Categorie: permacultuur

saturday 17 april

i went to Patrick. Someons who wants to organize PM courses on a professional scale using the construction of food circles. This are guilts built around a fruit (apple) tree. Peolple had to pay 100 euro a person. the fascilitator new about foosd circles but that was it. there was no info on PM as a holistic design system. at the end of the day we constructed and planted two foor circles. Patrick asked me what i found of the course. i told him about the total lack of a bigger structure. and he asked me if i would like to work for him. i said i could do one workshop a month. so there we are.

i talked about what is going well (studies, networking, house, children, lets, transition initiatives, …) and mentioned what was not going well (me working in a vegetable garden on my own, which was never my intention). driving back home i thought of not giving up that garden but finally descided i have to make a choise. i like to work in a garden, for me growing vegetables it is about the exchange of experience, about learning, about experimenting, about applying what i know ; but not on my own. it is a lot of work and my back hurts all the time. on top of that there is the fact that if i want to be on my own i draw, read, study, work on my house, write, or walk.

there is a different level i am going to involve myself in : what is my vision and mission ? where do i want to be in two years and how to get there ?

vision : getting permaculture in main stream / activate people
mission :
– organizing pm in Flanders —> setting up a pm guilt
– transition town leuven & the networking involved
—> helping to organize local food production
—> our local garden share & community gardening group
—> our local energy production group
—> activating citizens fex giving workshops
– getting my degree as a landscape architect
– looking for examples where the city provides in its own food supply & energy production/limitation
– designing at least 10 pm gardens
– fascilitating in several courses
– sharing experience —-> getting the diploma in order to organize a pdc

i know the journey is more important than the goal. so i just walk on.

two strange days. i remenber leaving for school friday, 0600 h. woke up too late & had to cut the fresh baked bread too fast. at 1800 h i started to head for the ferry. heavy weather made a slow drive, dangerous too. i felt at ease nevertheless ; going for a visit to the starting up pm guilt in herne bay. i remember the empty ferry port site surrounded by 3 metres high barbed wire. the strange feeling that gave me. no mans land, a transfer zone, a no-place. i wandered in canterbury looking out for something to eat. at 0030 i arrived in herne bay and slept in my car. i woke up early, drank some tea and went to meet the sea.
we were 6. and most of us just did the pdc like some months ago. we talked about the vision and the mission of the group. i met with jo.
i went with no expectations, empty of what was to come. driving back to my place and looking back to what happened there is this feeling that we all talked from a different context. which is enriching. the formation of a group, the looking for its roots is a process which i like to observe. it is difficult to keep it simple. but maybe thats only my idea, maybe its me making it difficult. near the end of our meeting i proposed to do a workshop on website building. driving home i realized that every drive to the guilt costs me 70 pounds and 24 hours of precious time. and it struck me : the thirth principle – obtain a yield. why did i propose to do a workshop that costs me a lot ? i must admit i dont know. what i do know is that a website is an important thing for a group ,like this guilt to organize itself and the data it gathers. the past year i helped several transition towns and other organizations in the neighbourhood with their. that didnt cost them anything nor me. i think will propose the guilt to share my travelling cost. i learned a valuable lesson. thank you bert, thank you jo.

In 1997 my partner and i bought our house. Because we were into living self sufficiently and with respect a year after we descided that one of us should take a pdc. So in 1998 Karen subscribed for a course in Hoenderloo (Holland). During the course i was on site and followed most of the lessons. In august she got her certificate from Patrick Whitefield. Fransje de Waard was course convenor back than.
From 1997 to 2001 I worked as a teamleader for Natuurpunt a nature conservation assosiation. I worked in the field with a team of 6 to 10 people under a reintegration project. I was responsible for plannig, machine repair, planning and so on. In 2001 I had to quit the job because of physical problems.
I started renovating our house in 1997. I conceived it twofold : it would be our home and we would be renting rooms. It was due to the money earned from renting half our house that I was able to quit my job. Today I am still working in the house altough not on a daily basis.
From 2001 on I had some time to spend and started volunteering in a social art project. I have always been very much interested in art philosophy and started creating my own ideas in 2005. Since art has been my passion.
In 2008 I got involved in the transition town movement and have been a key member up to 4 months ago. Transition Town Leuven . TsL needed less theory and a more practical approach. I talked with some people and got togheter. That is our garden exchange group which now works togheter with Velt. The main purpose is to create communal gardens. Two months ago our group that works on an Energy Descent Plan was founded. I created the TsL website, the plukrijp website. I advised different Transitiontown Initiatives on how to create their website.

Yesterday i have sent following mail to Jo. i´m eager for his/her response

Hello Jo,

My name is Bert. I am 41 years old and living in belgium. Two years
ago i did the pdc with Chris Evans. Now i am looking for a diploma
tutor. Do you have some time left to support and guide my route ?

Regards,

Bert Crabbe