SolarPunk Permaculture

S2. The [__~#%^*S-*tripl*-P*^%#~__]

The thoughts continue to pile up as I prepare for a new education endeavour. Let’s Get Dis.

Carbon Gardens: Part 8 - Community

Community I’m writing this text for Community. I’m writing this text for the Earth System. I’m writing this text for the gardeners, market growers, forest fillers, regen rangers, loggers, land clearers, guerillas and grand scale permaculturalist of our planet. Without community, we have nothing in common. In this tale of forest thoughts, we have relished in the joy and wonder of abundance that be by-products of our carbon gardens. In learning to create from scratch, we have created a garden to w...

Carbon Gardens: Part 7 - Preservation

Preservation “All that yield. ALL OF THAT FOOOD! So much produce and beauty to preserve.” - I think to myself. There are no preservatives in the aisle of your syntropic agroforest. Not the store-bought shelf types anyway. This is good! We like it this way. A system in syntropy is a system of self-sorting. More or less preserving its own beauty over time, a carbon garden doesn't need much upkeep in the department of pretty. Gaia sure knows how to put on a show. But food on the other hand can last...

Carbon Gardens: Part 6 - Edible Carbon Gardens

Edible Carbon Gardens Ever since your run-in with the forest mage, you've been racking your brain tryna remember seeing any limes in the forest. After a few days, the thought gradually catches up with you - *There aren't usually that many edible species in a natural growth forest system. Not many you know of with limes anyway. In our day and age, fruits, along with nuts and timbers and fibres and edible foods and medicines, are usually grown in orchards or greenhouses, or in properly managed, st...

Carbon Gardens: Part 5 - Stratification

Stratification Picture me this. - A garden full of umbrellas. Umbrellas are exactly how the forest mage wants you to think of trees. When you first stumble upon his buttress root, he looks at you with such an intensity, you wonder if he is of this time. His intensity also lets you know his forest observations are legit. The old guy brings forth a wisdom that you only get from watching how the rain falls w/ the sun over spans of time unmeasured. …And this is his general message. *Seedlings. Shade...

Carbon Gardens: Part 4 - Nursery

Nursery Nursery work is plant work. If you're working or playing w/ plants, you're in the nursery game. Now the genie is off your back and you've begun pushing solar panels into the sky via billions of little green blades. You look around at the iridescent green magic carpet beyond your toes. Seems bare, right. Seems like you need some plants to grow. Make it a little more… bushy. I’ll tell you a tale that got me thinking about growing plants and setting up nurseries to do so. I was in the fores...

Carbon Gardens: Part 3 - Seeds

Seeds Seeds are like eggs. Hard outer shell with a proto-life form, armoured at its core. If the character traits for seeds were not realised in the manner that they are today, who knows what sort of genetic response the embryonic stage of plants would have evolved to protect itself. Either way… I’m stoked we have seeds as they are. Super interesting little spheres, oblongs, brain-resembling embossed geometries. They are all good in my book. In fact, in every book that recounts our horticultural...

Carbon Gardens: Part 2 - Groundcover

Groundcover The term ground cover is a funny one. When I first heard it I went straight to the idea of a carpet on the ground… not the natural type either. When you first meet the ground cover genie, he asks you, “What are you looking for?” Stunned and unsure about this blue cloud of vapor that has appeared in your yard, you and he eventually get to yarning about the various functionalities a specific species of grass blade can wield over the great waterways in time. You relay thoughts as to how...

Carbon Gardens: Part 1 - Soil

Soil There is a good reason to start with the soil. Apart from it being the interface between seed and plant - The part you're most interested in if you're into plants. It's literally the engine of the garden. This is why you have to create good soil before anything else will happen. No soil, no seed germination. No soil, no nutrient or substrate for seeds to grow in. No soil, No good. Now you could go to the local garden centre and buy a bag… a plastic bag… a petroleum-based polymer bag that ho...

Carbon Gardens: Regenerative tales for our Earth System - INTRODUCTION

Introduction What if I told you that your green waste bin was a waste of time? What If I told you that all the fertiliser you spent money on was unnecessary. What If told you that most people who call themselves gardeners are possibly better described as miners. Really!? You might say. Surely not miners… It's sadly true. Most of the methods used in conventional gardens are either backwards or completely void of anything remotely natural. You see, plants don't belong in bins or want to be shipped...

Dr. Martin Freney - Sailing toward our SolarPunk future on an Earthship

Dr. Martin Freney has spent the past decade+ invested in the concept of the Earthship. Inspired by books written in the 1980s by Michael Reynolds - founding father of the eco-home movement, Martin dove headfirst into this solutions-based construction niche in search of a better way to steward our planet. After living in, building, and studying Earthship design he decided to go all-in and base his Ph.D. Thesis on the movement in an attempt to legitimize the field scientifically. His work in; Eart...

Reflections - How life has changed over recent times.

In this episode I take the opportunity of an hour commute to reflect on recent changes in my professional life. I speak on the integration of the built and biological fields and how the Permaculture ethics has shaped the way I navigate life on our beautiful planet. I reflect on the means by which the ethic of Fair/Future care manifests in my life and what the podcast is looking like in the not so distant future.

Justin Hartley: No-till, no dramas. The Duckfoot Model

Justin is a small-scale regenerative agriculturist, looking after a number of parcels of land in the southern highlands of Sydney. Inspired by hands-on experience and the no-till market gardening methodologies of the ever-inspiring Charles Dowding, Justin has set out on a hero's journey to bring nutrient-dense food to the community in a regenerative manner. Not only is his farm responsible for the growth of organic produce that goes on to nurture the bellies of beautiful human beings, but he's a...

Shubhendu Sharma - Hyperspeed Afforestation Now

Shubhendu is a special human being with an inspiring story. After attending a lunchtime workplace presentation, his life took a sudden U-turn away from the manufacturing of cars on a Toyota production line, towards the entrepreneurial pursuit of earth and people care via afforestation. For it was this chance event that Shubhendu was introduced to the Japanese biologist Dr. Akira Miyawaki, originator of the self-titled Miyawaki Method - a scientifically informed approach to reforestation that boa...

Laura Ryan - The Seemingly 'Impossible' SolarPunk House

Laura is a woman on a mission. In my mind, she is a true SolarPunk . Fed up with the snail pace speed of development seen in the city of Sydney, in which we both reside, Laura has taken on the seemingly impossible project of retrofitting her Newtown workers cottage and turning it into an urban off-grid oasis. Seeking to use 'The Impossible House' as a demonstration of what can be achieved in the heart of our cities, she has embarked on a complex journey of design and construction synergy. Spendi...

Andrew Millison - Pure SolarPunk Permaculture. Right now, on Planet Earth.

Andrew is a Senior University Instructor at the Oregon State University. Teaching mainly online courses at OSU, it's his youtube videos that have helped me and millions of other people around the globe better understand the concepts and principles of Permaculture design. His well-illustrated lightbox clips and the AR sandbox, an augmented reality tool one of his students developed and realised may project Andrew's work forward, suitably positions him as a legitimate SolarPunk and modern Permacul...

Lauren & Oberon - Life in a waste-free Spiral Garden

Lauren and Oberon are living a conscious lifestyle that places Permaculture ethics at the centre of their living arrangements. As true Permaculturalists, they share with the world how & why living 'simply' is an achievement to strive for. With relationship-building at the centre of their family ethos, they have changed their behaviour to live a waste-free life. Literally counting the pieces of waste produced in a recycled jar. Lauren is a full-time homeschooler, builder of permaculture curri...

Byron Birss - Creating Paradise in the Bay of Plenty

Byron is a community creating, fun'n'sun-loving Food Forester, openly practicing Agroforestry and Permaculture for the whole world to perceive. He spent some of his younger years immersed in nature at the Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School, a charter institute developed in honour of our favourite English Primatologist. Moving on to study environmental science at university, Byron found himself longing for a field that explored solutions rather than dialing in on the dismay some ecologies f...

Aaron Mears - The Living Classroom Legend of Lulu's Perch Permaculture

Aaron is a Permaculture and Highschool Educator with an inspiring and eclectic story. Having worked as a mental health nurse for a decade, he found himself searching for answers for the people in his care. Who would've guessed the answers would be found in the deserts of Jordan, w/ Permaculture heavy hitter; Geoff Lawton. Additionally, through the now 18-year-old 'Living Classroom Project', Aaron and his colleagues are drawing students into engaging living and learning spaces by drawing them out...

Dustin Jacobus - Illustrations of a SolarPunk future

Dustin Jacobus is an artist exploring the SolarPunk futures our heart's desire, primarily through his strengths as an artist. In this conversation, we discuss how his illustrations help to fill a void many of the SolarPunk enthusiasts may feel today, as they search the internet looking high and low for depth and a better understanding of what a high-tech, eco-conscious future may look like and just how the society that sustains it might function. You can find Dustin on the gram @solarpunkart and...

Lauren Nissen - Landscape Architect and Urban Designer of the future!

Lauren Nissen is a Landscape Architect and Senior Associate at ASPECT Studios in Sydney Australia. Growing up w/ a keen interest in science and having a natural creative flair has taken Lauren on a Journey that most SolarPunks and Urban Permaculturists would only dream of. She has helped design and worked on some of the most progressive and forward-thinking projects found anywhere in the world. Not only is she building the future we SolarPunks are hoping for, but she is also incredibly insightfu...

Andreas - A systems thinker, an ecological philosopher & a SolarPunk Farmer

Andy is a father and lifelong gardener living in Los Angeles. Working as a professional aquaculturist and a student of the environmental sciences, he thinks about the world in a deeply insightful manner. Drawing upon theories of Social Ecology, Andy inspired me with his Youtube Channel - The Solarpunk Farmer where he shares his knowledge and expertise with a global community. He's thought long and hard about many topics such as Radical Agriculture - an approach to Regernative Agriculture that he...

SolarPunk Permaculture (Trailer)