Design 7: Teaching Permaculture - from Self care to Group care zones 00-4
Design by
Skye Jin
Get in contact!
Skye Jin
skyejinpermaculture@gmail.com
Instagram: @skyejinartist & @gardeningisactivism
Facebook: Skye Jin
Artist & Permaculture Designer CV here
MFA Master of Fine Arts
Diploma in applied Permaculture
Multimedia Artist
Sociocracy facilitator
Cultural co-creator
Activist
Lives in Roskilde, Denmark
Permaculture associations:
PKDK at www.permakultur.dk
PAB at www.permaculture.org.uk
Design by
Skye Jin
Photo by Diana Cianelli Gabriel
Content
Design Brief / page 4
Intro / page 5
Design Web Quick Design / pages 10-14
Analysis / pages 15-18
Design / pages 19-20
Maintenance / page 29
Evaluation / page 30
Feedback / page 32
Reflection / pages 32-33
Evaluation of process / page 34
Next steps / page 35
Literature & tools / page 36
Appreciation / page 38
Appendix / page 39
Images from “A Polyphonic Theatre”. Performance installation by Skye Jin. Photo by Timme Hovind. 2014
Design Brief
To bridge my self care as a facilitator and inclusion needs as a human being with empowering others through diversifying permaculture teaching and group care to embrace more needs and different kinds of people.
Design Notes
Start: 2023/Implemented
Client: myself
Ethics: Earth care, People care, Fair share/Future care
Frameworks: Quick design with Looby Macnamara´s Design Web in Survey anchor point and SADIM as overall design framework.
Principles: Observe and interact, Give and receive encouragement, The body knows, Stack functions, Use and value diversity, Integrate rather than segregate, Respond to needs, Essence.
Note on hyperlinks in Danish: for documentation, short explanation of content are included in the design text.
Tools
TNA (Teaching Needs Assessment), Action Learning guild, 8+1 forms of capital, zoning, mind maps, session plans, ritual, PMI analysis, IKIGAI venn diagram, colour pens, paper, Google slides, Miro board, charts, photos.
Learning goals
To survey special needs and analyze and essentialise my own personal culture, observe & get feedback.
Design by
Skye Jin
Principle: Tend to your own personal culture
Intro
ANYONE CAN RAISE THE VIBRATION
"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits."
Martin Luther King. Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, Norway, 1964
Survey
Norm / Unusual
Majority / Minority
Familiar / Unfamiliar
Visible / Invisible
Privilege / Marginalization
My own disability is C-PTSD after a life of trauma of different kinds. It limits me in the sense, that I need more frequent breaks than most people, easily have an overloaded nervous system and can be triggered and go into survival mode by aggression of any kind. It also opens the more serious lived experiences of being marginalised and growing up on hostile lands.
How will a mind and body cope with lifelong psychological terror every time you leave your house or even in your own family, never knowing when hostility will come your way or your identity is questioned in a negative way? Since I have worked most of my life in the arts, I will start with an example from this field of work:
In The Union, a Danish union of cultural workers who identify as BIPOC, 87% of members told they have experienced direct racism or discrimination because of their religion on the Danish cultural scene. 93% had heard about others experiencing racism and 73% had experienced racism during their education or at the workplace.
Family photo from 1980´s of me during summer holidays, documenting one of my first experiences of racism and cold treatment from peers, because of my asian, different looks.
When it comes to physical disabilities, only 5% of Danish museums have access or toilet facilities for people in wheelchair.
It is a serious democratic problem since it physically hinders specific people in taking part in culture. The same goes to learning disabilities, neurodiversity, sensory disturbances, gender, religion (places and times to pray for instance) and many other overlooked realities of life, for instance 30% of all people will in their lives experience mental illness either first or second hand.
Within permaculture I also see the same demography of people taking part in courses in Denmark. Usually white women, middleaged, in a position to take two weeks off for a PDC and usually having access to land, hetero-normative, privileged in terms of educational level and means to have a fair amount of choice in their own lives. Rarely have I seen ethnic minorities, physically disabled participants and courses or sites that accommodated access. In permaculture specifically access is also written about by Katie Shephard.
From co-facilitating a session on inclusion at Applewood ToT 2023.
EQUITY
So what is equity and how is it different from equality?
Equity means, that people have different needs in terms of being equal. Like the drawing with people watching a football match over the fence. No box-fits-all, when we don´t fit the norm, we also do have different needs. It also states, that some people can just walk straight through an open door, while others have to climb a wall. This has to do with bias, something we all have.
Recently a commission to the Danish Government recommended to make job applications anonymous to prevent documented discrimination against ethnic groups in society. Equally, people of all kinds of disabilites find themselves last in line when it comes to jobs or need to hide their circumstances and fit the norm.
CARE RIDER TOOL
This is something that is known from the music scene to assess artists´ care needs, but also nowadays used more and more by progressive cultural and educational institutions and art projects.
It can be in the form of a care-and-safety policy online, questions on submission form to assess diverse needs, handout at the beginning, but should always be done in a way that do not expose marginalized individuals unnecessarily.
In the care rider, participants can write down their needs in order to be able to participate in the course; that could be visible impairment, dyslexia, physical disabilities, neurodiversities, cultural or religious diversities to be mindful of like prayer or fasting, pronouns them/they - she/her - he/him and many other things.
An important thing to be aware of is class and privilege in terms of language used, lifestyles and assumptions in general.
From co-facilitating a session on inclusion and Cultural Emergence with Looby Macnamara at Applewood ToT 2023.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
I think all facilitators should have a care-and-safety policy at hand if not visible already when future participants enter our websites or social media, so they can feel welcome and safe. It is our duty to react with assurance and care when illegal things like sexual harassment happens.
Minority stress is also an important factor to be aware of. Never expect minorized individuals to offer to educate you, it is a shared responsibility to educate ourselves, that can be done by reading or watching videos and documentaries. Research intersectionality, racism, neurodiversity etc.
Who defines who? is an important question. It is a privilege to define someone else and have the power to do so. Listening and observing might be a permaculture way to approach what we have not lived.
Only put out policies and care riders you stand behind with content you believe in and have understood.
From co-facilitating a session on inclusion and Cultural Emergence with Looby Macnamara at Applewood ToT 2023.
Design web Quick Design [Survey]
To get the overall patterns
This Quick design is informing the Survey part of Design 7 and will be written up and expanded in the following pages.
Design Brief
To bridge my self care as a facilitator and inclusion needs as a human being with empowering others through diversifying permaculture teaching and group care to embrace more needs and different kinds of people.
Simple
Essence: essentialized in a few words, mantras, keys, sentences.
Tools
Colour pens, paper.
Design by
Skye Jin
Vision
Empowered by empowering others to care for and finding value in natural systems.
Helps
Breathing exercises, visualisation, household items, edible plants in my garden, bells, blankets, beautiful items and sitting spots, plant nursery and potting shed , greenhouses, fire place outside. My inherent playfulness.
Limits
Alone time, taking a day off. Boundaries for myself: rest before and after courses. Be in abundance when planning course. Create minimum 1 break on every day-course.
Patterns
Alone time: taking shower, walk in my garden, eating snacks, drinking tea, watching a movie. Taking every other day off to rest and reflect. Writing and singing/playing piano alone.
Ideas
Make tea-foraging ceremony, reflective journaling, listen to music at start and end of course walking or incense meditation.
Principles
Next pages…
Integration
Next pages…
Action
Lesson plan includes tea-foraging ceremony in beginning or end. Visualisation or deep listening to sounds in the garden or music with reflective journaling in the end = pause for me + nurture.
Momentum
Self-care patterns that connects to nature/garden before as part of preparation for courses and teaching.
Appreciation
Encouragement and sharing gifts and open people´s eyes to plants, taste and to appreciate nature and themselves. For my network, weaving unity.
Reflection
When I am pressured and cannot meet my needs: I get anxious, cry a lot, difficulty sleeping, hard to make healthy choices.
Pause
Rest for 1 whole day after each course.
Growth
phase
Exploration phase
Productive
phase
Reflective
phase
Quick design with
Looby Macnamara´s
Design Web [Survey]
Principles
Tend to you own personal culture: How can my unique culture, creativity and needs shape courses in caring and nurturing ways? I will let myself be the starting point for inclusive course design!
Observe and interact: Permaculture is still very mono-culture in Scandinavia demography-wise and the discussion on inclusion regarding teaching sites (access), methods (socio-economy) and implementations (priviledge, land etc.) is international. I want to make an inclusive curriculum on accessible sites with both session plans, submission forms and PR material that already feels inclusive and safe for many minority groups.
Respond to needs: Permaculture is in itself needed in the world right now. Different demographics that cannot access permaculture because of costs, time or abilities might even need it more. I will make sliding scale payment options with a few free places on every course and be assessing learning and accessibility needs. I will actively reach out to ethnic groups and other minorized groups in society and make tailored courses based on feedback, needs and wishes.
My needs are to create safer spaces and smaller groups where I feel connected to people and a communication style (images + text) that ensures people choose me as a facilitator or teacher from my vibe and ethics of inclusion, co-existence and a circular, feminine approach rather than a top-down authoritarian one. I need the people I attract to mirror to some degree the space I want to create of vulnerability, care, empathy, reflection and action balanced with calmness.
Quick design with Looby Macnamara´s Design Web [Survey]
Principles
Give and receive encouragement: Comes very natural to me, I like to build people up and help them see where they can shine. Use my empathy.
The body knows: Listen to my body when it tells me something. Respect others in the same way. Pay attention to non-verbal, emotional or physical signs.
Stack functions: Combine needs and lessons in creative ways!
Use and value diversity: Use diversity in sessions as demonstrations of ecosystems, shine light on different perspectives and give them space to tell their stories.
Integrate rather than segregate: See physical adjustments to create access as golden opportunities to level up and maintain my garden space and functions.
Golden Key
LET EMPATHY PLAY THE MAIN ROLE in everything I do. Let the vulnerability I have been ashamed over, told to develop thick skin to overcome or made to see as a disability too SHINE. Let it be the startingpoint and the vibe of all spaces I hold and enter and this will probably be just the space some people have been longing for too.
Quick design with Looby Macnamara´s Design Web [Survey]
Integration
Vision: Empowering
Helps: Beauty & nurturing. Playful & fun.
Limits: Alone time & being in abundance
Patterns: Alone & creative = no-pressure connection to universal creative channel.
Ideas: Meditative, creativity/art, nurture.
Principles: Use my unique selfcare to pattern any course!
Golden Key
USE MY UNIQUE SELF CARE TO PATTERN ANY COURSE. I will use my needs for pressure-free collective creativity, creating alone-together, journaling together and having mindful moments directly in my courses and sessions. Acknowledge everyone and make people feel warmly welcomed and request a caring space where we build up and give and receive encouragement and appreciation. Add humour, playfulness and fun = games and interaction, as well since this is a big part of my personality too!
Quick design with Looby Macnamara´s Design Web [Survey]
Analysis
Golden Keys from Quick Design Web:
LET EMPATHY PLAY THE MAIN ROLE in everything I do. Let the vulnerability I have been ashamed over, told to develop thick skin to overcome or made to see as a disability too SHINE. Let it be the starting point and the vibe of all spaces I hold and enter and this will probably be just the space some people have been longing for too.
USE MY UNIQUE SELF CARE TO PATTERN ANY COURSE. I will use my needs for pressure-free collective creativity, creating alone-together, journaling together and having mindful moments directly in my courses and sessions. Acknowledge everyone and make people feel warmly welcomed and request a caring space where we build up and give and receive encouragement and appreciation. Add humour, playfulness and fun = games and interaction, as well since this is a big part of my personality too!
Golden Keys from Survey
PERMACULTURE IS STILL VERY MONO-CULTURE IN TERMS OF REPRESENTATION AND INCLUSION. There is a need for different venues, session plans informed by care needs, tutors with personal inclusion experiences and more diversity to create safety.
LEVEL PRIVILEGE, USE EQUITY CONSCIOUSLY by assessing needs, adjusting venues and teaching methods, actively reaching out to marginalised communities and individuals. Keep on educating myself. Use sliding scale fees and offer limited free spots on all courses.
Use CARE RIDERS and have SAFETY POLICIES.
Spaces & Venues
Use my own garden for all neurodiversities and non-visible disabilities.
Use a suitable venue in Roskilde downtown close to public transportation for physical diversity needs.
TOOL : 8+1 forms of Capital for care-based Teaching [Analysis]
Ethan Roland & Gregory Landua + Health/Wellbeing from Cultural Emergence
Material
House
Kitchenware, food making
Beautiful items, bells etc.
Music speakers
Art studio + old art works
Moroccan tea tables, chairs
Living
Garden full of edible plants
Birds giving free concerts
Insects buzzing around
Beautiful flowers
Children
Experiential
Experience with marginalisation,
racism and C-PTSD
Creative processes
Mindfulness & Meditation
Facilitation skills
Design skills
Gardening skills
Familiar to low and upper class
Financial
Savings in a bank account
Ok steady income these years from Arts fund and projects
Intellectual
Permaculture theory
Postcolonial theory and history
Cultural studies
Intersectional feminist studies
Cultural
Large Network
Skills from working with writing, film, photography, Communication
Travelled in many cultures
Social
Neurodiversity coping skills
Collaboration skills
Open heart & empathy
Good at talking to people
Disabled friends
Spiritual
Have a strong connection to larger patterns, life before and maybe even after.
Reincarnation
Health
Ok good and stable
Able-bodied
Quick to regenerate strength
Design by
Skye Jin
Analysis: just in the close proximity of my home and garden I have everything to take care of my own needs and this means, in terms of my abilities, this is a good venue and source of capitals for teaching.
TOOL : TNA teaching needs assessment [Analysis]
Adjusted from Applewood Permaculture Centre´s ToT TNA handout
Link to full size TNA here
Analysis: In general, I feel competent and comfortable making a nice learning environment, group culture, games and use creativity for accelerated learning + inclusion, feedback, morning circles, welcome sessions etc. = things needed for making a safe, supported and inclusive course. I still need confidence in convening and organising full PDC as well as completing my diploma.
This makes me realise, that I am ready to do intro courses and specialised themed courses!
TOOL : Zoning of aims for inclusive permaculture teaching practice [Analysis]
Zones 00/00: Selfcare as inspiration for inclusive curriculum. My garden as a venue.
Zone 1: Local ethnic or low income groups, students and schools. Inclusive curriculum.
Zone 2: Social housing project Lundtoftegade in Copenhagen, BIPOC groups, students.
Zone 3: Include my viewpoints as co-editor of PERMAKULTUR and invite many voices and lived experiences to contribute.
Zones 4-5: Be an example myself, write and teach occasionally about inclusion internationally. Support diversity in permaculture on a broader scale.
Analysis: I am privileged with platforms and opportunities that I can use for inclusion, to talk about care and for concrete course/project planning and actual care implementation. The most powerful exchange happens in zones 00 to 2 and the experiences from this can be informing zones 3-5.
Selfcare
My garden as venue
Local Young people
Local art and culture schools like ROFH
Local social housing projects
Social housing project in Copenhagen
with people from 40 nationalities
Low income groups like students
BIPOC groups in cultural and art scene
As co-editor of PERMAKULTUR
Magazine, more inclusive and participatory
content
Support diversity in permaculture
Write and teach about inclusion in permaculture
0/00
1
2
3
4-5
Courage to step forward and be an example of inclusion myself
Make inclusive curriculum
Design
Golden Keys
Use Empathy & Open Heart
Pattern courses with my unique selfcare
Make Everyone feel safe, welcome, represented in visual material & PR
Use all senses, intelligences equally
Mindfulness integration in ⅓ of sessions
No-pressure creativity
Choose venue based on needs
Lesson plan example
Second draft lesson plan, mind map with time slots.
5 min. break every 45 min.
40 min lunch break,
Short day, many blocks are break-like or meditative, sensory.
Personal care build-in before course start.
Group care build-in for games, circles and check- in.
First draft lesson plan here
Implementation
Teaching a 2-week Art & Permaculture workshop and introductory course for art students at ROFH Roskilde Festival Folk High School, Denmark.
When: 15., 17., 22., 24., 25. May, 2023.
Venues: Roskilde Festival Højskole and my permaculture garden + greenhouse.
Outcome: create group process for an art project for Roskilde Festival in July. Learn about permaculture and plant a herb tea mini-garden at the Højskole. Design with CEAP design framework and group assessment tools. Work creatively with principles and ethics.
First draft Lesson plan here
Certificate here
Teacher registration at PKDK here
Danish Folk High Schools are a unique form of exam free, social life & education movement from the mid 1800s and I have myself been enrolled as a student on these schools many times. ROFH is the newest one of these in Denmark and happens to be in my city, Roskilde! A dream come true when my old colleague from the art academy days, Morten Ernlund, a great artist and teacher, asked me to guest teach this spring. Read more about Folk High Schools.
A nice learning and teaching atmosphere
Beautiful blankets, pillows.
We always start outside with a short check-in or thumb-dial + deep listening to nature session:
How are you feeling today, mental & physical? Needs?
Sit in a circle. Listen and open your senses. What do you experience? Share.
Then we talk about ecosystems, what are the metabolism, soil, sun, water, CO2, animals, human relationships?
Reflection: This group particularly was mentally fragile and not challenged with physical og learning disabilities. Therefore the garden as a site with many small paths and spaces was suitable as well as spoken and written care and group culture guidelines.
Inclusion & Safety guidelines in the course
Care needs and Safety Guidelines in general where discussed with the main course teacher upon course start and updated every day with the group during the morning circle. I would ask for needs and assess the mood and energy levels with check-in rounds and adjust the schedule. In general, I only added to the existing guidelines of ROFH school, since I was only a guest facilitator.
Conscious Group culture was shared, inspired by Delvin Solkinson´s introduction to the Group Diploma Adventure:
Conscious Learning Culture Guidelines inspired from source teachings from Rosemary Morrow & Robin Clayfield. Also found in Permaculture Design Notes by Delvin Solkinson.
See the full document in bigger writing here.
Care Rider reflection: for upcoming courses, I will make my own specified Care Rider. In this case, I was invited by an existing course and another main facilitator meaning I added a few things and asked for their general guidelines, which were not too specific.
I definitely think this course made the school think of more care and safety policies since the fragile situation of the participants made the lack of care structures clear for instance around hospitalization, responsibility etc.
Script for tea-foraging and using Permaculture Design card deck tool to reflect on deeper questions of care, nature connection and co-operation
Flipcharts ready + blank paper and colour pens for interactive drawing with participants + for illustrating or answering questions that come up in a visual, intuitive way.
Action!
Keywords:
Build trust
Invite feedback
Interaction
Open senses
Taste
Smell
Feel
Group dynamics
Micro climates
Curiosity
Responsive
Humour
Feeling welcome
Visual and concrete
Relatable and Inspiring Warm attitude
Making vegan dandelion honey. Using natural materials, designing and using assessment tools together. Foraging and learning about plants.
Planting the perennial tea garden and mulching with compost.
Bronze fennel
Sweet Cicely
Pumpkin
Celebrating, singing together!
Very hard gravel on post-industrial site! Hopefully continuous mulching will help regenerate soil.
Participant projects
At Roskilde Festival
Performances
Perennial Tea ceremony
“More Love” stencil
Green man by Claudia Comtes
“ME WE” sculpture.
Maintainance
Evaluate with:
My family
Course participants
Co-facilitators
Venues
My teaching skills, continue to develop
Check in with my Work Life design
Check in with my IKIGAI Life design
Make yearly course calendar
Evaluation
The course with Roskilde Festival Højskole had a very rough start because of not only one but two participants having severe mental problems and needing urgent hospitalization during the course of only 5 sessions in 2 weeks. That meant we were almost never a full team at any time and the other participants felt really down, shaken or even crying at certain stages. This was a very serious check-in with how much young people today are affected by pressure, crisis and post-corona anxieties.
During the course, the mood got much better though and it is with collective pride and joy that I was able to hand each one of them a certificate for attending at least 3 full days of permaculture introduction and collaborative design!
I worked with my whole tool-kit of group dynamics and building group culture, a calm nature-connection and nurturing start in my garden and the session after that too with tea-mindfulness and foraging, so all the participants got connected to plants, their senses and the basics of permaculture, even if they did not attend the first session. I activated the participants that had already attended the first session with asking them to elaborate on the ethics and themes, so there was peer-to-peer learning and it was wonderful to see how they already were recognising edible plants and particularly delicious ones in my garden.
Although permaculture design used for art processes were the center of the course, it was unclear for one participant why process is important and not just produce painting, but the creative group games, nature connection and mindfulness in the garden was a highlight for everyone and all contributed actively along the way, so the group process for their art project ended up as a success.
We had planned a follow-up session in my garden just the day before I was departing for a ToT permaculture course at Applewood in England, but I was way too tired and stressed and had to cancel. That was a really good decisions, since the course at Applewood was intense and I was able to take care of myself and not squeeze the lemon too hard.
For future courses though, I really think follow-up is important and would like to prioritize it for nesting and building momentum.
Ethics
People care: I care for myself in this design and expands this care to pattern groupcare as well through surveying the larger access, needs and equity patterns in the world. I am also caring for my livelihood by adding teaching and facilitation of permaculture as an ethical income.
Earth care: by making permaculture accessible to more groups in society and make nature connection and knowledge of ecosystems relatable and integrated in many more fields like arts and culture, so many more small and big regenerative choices can be made. I have designed my garden and made a permaculture site for sharing care and appreciation of natural abundance, life and fresh food.
Fair share/Future care: levelling privilege, making better access and creating safe spaces will include not only a few elite demographics, but make permaculture useful and a resource for the people and communities that may be needing it the most. I want to share my surplus of knowledge, passion for design and my own story and livelihood with people to be able to relate and thus create a better future for themselves or to care more for groups and ecosystems.
IKIGAI: l find that all ethics align with my center, when my care needs, group care skills and love for creativity and nature-connection mindfulness align with livelihood!
Feedback PMI
From ROFH participants:
PLUS
Good ground work, Nice teacher, Fun, Super cosy, Wonderful to start in your garden, We got to learn about how to live more sustainably, Inspired and ready to further develop our Utopia manifest, Regenerative art course: collaboration, sustainability, propagation, Experiences & experiments on how we can inspire our art projects. Prompt for how we can infuse our art and creativity into permaculture.
MINUS
Still quite lost, More art experimentation, more visual, designing solely artistic on the long slate that is interesting to permaculture, we are quite noisy and at times not paying attention.
INTERESTING
Learning about plants
Being in your garden
Reflection / Action Learning Questions
How was it for me?
It was very meaningful to do this design and a moving experience to find the golden keys, re-connecting to my self-worth and flip limits to a resource for others!
The implementation phase and adjusting to the very hard situation with the vulnerable participants was a birth by fire, but brought into light my intuitive gifts of taking care of others as well as a very deep connection to how my self-care can become group care tools. I feel encouraged and very uplift by the feedback from participants on this!
What is there to work on?
In the first days I still focused too much on teaching and trying to cover all the permaculture basics, where the mood was very fragile and people might just have needed more practical stuff and creativity like mindfulness drawing, but the tea-ritual-foraging went very well. I will do session plans with mind maps next time, to build in a more flexible, non-linear mindset, that will make it easier for med to pattern the days to the mood and energy levels of the group.
Reflection / Action Learning Questions
Long-term goals?
I would like to develop my own set of bespoke tools to support my courses and sessions and make a care rider for my own courses. My friend and colleague, Eva Max, and I are developing a Permaculture School in Roskilde, that we are very excited about and co-operation, group care and diversity will be a core for our work together.
What did I discover about myself as a designer?
Design becomes much lighter, creative and flowing when I use colour and paper for charts, plans and mind maps and design quickly to get the overall patterns and all the anchor points aligned in an image; it is there I find the golden keys, the flipped limits, the invisible needs or the unforeseen connections. By now, it has become like a treasure hunt for me! I love to discover and learn with the designs and the Design Web and many principles are increasingly becoming fluent to me. Miro board and slides are really nice and precise for write ups and I still prefer to have a very coherent portfolio in the end, but I love to combine the very quick on-the-go style of quick designs with this format.
Using my emotions and deep connections of experience is a vital key for my whole attraction to permaculture and I really felt this as a discovery this time moving forward into livelihood too.
Evaluation of design process
Did the design live up to:
Design Brief
To bridge my self care as a facilitator and inclusion needs as a human being with empowering others through diversifying permaculture teaching and group care to embrace more needs and different kinds of people.
I learned to trust myself more and see my inherent and existing skills in creating a warm, nurturing learning atmosphere. My garden and messy house as a classroom was a great venue and this was a surprise to me and the few teaching tools I needed were right at hand; it felt more safe.. I find the design very successful in producing session plans (drawn mind maps) I can use 1:1. It was also nice to have a paid job I could design from start to finish around care and combine art and permaculture freely.
Learning goals
To survey special needs and analyze and essentialise my own personal culture, observe & get feedback.
I realised that my selfcare pattern is very well received especially with other neurodiverse or vulnerable people and people in general. Co-facilitating a session on inclusion at Applewood made me more clear on my existing knowledge on all kinds of care needs, equity, structural racism and how to deal with safety as a facilitator, that went into survey.
Frameworks, tools, principles
Using Quick Design with Design Web in the Survey was new for me, but Chris Evans inspired me to use more frameworks within designs and I found SADIM to give some space to be more specific with the Design Web part, My facilitator selfcare, and finding Golden Keys (inspired by Delvin Solkinson) here, and then include more overall aspects in Survey to inform the design. IKIGAI overlay with principles has become a central tool and compass for me in livelihood designs and together with 8+1 forms of capitals, zoning of inclusion aims and the TNA analysis it formed a great team for clarity. Action Learning questions and PMI analysis are always good and I will challenge myself to use other evaluation tools in next design. The principles for this design I chose very carefully and they really solidified the Golden Keys in a conscious way. For upcoming designs I will try to work a little more with chance to see what comes up!
Next achievable steps & more Reflections
Start with small and slow solutions, expand this design into small co-facilitated intro courses, topics and formats I feel safe with, from my own culture of care, and expand slowly. I am invited to do workshops at the Danish Permaculture Festival and Positive Trace Festival this summer and I will use the chance to stretch my edges with a new workshop on Business collaborations and regenerative economy as ecosystems, to create a hub for co-creation, inclusion, collaboration and people care, where we are all colleagues and not competitors.
This will also inform the work we are doing in the Danish Permaculture association and the nordic permaculture scene, opening up for more inclusion and collaboration and a joint design of a School for Permaculture in Denmark with my friend and colleague Eva Max. To me, it is unbearable to be in cut-throat or competitive situations, so co-creating caring cultures for businesses and livelihood co-operation is in many ways a core need going forward for me, but I am sure for many others too.
It has been very emotional to give birth to this design and give it space… to acknowledge it´s worth and need in a world, that even in permaculture can have blind spots and unequal patterns and privileges. It will be new and important work to develop a care rider and inclusion policy for the Danish Permaculture Association and the nordic scene.
I will encourage myself like this:
Be great and Be courageous, believe in the care patterns, from self care to group care!
Literature & Tools
Literature & Tools
People & Permaculture + Cultural Emergence by Looby Macnamara
Handouts and tools from ToT course, Applewood Permaculture Center
Permaculture Design Deck by Delvin Solkinson + others
Permaculture Teacher´s Guide, edited by Andy Goldring + others
Training Permaculture Teachers by Rosemary Morrow
Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
A Critique of postcolonial reason by Gayatri Spivak
The location of culture by Homi Bhabha
Orientalism by Edward Said
Peace is in every step by Thich Nhat Hanh
Happiness by Thich Nhat Hanh
The miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
A conversation with myself by Alan Watts
Open care rider by Sidsel Ana Welden Gajardo
Appreciation
Sometimes, life feels like all the cards are stacked against you, like the struggles keep on piling up and almost crushing you. The world tells you, that you are wrong, that you do not belong. That you are less.
To realise, that all these experiences have made you a unique culture of patterns, capitals, care and empathy, that can expand to affect other people´s lives in a regenerative, inspiring way is meaningful.
Thank you, universe, for making sense of the hardships I have faced since I was a young child and to keep my vulnerability & heart on my sleeve intact.
To the next chapter; sharing and creating community with many new people, building a planetary embrace of care and appreciation of open hearts.
Appendix 2024
Quick Design for a caring and safer space 1 - Year PDC / page 1
Helps: a small group of local, very dedicated participants from our Introduction to Permaculture certified course at ROFH wants to continue with a full PDC together! They all live locally or within short distance. My garden. Upcoming position at ROFH as permaculture teacher.
Limits: some of the participants are students with limited funds. I have limited capacity and need to stack functions. My frozen shoulder inhibits my gardening. I am sensitive to interpersonal dynamics and need a safe space myself.
Ideas: barter system, exchange teaching for physical work in my garden and other permaculture projects that always need hands.
Ideas: ba
Quick Design for a caring and safer space 1 - Year PDC / page 2
People & Permaculture + Cultural Emergence by Looby Macnama