I began this course with the mindset of, “If I want others to take me seriously as a Permaculture designer, I need the credibility of certification.” However, as I went deeper into the coursework, I realized that the only one who needs to take me seriously is me. As practitioners and designers, we are the hub, the zone zero, at the center of our designs. And I think one of the most powerful aspects of the Permaculture Women”s Guild is how tending our internal systems (mindset, community connection, the art of being) will feed into the health of the systems we design. It also challenged me to confront how I evaluated success within myself and on our land.
So, instead of fighting with my shady, wooded, rocky site to support abundant (human) food production; I considered intangible yields like privacy, peace, time to enjoy what we were building and live fully within the design. I also learned to see our site as a single component within a larger system. Therefore there was less pressure to do it all within the boundaries of our land.
I could go on; but these were genuinely life changing shifts in my understanding of Permaculture that I don”t think I would have arrived at with another program. If you want to experience Permaculture beyond organic gardening, this course is an excellent guide.
