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How to work with nature instead of against it to avoid hard work

by papprentice Leave a Comment

permaculture principle working with nature

This is a powerful quote, and in this post, I will illustrate with examples from my property how to implement the ‘working with nature’ permaculture principle in practice.

Here’s the thing…

We spend most of our days on our permaculture properties, working and thinking about what we need to do. There are always plants to tend, soil to improve, animals to feed, grass to mow, hedges to trim, firewood to cut…

It’s a never-ending list of to-do tasks that keep us happily busy.

Rarely do we stop and think about what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and if there is a way to do it differently and more efficiently. 

Instead, due to our everyday busyness, we mindlessly drone through the task, complete and check it off, and then move to the next.

I understand this way of doing things very well. I’ve been successfully killing myself from work for quite some time. In my case, primarily by trying to fight nature’s tendencies to take over my property, constantly trimming, mowing, clearing, and cutting something to keep everything in check.

Since I don’t spend all my time on the property, and most of the time, I manage everything myself, the workload is overwhelming.

It wasn’t until I started practicing “doing nothing,” observing, and thinking through what I wanted to achieve that I realized there were better ways to achieve what I wanted, all while working less.

By observing nature and asking myself the right questions (revealed at the end of the post), I was able to come up with, if I might say, elegant solutions that otherwise would be unthinkable for a type A personality like myself.

Let me illustrate what I mean by giving you two examples.

Permaculture Principle in Action Example #1. Hedgerow

My family and I have been maintaining a wild-grown hedge on our property boundary dry stone wall for years. The cracks in the stone wall were a perfect microclimate, cool and moist, for plant seeds to fall into and grow on their own.

These quickly growing native plants were a hassle to maintain, and we had to trim the hedge yearly to contain their growth.

So one day, I was sitting quietly, observing nature and thinking about how I needed to trim down that “annoying” hedge.

The thing is, I wanted a living fence there but not necessarily these natives that were growing. I wanted a hedge with species like hawthorn, rosehip, hazels, black locust…you know, the plants you often read about in the permaculture books.

Then I realized, wait for a second, hawthorn, rosehip, and hazel plants were already growing here and there throughout that hedge.

What if I leave them there, clear around them to encourage their growth, and let them take over? That would work, and eventually, I would end up with the hedge I wanted.

permaculture principle working with nature

Native hawthorn in the hedge, I was coppicing the poor guy mercilessly until I realized there was a better way!

So after years of mindlessly maintaining that hedge and trying to beat it into submission, I found a way to work less, partner with nature, and eventually get the desired result. 

All of this, thanks to observing, questioning, and putting some thought into a potential solution…

Permaculture Principle in Action Example #2: Food Forest Guilds

When I planted the first trees and shrubs into my food forest, naturally, I started to get regrowth of the native “weeds” and perennials around them. Everything in that row that wasn’t mulched but had bare soil grew native weeds with furious vigor.

Eventually, one day, I thought to myself, I would love to have this row and everything between trees and shrubs planted with medicinal, flowering, aromatic perennials. 

But until then, I’ll keep mowing and weeding everything I didn’t deliberately put there.

Multiple times per year, I had to keep the weeds in check with my string trimmer, and as I expanded my food forest and planted more rows waiting for perennial cover, this became an even bigger time-consuming chore.

So one day, as I was taking the time to think things through and observe nature, I remembered Elaine Ingham’s interview in which she said that one of the best ground covers from a microbial perspective was creeping thyme. 

This resonated with me as I wanted a low-growing ground cover that fulfills multiple functions and outcompetes weeds – perfect!

Then I was, wait for a second, I have all this native thyme, patches and patches growing throughout my food forest area, including the rows I’ve been mindlessly mowing. 

If I keep trimming the grass hard and leaving the thyme to grow, it will eventually spread out and take over.

permaculture principle working with nature

Native thyme growing within a row in a guild with black locust.

So again, instead of brute force and beating plants into submission, by just taking the time to think, to be still, and observe nature, I once more came to the realization that saved me time, made me work less, and achieved the result I wanted.

Although these examples are food forest specific, you can apply this way of finding an “elegant” solution to different growing areas of your property. 

I have had many other realizations I might share some other time, but the bottom line is this…

From time to time, try to turn off the autopilot mode, stand still or sit quietly and observe nature. As you think through what you’re doing and trying to achieve, ask yourself:

“How can I let nature do the work for me?” 

OR

“How can I work with nature instead against it?” 

You can totally change the way you manage your property by asking these types of questions.

Let this post be a reminder to do this today. You could be quite surprised by the answers you might come up with!

Talk soon,

-William

Living a Life of Abundance (Despite the Global Chaos)

by papprentice Leave a Comment


If you read my last post about the Great Reset, you’ll be aware of the predicament we are facing as a society.​

Given the seriousness of the situation, I’ll be first to admit that it’s currently hard to stay optimistic about the future of humanity.​

I assume that many of you feel the same, especially when you throw climate change, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, etc., into the ‘encroaching doom’ mix.​

Thus, it’s rather easy to fall into the trap of continually thinking about the future on a day-to-day basis and then feeling anxious and demoralized – it’s understandable, and it happens to even the most enthusiastic of us.​

But the problem is, when we stress ourselves out like this, we lose sight of all the great positive things we have and forget to appreciate that life is pretty darn good, right here and now, regardless of what the future might hold in 10, 20, or 30 years.​

Our outlook on life would be far more positive if we remind ourselves daily of the abundance we have in our lives, and how amazing it is to be alive on this beautiful planet.​

That’s why today, I want to give you that reminder, and prove to you that you have every reason to be joyful despite all the global issues that lay ahead.

Now, abundance is one of the buzzwords thrown about by many sources, and it may mean different things to different people. So, in this post, I thought I’d share a few of my examples (amongst many) of the abundance in my life, and hopefully inspire you to think about some of yours.​

All right, so let’s begin!​

  • Leafy greens from my greenhouse​

Growing healthy nutritious food is actually surprisingly easy. When you think about it, plants are designed to grow; that’s their entire agenda – to grow and reproduce. But, of course, there is a caveat to how easy it is to grow food – you have to keep your soil alive and healthy before the plants can do the rest.​ 

If there is one thing we eat every day and have an abundance of, it’s our nutritious leafy greens. We keep on harvesting them and they just keep on growing right back. While our beds are small, the amount they produce is enough to be self-sufficient for leafy greens; providing us with vitamins and minerals and an abundance of the key nutrients that are so essential for health.​

  • ​Clean water from the nearby spring​

Whenever I’m on my farm, I love to draw water from a local spring. It’s actually on our property, some 50 m away from the house and, since the bedrock is made of limestone, the water is clean, cool and very refreshing in the summer heat.​

During my travels around Australia and the Middle East, I become much more appreciative of having the privilege of drinkable water springs. All I have to do is take a few bottles, walk 50 m and fill them up. In a world where many people don’t have clean water to drink or have to walk several kilometers to get any water at all, how blessed should I feel?​

  • Untouched natural environment teeming with wildlife​

Certain parts of my country, especially the rural areas, are, to be blunt, not yet fulfilling their economic potential. While this might not be ideal for humans, wild animals, on the other hand, are absolutely thriving. Economic progress in its current form is very much a double-edged sword and usually takes place at the expense of nature, but in areas where the economy is underperforming, nature is positively flourishing.

Just the other day I was on my farm working, getting my hands dirty and, to be honest, becoming annoyed by all the insects that were trying to get their share of my blood and sweat. Yet when I hear reports such as the one stating that insect populations in Northwest Germany have dropped by 78% in 24 years, I feel grateful that they are here to irritate me, well, at least some of them! Others, like the ladybug in the picture above, are actually of great help. 

The situation is similar in Canada and the US, but not here, not on my farm. Here we have an abundance of insects, birds, and other wildlife. Sure, there are rabbits that like to nibble on my young trees, and deer that trample my cover crops, but I’m happy to pay this small price for all the benefits they provide to the ecosystem.​​

  • Time spent with my family and friends
My 76-year-old grandma showing me how to prune a wild plum tree...​

Try this experiment for a week, each day before you fall asleep: Think about three things you’re grateful for that day. The chances are most days, if not every day, you’ll be grateful for spending time with someone, meeting someone new, or just appreciating that the people you care about are alive and healthy.​

Think about it, does it really matter how large your house is, how big your farm is and how well things are going if there is no one to share it with? With no loved ones to share your abundance of food and resources, then what’s the point of striving for all this?​

I’m happy that, in my life, I have the opportunity to spend time with the people I care about. I enjoy the moments when I’m working on something with my friends or spending the time with my family on our farm to have a ‘working bee’. I enjoy finding out from my grandma about the way people used to live and learning the skills that might be necessary for the future to come. I’m so grateful for this abundance of relationships in my life.​


All right, I hope this helped you think of some of the examples of abundance in your life. I’m certain there are many.

When you start to shift your focus to such little moments of joy, I guarantee you’ll feel much better today, and will have a much more positive outlook on life.​

So, take a moment and think about what does abundance means to you…

In closing, I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter via the form below. It’s free, and you get gentle nudges in the right direction like this one from time to time (plus all the permaculture and ‘prepare for the Great Reset’ type of stuff, of course).

Talk soon,

-William

Some Practical Thoughts on Mass Suicide, Eco-anxiety and the Encroaching Collapse

by papprentice 15 Comments

Do we need trees? Of course…

How about rainforests? Stupid question!

What about coral reefs? Hmm…

We all know that we need trees and rainforests, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to live, but coral reefs, they aren’t so important for us as a land-dwelling species, right?

However, the truth is that what rainforests are to the land, coral reefs are to the sea. In fact, we could say that individual corals perform a similar role to the trees in the forest. They are a fundamental part of a huge ecosystem taking up roughly a quarter of the ocean.

Now, based on current trends, these ‘rainforests of the ocean’ are well on the path to extinction and, within the next 30 years, most of the world’s coral will be gone. Yep gone, like gone, extinct, nada, nothing left (except maybe a few tiny remaining patches to remind us of our folly)…

This die-off is (mostly) due to bleaching that’s caused by rising sea temperatures. This is a result of the symbiotic algae that feed the coral dying off due to heat, causing the corals to bleach (disintegrate).

The corals do recover seasonally but, with ever-rising temperatures, reefs have less and less time to recover, leading to these dire predictions as global climate change progresses. This may be a very gloomy statement but, unfortunately, it’s true.

The impending ecological disasters

Recently, as my wife and I watched Chasing Corals, the true horror of this barely reported event unfolded before our transfixed eyes. At one point in the documentary, it was claimed that 29% of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef died in 2016 alone.

After this shocking revelation, my wife – who was lucky enough to visit the Great Barrier Reef – turned to me and said: “I think you should visit the Reef while it’s still alive so you can tell stories about it to our children.”

I can’t explain it, usually I handle these doomsday predictions reasonably well, but, at that moment, I got a lump in my throat as I came to realize the magnitude of what she was saying.

My hometown of Zagreb, 2045. Post massive ecosystem collapse

As much as the story about coral reefs is disturbing, corals are just the canary in the coalmine. They’re just one of many endangered ecosystems on the path to extinction.

We’re currently in what scientists call the Holocene-Anthropocene mass extinction event, all happening on our watch and giving us a front-row seat of the events unfolding around us.

Anthropogenic climate change is just one of the (synergistic) drivers of this mass extinction.

While we’re arguing over who has the most accurate information about human-induced global warming, and are divided even within the permaculture community, the climate is still changing and species are still becoming extinct at a worrying rate (some estimates go as high as 200 species per day).

This is all thanks to our constant environmental destruction and unsustainable resource depletion – something I’m sure all of us can agree upon.

It’s the synergy of all these effects that’s causing this ecocide and if we continue with business as usual we indeed are on a path to mass suicide. Everything on our planet is connected, and with each collapsed ecosystem we’re pulling one more card from house of cards and one day we’ll pull enough of these cards that the whole thing simply collapse.

And you know what the worst thing about all this? It’s the fact that most people, namely 95% of world population, are totally oblivious to what’s taking place around them. You could feed them the last coral reef crab and they wouldn’t even care, notice or comprehend what that means for the Earth and its inhabitants.

Now, to be honest, you can’t blame them for it, most of humanity is living in cities, disconnected from nature, eating food that’s grown in nutrient-depleted soils, with chemical toxins in our environment every step of the way, from the personal care products we’re using, to the water we’re drinking, the things we’re wearing, and even the air we breathe…

It’s no wonder that when someone who still eats proper food, tries to minimise toxin exposure and is able to use his brain for more than pretending to have a good life on social media has eco-anxiety and is worried and about the future and the potential collapse that it might bring upon us.

The collapse is not coming, it is already well under way

Now, I know collapse is a hard concept to swallow but, as I described in my previous rather lengthy post, I believe we are indeed already witnessing such a tipping point. In fact, if pressed for a quote, I’d say “The collapse is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.”

Rather than a single apocalyptic incident, the collapse is unfolding over decades, accelerated by sudden disruptions/shocks (ecosystem collapse like coral reefs is an example of just one of these shocks).

Maybe, looking back, it will all make sense one day, but for someone living through the collapse it just looks like any other day because we simply adjust to whatever disruption happens (extreme heatwaves, flooding, increasingly regular economic crises,…), and call it normal.

Because, after a while, it does become the new normal, and move on with our lives and day-to-day struggle of putting food on the table, chipping away at that mortgage, paying those rising bills, while not even being aware of the big picture in which our small reality bubble is situated.

Now, because one cannot unlearn this understanding of ‘OMG the collapse is already upon us’, there is the question how to deal with all this uncertainty about the future and what we can do about it today.

So, for the sake of practicality and not merely being a prophet of doom, I’ll outline how I deal with this knowledge and the resulting anxiety it gives me…

How to deal with (eco-)anxiety and create a more resilient life

  • Focus on what is within your control and influence and worry less about everything beyond it

The problems, challenges, and opportunities we face fall into two areas– Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence.

Honestly, there is a lot to be concerned about today, and the environmental aspect I covered just now is only one part of the whole story. Merely spending your energy dwelling on world issues and getting angry about things you can’t change is not good for you.

The world around you, it is what it is. The events that happen, they are what they are. Unless you have direct influence over them, you can’t do much about it… and no amount of worrying is going to change that fact. All of this is situated within your circle of concern, where you have little or no control at all.

What you want to do, in contrast, is to focus your efforts towards where you can make a difference to the things you can influence. You can decide which issues these will be and what to focus upon, and you can let others handle the rest.

So for example, if you’re not living in the tropics, and coral reefs are not in your ‘backyard’, and, most importantly, you’ve decided you’re not going to get actively involved in the issue of coral bleaching, then all this is in your circle of concern. For this issue, unless you get some form of masochistic pleasure from worrying about it, you’re wasting the energy you could be using in places where it counts…

In places like your backyard, village, town or region, you can do a lot to influence things and make a small difference that, cumulatively, will add up to a big one. So, yes, you should worry a lot about that local council of yours wanting to eradicate “invasive” food species with Montsanto’s weed killer that’s going to pollute the whole ecosystem where you live. And yes, you should do something about it because this is within your circle of influence, and you can really make a difference here.

  • Do something every day that moves you towards greater resilience, and set your bar low

Sowing some vegetable seeds, an example of a simple daily task that gets you resilience points…

Now I know it’s easier said than done: “Oh don’t worry about climate change, peak oil, nuclear war, pandemics, constant terror attacks…” I’ll be first to admit that, by default, I often catch myself dwelling on things situated outside of my circle of control and influence. It happens regularly and probably does to everyone, no matter how good they are at “managing the circles”.

But here’s the deal, you got to do something about this… I found that the best way to deal with this is to acknowledge this stress and concern, welcome it as a reminder that I should be working on building my resilience, and make use of the energy this stress gives me, instead of wasting it trying to manage the stress itself.

As Chris Martenson notes in his insightful book Prosper: “Anxiety lives in that space between what you know you should be doing and what you’re actually doing” and by being proactive and building your resilience you’ll feel at ease because you’re actually doing something about it.

For example, I focus on five basic categories in my daily resilience building: anything that has to do with water systems, infrastructure, growing or storing food, the farm economy, and expanding my social network and capital.

Each day I try to make progress in one of those areas, whether it’s just learning about building water filters, buying a quality durable tool, sowing some vegetable seeds, or creating additional income streams by expanding my permaculture nursery.

Everything counts and everything is a new learning opportunity to develop my resilience, no matter how small the task at hand is. The important caveat in all of this is to set your bar low as, frequently, you won’t have time to go deep on something. For me, a simple copy-canning when I go to a grocery store is a win for that day, as I’ve done something to ease my mind when I hear the news about a potential nuclear war.

  • Build inner resilience and learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable

We should all learn to be mentally and physically tough as a honey badger.

We humans tend to continually manage our environment to suit our zone of comfort. If it’s hot outside, we turn up the AC and make it 20℃ in the house, then we sit in our cars and make it 20℃ again. Finally, we come to the office and again make it 20℃.

If it’s cold we turn the heating on, and create an unnatural, tropical climate if we feel like it, just because, well, we can and don’t like to experience discomfort.

We humans have become so used to being comfortable that, at any sign of discomfort, we immediately feel bad. We’re not comfortable with skipping meals because we expect we should have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and assorted snacks, or else we’re ready to kill someone for food.

When things break and there is no running water in the house, it’s the end of the world as we know it, because how do you flush that toilet, or cope without light, heat or the Internet?

Think about it, if there is a disruption to our comfortable way of living, how well would you handle it? Could you live without running water for two days or without hot water for a while, or would you break under pressure, setting a really bad example to your peers and kids? Well, the truth is most people today are weak mentally and unable to live with discomfort or uncertainty, and that’s not resilient at all.

I sincerely believe that deliberately pushing yourself to experience that discomfort is going to help you to deal with all the stress, anxiety and uncertainties that might be just around the corner tomorrow. And I’m not saying that you have to be a SEAL-fit type of an individual, although that would help enormously, just simple small things of deliberately placing yourself in uncomfortable situations and enduring the unpleasant feelings of pain and discomfort.

For example, sometimes I would fast, deliberately skipping meals, and honestly in the beginning it was uncomfortable, but now I easily forget that it’s lunchtime and that I should be eating, and even whether or not I’ve eaten. Sometimes, especially during unseasonably hot weather, I will go outside during the hottest part of the day and shovel some dirt. Why? Because it will increase my pain threshold, thus everything below that threshold becomes easy for me.

Also, by putting yourself deliberately into the situations you fear (no hot water, no running water, no lunch, $2 dinner only…) you’ll realize that, if this is what you most fear, you’ll be fine when things get, literally and metaphorically, sticky in the near future.

  • Be grateful for the abundance you DO have today

An abundance of leafy greens in my greenhouse, a small thing to be grateful for every day…

Now, I know that, merely by being aware of all these increasingly severe predicaments humanity faces, it often becomes hard to stay positive about the future. Expecting collapse and being practical about preparations really doesn’t go hand-in-hand with any ‘the future’s bright’ perspective on the world.

The truth is, as the saying goes, collapse or no collapse, “If you’re anxious, you’re living in the future” You can do your best to prepare and plan for an uncertain future, but then just go with the flow and try to enjoy your productive life. 

It’s not like you’re being fatalistic or burying your head in the sand, you’re just making all the preparations you need for whatever the future holds, while enjoying your life knowing you’re making a positive difference.

You know, often we go through our lives constantly worrying about the future, feeling anxious and forgetting to enjoy what we already have. We are so fixed on the future that we forget to appreciate the good things we have today and sometimes we simply need to remind ourselves about the abundance we already have in our lives.

Now, abundance might mean different things to different people, but I’m talking about simple things like a bountiful harvest of beyond organic vegetables from your garden, a source of fresh clean water from a nearby spring or creek, untouched nature teeming with wildlife, or simply spending time with your friends and family.

So I encourage you to think about what abundance means to you. Once you’ve come up with few things, you’ll see that your life is probably already abundant. All you have to do is focus your attention and be grateful for things you do have instead of what you don’t.

  • Connect with others and start to construct a parallel system

If the current system won’t change then we have to build our own parallel one…

Honestly, we all know that there are a lot of flaws in our current system within which we, at least in the West, operate.

The whole thing rests on the premise that everything must grow exponentially, and if it’s not growing then it’s crashing and we all suffer. As I outlined in Part 02 of my lengthy posts, where I highlight possible future disruptions, there are many challenges that lie ahead of us.

That’s why I’ve concluded that we need to build our own parallel system to, if not rival or deny, then at least partially supplement and influence this existing one.

Each of us can do something at our own local level. We cannot simply look to our governments and expect the solutions to come from the top down. Their sluggishness, incompetence and general desire to retain the status quo, means that everything moves at what used to be termed glacial speed.

Working with your friends, neighbors and others from your local community is the best strategy for changing something and creating the system in which you and your families can live healthy, productive lives. There are an increasing number of tools we have at our disposal for creating these alternative/virtual/parallel systems, and there are already some promising projects developing. We just need to learn how to work together toward the common goal of greater societal resilience and making Earth healthy again.

I also believe that when we do experience a major disruption and ordinary people start to suffer economically on a massive scale, a parallel/alternative/virtual system that works, helps and cares for everyone involved will start to look much more attractive, and will enact change on a wider level. Today, we might be considered a bunch of hippies living off the land, tomorrow, however, we’ll be a community that everyone wants to join.

Trying to persuade others that their way of life is wrong and they should change doesn’t work. Sharing apocalyptic warnings on Facebook doesn’t work, people tend to move away from the source of discomfort and simply tune out.

But you know what really would change someone’s mind? Seeing that someone else is genuinely ‘living the good life’, being healthy, happy, having enough to share, and enjoying a deep social connection and meaningful work.

That’s the sort of language people understand because they hope they can do the same. That’s why I think we have the responsibility of creating a parallel system, not just for our selfish needs, or just for our families, but for a better society of tomorrow that others can join, so the balance of power starts to turn in our favor…

In conclusion

If you’re like me and sometimes have a hard time ignoring all the negativity around us, try to focus your attention on what is within your control and influence. Your efforts matter.

When you do feel anxious, make sure you actually do something that day that moves you towards a more resilient situation. Set your bar low, so low, that doing small things is a win for the day.

Understand that to be really resilient and capable of handling things, no matter what happens, you’ll need to build inner resilience and be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Tools and gadgets are great, but your brain is the ultimate tool that needs sharpening daily.

In all of this, don’t forget to be grateful for the abundance in life you DO already have. It’s easy to be fearful, but we need reminding to be grateful. So, when you feel bad or down, reflect on the good things you have in your life.

Finally, one of the most important components of resilience is a community. Connect with others and start building a parallel system that will ensure you and the people around you have a good life, no matter what happens on the world stage.

Okay, so how do you handle the negativity on a day-to-day basis? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

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