I am looking forward to the weekend already! Yes I am aware
that it is Monday, but it’s my birthday on Saturday and Diwali (Hindu Festival
of Light) on Sunday and the Garden Route Permaculture Festival is happening all
weekend. I have much to look forward to, but in essence, this year, my party is
being arranged by others and that just makes me smile!
Permaculture is a design system which takes its cue from
nature which is completely self-sustaining with its beautiful mesmerizing
interlocking of micro and macro eco-systems. You don’t ever hear a voice from
deep within the planet say, oops I didn’t think of that! Everything in Nature works, and there's much to be learned from that. So permaculture, as I see
it, is about emulating the efficiency of nature in designing a lifestyle that
works, completely and entirely! Delving into the principles of permaculture and
applying them to every aspect of your life from feeding and housing your family
to what you do all day every day for a living, gives you the earnest possibly
of harnessing and controlling outcome. An unorganized thing is a chaotic thing
which constantly yields unwelcome surprises, learning about Permaculture
develops in you a real sense of planning before doing and shows you how! I love
it, and am learning all the time but learn faster in in a facilitated
environment so I signed up for the GRPF immediately!
They’re going to have speakers covering subjects like 'Permaculture : Balancing People & Planet', Swop Shops: A Green Economic Model for a Cleaner Environment, Challenges Around Urban Food Security & The Need for Social Permaculture at Food Systems Scale, Natural building materials : properties and proper applications,empowering conscious consumers, propagation
(how to grow from seeds and cuttings) Compost Making, Earthworms, Garden Bed
Design, Companion Planting, Tree Planting and Grey Water Management Systems. I have
a keen interest in all these subjects and even though our Vegetable garden
works, there is so much room for improvement and growth. I’m also looking forward to the networking which
will happen over the 2 days, meeting people from all over South Africa who live
in this frame of mind and asking..asking..asking questions until I get it! The
Garden Route can feel a little cut off from the developments occurring in the
rest of the world and I’m looking forward to the green market happening in between
talks. And then there’s the music
line-up for the evening! There’ll by a ‘blits barter’ at some point which I think
is just fantastic to illuminate the old concept of non-monetary currency!
The Festival of Light happens on Sunday! We've been
fortunate enough to celebrate the festival of light in Plettenberg Bay for the
last five years thanks to the hard work of a Plett local whose key focus is to propagate
peace and unity in Plett! The theme this year is ‘Knowledge is power’ and the
entrance is free but everyone is encourage to donate a book. This is a
non-denominational event for people of all cultural and religious backgrounds
to celebrate unity and again, there will be music, theatre, poetry and talks throughout
the day and into the evening and a candle lighting moment in the night. I am
utterly excited!
Check out Garden Route Permaculture Festival
And contact Vinthi Neufeld on 082 825 9811 if you’d like to
find out more about the Festival of Light.
See you there!
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