People Care,
Earth Care,
Fair Share.
I have been tracking my carbon footprint ever since learning that if every person on our planet had the same carbon footprint as those in the so-called "developed" world, we would need three planet Earth's.
In 2012 my Landscape Design business was successful but the overheads were out of proportion with the size of the business. There had to be a simpler, more healthy way to live that had a minimal impact on our precious environment.
The Permaculture Design Certificate I attended at Koanga Gardens, Wairoa, in 2012, literally changed my life. There was no turning back. I closed my business and began the journey of learning how to live lightly on this Earth.
Permaculture is known as -“the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient” or more simply, “Applied Ecology”.
The Permaculture movement has grown since it was founded in the 1980's, by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, to become widely accepted as the key to regenerative living.
The Permaculture ethics of People Care, Earth Care, and Fair Share have become my most important guide in day to day decision-making.
I simplified my lifestyle and shed many possessions, including my house and land at Athenree, Bay of Plenty.
Over the past seven years I have lived and worked on a seven acre block of native bush and productive vegetable and fruit tree gardens near Paeroa, with my partner Mike O’Donnell. Taraariki Creative Trust was nurtured by Mike and his wife Julienne for over forty years.
Mike is a well known potter, sculptor, weaver of stories, environmental activist and advocate for our sacred earth, especially her waters. We host unique workshops for groups and individuals of all age groups searching for holistic and practical ways to fully embrace living in the world today.
Over these past seven years I have focused on learning how to live off the land whilst working voluntarily amongst the community. I started a Stream Care Group for Taraariki Stream, continued to support Permablitz BoP, have helped with many and varied workshops at Tarariki Pottery and supported local Primary Schools and Paeroa College with their productive edible gardens.
I am now using my experience as a designer, and as someone who has adopted a regenerative lifestyle, to offer permaculture design services to others looking to create an abundant and resilient future for themselves and their community.
I was fortunate early on in my journey to meet Dan Palmer, who co-hosted my PDC in 2012. Dan Palmer of www.makingpermaculturestronger.net has been instrumental in re-igniting my passion for design through his commitment to redressing the lack of understanding around the design of living systems, regeneratively. Dan, in collaboration with many established Permaculture Designers, and designers working in other modalities, has challenged our traditional, mechanistic approach to design.
Living Design Process has been birthed out of this need to understand how to design regeneratively, by learning from living systems, to ensure a resilient future for all inhabitants of this planet.
Our home environment is increasingly fulfilling its potential. We support all living systems on our land and in turn we are supported by sufficient food and resources. When not working with our land I make Rongoā and sculpt with clay.
