Making Permaculture Stronger Making Permaculture Stronger

Sometimes I find myself inside a dialogue that deeply meets me where I am and lifts me up to a place with more clarity, more vitality, and more possibility. This episode with Pamela Mang was one of these. Pamela is long-term friend and colleague of past guests Carol Sanford, Joel Glanzberg, Ben Haggard, and Bill Reed. She has been working in the space of regenerative design, resourcing and development for many decades. Co-founder of Regenesis Group, she is co-author (with Ben) of the 2016 book Regenerative Design and Development. She is also part of the faculty that runs The Regenerative Practitioner (TRP) programme.







In this dialogue Pamela helps me grok the tetrad of regenerative development that Regenesis works from in relation to my own work on Living Design Process.







From this paper which in turn sourced it from Regenesis group.









https://youtu.be/UJdnMghawTY









Upcoming TRPs in NZ and AU







Enrolments for the next Australian programme for TRP are open July 15th - August 19, 2022 and the programme commences on September 7th, 2022. Contact me if you'd like to be connected to Drika, Alana or Lara who are the AU co-hosts.







Enrolments for the next New Zealand programme are open July 15th - August 13th and the programme commences on September 2nd, 2022. I am considering enrolling myself so I may see you on the course. Contact me if you'd like to be connected to Lucy-Mary who is the NZ liaison.







Quotable Quotes







Now for a few things Pamela said that I was moved to write down here:







Design should be a vitalising process. It creates new vitality, new energies that can source different orders of health, different orders of understanding and so onPamela Mang







Pamela Mang







The secret about these frameworks is that they don’t replace intuition. They hone itPamela Mang















Living Design Process







Find out more about the Living Design Process Pamela was resourcing me to look at through the tetrad framework here – the next online course of Living Design Process kicks off August 6th 2022 (why not complete before your TRP and make this a year of next-level learning!).







Support the Making Permaculture Stronger Book Project







This episode also marks the launch of a crowdfunding campaign to fund the creation of the Making Permaculture Stronger book – here’s the video and here's a link to the campaign page. Support us and feel the good vibes that follow :-).









https://youtu.be/1O8KY_Rb-2U

Enjoy part of two of this rich dialogue about bringing Living Design Process to professional permaculture design consultancy. Will make more sense if you listen to Part One first.







An aerial photo of the Mayberry project which is mentioned in this episode and is a good example of a design process that uses earthworks and trees to create beautiful organic spaces in between...

Many thanks to Alec Higgins for prompting this exploration. In the first of two instalments, we develop premises for transitioning into professional permaculture design work. Enjoy and to learn more about working with Living Design Process please visit www.LivingDesignProcess.org - the next course starts in August and you can learn more about it here.







A photo of the early development of the project I explored with John Caruthers here. From drone footage by Peter Watts

It was an honour to connect in this episode with Daniel Christian Wahl to explore what it means to align with life's regenerative impulse.







Here's Daniel's book Designing Regenerative Cultures, his Medium Blog and here's his wonderful youtube series Voices of the Regeneration.







Early on Daniel mentions Christopher Alexander's Challenge to Permaculture. A few times he mentions Henri Bortoft's book The Wholeness of Nature.







Daniel Christian Wahl







Enjoy, thanks to Daniel for visiting Making Permaculture Stronger, and thanks to our mutual friend Clinton Callahan for connecting us.

In this lively second conversation (find the first here) Clinton Callahan and I dive right in to swap notes on the dynamics of living creation processes. We cover creating from fear, chaos, and the groundless void as well as feelings, the unknown, the phoenix process, surfing the wave you are are, and much else.









https://youtu.be/qKNGwiqGxTo









You can find out more about Clinton at his website here and during our chat he mentioned fearclub.org, rageclub.org and possibilityteam.org

On March 17, 2022, at 85 years of age, Christopher Alexander passed away peacefully in his home in West Sussex, England.







This post celebrates his life, and for me, personally, the sheer magnitude his work has had on the course of my life, including Making Permaculture Stronger as a project. If any of you have been touched by this project, then you have been indirectly impacted by Alexander's life-long quest toward life, beauty and wholeness. Find out about who Alexander was here and here and here and here. Learn about Alexander's direct influence on my (Dan Palmer's) work, and on this very project here and here.















A Poem







Thank you to Ann Medlock, a past client (and hence collaborator) of Alexander's, for permission to share these photos and this poem here:















Alexander sculpts a building







out of air and wisdom







waving his hands







squinting his eyes







to see what only he and God can see







in this clearing on the bluff.







Listening to something







we cannot hear, he brings into being







a house so solid, silent and calm,







so embracing, consoling and inevitable,







that it draws in and restores







every open soul that finds its way here.







And many do.







Pilgrims who have heard,







who’ve seen a photograph,







who sense that here there is something







mysterious, rare, perhaps even inspired.







On a clear blue afternoon







we sit at a long table in the sun,







the house embracing this garden







and all of us who bask here







amid the calendulas and ferns.







Feasting on tabouli and cold birds,







we talk of poetry and paintings,







of terraces in Tuscany and homemade wine,







of our work, our passions, our quests.







We are friends, gathered here







by the grace that emanates from this holy place.







At Christmas, the clan assembles.







The tree, dressed in familiar ornaments,







touches the coffered ceiling







and sends the scent of balsam to mingle







with fire, roast and cakes.







Thick walls hold out the cold, the wind,







and every danger of the world we know.







Comets cut across the high windows







as we are drawn in and held fast, together,







blessed by the house that Alexander made,







while listening to God.







Three Examples of Directly Alexander-Inspired Design Processes









https://vimeo.com/456075580/0e4846f331











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2k35m_Q9xg&ab_channel=MakingPermacultureStronger











https://youtu.be/l8lffVxj7DI









Some Quotes







Here I share a selection of some of my favourite quotes from Alexander's many books.























The Timeless Way of Building (1979)







You are alive when you are wholehearted, true to yourself, true to your own inner forces,