<aside> 👩🏻 A Permaculture Journey and Resource by Marie Poulin
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In 2017 I signed up for a permaculture design certificate course, not really knowing exactly what I was signing up for. I only knew that a friend of mine had told me permaculture changed the way she looked at the world.
My partner and I had just recently moved from Vancouver to our new home on the Sunshine Coast, and suddenly owned a half acre of land, with zero gardening skills.
I saw a flyer for a permaculture course, which read:
“Become a more conscious designer of your life, landscape, relationships, and work while learning how to save time, energy and money.”
It was a 16-month program, where you meet one day each month over the course of 16 months. I was intrigued; the course could not have been more aligned with what I was seeking in my own life. In Vancouver I had been exploring the #zerowaste movement, and was already seeking sustainability and conscious design in many aspects of both my life and business.
What the heck do I do with all this?
Whoever lived in the home before us was a master gardener. There were beautiful gardens, fruit trees, shrubs, birds, butterflies, and creatures. There were blackberries, apple trees, currants, raspberries (of every colour), kale, herbs, flowers, and so much more.
Mostly things I didn't recognize and had no idea how to take care of...
Was that a weed or a flower?
Do I trim that, or let it be?
Is that poisonous or edible?
What IS that?
Studying permaculture was timely, because it forced me to slow down and embrace the observation process. You can't rush nature; there's a seasonality to everything. I was going to have to surrender to the process (aka, some things were going to die... and that was ok).
I had to embrace the discomfort of the process.