Resilience through Permaculture

We surely live in interesting times! These challenges are showing us some very interesting truths about today’s systems and people’s mentality. Nothing much has changed for us however, as we have set up systems in the past 15 years to ensure our resilience in times like these, and they are working well!

The human race have been complacent for the past, well, probably 50 years or more. Life has been good. Easy. Lots of resources and easy access for most of the western world to food, water and shelter. We have seen the panic that results when this security is no longer a certainty. Panic buying of supermarket items, people wanting to make sure that security remains. However, we are now in an unprecedented time. Even though the virus itself is not as life threatening as some of the past viruses, it is changing society the world over, possibly forever.

People are anxious, unsure where their next pay check will come from, and vulnerable people are unable to get a hold of essential supplies, such as food and medication. There seems to be a “every person for themselves” attitude which is horrible to see. The younger people, those who are just starting out in their adult lives, are upset and anxious as all the securities they had just started to build fall away around them. Some young people are still ignoring advice and trying to continue on as usual. This is now made harder and harder by strict measures put into place to try and contain the virus. Small businesses are unsure of what the future holds, and even larger businesses are unable to escape unscathed.

Meanwhile, on the Permaculture Farm, life is almost continuing as normal. We still need to feed the animals in the morning. We still get up the same time each morning and go through our routines. We still need to do what we need to do to keep our farm functioning.

For 15 years we have built our farm and introduced a lot of systems to ensure our resilience. We have gone through a lot of ups and downs and with every personal financial downturn, we were forced to steer away from “modern conveniences” and put simpler solutions in place. We are grateful for these financial struggles in the past, as they have forced us to think outside the box and made sure we don’t need money for basic needs. We have been preparing for 15 years for an event like the one we are experiencing now, and still we feel we are not prepared. There are still things we would love to have in place at the moment which we haven’t, primarily due to lack of finance and helpers.

The thing we were most unprepared for is the social impact this is having. Social distancing, event cancellations, travel bans and other measures put into place are putting an enormous strain on our essence as social beings. Not being able to hug people hello or goodbye is a big thing in our circle of friends. Not being able to see our friends and family is stressful and upsetting. We see the images from Italy where they are bonding from their balconies, but there is little chance of that in a country with as much space as Australia. I am sure there will still be some beautiful stories coming out of this crisis, but I believe it will be extremely hard for most of us to be socially isolated. We humans are social creatures.

A large part of permaculture focuses on community. Now the only thing we can do is create more community online for as long as possible. As we on the farm are fairly resilient, we have a lot of knowledge and handy hints we will be able to give you online at this time. We will attempt to upload as much helpful information as we possibly can. We also have a forum online where you can ask questions. Now is the time to think outside the box, and find long term solutions which will build resilience and security. There is so much we can do, we are a very innovative species. We just have to move away from thinking that we need expensive technologies and complicated solutions to simple problems.

We aim to bring you free online courses, answer your questions and lots of other information in the coming few months. Please do not hesitate to contact us, preferably through the forum so that other people can see the answers to your questions as well. Follow us on Youtube, Instagram and Facebook as we will regularly post videos, hints and other updates.

If you can, donations will be very much appreciated, so that we can implement other solutions on the farm, continue bringing you this information and continue to help others in need. You can donate via Paypal or donate monthly via Patreon. Your support is very much appreciated!

Please stay tuned, and don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Author: Zaia Kendall

Zaia grew up in a family of musicians in Holland, and has a background in top sport (snow skiing) and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc (now PermEco Inc.) with Tom, and runs the “invisible structures”, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles and records and edits videos. She assists Tom in running the Kendall Permaculture Farm and supervising other volunteers. She is an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs percussion and marimba workshops, is the percussion leader for the Woodford Folk Festival People’s Orchestra and composes as well as plays music. She is passionate about community music and loves seeing people discover that they can play!