Permaculture design is relevant and inspiring

by Alex Kruger

Amidst all the complex challenges we are becoming increasingly aware of, it is useful to have a thinking framework that offers hope – one that is practical and rooted in common sense.

I love that David Holmgren’s Permaculture Design approach is inspired by pre-industrial societies who thrived and survived in balance with nature for thousands of years. This gives me hope that a simpler life is achievable, that we recognize tradition, ancestry and older cultures as valuable. 

I also love John Nzira telling us to de-colonize our minds, in the context of a Permaculture Convergence.

The presentation on pattern literacy by Roxanne Swentzell, from the Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, distills the essence of pattern-based design into a humane and life-giving approach.

What really inspires me is the plant kingdom’s ability to turn sunshine into life-giving ingredients for the rest of life. Even more inspiring is witnessing the unstoppable energy of succession – the development of more complex and stable plant and other communities. It’s the creative and generative engine that the natural world thrives on. 

The act of tending a garden is a learning process in abundance. In a a short few months, you have more vegetables, herbs, medicinal plants and indigenous seedlings than you need, offering you the opportunity to gift others without hesitation. The simple act of growing plants that nourish, heal and rebuild ecosystems is an act of prosperity, one that is so needed in a world governed by the destructive values of extraction and finance. 

When teaching and practicing permaculture design, I am moved by how people are reawakened to knowledge passed down to us by our earthly ancestors. Together we remember that we are enmeshed in nature, that we have the ability to understand our context, and act with ethics and science from that understanding.

This process of getting back into right relationship with life, and sharing the ongoing journey with the groups of people who arrive to attend our courses, is what keeps me energised and motivated.

Alex Kruger portrait photograph by Oliver Kruger.