APC 10 Highlights - Enchanting Permaculture

Costumed for a fresh green APC 10.

Its like a dream that so soon after returning to Japan, I flew off again for a week in Cairns. My mission was to hang out with the hero's of Permaculture at APC 10, sharing Cecilia-flavoured PermaCulture with my friends and colleagues.

In true Edge Garden fashion I will just list my personal micro-highlights, the things that occoured at the edges, while the great speakers did their thing. 'How' this APC turned out is the truest indication of 'What' was said anyway. Get the little things right, and the big things take care of themselves.


Highlight #1
Interpretive Bushdancing at the Closing party.

Bush dancing usually makes me run fast in the opposite direction - I've no talent for submitting to micro-management. But Interpretative Permaculture bush dancing will make you laugh so hard that is hurts. Thank-you Sam from Pitchfork designs, Central Victoria
And thank-you Costa for being our adorable MC - you cultivated one great show, and made us all stars.

Gorgeous guy from Costa's Gardening Odyssey

Highlight #2
Compost Showers
The best things in life are free - you just have to work out how to make them turn up on your doorstep.
When I had my Permaculture share house, I did so much unneeded plotting for the fantasy outdoor shower, when all I had to do was link it to my compost heap. How obvious, how elegant, how cool. I will definitly do this, maybe Here in Japan.

Tip: The hottest showers are while the hottest speakers have everyone else captive in the hall. Just Google them later or get the APC 10 DVD.

Hoses coil around inside the heap,
absorbing the heat of decomposing compost

Highlight 3
Daryl Hanna the movie star

Daryl Hanna, a Freshly-hatched Permaculture Designer

She gave a fun, lively keynote speech full of affection for the broken-down, wonky parts of ourselves and our world.

I'm so looking forward to seeing what this practical, love-fueled lady does with her freshly-earned Permaculture Design Certificate, back at the ranch and beyond.


Highlight #4
Giving my "Inner Permaculture' presentation - three whole times.

It took me a decade to make, it looks great, and I inspire myself every time I give it.
Thank-you for the lovely feedback, its what really keeps me going xx



Highlight #5
Going on Bruce Zell's tour
It was booked out, but a gorgeous guy gave up his seat, and I got to meet the creators of 4 home-made tropical paradise gardens, and eat like I was in heaven.

Botanical Ark is a private botanical garden, and one families attempt to save the rainforests, which might one day save us. They won back yard of the year award, without even knowing what it was, as they have no television.

September is off-season for diversty of harvest, explains Alan

Susan Carle greeting us elegantly, as is her way,
with a native fruit smoothie.

Goldfish Surveillance team from
Bruce Zell's Contraption-rich Back garden

Highlight #5
Escaping from Bruce Zell's tour (there are two sides to everything)

Feeling fresh after a stolen swim.

There was one visit that just didn't suit me. If I had Gumboots for the mud, a parasol for the tropical sun, and a tropical fruit farm in need of inspiration, I might have stayed.
Complaining was off the menu - Permies don't complain, they Design, forage, and solve.

I ended up swishing around alone in a mossy-banked stream, marveling that heavenly spots are often one minute away, waiting to be had. I got back to the bus in good time and good spirits.

Highlight #6
Robyn Clayfield's Haystack leaping
Robyn showed us photos of last year's students jumping from the hay bale, as they publicly committed to jumping into things they didn't yet know how to do - starting gardens, creating festivals, Permaculture adventures galore.
She then hauled us out into the garden, defying time restraints, to commit to doing great things. There could not have been a better use of 20 minutes out of these 4 days. My jump was to find a publisher for a mainstream book on my Permaculture.
How on earth will I do this?

You can DIY - find a high place, a big aspiration, and put it out to the universe. Tell me too, maybe we can do something together.

Highlight #7
Nametag discovery
-
It was a nametag-free event.
I didn't like this, but the side effect was valuable discovery: When introducing yourself to strangers, the Last thing you say is your name.
People don't know until After you have finished your spiel if they need to ( or want to) remember who you are. To withold your name till the end builds suspense, (try it) and its a thoughtful way to keep their minds free for things and people the really need to know.
As with 'Plant a tree where it will grow', only tell people things they need to know, when they need to know it.
Yet another trick to keep the world Clutter-free.



Highlight #8
David Holmgren's Whole-life Permaculture

Gems of his Skyped-in presentation include:

"Create no waste, including human energy, right down to how small you need to chop vegetables. Don't waste sound energy - think before you speak".

and on the Second ethic:

"Care for the Earth contains a bit too much hubris, if you are thinking of the whole planet. But if you just consider the earth under your feet, the soil, (your contribution will be valuable)." (My Paraphrase)

He acknowledged the work Beautiful diaries of Michele Margolis do in delivering attractive PC to the mainstream - I always thought so.
The best bit was the fond pat on his wife Su's hand when she strolled in to say goodnight.

Highlight # 9
Geoff Lawton, ceaselessly frontier-crossing

This weekend he turned up with two presents for the permaculture world:

The Appetizer: A freshly-made skillfully-animated video on the miraculous world soils - how weeds bless damaged soil with their healing functions was the highlight for me.

The Main course: A preview of a Facebook-like Database to showcase what Permies all over the world are doing.
This is BIG.
We can no longer get away with just holding Good and Correct Opinions.
We will now have to practice what we preach, and we will have all these colleagues and resources at our fingertips to connect with and make our ideas real.
Geoff, you are such a John Wayne.



Highlight #10
Volunteers create Miracles - and we are all volunteers
The Organizers of APC 10 are a tiny little outback group, less than two years old, called Permaculture Cairns. They could not possibly have the resources to round up 350 of Australia's Movers and Shakers, and made us happy for 4 whole days.
Yet that is what they did.

I may never know how the miracle got pulled off. Of course there are the months of hard, capable work from Anne and Gorgie, but what fueled that? Choosing the enchanted Steiner school setting might have done it, sweetening each moment.


There was something strangely amazing about the volunteers:
They fixed our problems.
Every time.
They stayed positive and in action, and I think it caught on, so that a critical mass of the attendees decided 'this is My APC', because wherever I went with a problem or a whinge, there was someone who swiftly, creatively conquered it.

Ceci Whine -"I want more audience"
Vollie Fix - "No worries, here's an extra room, here are texta's and paper for a sign - do it again"

C W - "I'll die if I don't get hot tea"
V F - "No worries, here's the equipment"

C W - "Someone else will die if I can't find a non-snoring camp spot"
V F - "No worries, lets pick up your tent and take it for a walk."

Cartoon by April Sampson Kelly, who is actually my friend.

Lending, mending, fetching and improvising. Harry and Robina and Glen and Annie and Sarah-Jane and April and The Techies and .....it was kind of endless.

Volunteers Bruce Zell and Sarah Jane

I'm sure that APC Presenters said in words what Permaculture is and can be, about creating 'ecologies' of useful connections, creating value from whats lying around, staying positive, productive and in action.
APC 10 as an 'organism' said it wordlessly, through our attitutude and actions. We are our own proof that Permaculture makes life great.

The next APC 11 in New Zealand, 2012. We could find out who is organizing it, find out what they cannot do that we can, and make it brilliant.

Ferocious Permaculture

For the official highlights and illustrious guests please go to the APC 10 Website
More photos and stories on Cecilia's Facebook.

Ro Morrow inspires me.

For the Love Of England

My always glamorous and witty friend Miss Pickering needs details. She's a florist and specializes in weddings. So the very idea that I married thrice (can you say that?) is statistically overwhelming for her. 3 dresses. 3 bouquets, 3 times?

I could write her an email and spell it out there, but why be shy now? So here's the scoop.

#1 A September wedding in a field, only family and two best friends in attendance. I wore tall oxblood leather boots with a french blue flannel skirt and an embroidered peasant blouse. My bouquet was a nosegay of leaves and berries. Shortly after a delicious lunch with a cake baked by a neighbor the groom and I hopped in a car and drove across the country to Arizona. This scenario led to the bread baking and goat owning. ( brunette)

#2 A summer wedding in Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown. I wore a shirred columnar dress in apricot, my Mother made my bouquet of cream and peachy roses with garden flowers. Many friends and family in attendance. A fantastic reception at a very upmarket Indian restaurant also in Georgetown owned by a friend of the best man. Same best man was later husband #2's divorce lawyer. ( red head)

#3 We were wed by a justice of the peace in Easton, Maryland. Sunshine, the Chesapeake Bay and 2 men in handcuffs spotted out a window as we said our vows attended. I wore a white sundress. Friends drove to the bay to dine with us under the trees that evening. Another florist friend brought me a belated wedding bouquet of white peonies and roses. We laughed and ate and drank and sat out in the moonlight for hours. Later I hung the bouquet upside down and dried the flowers. It kept for many years. ( blonde)

So there it is , the clothes, the flowers, the hair colors ( all my hair colors BTW). Only the names have been withheld to protect the innocent. Now can we go back to reading about what I'm cooking or is there some other burning desire I need to address?

Love to all and to all a goodnight.

Hus & Hem

Our Fika cups in the latest issue of Swedish Hus & Hem. Super Agent Marie, she's been busy!

New Isak Tape

Shall this be our new Isak tape? What do you think?

accomodations

I know there are plenty of Western style accomodations in Asia but when given the option I would choose authentic over western any day.  Mat on the floor over a big fluffy bed? Definitely. Free flowing shower in the corner of the bathroom over some enclosed, claustrophobia inducing cube? Heck yes.

 I recently stayed in two hotels.  Both on the beach a few kilometers from each other, both authentic with a stack of mats for bedding. {Also came with a bed for the less bendy folks, you know who you are}. 
One smelled like an outhouse,
the other one did not.

We arrived at the stinky one first on Chuseok {Korea's Thanksgiving} so everything was shut down and it would have been obnoxious and highly improbable finding something else on such short notice.  We chalked it up to experience and that is exactly what I reminded myself when I woke up with the distinct impression of being boiled alive on my blow up mat by an over enthusiastic radiant heating system. {heating in the floor}

The second hotel was a dream in comparison.  To add to the appeal of clean, stink free, rooms; the amount of color was such a surprise I couldn't help but poke around and get a glimpse of as many rooms as I could in this little home turned hotel by the sea.  

The images I included are from the room adjacent ours.  Our room was equally colorful with at least five different wallpaper designs mixed together in one room right along with bright red cupboards and yellow tile. If I had seen everything going into the room in a pile before installation I would have laughed and suggested a specialist for the color blind. Maybe it isn't the polished look I'm used to when I think boutique hotel, but it definitely oozed charm and I completely enjoyed the stay and the very unique style.

I'm far from a hotel connoisseur, I enjoy a good hotel as much as the next person.  But I do happen to know someone who knows everything there is to know about picking the best hotel.  He just started a blog that will sure to be The Blog to check before picking a destination.  Check out Hotel Geek.

SYMBOLS FOR THE REBEGIN 1: CHASING TAIL

Your ReBegin explores various elements within the cycles of creation and destruction and how they relate to our lives. So I thought it would be fun to connect the blog logo into that concept and every so often have the logo through its own series of rebegins*. Right now it exists in a draft stage, eventually it will reach a more polished look, and in time it will have guest interpretations and variations. I’m looking forward to imagining where it may go, and if you have an idea, write me about it!

The logo is inspired by several concepts: the modern day recycling symbol; the familiar symbol for infinity, but with an extra twist; a touch of the good old ancient Yin-Yang; and the, perhaps lesser known, but deeply important, Ouroboros, which is often depicted as a serpent eating its tail.

While a rather odd image to take in literally, an examination of the figurative aspect proves quite fascinating. It embodies the idea that life and death is in a constant cycle, constantly feeding off of and re-creating itself (hence ReBegin). In some cases it is considered the soul of the world and/or the eternal unity of all things in the material universe of which we are bound within. It reveals that one form, the outer reality, eventually is destroyed, but can become another; the inner or unseen realm. Such a cycle has both good and bad connotations, for creation is not always good and all destruction is not necessarily bad. It is a counterbalancing of opposites. It is a paradox worth wrapping your head around (see if you can reach your tail while at it).

The symbol traces as far back as ancient Egypt (1600 B.C.) where it was depicted as either a male and female snake biting each other or black and white snake representing night and day, heaven and Earth. Since then, it has, like many great ideas, gone through various cross-pollinations and transformations (yup more rebegins) as it passed through different cultures. The Greeks adopted the title Ouroboros , which means “tail-devourer.” China and the Hindus have a dragon. In Norse mythology it was called Jormungandr and encircled the world. Even Aztecs and other “New-World” cultures host such an image. In alchemy it is associated with powerful magic, the Wheel of Time, the duality of nature, and the art of developing one’s consciousness through the cycles of death and rebirth.

Ouroborus shows us that creation and destruction are inextricably linked. We tend to think that creation as merely good, destruction merely bad, but in reality they are different facets of the same process. Acts of creation impart destruction, and destruction gives way for creation. The key of the symbol, is that in nature, they are balanced, and one feeds the other.

Are we, as humans, conscious enough in our acts of creation so that the destruction we leave behind as a result is balanced and imparts more life? Or are we merely blindly consuming away without feeding the cycle? For there to be a future, there must be rebegins that honor this ancient principle, that of the soul of our world.

How can you explore and interpret Ouroboros in your personal life?

Bon appetite!

*The lower case rebegin is both a verb and a noun to describe transformations and the capitalized ReBegin is a noun to describe this site or a specific unit of transformation – make sense?

Arcimboldo exhibit

Last weekend I went to the National Gallery of Art East Wing to see a new exhibit about the renaissance artist, Arcimboldo.

I didn't recognize the name, but I did recognize the art. Arcimboldo (1526-1593) is best known for the paintings of the 4 seasons he did for the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II. Summer is probably the most well known, seen below, dating to 1563. These portraits are comprised entirely of flowers and fruits in the most unusual and imaginative ways.

I spent hours in the exhibit examining the tiny details which are really remarkable.

However, my favorite part of the exhibit is after Arcimboldo and not by the artist himself. The artist Philip Haas created a fiberglass scultpure that is ENORMOUS of the artist's painting of 'Winter' from the 4 seasons. It is set off so well by the I.M.Pei designed space and it took me awhile to snap a photo of it with my phone without numerous tourists having their picture taken in front of it! The painting, seen below, was probably inspired by Leonardo's grotesques, which also are featured in the exhibit.

I recommend you all check out the exhibit which runs until January 9th. You won't regret it!