For the Seventh Generation

The seedlings have been planted, the mulch has been spread, and I have one more day in the Byronshire before jetting back to Sydney.  Last Friday marked the end of the first ever Permaculture Challenge, a program that I had the privilege of facilitating alongside a team of inspiring adults and sixteen amazing Byron Bay teens.

These 15-17 year old students showed up three weeks ago with their iphones and their cliques, sneaking out for cigarettes and tuning out (and in some cases, completely passing out) on beanbag chairs. But throughout the last three weeks, I have watched them plug back into the Earth and in doing so, connect with one another and with themselves.

They were not afraid to get their hands dirty building gardens, getting friendly with  beneficial insects and feeling the crumbly black soil that only months ago was ‘humanure.’ They grappled with  incomprehensible hugeness of the universe and the intricate subtlety of the microorganisms that power our soil-food web. They fought and apologized, cried and hugged, played music and sang, cooked and ate meals together, and evolved into a strong family.  I have learned so much from these kids that I’m finding it hard to say goodbye – I want to stick around and help them organize their social action campaigns,  visit their gardens and share the yield that they produce.

Byron Bay Permaculture Team (Photo by Sangye Christianson)

For me, being involved in this program has been life changing in a way that I had not expected. I signed up on a whim after reading about the program in a Permaculture Research Institute e-newsletter, and had no idea what to expect.

My interest in permaculture goes back to 2005, when I spent the summer WWOOFing at Maya Mountain Research Farm in Belize. but it has taken a back seat to other educational pursuits over the last few years. I’m still not sure where I’m going with these ideas, but I am starting to think deeply about how to work permaculture principles into mainstream educational settings, as well as considering starting a Canadian Permaculture Challenge when I get home. I’ve signed up for a Permaculture Design Course at Milkwood Farm in February, and am grateful that getting involved in these initiatives is starting to give some purpose to  my sojourn in Australia. After all, Australia is where Permaculture was born, and it is thriving in both urban and rural settings.

At the Permaculture Challenge graduation, I surprised the students with my personal tribute to all the hard work they put in to the Permaculture Challenge. It’s becoming a bit of a tradition to write a spoken word poem at the end of an educational experience as a sort of parting gift for my students, as well as a way of  giving closure and processing my thoughts.

Here are two versions of my piece – one shot live at the grad ceremony, where I performed in front of a packed 200+ person audience at Mullumbimby Civic Hall. The other was filmed by my wonderful friend Kamala at her organic farm in the hills near Wilson’s Creek. Lyrics are below.

When I was your age they told me,

“Baby girl, it’s a dirty world out there”

So I learned to disinfect

To sanitize and protect

To buy food that’s wrapped in plastic

Now I’m stressed out and stretched out like an elastic band

With antibacterial hands

And five year plans

Lending my dreams to morally bankrupt banks

And borrowing ideas from thoughtless think tanks

And fretting about pollution

 

But now I realize that the problem is the solution

Humanity is not out to tame nature

We are nature

And nature is wild

It’s volcanoes and glaciers and the first breath of a newborn child

 

 So I set out to penetrate this planet’s state

And find out what reverberates

To speak the truth

To speak to youth

To put on some gardening gloves and boots

And give nourishment to roots

To fertilize the tender shoots

That grow and grow from all the seeds you sew

And if you don’t know, now you know

And if you don’t know, that means there’s room to grow

 

Cause I’ve seen a bunch of hellions

With mouths the size of pelicans

Learn to quit their yellin’ and listen….

To the silence….

That’s vibrating with billions of microbial operatives in sublime symbiosis

Guaranteed to do away with postmodern neurosis

 

This quiet eloquence embellishes a truth that’s huge and relevant

It’s grabbing the white elephant

And composting its crap and, hell, maybe even sellin’ it

 

The power is in you – in fact, it’s in your poo

This is some heavy doo doo voodoo

Think about it when you’re on the loo

Imagine every number two

Becoming a permaculture dream come true

 

Like Jack’s magic beans you’ll be climbing to new heights

Permablitzing new sites

Thinking about a healthy planet as a human right

And maybe sleeping a bit more soundly at night

 

Let the earthworms be a part of your community

Speak up in Canberra and make them see

That the harm that’s been done….

Is done.

And we have all the time under the sun

To repair not despair

Tie back your hair

And sit

And stare

 

Observe and interact

If you treat her with respect, Mama Earth’s got your back

Grow some veggies

Use the edges

Put the power back

Into the hands of the many

And these hands will yield plenty

And don’t worry if you’re nowhere near twenty

 

Because this is the future of living education

Without further complications limitations or genetic modifications

Start thinking long-term germination not band-aid fixation

Because it’s not about us,

It’s about The Seventh Generation

Now that’s my kind of classroom…

For the past week, I’ve been in Byron Bay, volunteering as an “Amigo” for the Youth Permaculture Challenge. The amount of learning taking place here is amazing. It’s heuristic, hands on, constructivist, embedded in the local community, and globally aware.

There have been so many inspiring moments over the last week that I don’t know what to blog about first! So here are a few photos of some of the students’ learning moments –  ranging from cooperative engagement in an activity to quiet reflective journalling.

There are so many ways to learn when your classroom has no walls.

 

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