Today, October 16, is World Food Day – a day of action against hunger. What could you do to help raise awareness locally and take personal action?

I’ll be making the most out of my permaculture garden abundance – collecting and processing the most flourishing seasonal foods and collecting open pollinated seeds to plant, eat and share. I am also writing this post to share with you in the hope that you will share it on.

Control over seeds must remain in peasants’ hands,” La Via Campesina. (Photo: Tineke d’Haese/ Oxfam)

Did you know that:

• 60% of the hungry in the world are women.
• Almost 5 million children under the age of 5 die of malnutrition-related causes every year.
• 4 in 10 children in poor countries are malnourished which damages their bodies and brains

But did you also know that:

• Peasants produce over 70% of the food consumed globally on small farms of less than 2 hectares, and 80% of the food consumed in those countries.  The best way to prevent hunger is to prevent land grabs and enable peasants to be free to grow a diversity of food using their own seed on their own land.  Rather than cashcrops, hybrids etc. ‘Big’ solutions are not the answer.
• Increasingly global food giants are involved in land grabs that are evicting poor farmers from their land to grow cash crops (often in the name of food security or economic development).

“No-one should come and tell us how to produce our food”. Elizabeth Mpofu of Zimbabwe is General Coordinator of the international peasant movement of La Via Campesina, a coalition of 164 organizations in 73 countries around the world, representing about 200 million peasant, landless, indigenous, and other farmers.

What’s the difference? Food security or Food Sovereignty

La Via Campesina, the global peasant movement which represents 200 million peasants in over 70 countries, prefers to celebrate today as World Food Sovereignty Day. Food sovereignty differs from food security.

It’s not just old peasants either who are calling for this. Young women calling for change at La Via Campesina’s Youth Forum.

More reading (just a small selection):

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Last week I had the pleasure of chatting with Sarah Howells on ABC Radio’s Brisbane Evenings as Permaculture and Simple Living Correspondent about this issue.

Calling in for the interview with Sarah Howells on ABC Radio from my home office at Crystal Waters.

Here is the podcast, Could You Live Plastic Free?

This is the second of our monthly chats.  The theme this month was Plastic Free July and the ways we can particularly reduce single use plastic.

This conversation went to air on Tuesday 5th July at 8:30pm on 612 ABC Brisbane Evenings. The next interview will be same time on 2 August. I hope you can tune in. If not, I will post the interview as soon it is sent to me.

Recently I wrote a  post about Plastic Free July, including why we need to change and offering some simple things to do:

• 5 Reasons You Should Try the Plastic Diet Too

• How to Make Natural Laundry Powder – save money, reduce waste and chemicals in the home.

Other things to consider:

• Use natural parchment paper to wrap foods in the freezer, or stainless steel latch containers
• Always remember to take your own shopping bags or basket. (or grab a box at the shop if you can – then use it to sheet mulch your garden)
• Get the kids to help you make bags, then also ask them to help remind you.
• Purchase as much unpackaged produce as possible.
• Choose paper packaged products over plastic ones – eg: toilet paper. (then add the paper wrapping into the compost or worm farm)
• Use beeswax clothes over leftovers, or simply a plate over a bowl.

The post Podcast #2: Could You Live Plastic Free – Morag Gamble on ABC Radio with Sarah Howells appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

About 8 years ago I made a short film called Think Global: Eat Local – a diet for a sustainable society that wove together projects and ideas from research I’d done over 15 years in 15 countries in a 15 minute film.  The focus was local food systems, and I shared examples from around the world and particularly my local region.

You can tell the filming was finished in Queensland summer with the cicadas in the background of some interviews, but despite that, I think the content is still just as relevant today.  I am working on getting a full quality version onto my new Youtube Channel: Our Permaculture Life, but in the meantime, here is the film in 2 parts (apparently easier to upload that way back in 2008).

Think Global Eat Local: A Diet for a Sustainable Society – part 1
Think Global Eat Local: A Diet for a Sustainable Society – part 2

Much of the inspiration for my work in local food, simple living, sustainable communities and relocalisation has been inspired by the many months I lived in Ladakh in 1992 and 1995. I volunteered with the Ladakh Project and for Helena Norberg-Hodge – who was in my early 20s and continues to be a major inspiration to me. (Her films are: Ancient Futures and The Economics of Happiness).

This is an old slide image of me with Amale (my Ladakhi host mother) 21 years ago – taking a break from harvesting. I helped to trial the farmstay program in Ladakh in 1995 which continues today. The Learning From Ladakh 2016 program is open for August intake. The lessons I learnt in Ladakh have shaped the work I do, the way I think and the way I live.

Me threshing grain in Ladakh in 1995 as part of the Farmstay trial program of the Ladakh Project.

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I took my 10yo daughter – it was a fabulous evening listening to Vandana again. I always feel so deeply inspired and motivated when I hear her speak. I also loved the chance to reconnect with a lot of old friends from around the region – people I have met through sustainability, permaculture and community projects over the past 2 decades.

Maia was engrossed and I could tell straight away that she learnt so much that night. I love being able to expose her to the thinking and ideas of people like this.  I can imagine the this will stay with her a long time.

I first met Vandana in 1992 when I was volunteering in Ladakh with Helena Norberg-Hodge. I attended a course with her at Schumacher College and I recently met her at the launch of the Bali Slow Food’s seed saving program.

VANDANA SHIVA PODCAST

I’ve made a link here to Vandana’s Powerhouse talk. It was recorded and played on Paul Barclay’s Big Ideas show on Radio National on 13 June 2016:
Making Peace with the Earth: Dr Vandana Shiva in conversation with Paul Barclay

SOME WRITINGS FROM VANDANA

I wrote about going to this event  in a previous post and linked there to some of her writings.

Another very interesting read from Vandana Shiva is her Manifesto for Sustainability – published here in my all time favourite Resurgence Magazine.

The post “Feeding the World and Saving the Planet” with Vandana Shiva appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

Reduce plastic: Grow your own veggies, or buy fresh, local package-free vegetables from markets.

Image: www.sustainablecoastlines.org

Five really good reasons to go on a plastic diet too:

• EVERY piece of plastic ever produced still exists on earth somewhere (apart from the small amount that has been incinerated).

• In the first 10 years of this century MORE plastic was produced than the entire last century.

• Australians send 1 million tonnes of plastic waste to landfill each year.

• 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans each year where it entangles and is ingested by wildlife. 

• 90 per cent of all seabirds alive today have eaten plastic (only 5% had plastic in 1960). A CSIRO report estimates that 99% of seabirds will have plastic in their gut by 2050.

A red-footed booby on Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean. © CSIRO, Britta Denise Hardesty

1. Attempt to refuse single-use plastic during July.
2. Remember it’s not going to be easy! It is a challenge, not a competition so don’t worry about being perfect.
3. Collect any unavoidable single-use plastic you buy. Keep in a dilemma bag and share it with us at the end of the challenge.
4. It’s up to you regarding how long you participate. You might decide to go plastic-free for a day, a week, a month or longer! However long you choose will still make a contribution.

We are joining Plastic Free July to challenge ourselves to reduce our plastic use even more and of course to sustain those changes.

1. Getting rid of plastic wrap – make your own beeswax cloths
2. Grow your own fressh package free foods – make a no-dig garden
3. Purchase bulk foods and take your own containers
4. Shop at Farmers Markets
5. Make your own pasta and sauce.
6. Make your laundry detergent 
7. Avoid products with microbeads. 

A great way to visualise the many ways we can cut unnecessary plastic from our lives.

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Evan and I most recently met with Vandana Shiva in Indonesia.

Vandana is one of the world’s most prominent environmental advocates. She is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, anti-globalisation author and tireless campaigner for seed freedom – a clear and loud voice for Earth Democracy – calling for seed sovereignty, water sovereignty, food sovereignty and land sovereignty. 

To provide a place where people can come to immerse themselves deeply to learn about these ways of seeing the world, the paradigm shift needed and to gain practical skills, she has created the Earth University in India, connected to Schumacher College. She encourages us all to become activists for Earth Democracy…

“Become the seeds of change in any place in the food web which is so rich and complex – become a seedsaver, an organic farmer, an activist, a chef, a nutritionist …”

Back in 1992, I was volunteering in the Himalayas at the Ladakh Project with Helena Norbert-Hodge of ISEC and Vandana came up to Ladakh for a week to help establish a community seed-saving project. I watched as the mothers and grandmothers of the community were so empowered by her – they mobilised their community networks and created the seed exchange network within just a few months.

Since then I have crossed paths with Vandana on many occasions – at Schumacher College in England, and more recently at the launch of Slow Food Bali’s community seed saving project.

I look forward to spending the evening with Vandana surrounded by my dear earth activist friends.  Who knows what will emerge from a gathering like this.

Maia and Hugh also attended Vanadana’s talk at Slow Food Bali’s seed project launch.

• The Vandana Shiva Reader (2014)
• Making Peace with the Earth (2012)
• Soil not Oil (2007)
• Earth Democracy (2005)
• Stolen Harvest (2000)
• Monoculture of the Mind (1993)

The post Making Peace with the Earth and Becoming Seeds of Change appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

If you relate to more than half of the above, you possibly could have already been labelled a ‘hippie’.  I reckon though, the real hippie days are long gone.

It could be said that a lot of the actions and values I’ve described above have been influenced by the radical hippie movement of the 60s and 70s – living and working for social change, peace, freedom and the environment –  but there have also been many other philosophies, discoveries and ideas that have contributed to this way of thinking and living over the past 40 years too.

Am I a hippie?

I relate to all of the above points, but I don’t identify as a hippie (I’m too young). I particularly try to avoid the hippie tag because of the negative connotations that typically come with it – I don’t smoke or drink or have never been into drugs.  I try to avoid other tags too – it becomes to easy to be parcelled up and dismissed. Tags and labels seem to close people’s minds to new possibilities and interesting ideas that are worth exploring.

I know I hold a bit of fear of being labelled a hippie. Considering where I live and what I do, I am an easy target. A recent article about my way of life had the title “Earth Mother, Eco-teacher“. I admit I shuddered when I first read the words ‘Earth Mother’ describing me. It felt like a hippie label, but when I read the article, I realised the title had been given with much respect not condescension.  I think in that moment, I let go of some of my fear and I felt encouraged that this way of life is seen as a positive aspiration.

I love my work, particularly the Nature Kids and permaculture programs I run for kids and the community.

I am not trying to drop out of society. I have my whole life been dropping into living a positive, healthy, community-connected, earth-connected way of life. This feels purposeful to me and brings me a deep sense of joy and meaning. I live in an ecovillage, grow food, teach permaculture, live simply, dress simply, homeschool my kids… Does that make me a hippie? No.  I perhaps embrace a number of hippie culture qualities – love, peace, care for the earth, care for people, living simply and ethically – but I’m just me – me in relation to my community and environment.

Relaxed and happy – barefoot in the garden spreading compost, mulching and planting.

Labels are a great way to be boxed, dismissed and/or marketed to – best if possible to be avoided! Be free, be open, live well, love life, connect and make a positive contribution.

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My boys are starting to get bigger now, so I don’t often have leftovers at the dinner table.  Leftovers however don’t ever go to waste – they are lunch the next day or incorporated somehow into the next dinner.  Every single scrap from my kitchen is in high demand. I separate the food scraps – some for the chooks, some for the compost, and some for the worms.

There are lots of ways to easily process food scraps into compost, but the easiest way I know, for even the most squeamish and reluctant gardeners is, to turn the food scraps into fertile garden soil using a worm tower.

Compost worms are VIPs at our house  – turning food scraps into fabulous fertilizer – creating healthy soil, for healthy plants, and therefore for healthy food for the family.

 

A simple worm tower is a pipe buried 400mm into the ground with holes drilled into the underground section for the worms to move through. The food is posted down the tube to them. A bonus is that the worms can retreat if it gets too hot.

The bonus of worm towers is that they don’t require turning, digging, or actually any need for handling the worms and castings.  The worms process the scraps and take their casting directly to the roots of the plants.  A worm tower is a simple way to improve fertility without double handling – the worms do the work where you need them to be.

I space my worm towers about 3 metres apart. They are excellent too in raised garden beds. It is important to put in a few handfuls of compost worms (blue, red, tiger worms) into the tower to really get the system powering.

Our three worms towers receive a bundle of food every couple of weeks. I always add a couple of handfuls of mulch or shredded paper on top to prevent flies, then replace the lid (an upturned pot).  I also regularly add coffee grounds.

A newly installed worm tower.

 

The same worm tower many months later – working away silently in the middle of the garden.

Worm towers work well too in herb gardens

The post Worm Towers – a quick and easy way to turn food waste into garden fertiliser – without digging or turning. appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

In making Think Global: Eat Local our aim was to celebrate local food systems in communities around the world – farmers’ markets, food box systems, food coops, community farms, community gardens, school gardens and home gardens.

Meeting with Cuban community gardeners in Havana.

While exploring the ways many communities are meeting their food needs locally, the film touches on many of the issues caused by and impacting upon our current unsustainable food system including climate change and peak oil. The film points to relocalisation of food systems as a key strategy for working toward a more ecologically sustainable, health and socially just society.

Working with the community to collaboratively design and construct a new community garden in Balcova, Turkey.

Leading permaculture classes for young Korean student activists.

Over a fifteen year period, we collected includes footage and images of local food systems in fifteen countries including: Australia, Bulgaria, Bahamas, China, Cuba, Denmark, Germany, India, Indonesia, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, Turkey and the USA. The footage and images were taken as part of our action research over 15 years into systems that promote sustainability, a core part of our international permaculture adventures.

Exploring urban agriculture zones in the middle Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

Children tending to their Peace Garden on Eleuthera Island, The Bahamas

I remember the premier screening so well – I was heavily pregnant with Hugh and it was just five he as was due.  Climbing up onto the stage to introduce the film was quite a challenge!

We received support from the Maleny Film Commission, and arm of the largest Film Society in Australia, to make this film. So while we maintained an international focus throughout the film, there is a strongly local Maleny thread too (Maleny is in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland).  I found out about this small grant from another mum at the Maleny Playgroup – that was such a hotbed of creativity – all those fabulous mums joining forces and doing projects they could while their kids were really little.

The links here are to the youtube versions my brother uploaded for me some time ago. It’s not high resolution for screening, but OK for personal viewing.  If you’d like a copy send me an email.  I still have some DVDs remaining and I am planning to get it onto Vimeo in better resolution soon.

The film has been screened in many parts around Australia and internationally as a short introduction to the issues to stimulate discussion. It has been particularly popular with schools, local action groups, transition groups environment groups and the like.

You can watch it here in 2 parts. (NB: you can tell that we did the final couple of interviews in Queensland summer – the cicadas are ever-present during the daylight hours! I’ve always wanted to re-record those bits, but new projects beckon).

PART 1: THINK GLOBAL: EAT LOCAL

PART 2: THINK GLOBAL: EAT LOCAL

The post Think Global: Eat Local – a diet for a sustainable society. Our film. appeared first on Our Permaculture Life.

We can become caught up in day to day actions – I know I do with three children, a big teaching garden and lots of interesting projects always on the go. It’s important though to remember to take a step back, take some deep breathes and look at the bigger picture – rethink why we do what we do, look closely at what change is needed, and how we can realign our work and life to contribute more positively to this.

Taking part in this online course is a way to start 2016 with this positive approach and see how perhaps I can be of greater service and use my energies even more effectively this year.  I just began listening to the first and second lectures yesterday I am absolutely engrossed.  I love being immersed again in the world of Fritjof Capra’s clarity of thinking and perception.

Image: www.fritjofcapra.net

From the first lecture I took some notes. I thought I’d share just this little snippit…. Fritjof asserts that all the problems we face in the world today are interconnected and that we are suffering from a crisis of perception. There ARE solutions to the major problems of our time, some even simple, but finding the solutions requires a radical shift in our perceptions, thinking and values.  Fritjof believes we are in such a shift – but that the realisation has not dawned on key decision-makers who continue with a peace-meal approach.  What we need rather are systemic and sustainable solutions – we need to build and nurture sutainable communities – designed to respect, honour and cooperate with nature’s coherent ability to sustain life….

My notes are so copious and the lectures have only just begun. My mind is abuzz with ways to refine, improve and add to the the programs we run here at the Ethos Foundation​, through SEED International, and in my personal life and work.

When I first studied with Fritjof Capra in 1992 on a 5 week program at Schumacher College​ it changed my life and set me on my current trajectory. The framework of thinking that is presented here in Fritjof’s new online course is the latest version of his thinking – a way of ecological thinking that has inspired and guided my life and work for the past 24 years. I returned again to Schumacher College in 2000 for a 2 week Capra Systems thinking reunion course which renewed my clarity and focus.  I can feel already that this new online course is going to do the same.

I have met with Fritjof and his amazing wife Elizabeth in Berkeley a couple of times and interviewed him for our short film Think Global: Eat Local – A diet for a sustainable society which Evan and I made in 2007. Only a small segment of the interview was able to be included in the 15 minute film, so we hope to release the whole interview shortly. We hope also to be able to visit him again soon.

I wish Fritjof all the very best with this new program.  If you are interested in joining his next online course, which begins in April, take a look at www.capracourse.net

Here is part one of our 15 minute film: Think Global: Eat Local – A diet for a sustainable society.  It features projects and people we visited in 15 countries over a period of 15 years.

Here is part 2:

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