When I started the journey in to my Diploma I had no firm idea where it was headed. I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to be involved in land based permaculture design, although I do have working links with a CIC company ( Orchard Barn) that runs green woodworking courses with the opportunity to build up Permaculture courses there. Click on link to go to website
AS my journey has unfolded I have found that Permaculture has dramatically changed my life, by pushing my boundaries and giving me the design tools to enable me to take responsibility and direction for what I really want in my life. I can honestly say that a year on I am not the same person that started on this journey. I have grown from a seed that didn’t see my own potential in to a young shoot reaching for nutrients, sun and water to keep growing into my full potential and become a beautiful plant bearing fruits. I am more confident, ready to take on challenges and try new things. My world has expanded beyond belief. I have found each project has had a 2 way teaching curve. I learn as much about myself as do about the people I am working with. I have gained a lot of friends through building up the network of skills for Weaving the Web and the website, learned about a lot of new skills through taster sessions, learned how far I can push myself and my boundries before my energy levels and confidence took a dip,built up a good support network around me whom I can call on when I need help. Most of the projects I have built are ongoing and are still building which adds extra pressure to the other projects I am building ,fitting it all in is a challenge!
Project 1 All about me! In order to make changes I needed to take a long hard look at who I was, how I had got to the person I am now, what my negative self-sabotaging behaviours were, how I kept repeating the same patterns, how to deal with them and move on. I started with myself as Zone 0 and used myself as a model on which to work out a design that I could use to help improve the lives of other people as well. I could clearly see the areas of my life that were out of balance and needed work on. I set out to improve my energy levels through a healthier life style, looking at health, food, exercise, spiritual beliefs and work. I found the project life enhancing and liberating, leaving me with a feeling that I could accomplish any goal I put my mind to. For me the projects are directed at helping people to empower themselves giving them the tools to turn their lives around .
Project 2 community Project 2 was created to give people a chance to showcase their skills promote who they are and what they do. I set out to build a hub of skills that could be utilized with in the community. I found this project very exciting and challenging at the same time,as I was really pushed my boundaries by interacting with large groups of people, completely out of my comfort zone. I had fun networking and gathering video footage for the webshite , I learned a lot about different subjects, although it was exhausting at times trying to divide my time between working during the day, physically building the project, building the network up and documenting everything on the website.I tried to multifunction wherever possible for the best use of the available time, even cramming video sessions in to my lunch breaks.
Project 3 allowed me to work closely with people on a one to one basis, encouraging hidden potential and boosting self-esteem. It was interesting to watch the same patterns of sabotage in other people yes we all do it! When I discovered TFT Thought Field Theerapy I found a powerful tool which helped me get through quite a few unconscious blocks. I have recomnended it to others as tool to help cope with blockages when they arise. I found this project very rewarding watching people gain confidence and grow as they move in to the roles that they are passionate about.
Project 4 found me kneee deep in cyber technology wadding my way through website building. This website is an extention of the community project Weaving the Web. This tested me beyond belief as I lost information I had put on the website so many times, I also had the same problem with my diploma website where I lost whole web pages, so did I learn from my challanges yes! back up back up and back up again!!!!!!!!! The website is a something that constantly needs monitoring and updating and is time consuming, But it works well, and people do use it. I have plans to add more levels to it to keep it growing by putting mini tutorials on , I just need the time to down load them.
Project 5 involved looking at different teaching techniques how to put information over in an interesting way,this stretched my boundries by having to stand up in front of 40- 50 people be coherant, knowledgable, fun and leave then wanting more!! I also explored teaching and working with different abilities, coming at the subject from a different angle taught me a lot about myself, about judgements,viewing things from anothers perspective, bringing in touch,smell, taste using the senses me dont usualy think about. My mother has been diagnosed with dementia, I have done a lot of research and been introduced to another level of communication,involving all abilities in workshops whatever level they are at. This has taught me patients, I have become more creative in my approach to teaching and communication, thinking outside the box.
Projects Reveiw I am pleased with the way the projects have connected to form individual ideas that build and work together to ultimatley create a small sustainable community, I have utilized the first 5 projects to learn about not only the physical building of living structures for sustainable living and survival, but also the nutritional,spiritual mental and emotional needs for a community to work successfully. By trialing these projects on a smaller scale first it enables me to pinpoint any potential problems, tweek and resolve them before I move on to ustilize what I have learned to write a blue print for a larger scale community. The skills that would take me to long to achieve and are not viable for me to learn I am sourcing from the network being built up through Weaving the Web. Within Weaving the Web gatherings I have tried to embrace many dfferent cultures and faiths, I welcome all abilities and cultures and work with the veiw that everyone has a special skill or talent some where within them.
Challenges As I reveiwed my projects I was objective and approached this exercise by reveiwing the negatives as well as the positives in order to target areas that could be improved upon and extra skills sets that need to be added to my portfoilo. Time managament Managing my time between physicaly building the project and documenting it is a challenge that I still havn't managed to overcome. A lot of my time is taken by tweeking the projects on the website,going over the information I have allready put on and making alterations. I need to source and factor in a more efficient managament system, divide the project in to managable and realistic time sections.
Profesional presentation Comparisions between my Diploma website and other Diploma students shows I still have a way to go on this subject. My experience with profesional presentation researching and reveiwing is limited and this is an area I need to work on not only to improve the presentation skills of my websites but also for future potential clients. If it was viable time wise to rebuild the websites I would use a different design with a clearer and easy to read format.
This seems like a natural point to take stock and reassess how far I have come, to look at the achievements and skills attained so far and to identify any skill gaps.Identify the resources, skills, places and people who can assist me to achieve my goal of setting up and running a successful business
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Profesional Reveiw I have achieved a wide ranging set of skills and experiences while building the diploma projects.Connected with a diverse network of people gathering information and skills to add to the resource hub I have been building up to share with the community. The overall criteria for Weaving the Web is to empower the individual and therefore the whole community and ultimately their environment and the Earth by taking responsibiltity and improving lives in a holistic and sustainable way. Making positive changes starts with the individual then has a knock on effect into the community. To enable an individual to function as a complete person a holistic approach is required. The subjects included in Weaving the Web include the subjects below: Food Exercise Spiritual well being Sustainable living (personnel living environment) Music Creative arts Self-help and therapies Networking and social support groups
This will be a blue print for the future venture to form a permanent base for a community based on Weaving the Web gatherings.
The information is also added to the Weaving the Web website. This enables each individual access to pursue the subject of interest and expand their knowledge and boundaries. It also assists the therapist or demonstrator by promotion of their particular subject forming a hub of people with skills and knowledge on the website and also within the network of Weaving the Web.
This information is also utilized when planning the Phoenix Gatherings a festival for the community exploring diverse and alternative subjects; music crafts arts and having fun. Active encouragement is offered to help other spin of groups to form.
A summary of subjects and contacts made accessible to the community. Carbon footprint checking the carbon footprint of each project for sustainability. Encourage car shares, use of reusable materials for crafts and art, music borrowed musical instruments Teaching in the community workshops Permaculture talks and presentations leading to courses Action Showing use of different design systems Research check authenticity of subject mater Finance
Self help Self-help techniques Eft and TFT Emotional freedom therapy and thought field therapy Laughter Yoga Massage
Encourage the creative Introduction to and encouraging expression for every level of development through actively taking part in: Art Being expressive through different mediums and methods of art. Art therapy. Colour and mediums. Poetry Expression through the written word Music Expression through music. Frame drums, gong baths, meditative sound journeys
Exercise Dance Expressive dance for exercise and expression. Tia Chi Connection to the body and soul through exercise Exploring the effect of foods on the body Encouraging the community to grow their own Food Sustainable living Introduction to living a sustainable way of life on Financially land based
Making it financially viable to all. Skill swap instead of money Financially supported Setting up a lets system swapping parties Skill swaps Tool shares Library Café of whole food Spiritual well being Introductions, embracing and learning about different faiths, encouraging people to question what their beliefs are Pagan Druids Christians Catholics Buddhism Shamanism Land
How I applied permaculture to my life Put theory in to action Use design frame work Use variety of media Create cohesive designs Produce presentations for clients Show competent in learning Achieve fluency in tool sk
Explain how permaculture principles were used to design Worked on other sites Did a design for others Financed them Art media culture communication Community projects dissemination sharing work Eco foot print Reuse of resources other peoples skills reusable
Tools Presenting information to the public utilising interesting colourful interactive media Websites Meetings Network Power point
Over all pathway goal To gather information and experience to set up a successful self-sustainable community Gain experience working and being interactive with people.
Weaving the web Phoenix Orchard Barn Encourage self-empowerment for the individual Design a workshop Explore ways of working together to make community work (politics) Spiritual awareness Explore different ways of living sustainably without money Reusable resources Spiritual connection to the land Working with different media to get the message across