The authentic Permies Soul is etched deep. On reflection of my life, I am not sure that it wasn’t emblazoned on my body somewhere at birth. It's hard to suppress the force it has.

Back in 2012, when we scaled down our organic free-range pig business, ironically, I had to suppress my Permie Soul to make a "success" of this venture as I had throughout the 20-plus years of its existence. We then went to work on the terrifying outside. Fast forward then to 10 years later, after working in mainstream education, something important was knocked out of us. Typically, when you work within the confines of any large institution within a system (designed for conformity), it can take the most sensible logic or creativity out of your workday. Chip by chip, any ‘you’ is sloughed off. The tired brain makes sure you are doing what you are told, if only to make things easier. And stepping off that roller coaster can be extra hard. It took debilitating health problems for me to say goodbye to that job.

I think this was only possible because I put my hands back in the soil. In my spare time and with a huge amount of help and input from my son and his wife, we built a market garden designed on permaculture principles and practices. We had always kept at least some food sources here (because we are permaculturists). Our land is essentially an open grassland system after over 100 years of grass farming, so it felt imperative to keep animals to maintain the health of that system. So, meat, milk, and eggs stayed abundant. Fruit was sparse. Mainly because when you build a system and essentially walk away, the possums and other critters take advantage! Veggies and the other needs from our system had to be built up again. What still amazes me is that the systems we built here in the prior 20 years were still producing and evolving. Some more delicate things left untended had succumbed to drought, but the system, in general, was easily brought back.

Back in 2001, after I did my first PDC with Morag Gamble and Evan Raymond, I felt the impetus to go out and spread the word into our communities. Foremost, the intention of me obtaining a PDC was to give credibility to our prior readings and courses with Bill Mollison and other big shots. But, moreover, to inform where our farm was going. The proof of concept to us was our ability to provide 80% of our food needs, which we had done in the period of 1995 to 2006 without many inputs. Our pig business began to take off at a time when we needed to provide for our three children and get future capital, and we successfully succumbed to that demand. The permie soul kept rising! Up until 2008, we were organising courses on Logboy farm facilitated by Landcare and BIEDO. We also independently managed many days, while still taking tours from garden clubs, farmers, etc. It was great, but it took a toll. Maintaining that momentum was very hard. The pig business was the thing demanding all of our time, pulling us into it with its tempting capital and factory-like workflow. The hurricane of capitalism had dragged us in; after all, we were children of the 80’s.

In 2010, I worked part-time for BIEDO, schools, Council, and other community groups to help establish community and kitchen gardens around the South Burnett and into the Gympie Council area. What I realised about the community gardens, whether in schools or not, is that they were transient. The whim of a principal; a teacher leaving; or a change in funding could pull down the invested interest of very beautiful gardens and their tending angels. This would leave heartache, despondent people, and children. The lack of real essence of community strength was just not there to sustain it. Something had to change in the community cohesion before the food security would be a success. A permanent change in the need and conditions for change and it wasn’t yet present in our area.

Over the past few years, I have been locked away mostly at Logboy Farm. Our messy but productive systems being slowly uncovered and renewed as we are every day in the pursuit and reality of growing our own food. We now have two of our three children electing to live here with partners and children, in the community they grew up in. Moreover, they say they realise the integrity and logic in growing their own family and food in a place that is established. In their youth, they had played in these hills; built cubbies; built mini veggie plots while not coming in for lunch but foraging, strengthening their immune systems, skills, and general resilience in life. So now with spouses and children, we are looking more like a community every day. As of writing, there are six adults and three children living in three separate households on Logboy Farm. That is still an ongoing process, not to be rushed, but working organically together, we are growing not just our food but also our families and community. So, in that same mode, we are working towards education here, for all who want to listen.

I can’t help but want to educate people on Permaculture/ regenerative farming and all surrounding. Anyone who has visited us or done our courses will go away with what they say is “information overload.” For people who are introverts, we sure can talk. This time we are synthesising and distilling our now 40 years of permaculture knowledge and practices into both philosophical and practical courses designed to be all about our South Burnett environment and the unique practicalities we face in designing our food systems. We are looking at doing an Introduction to Permaculture course here in June 2024 over three Saturdays. It is a mixture of our philosophies and very practical permaculture practices and will include morning/afternoon tea and lunch. All the food and drink provided on these days are under the 150km radius circle with an emphasis on permie growers. Likewise, we see the need for a series of basic veggie growing courses which I would like to start at the end of April. The first a course detailing how we here successfully deal with the tricky winters in the South Burnett area.

We are putting some friends and family through the first PDC here as a pilot. Which we will finally offer to the wider community next year after a bit more tweaking. During my time post PDC, we did a fair degree of design work for people in the district. Designing is hard and time-consuming work, and at the end of the day, if the client doesn’t have the knowledge to keep up tweaking the design or the deeper understanding of the philosophy, it has the potential to see the best intentions for all to fall away. I now do more mentoring with clients. This is sometimes a slow process, but the more invested the client is in letting the problems become the solutions, the better. If I can impart some education surrounding suggestions, it mitigates some of the imposition a plan can sometimes have. Linear ideas can bounce back and forth for a while in a designer-client relationship, whereas a mentorship gives strength and ownership and holism for the client.

Our aim is small low-cost courses that can be done by adults and families alike. This, I feel, is the more informed way to a permanent permaculture community. Breaking the PDC content and practices into smaller bite sizes suits people better. The focus for the first will be on true-blue sustainability practices that can help make people’s lives healthier and financially freer within the South Burnett. It also allows people to do a module, sit on it to mull a while and do what is more affordable. After years of tweaking and consulting with high-profile permaculture practitioners and educators, I feel we almost have cracked it!

Post-Covid our communities have been flooded with new people with progressive ideas and the understanding that if we are to weather what is coming with the climate crisis and system breakdown. We need food gardens. Big farming and even smaller farms are going to struggle in the decades to come. Taking hold of your own food supply is an imperative for all Australian families. Making children healthier again with strong immune systems who understand natural processes and are comfortable in natural settings. Those kids will be adults within a blink of an eye so we need to help them now.

This is the ‘why’ to my getting serious. You are welcome to come on board to learn and explore together! And get your “permie soul” on...