, mulch and habitat for a diversity of species. It’s a super low maintenance system filled with self-seeding plants and perennials.

• Her path to get to where she is at based on strong ethics, environmental activism and natural health upbringing from her parents.
• Her early teenage year with activism and being connected to nature
• How growing up with the awareness of nuclear war potentials and oils shortages influenced her messages
• Her father’s teachings to look for positive solutions
• Being influenced by Fritjof Capra, author of TAO of Physics,
• Her adventures in England that introduced her to permaculture foundations and teachings
• Her head and heart filling up with possibilities
• How she transformed her ideas and inspiration into the reality of her life in Australia
• Her life on the amazing Crystal Waters village community (you need to hear all of this to believe it) with 83 households working together in a true permaculture community
• WWOOFers that come to the village and the WWOOFing that helps teach her kids so much about the world
• When your green you grow, when your ripe you rot
• Her son’s homeschool project of solar powered transportation for their community
• How she learned so much more about successful permaculture after she left the university
• What she feels is needed to start successful polycultural systems
• Her connected pods that create her home which expanded as her family did
• The story of how their home was built by themselves and what that means to them
• How she can forage for food just outside her door
• Why she considers her home an ecological system that looks after itself 

• Some real treats in her garden that demonstrate how many edible parts there are in any garden
• What the biggest products that come from her garden are besides food for her family
• What she does with the recycling depository in her carport
• How her children are already living and speaking permaculture
• How she is un-schooling her kids and the benefits of this method

As well as:

• How she is learning to accept that some of her ideas have not reached their time yet
• Why she thinks her project of Northey Street City Farm is her biggest success
• Why feeling the pain and injustice of the earth being destroyed and cultures being dismantled actually drives her to seek out better solutions
• Her final piece of advice is to be open and listen to learn

The post Why Do I Live A Permaculture Life… appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

For over 20 years I’ve been setting up permaculture and community gardens, and have travelled the world teaching about and researching permaculture in 20 countries. For the past 18 years, I’ve been based here at the United Nations award-winning Crystal Waters Permaculture Village and have developed my own permaculture teaching garden for which I received a Glossies Edible Landscaping Award.  I often host groups here – from young children, high school students, university groups and adult workshops. A constant stream of WWOOFers come to learn here too.

Making & Using Biochar

The DIY Permaculture Home

The Simple & Abundant Garden

Harvest to Table

DATE:  12 November 2016, 10am – 3pm

VENUE: Morag Gamble’s Award Winning Permaculture Place, Crystal Waters

WORKSHOP LEADER: Morag Gamble

The post Simple Abundance: Permaculture Life Workshops with Morag Gamble appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

“Biochar may represent the single most important initiative for humanity’s environmental future. The biochar approach provides a uniquely powerful solution, for it allows us to address food security, the fuel crisis, and the climate problem, and all in an immensely practical manner. ”  

Prof. Tim Flannery, Australian of the Year

Biochar is a type of charcoal, a carbon-rich material produced by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen – slow pyrolysis.  (Image: Hans Erken)

Simple home-made biochar maker – the flame cap kiln. Design and Photo: Hans Erken

Boichar made in the the flame cap kiln. Design and Photo: Hans Erken

THE BENEFITS OF BIOCHAR

THE USES OF BIOCHAR

How to activate your Biochar  (Image: The Biochar Project)

LEARN TO MAKE & USE BIOCHAR

BIOCHAR WORKSHOP
Teacher: Hans Erken, Earthcare Enterprises
When: August 20, from 10am – 4pm
Where:The workshop will be at Maleny in the morning to see Han’s innovative technologies and learn how to use and cook with biochar, and we’ll move to Crystal Waters in the afternoon to learn how to make biochar.
Who: Anyone interested in biochar for growing and cooking
Cost: $85, includes a lovely lunch
Bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/permaculture-life-series-biochar-how-to-make-and-use-tickets-26626576808

About the workshop:
I have been fascinated for some time with biochar and have wanted to learn how to make it. I’ve invited Hans Erken, a local biochar enthusiast innovator to lead a workshop with the Ethos Foundation to share with us what it’s all about. He will explore:

• what is biochar
• the benefits of biochar
• ways to use biochar in the garden
• how can you use the energy created during biochar production
• how do you make biochar while cooking
• how do you make biochar on a small and medium scale

Making biochar in the flame cap kiln: Image and design: Hans Erken

Here are some photos from the workshop he ran in 2012. Biochar Workshop Images

Meet Hans Erken and see a little bit of what you will learn in this 2 minute clip:

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BIOCHAR

Biochar – DPI NSW
What is Biochar? – Biochar International Initiative
Biochar Basics – ANZ Biochar Researchers Network
Soil and Water Benefits of Biochar – US Biochar Initiative
Biochar Project – Australia 
55 Uses of Biochar

The post Improve Your Garden Soil and Food Quality with Home-made Biochar & cook with it too! appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

One of the most transformative experiences for me was spending about a year at Schumacher College in England, as a student in 1992 and as a guest scholar on a course called Design for Life in 2003 with Janine Benyus (biomimicry). The course I ran was also a Permaculture Design Course. Schumacher College is essentially a green university – I love it!

Back in 1992, I so was incredibly inspired by learning at Schumacher College with people such as Fritjof Capra, Vandana Shiva, Helena Norberg-Hodge and Satish Kumar.  Immediately after taking courses at the college I made a pilgrimage around the UK to places such as Findhorn, Scotland and the Centre for Alternative Technology, Wales.

I had also arranged with Helena to volunteer in Ladakh with her at the Ladakh Project (Local Futures). While in India, I also visited Vandana’s Navdanya Project (since evolved into Bija Vidyapeeth or Earth University). My mind was exploded and my heart sang with possibilities.

A few years later, I visited Fritjof Capra a few times in Berkeley California. He introduced me to the Center for Ecoliteracy which he founded and the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center  – places rethinking education and supporting teachers to change. Creating opportunities for children to experience connection with nature and to be exposed to ecological systems thinking has been at the forefront of my work since. (Fritjof had also been a regular teacher at the Esalen Institute.)

ETHOS FOUNDATION 

Back at home, I have been persistently passionate about creating similar opportunities here in Australia for locals and for people around the world who would love to come together to:

• connect with nature, community and self
• deepen our understanding of the ecological paradigm
• explore thinking and ideas that will help guide us towards a sustainable future
• experience a different, more connected way of living and thinking
• learn very practical skills for living simply and sustainably
• nurture young leaders in sustainability
• offer nature connected education for children

After many years – helping to start Northey Street City Farm, the Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network, school garden projects,  Local Futures study circles, offering permaculture education in 20 countries, I am now focussing all my efforts on creating a space for head, heart and hands learning, predominantly based here at the ecovillage.

This is what my organisation the Ethos Foundation, a not-for-profit charity, is all about. I have created programs such as Nature Kids, Young Ethos Scholars, and Permaculture Life and will be offering a few Permaculture Design Courses (PDC) each year. I see the PDC is an amazing door to a more sustainable way of life.

Ethos Foundation Permaculture Design Course – August 29 – Sept 9

I hope you can join me from August 29 – Sept 9 for an excitingly practical, intellectually stimulating and incredibly relaxing time here at Crystal Waters, where I have been living for the past 18 years. This course integrates my learnings from Ladakh, Schumacher, and all the other centres. I will be joined by indigenous leader Wiruungga, the amazing Robina McCurdy from New Zealand’s Tui Community. We’ll visit Maleny’s amazing coops including: Maple Street Organic Food Cooperative and the Maleny Credit Union. We’ll explore the ecovillage at Crystal Waters, the wonderful neighbouring Baranbali Farm, and visit school and community gardens in the region.

More information about the course will be uploaded to this website very soon. Please contact me for more information.

Films about amazing centres for learning:

Here are a few of the places which significantly influenced my thinking over the decades:

Schumacher College England

(with Vandana Shiva and Satish Kumar, Polly Higgins, Stephan Harding, Terry Irwin)

Earth University, India

Centre for Alternative Technology, Wales

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, California

Local Futures (A short version of their recent film, The Economics of Happiness)

Esalen Institute, USA

The post Education as if the earth mattered: Green Universities, Permaculture and Centres for Positive Change appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Making seedballs – 5 parts clay, 1 part compost, 1 part seeds

The kids carried their seedballs about in egg cartons and made great little slingshots from sticks, strong elastic bands and a little bit of cardboard and gaffa tape. The sticks were from a weed tree that had been chopped down – a Wild Tobacco.

1. can you hit the target?
2. how far can you fling it?
3. how many can you fling in 30 seconds? (counted in Spanish by our lovely Mexican WWOOFer)
4. how high can you fling it

Great tubs of clay mixed with compost awaited children to roll with the seeds.

So many young seedballers enjoyed getting their hands wonderfully muddy.

The parents joined in too!

It was a very productive morning with so many hands – hundreds of balls made.

Seedball people…!

The slinging began – there will be a great arc of sunflowers and beans soon.

The super slingshot duo tests how high they can fling their seedballs.

Hugh tries to fling as many seedballs as he can in 30 seconds.

Getting ready to see how far they can fling using different techniques – even plain ol’ throwing!

Different designs for flinging were explored. The slingshot worked well, but so too did the bamboo thrower.

The post A Wonderfully Easy and Fun Way to Seed a Garden: Seedballing with Nature Kids appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Click to read the article: Sunshine Coast Features | Earth mother eco teacher

Thanks Jayne Fynes-Clinton for your descriptive words and to Claire Plush for this beautifully happy family portrait outside our handmade house.

The post Earth Mother Eco Teacher – new article article about Morag Gamble appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Over 30 children participated with their parents and siblings.

Exploring the design brief and sharing suggestions of what features might an ecovillage include.

Raiding the resource piles for building materials.

All ages worked collaboratively.

The children made their structures from cardboard boxes, bamboo, hemp string, pegs, clips, old sheets, fabric offcuts, and decorated with paint and found items from the garden.  The structures went up quickly, then the exciting part came – crafting the details, creating ecovillage stories together, and visiting each other’s places in the ecovillage.

There was rich and detailed thought processes embedded in the designs of these ecovillage elements.

Many focussed on getting their structures stable first before adding the detail.

This household complex was complete with garden, energy and water systems.

This little ecovillage house was tucked away in the bushes, away from the central zone.

A ‘tiny house’.

This big collaborative structure became the ‘ecocentre’ community meeting space complete with mailboxes.

Setting up the internal village systems.

There was a big rain the night before this event, and so many ants had come out of the ground. There were quite a few bites unfortunately, but this led to the design and construction of a bite clinic complete with aloe vera sticks inside.

New services evolved as the morning progressed – responding the the needs that emerged. For example, the anti-bite clinic became a necessity, with aloe vera treatments available.

A patient in the clinic – reportedly feeling much better after she’d been there!

The workshop enabled the children an opportunity to explore permaculture and systems thinking in action, and the notion of simple ecovillage living – they considered too what features might be included in such a village.

Bakery complete with a variety of sourdough breads on offer.

The wind-powered cafe – connected to one of the community energy systems.

Careful what you order….!!!

The children were very resourceful, finding ways to use a stack of boxes, bamboo, string and pegs and collecting materials from around their environment to add detail and form. I was so impressed at how focussed they were and how cooperatively they worked together to create a cohesive village environment.  I was so impressed too by the rich fabric of stories woven about the spaces the created.

The children showed intense focus and concentration for a couple of hours while they made their village elements.

Sharing the stories.

Ecological design, creating sustainable living environments and considering what it means to have a sustainable lifestyle are such important skills for this young generation to be cultivating. My goal with designing and offering Nature Kids, Young Ethos Scholars and Earth School programs is to create opportunities for children of all ages to delve deeply into thinking about the future in positive ways, experiencing ecological thinking and action, and finding ways to apply that knowledge and experience.

I think it is critically important for children to hear about and experience more ecological and nature-connected forms of human development and to share this with other children – to explore ideas together, to teach each other, and to explore what a regenerative, positive and joyful future may look like.

The post Healthy Future for Children – Nature Kids design an ecovillage appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.