Gearing up for something BIG

July 28,

At the moment, I find myself welcome at a wonderful place with alot of soul.  Toi Toi Manawa is a 90 acre permaculture centre run by two enthusiastic organic farmers, Kailea and Andy.

Tonight I happened to haggle with a hunter, and chucked a massive wild boar in the car, and now it's hanging on a willow tree outside, waiting to be butchered in the morning.  By this time tomorrow, it shall become HELLA MEAT and provide heaps of delicious, wild-boar flavoured protein for the next few months.  I hope by consuming this beast, I may absorb it's tenacity and ability to forage in the woods.

Anywho, this month has been interesting.  Alot has happened, many things have changed, and in just a few days I'll be off to a freaking Orangutan Sanctuary in the middle of Indonesia (WUUUT!).  I'll talk more about that later.

So a little more than a month ago, I decided to head south, and do my duty to upload gigs of videos in Christchurch for the permaculture conference, as well as finish my fundraiser video.  Though there were 100 reasons to stay up North, I was called down South, and down South I went.  It was only fitting that on the way back, I ran into all the permaculture crew at Awhi Farm in Turangi (Including Jo, Brian, Georgie, Kelvin, Matua, and a few others).  We had a massive meal, they said goodbye to me, and off I went.

Unfortunately, the dreaded stomach flu hit me mysteriously, and I spent several days moaning around Wellington, and nearly crapping my pants on the ferry back towards Christchurch.  Luckily, I made it back to Ilam in one piece (without crap pants).

What stomach flu does to a man

It took me about a week to recover from the Ol' stomach flu, because it stealthily creeps back if you don't starve yourself for three days.  Luckily, I souped my way back to health, and quickly got in to the swing of fitness again.  Despite all the amazing organic food I've had, I felt lazy and sluggish up in the North Island because I wasn't exercising for a few hours a week. Doesn't matter how well you eat, if you don't get out and exercise, you'll stay in lazytown with the fatties, and I ain't one of them.

Silly Random Story:

Rich and I decided to take a break from our odd jobs and do some location scouting for his film at a park Wildlife Sanctuary.  As I walked down the main path, I looked to my right, and saw what appeared to be people...naked people.  Turns out it wasn't just people, it was old people...having what I guess was their bi-monthly forest sex.  It was an awkward moment of eye contact to say the least.


Back to "Normal":
A strange thing happens when you leave all these amazing permaculture places, you feel like you have been pulled away from something important.  Though I was utterly grateful that my friend Rich let me stay at his place for a month, I felt that I was putting my life on hold by staying in Christchurch for too long.    It's an amazing city for students and construction workers, but my journey lies elsewhere, and I felt the need to get on up out of there, and get back to permaculture.

I've seen the promise land, and it is filled with Biochar!

However, before I could do that, I needed to finish my big fundraiser video, and what is that you ask?

Next month, I am going to Ketapang Indonesia to work at an Orangutan Sanctuary, and I intend to give something great to these Orangutans, and the people who care for them.  Earlier in the year, International Animal Rescue accepted me to work at their center in Ketapang, Indonesia, and when you get that chance...there is no way to turn it down, especially considering how threatened Orangutans are.

 I'm going to fight to make sure my fundraiser is successful, because I want to do something real to help the Orangutans at the centre.   I won't make any money off of it, and won't make back my travel costs anytime soon, but that is what service is all about, giving and expecting nothing in return.  What I want to do with my fundraiser is leave the Orangutans and the people that care for them a gift that will ensure their ongoing care.  If I do one thing good this year, I hope this will be it.

The Big Orangutan Fundraiser

The One downside about going to the Borneo rainforest is the 14 SHOTS you need to get.  Though I don't mind vaccines, my arm felt like a pincushion, and those shots aren't cheap. Neither is the Anti-Malaria meds (Malarone).





After two weeks of Phelpsing' out at the  local swimming hole I started to make my way around to planting Rich and Ness's backyard garden, though it's a pretty ghetto-licious design.  Maybe after a few months away from Christchurch, I will know if I'm a master garden planner, or a garden destroyer, depends on the strawberries planted in the strawberry tire.






                   Fun Fact (urinating near a lemon tree for several months will make it grow monstrously huge, a good third world fertiliser technique)


Note to folks, the lemon party technique will not be used with any permaculture consulting I'm involved with in the future.








So off I headed to Toi Toi Manawa, and I was delightfully surprised by what I found.  Toi Toi Manawa at this stage is basically a blank canvas for what is to be an incredible Permaculture Education Center.  The main building is incredibly well built and insulated (a first in New Zealand), there are two massive compost toilets, plenty of shipping container rooms for students to sleep in, and 90 acres of land to experiment on.  Though I've wanted to plant Shitake Mushrooms here, I decided to research using Biochar on the property instead.  Pretty pleased with the 10 year Biochar plan I typed up for the center.
Toi Toi Manawa

You don't realise how much you need the outdoors till you've left it, and come back again.  It feels good working outdoors, using your hands and your brain to improve the landscape, one small step at a time.  Though work with business and film requires incredibly fast paced coordinating to get right, work on a market garden requires persistence, patience, love, and observation.




 I think we need more of that, and less people racing to an early grave surrounded by a pile of real estate investments, like this guy:

Shelllldnnnnngg

Though I've been trying not to read to much news, it's absolutely insane looking at what's going on in the state.  DROUGHT across the entire continent.  Colorado is on fire.  It's mind-numbing and enraging that the politicians who's states are ON FIRE do everything they can to say "climate change is a hoax".

US POLITICS:


Don't even get me started on the U.S. Elections.  Though I'm hoping all of congress is throne into the hole in The Dark Knight Rises, I'd rather vote for the disappointing Obamanator over SATAN CHILD EATING MITT ROMNEY.

Romney laughing at burning Mountain Gorillas

I don't think I need to say anything about this guy...  He says climate change is a hoax.  He's a massive tool.  He keeps his family in an Mormon compound, He says 'corporations are people', he believes woman should be controlled by men and abortion should be outlawed, his company destroyed lives.... AND he's a creepy, plastic, hypocritic figure head of corporate fascism.

Meanwhile, Obama is busy schmoozing out with bald-headed real estate investors who pour champagne on him, but I'd still vote Obama over Mitt Beelzibub Romney.







Though I am utterly content experimenting up here at Toi Toi Manawa...I had to go back and see the new Batman movie...'Dark Batman Knight who Rises' or whatever it's called.  It's an unknown, small budget indie film that just came out.

  I'm embarrassed to say it, I kind of got tears in my eyes at the end of the film.  It felt like seeing Star Wars for the first time.  Plus Bane shot up the Stock Exchange, which was awesome.

Though some people said the movie was Anti-Occupy, I think Nolan snuck in some insanely obvious jabs at slimy stock market traders, cops, insane rich folk and middle eastern women?!
Anyway, in one scene, two stock market traders are moaning about not getting the right rye-pastrami sandwich, then one of them gets shot in the face...comedy gold.

Well, it's about time for me to get the heck off of this computer.  By this time 7 days from now, I'll be in the middle of Borneo, blogging about my sensuous experiences with Orangutans...but in all seriousness, according to Willie Smitts, they'll stare into my soul, and instantly know whether I'm not a good person.  Hopefully I'll pass the Orangutan test.

-Raleigh

Fun times Across NZ

June 20,
So the week after the PDC kicked off with a bang, Maria and I reunited to start our cavalier adventure across New Zealand.  We didn't know where we would end up, but we wanted to travel without spending any money on the touristy things.  By travelling and WOOFing with folks practicing Permaculture, we found a whole lot of hospitality and unique experiences that couldn't have happened otherwise.

Our travels all started in Te Moata, where we decided to bushwack our way towards Cliff Kuti cabin, an awesomely isolated buddhist hut right on a cliffside facing towards the ocean.

  Little did she know that my obscenely heavy backpack was actually filled with King Salmon (playas club!).

...so we made Sushi in a cabin in the middle of the forest, which was pretty cool.  Despite the drafty winds, I managed to survive till morning, and we scrambled down the cliff face towards the Te Moata waterfall, which after a steep, jungly descent, makes the trip worthwhile.


I was machete'ing through the forest like a crazed Indiana Jones, or a reasonably competent Vietcong jungle scout. Needless to say, Maria stayed kept a few feet behind me, which was probably a wise choice.

Even though we were surrounded by pixie-esque fantails, waterfalls, and buddha statues, the wanderlust started to kick in after a couple of days, so we said goodbye to our good friends Eric, Tomoya and Kuiyka and headed up North to Coromandel.

For a few days we were hosted by the always amazing Jo and Bryan up at Koranga falls Eco-Village, which had some pretty inspiring houses all around, but a lack of young people around.

After 2 weeks travelling since the PDC ended, I almost felt spoiled seeing so many sights, and not settling down for a bit, so we decided to find a WWOOF host a bit further down South in Papamoa/Te Puke.












Wendy was one of the amazing folks I met up at the PDC, acting as a surrogate "Kiwi Mum" for the week.  I was pleasantly surprised that Maria wanted to keep travelling with me, since I felt like doing farmy-permaculture things instead of jumping out of a plane with a snowboard while skateboarding with a pizza in the other hand.  Regardless, I was stoked she was with me on the whole WWOOFing journey.  Having a sparkly german maiden as your companion always brightens your day :p

After we left Marias place we made our way to Te Puke, where we woofed at the the Biodynamic Witchcraft Sorcery Kiwi-Farm owned by Glen Atkinson.  Needless to say, the whole place had an enchanted, wizardly vibe to it.  If you ever hear a master of biodynamics give you a personal lecture on astral bodies for several hours, it's hard not to get caught up in the exciting/crazy possibilities of it.  Half the time my mind was blown, the other half...My brain hurt.  Needless to say, Biodynamics surprisingly makes alot of sense, especially in comparison to the warfare we wage on the soil, which we call conventional farming.

Pictured: The Basic theories of Biodynamics

   Anyways, the experience in Te Puke was awesome. After traumatizing Maria by making her see Prometheus, we were off again to Papamoa, to WWOOF at Trudy and Jaunty's place.  Trudy and Jaunty were amazing hosts, who has several acres and 2 kids who they were raising without the crazy influence of Justin Bieber and MTV.  It felt really good to be working outdoors; to be planting, harvesting, and weeding.  When I get back to the states I'll have to tie in some of the things I've learned into a Permaculture Consulting practice....yah....that's the ticket!




Anyway, we had one last big adventure in us, and decided to head up north to the Bay of Islands.  Last time I was here was with the mom, pops, and my grandma Betsy a bit more than 3 years ago.

We decided our last big event to do was to go sailing.  If you don't know about the Bay of Islands, it's insanely gorgeous, and acts as a sailors hub for sailing to and from Fiji and Samoa.  Maria was about to hitch a ride on a Katamaran to Fiji, but unfortunately, they didn't trust German sailors :I  Though we couldn't go sailing because of a rapist wind, we still managed to have a good ol' time up North.  

At this point, it had been nearly three months since I left the South Island.  Though I was having a great time,guilt and travel fatigue started to set it.  I think the bigger issue was that I had experienced what could be done with Permaculture, and felt the need to put into practice what I had been learning. It's strange that even in one of the most gorgeous places on Earth, with someone you care about, you can still get an overwhelming urge to call the trip to an end, so that's what I did. 

It was pretty sad breaking the news to Maria that I had to go down South alone.  Though I wanted to have her come with, I knew she wouldn't have a good time if she was waiting on me to edit videos while I crashed at my friend Rich's house.  So we talked, hugged, and decided to do a few more days of WWOOFing down south.  

I think it was very proper that our journey up North ended like it began, up near Lake Taupo.  Our last trip was to the Hot Waterfalls near Taupo, and it was a relaxing way to end the trip, knowing what would be ahead...besides 'thronin' out' with Game of Thrones.

Anyway, I'm gonna miss Maria when I head down South, but I'm sure we'll run into each other again.

Until the next adventure, I've got Orangutans to wrastle with, and Permaculture to explore.

The Permaculture DESIGN COURSE!

May 30 2012, Te Moata, Tirua, New Zealand

You know you've found something good when you sit enthralled in a classroom for 6 hours, and then stay up till 3AM with a pile of colored pencils, as if you were a kid doing an arts and crafts projects.

For the last 2 weeks, I've been in a place I do not soon want to leave, with people I do not want to leave, and I've experienced magical, life-changing things here at Te Moata.  However, it's not just the people, and this place which has inspired me, it's what I've been doing here: a Permaculture Design Course.

Earlier in April, I worked at the Annual Permaculture Convergence, which lit a fire in my mind about the possibilities of Permaculture.  So when I heard there was a 2 week permaculture design course
happening in May, I signed up without a second thought.

 At first, I was somewhat dissapointed that I wasn't able to take my first design course with Permaculture Super-Celebrity Geoff Lawton, but I was still extremely excited for what might be in store.  After spending two weeks in the steel beast known as "Auckland", I was craving nature like a Southerner craves Jenkem.

Geoff "Cool Guy" Lawton

Geoff "The Bulldozer" Lawton, smoking green as he greens the desert.




















The drive to Te Moata took me through through backroads, sheep trails and leering Woodsmen till I finally arrived in Tairua, home of the super flash Wharakei caves, which I might have spelled wrong.

Sweet caves

After climbing over large hills and valleys, my car finally reached the elusive Te Moata, guarded by a large, warm-hearted giant named Dave (who runs the place), along with his wonderful wife Jessie.  The trip down the driveway to Te Moata is like an Indiana Jones ride, with giant boulders, mossy ancient rocks, and Faintails darting over your head. Once you get to middle of Te Moata, it takes a moment before you take in how truly beautiful the place really is.  

The Goddess pool, or as I call it, frozen-ass water pool.

The retreat, which looks like it belongs in a movie about Buddha, is right in the heart of native bush forest.  The entire place is surrounded by fantastically unreal streams and moan inducing trails. You can spend a month at Te Moata, and still see only 1/2 of what it has to offer.

I was nervous at first to meet everyone.  Though I saw a few familiar faces, I knew it was going to be an interesting challenge to maintain a good connection with 10 strangers in a retreat for 2 weeks straight.  However, with a bit of conversation, I saw how a shared sense of concern for the future guided us all there, because we wanted to learn how Permaculture can restore the environments and lives which the modern world has put in jeapeordy.

Our instructors were two amazing teachers, Daniel Tohill and Trish Allen, who had been practicing permaculture around New Zealand and Australia since before I was born.  These two were Permaculture pros, and our job as students was to absorb as much information into our spongey brains as possible until we needed to run out into the garden like compost junkies.

I can't remember the last time I was truly excited to learn something in college, but each lesson on Permaculture perked my interest and imagination into what could be possible.  Swales, contours, and ponds can be used to turn deserts into lush forests and grasslands, entire orchards can thrive with just rainwater, zones can be planned to make your property nearly self sufficient in food.  The list of things we learned extended far into the realm of possibility, but every lesson was extremely useful, and made complete sense.  If our country's farmers, community planners, and government officials were forced to take a PDC, they might finally emerge with a better understanding of how systems work together.  Better yet, if the world used Permaculture principles to re-imagine society, we could tackle climate change, food shortages, and poverty while restoring our environment.

*pleasurous moan*

Measuring contours, like a boss.

The cozy classroom

Each day, we would spend about six hours in the classroom learning everything there is to know about permaculture.  Though there is no way to become an expert after 72 hours of learning, it gives you a great grasp of the basic principles, and an idea of what is possible.  The other parts of the day we spent socializing with the rest of the folks who attended the course.  

At first, I was scared that there was no way I could keep building a positive relationship with all these people over two weeks, and that my personality would  eventually wear thin on them.  Luckily though, I was wrong.  Being at the center for 2 weeks with the same people forced me to make deep connections to everyone, and get to know their character, and their story, instead of just having a conversation for a few minutes, and then retreating to the ol' comfort zone.  It was absolutely amazing to feel that I was strengthening my relationships with these people the longer the course went on, instead of drifting away from them. We soon realized that we were all kindred spirits that were here for the same purpose, though all had different ways of reaching our goals.  There was Tomoya from Japan, Lien from Belgium, Tom and Sara from Taranaki, Colby and Eric from Oakland, Justin, Stefan and Noura from Wellington, and Wendy from Papamoa.  Everyone had something to share, and something to give, though I was the only one who couldn't play guitar :I

This Kid learned how to work
the Derivatives Market,
DEAL WITH IT.

This kid learned guitar

It's an amazing how much you can learn about a subject when you are absolutely enthralled with it, and have good teachers, good partners, and a great atmosphere.  This PDC was like an entire year of Enviornmental Studies crammed into two weeks, though the best part was when we got to get our hands dirty; making compost heaps, building a pizza oven, and crafting a new design for gardens throughout the property.  Oh yes, and there was some possum skinning for good measure.  They're invasive species over here, so it's alright to gat them en masse, as long as you feed their precious innards to the hawks.

Before the final stages

BOOM 

So as the PDC wore on and on, the focus turned from permaculture to people. As we were given our assignments of Te Moata garden, we had a flurry of inspired heads clashing together, and collaborated in a great way to come up with some far-out designs.

This is my first attempt at a permaculture design, don't y'all judge too harshly.  I felt pretty good for both of these, considering I had 1 night each to do the designs.  

I wanted to make a leaf shape for the garden, but instead it looked more like a mad octopus eating a clown, should work well though.

My freehand design for Dave and Jessies place, Mushrooms, strawberries, and fruit everywhere! Bwahah ):p

What's not shown, a mountain of colored pencil shavings.

As the PDC drew to a close, we were left with one event which cemented how beautiful working with folks in Permaculture can be, and that was our concert night.  We each had to come up with a big performance for the final night, and we were just as interested in the performance as the design.  

As Tom and I were the hosts, I figured, what better way to introduce the concert than as a Monsanto Shareholders conference!

I was Tim Poots, senior vice executive of multi-level marketing for Monsanto, along with Doon Strunts, my assistant.  We had to give a very important corporate powerpoint on the dangers of permaculture, along with pumping the crowd up, like a freakish, Tony Robbins seminar gone wrong. 

Either way, the event was amazing, and it was incredible to see the things that people could come up with in such a short period of time; skits, rapping, jason mraz'ish songs, and games galore. 

Though the 2 weeks at Te Moata was over before I knew it, the lessons, and connections I had stayed with me.  I found a new path I wanted to go down, and ways of living and working which can support my future, help people, and help restore our degraded environment.  There's few things as eye-opening as a PDC, and few things as inspiring.  It's time to jump down this rabbit hole, and plan something big with my permaculture lessons; perhaps one day I can consult worldwide, create a Biochar industry, and even reconstruct entire communities.  The sky is the limit, and the world needs everything that I saw in those two weeks.

Thank you everyone at Te Moata :)

 May 26,

Later in the week:

After the PDC, I stayed at Te Moata a few days with Kuiyka, Eric, Colby, and Tomoya doing some woofing.  Little did I know that Maria was actually, and completely randomly, 10 minutes away from Te-Moata. Now I have to pick her up, and convince her to come with me, so we can see some amazing sights, and do some woofing along the way.  Hopefully I'll be able to share some more awesome adventures soon.

-Raleigh (& Maria)

Also: skinning a possum to make comfy shoe insoles, and hawk feed.

May is Always Awesome!

Ahhh, May, you are always my favorite month.

The month that I graduated High School and College, my Birthday, the beginning of Summer, and something great.

May was jam packed with adventures; skinning possums, climbing mountains, permaculturing, exploring new zealand with friends, and enjoying the hell out of life.

After the convergence, I hastily made my way back to Wellington, to explore the city, and work on a film "How to meet girls from a distance".  One big reason I had to come back was to see "American Superhero movie BANG BANG"...or the "Avengers".

There was the team leader Iron Person, who espoused the values of economic progress, and was very snarky.

There was Flag Man with Shield, who, along with Jesus, cried on 9/11.

Then there was other folks, such as Green Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson spy., and Australian with Hammer.

They fought aliens from Space.


I have to say, I'm most excited to see the midnight screening of "The Room":

                                                                                 

The Room is pure, raw cinema.  A must see for those who respect the art of film.

So I left Wellington on May 1st with Maria, who, with cold german persistance, convinced me to do the Tongariro crossing with her.  I was actually quite excited to come back to Turangi.  This time I could go to Awhi Farm, and then go on a spastic bing of adventures.

After being told by the I-Site not to do the Tongariro crossing, we decided to take the opposite way over the mountain, because I'll be dipped if I bow before the tremblings of beauracratic office dwellers.

The Tongariro was a blast, it was a 7 hour hike up around Mt. Doom, but was surprisingly warm and not filled with American tourists.  Lots of Germans though, but at this point, I have come to understand their words.

 It took 5 hours to get to the top, but t'was well worth it.

The best thing about Turangi is the sheer amount of amazing places, if you know your way around.  You can spend a day climbing Tongariro, go back and have an amazing meal at Awhi Farm, and then head off to a secret hotspring in Lake Taupo.  My favorite place was Butchers Bridge hotspring, where you could sit in a half hot/cold pool, while grabbing some spa-like mineral mud.  You go in stressed, you leave more relaxed than a sloth.

It was hard to top Turangi, but we headed off North to Ragland for one last night before having to go to Mordor (Auckland).  Ragland is a beach town, a town of waves...I can't really come up with any puns so I'll just say it was cool.  The best aspect about the Solscape retreat was the AWESOME Earth-huts, which were designed by Jo and Bryan at Awhi farm.  They stay ultra-insulated, cool in summer, warm in winter, and these crazy Dr. Seuss like Huts cost about $5,000 to build.  The technique is called "Earthbag", and all it needs is people, sand, concrete, and wire framing; if you want to be extra flash you can stick bottles in as windows.  My dream would be to have these huts all over the world, shit would be awesome.  Imagine these build into the side of a hill...BOOM, hobbit hutt.

After I almost burned down the pizza oven at Ragland, we finally got some decent bread. (note, fire is lit IN the oven, not UNDER).

Bread goes in to flaming oven...

                                                                    Ah shit.

Anyway, we headed off towards Auckland town, and Maria went off to her Bird Sanctuary, while I slept on Cheyne's couch and edited 1 month no regrets.

After that, I was extremely excited for my next big adventure, the Permaculture Design Course at Te Moata :O

Permaculture...My Mind is Blown

April 15, 2012

After a week at the permaculture conference, I have found something that has been missing from my life.  I have connected with others, and found an avenue for a career and a way of life that is deeply meaningful and helps the planet….and that is Permaculture.  

Permaculture sounded strange at first, when you first hear about things like "sustainable systems", "eco-villages" and "earthships", the image of hippies tripping out on the desert comes to mind.


However, everything about permaculture makes an insane amount of sense, which is why governments and corporations are probably afraid of adapting it en masse.




Now, the underlying reason why I decided to jump down the rabbit hole...careful, because this might get pretty deep.

There are 7 billion humans on earth, and our supply of oil, fresh water, arable land, and forest is shrinking as our demand is ever increasing.  Climate change is staring us in the face, and we are racing towards complete collapse in very short order unless we do not change our global food and economic systems.  When you read about things like positive methane feedback loops from the Artic, which will plunge our world into 10degrees of warming once tipping points are reached, it is inevitable to come to grips with a deep, existential crisis.  The state I grew up in (Colorado) will become a permanent dust bowl very soon, and that is only a taste of what is to come.

So many times, when I read climate science, I end up with a cold feeling in my stomach, because we are faced with the certain possibility of extinction of life on this planet unless we disrupt climate change.  Right now, we are RACING towards extinction, and the only option is to drastically change the system which we obtain our food, earn our money, and find purpose in life.  Ask yourself...what use is planning for retirement, or following a decade long path towards a lucrative career, when your children will suffer in a world plagued by permanent drought and dead crops.  It's hard to look through to despair, but there are answers, and solutions.

What I have found in Permaculture, is a glimmer of hope, because within it are hundreds of solutions to EVERY problem we face.  Permaculture is about growing food in the midst of drought, about building houses which do not need to be heated or cooled, and are affordable for all.  It is about capturing and holding water and carbon in the soil, and turning deserts and eroded cow pasture into ultra productive food ecosystems.  It is about small scale renewable energy, and community planning in the face of oil shortages.  Most of all, it is about restoring purpose to human life, so that we can restore the earth as we support ourselves, instead of just destroying everything.

One example which bring tears to my eyes is John Lius, who was able to convert a Chinese desert basin into a thriving woodland ecosystem in two years...this basin supports 2 million people.
John Lius turns desert into thriving ecosystem

Through permaculture, I can find a career that deeply fulfills me, and supports my future.  It is EXACTLY what I have been searching for.

I was utterly inspired by Nicole Foss, who showed me the urgency and necessity for changing our economic system (which will shortly collapse through shared global crisis)  I sat enthralled as Albert Bates told me a story about how Eco-villages using biochar enriched soils could build forests across the continents, and remove the carbon we have put into the atmosphere WHILE deeply enriching the soil for our food.  Imagine humanity rebuilding the forests in every continent, from Africa to USA.  That is the vision the world needs to become a better place.

The multi-faceted solutions I saw at the permaculture conference have convinced me that IS the field I must go down….but enough about that, let's talk about the people…

Awhi farm in Turangi is a quaint, beautiful farm, and an education center.  It stretches for several hectares, winding through corridors with spiral designs and giant compost heaps.  Every inch was productive, organic and beautiful.  Nothing was wasted, from drops of water, to trash, to poop (humanure).   It was amazingly eye opening to volunteer there for 2 weeks, and to get a taste of the knowledge gathered from people across the world.

I was taken in by the Maori in a deeply meaningful community, I saw, I felt the connection they had with their land, each other, and with us.  700 People came to the convergence, and they were all cared for at the Maori Longhouse.

I learned the value of listening, and by listening, I was able to hear the stories of older men, young men, and women who I would never have thought I could connect with.

And the other volunteers….I got to know them greatly, I put aside my barriers, I talked with them, I LISTENED to them, and by doing so I made a deep emotional connection…to people like Sofie, who was the daughter of ancient Maori family who kept their traditions alive, like Tesla, who was able to build anything through the force of his own interest, and keeping his mind open.  like Jo and Brian, who through their love of permaculture, have manifested a farm, and a way of life that heals the land.  So many others, Andy…Kristoff, Sam, Lizzy, Steve, VJ Chris.

And the Maori who guided me, hugged me, and shared with me.  Matua, Georgie, Leon, Stripey.  Never did I think I would make a soulful connection to them but I did.  I teared up from joy at the last day of the conference, as we said our words of thanks, and they gave us back tears and gratitude (along with a haka) deep from the center of their heart.  I saw love, I saw meaning, I saw a life I wanted.  I'm going to do permaculture, because I it has captivated my mind, and made me fall in love with it.   That being said, don't expect me to grow a massive beard and dreads while raving about 9/11 conspiracies, because that's not my style.

However, permaculture is a REAL solution, a real science to looking at every problem we face, and putting in the effort to solve it.  Our problems can become solutions, and we can make our world better.


There was a reason I came to New Zealand, and this is it.