Permaculture Southampton was hosted at Aldermoor Community Farm once a month in 2017 and 2018.
Since then we’ve had a break but may get together again for some discussions and activities in 2020.
If you are interested in hearing more then please sign up on our email list to be kept up to date.
Meetings in 2018
| 17 February | Permaculture assessment of a garden |
| 17 March | The follow up |
| 14 April | Back to the farm |
| 19 May | Back to the farm (II) |
History
We began in April 2017 by looking at the principles of permaculture. A total of 25 people have met together, with around 15 people at each of the 5 facilitated sessions. See below for details.
These sessions took considerable preparation and the presenters are taking a break now.
Instead we are offering a facilitated informal gathering to share our interests and expand our knowledge around permaculture. Bring your questions, ideas, inquiries, projects and problems that can be explored by the group using permaculture ethics and principles.
You may also like to join our regular volunteering on Wednesdays and Saturdays if you want to get active and learn by doing.
Meetings in 2017
| 08 April | Permaculture Ethics |
| 20 May | 1. Observe and interact |
| 17 June | 2. Catch and store energy |
| 15 July | (informal learning through volunteering) |
| 19 August | (informal learning through volunteering) |
| 16 September | 3. Obtain a yield |
| 21 October | 4. Apply self-regulation & accept feedback |
| 18 November | Permaculture lunch – to catch up and make plans |
| 16 December | Work party followed by lunch |
| ? | 5. Use & value renewable resources and services |
| ? | 6. Produce no waste |
| ? | 7. Design from patterns to details |
| ? | 8. Integrate rather than segregate |
| ? | 9. Use small & slow solutions |
| ? | 10. Use & value diversity |
| ? | 11. Use edges & value the marginal |
| ? | 12. Creatively use & respond to change |
Why Permaculture? Permaculture is a phrase created in the 1970s to describe ways of managing the land to produce food in a sustainable or permanent way (permanent agriculture). The big idea was to consciously design better ways of working with nature, rather than against it. Over the last 30 years the principles used by permaculture designers have been developed into a framework that is useful in areas beyond producing food. These principles can help us organize our households and communities in more sustainable ways.
The principles have been collated by David Holmgren, the co-originator of permaculture. There is a free summary of the principles available from David’s website.
You may want to dig deeper by reading the relevant chapter of David Holmgren’s book, Permaculture – Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. The book is quite rich with deep ideas and concepts. It is in stock at October Books for £17.95 which includes a £2 discount.
Purpose of the group
- To study the principles of permaculture in order to apply them to our lives and communities here in Southampton.
- This is a group thing – we seek to nurture a community of people sharing resources as we apply permaculture principles to our lives and communities.
Resources include knowledge, experience, enthusiasm and materials like plants, seeds, books, and tools. - To make permaculture accessible to people locally and at no cost.
Name of the group: “Permaculture Southampton”
This naming convention was suggested by Bill Mollinson (one of the co-originators of permaculture). He said to align with your democratic boundaries to make it straightforward to work with your local government.
Organisation
The group is supported by Aldermoor Community Farm and the teaching is led by Richard Pitt from Aldermoor Community Farm. The process and activities for each session are designed with the help of Richard Parker from The Active Arts Community. Richard and Richard host the sessions.
We have an email mailing list for keeping in touch.