I compleated my Permaculture Design Certification this last weekend at a near by permaculture community/farm here on the big island. When I finished my Recycling, Resourse Management, & Zero Waste certification back at Santa Monica Collage, the one word I can say to wrap up that course was “Signs”. Yes, there was much more involved in the whole course and process however if you can say one word about Resourse Management it would be- “Signs”. Make lots of them and put them on lots of containers to source separate your (waste) resources.
So now I have completed the Permaculture Design Course and if I could also walk away describing it in one word it would be “Observe”… and of course there is also more to it. At it’s core however, you will be left with one word- “Observe”. The magic in observing comes when it is not accompanied with your opinion. There is no why. There is no how. Their is no “the tree has yellow leaves because it’s lacking nutrients”, there is only “the tree has yellow leaves.”
In the spirit of observation I leave you with a passage from a book I am reading: “Jitterbug Perfume”, by Tom Robbins.
“Bones are patient. Bones never tire nor do they run away. When you come upon a man who has been dead many years, his bones will still be lying there, in place, content, patiently waiting, but his flesh will have gotten up and left him. Water is like flesh. Water will not stand still. It is always off to somewhere else; restless, talkative, and curious. Even water in a covered jar will disappear in time. Flesh is water. Stones are like bones. Satisfied. Patient. Dependable.”