"
You are what your grandmother ate.
~ unknown

The last couple days we’ve been focusing on Permaculture Ethics. Another very pervasive idea in Permaulture is the idea of zones. The kitchen garden is zone 1 and the back 40 is zone 5. That’s the basic idea. There has been, and still in, a lot of thinking about zones 1-5 and how to use […]

All human beings have needs and they are pretty much the same for everyone. The truth is that the vast majority of the world’s population, rich and poor, is not getting their needs met. The poor are most often the focus of “Fair Share” conversations in permaculture circles and beyond. It is certainly true that […]

One of the first things to know about Permaculture that makes it different from other paradigms of ecological and social reform is that it is rooted in 3 basic ethics. These 3 ethics form the foundation of what makes permaculture so unique. For example organic agriculture simply requires that one not use synthetic pesticides. Of […]

The principle of biodiversity is at the root of what makes permaculture work. Imagine what it would be like to not have to out-source everything in your life, that everything you need is there for you to make it all work. Everything is close together, one thing extending into the next and you can tangibly […]

Permaculture is about diversity. Business is about diversity and turning it into opportunities for growth. Its about one thing being in service of the other and the reciprocity that contributes to village harmony.  All entrepreneurs know that every last skill they have- their diverse gamut of tools gets applied in creative ways in order to […]

Imagine depleted soil in a land parched from a long draught. There might even be a few things growing but nothing is flourishing. A tumbleweed rolls by, carried in the wind. When one part of a whole is lost, the whole eco-system suffers. Whether its in your body or a particular area of  life, healing […]

We all know you can’t live without money. It’s the yield we obtain from our labors. It’s the river. It feeds the whole system and makes everything grow. Money in permaculture is about enough. It’s not about giving up joy for the sake of of obtaining a yield, and it’s not about being so focused […]

Maybe you think permaculture is just about gardening. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Taking Lazy-Lady Living permaculture principles and expanding them into the rest of your life is one of the most radical things you can do to  leverage your capacity for living well- creatively, and in connection with your community and the […]

I came to traditional foods and urban farming first through my slow-food Food Cart, Fold Crêperie way back in 2003-6. I was one of the first food-carts to use organic farm-based ingredients and Slow food principles in my cooking or to appear in a gourmet food magazine. When I was interviewed (without my knowing it of […]

  One of my favorite things to do is lay on my back and look up at the trees. Sometimes I go a long time without doing it. Sometimes years. Yesterday I took the morning off with my kids and a dear friend and we went to the Smith and Bybee Wetlands, a 2,000 acre […]