01/05/2026
Hello friends!
(It’s a long read but I think it's worth the time. TLDR there’s class info below!)
Wow eh? What the heck is even going on in the world?
It’s been a while since I’ve last written. To be honest, sometimes I feel too sensitive for this world and sometimes I remember that sensitivity is a rare gift (and not solely a curse 😉). Perhaps you relate.
Of course things are not easy given the circumstances. This is really not supposed to be easy. That said, we can do hard things. I don’t have anything better to do anyway. (Sarcasm)
Tbh I think things will continue to get harder and we will probably have to show up in ways we didn’t previously anticipate. How do we design for that?
In my opinion a good starting place is having effective tools and keeping them well honed. (I love a good metaphor as much as I love good tools). Sometimes we need to acquire new tools and learn how to use them, and sometimes we have to clean the rust off the old ones and hone them. This takes time and effort and willingness. Sometimes it can be hard to even recognize that the simple tools, although perhaps boring and overly familiar, are often the best for the job. We need to be willing to be uncomfortable, to be wrong, or do it badly and we hate that.
Knowing it’s natural human behaviour that most of us will avoid discomfort is important because it humanizes and depersonalizes the experience and gives us an honest starting place. We can handle some discomfort. Especially if we know it will be worth it.
I want to personally remind you that you aren’t alone. You, my friend, are having a human experience (talking to myself. Ahem…) and despite the myriad immense issues we are facing, none of us is alone. We are bees in a beehive. At this moment, you and I are actively sharing an experience with the others who are reading this. Isn’t that neat? That’s real magic. This world is actually filled with real magic: seeds, breath, the sun, books, weather, birds, each other, on and on. We share that.
When I was a kid I always imagined I would be part of some “great battle between good and evil”. I always imagined like, wizards and knights and dragons and such. Kid stuff. But here we are, in what seems to be exactly a great battle between good and evil. But it’s far more existential than I imagined.
So I ask myself what my role is? What good can I do? Our world has been corrupted by previously unimaginable evil. And here we are faced with it. And I am so small and insignificant. One drop in a vast ocean. (Here is where I insert ALL my “not enough” negative self talk.)
Paying attention can sometimes be debilitating, and I do think that is part of the point: to make us feel that we are helpless and that these multiple atrocities happening simultaneously are inevitable. At the same time attempting to (perhaps successfully) make us feel alone in those feelings as we are propagandized to dehumanize others and to devalue life in general and Earth’s natural systems.
Of course we aren’t alone and these atrocities are not inevitable and we will not be duped into dehumanizing human beings. We won’t be duped into thinking it’s “too late” and that life and ecosystems and earth systems don’t matter anymore. Not only are these things not inevitable but we have the solutions already. The one most prominent thing that stands in the way of true justice is profiteering.
Permaculture does speak of “obtaining a yield” as a principle, but this isn’t the same as profiteering. Nature naturally distributes wealth and creates yields out of waste products and collective care. In many traditional human societies the wealthiest individuals are the ones who could give away the most, knowing they could rely on their skills and their community in turn.
Humans are evolved to collective care and I for one wholeheartedly reject the notion that “humans are the problem”. The problem is greed, selfishness, and again, “profiteering”. This is not “humans”. Most people reading this feel the same way. And this is just one email. Imagine how many people globally agree. Most of us are beholden and all but helpless as individuals. I dare say we have been conditioned to feel that way over generations with threats of poverty, violence, prison, excommunication, etc.
So what do we do?
I don’t believe hope is naive. I do however believe it is active and that it does take work. Just as relationships take work and community takes work. Hope is necessary to hold as we envision a truly just world. We must cherish small joys and moments and the ephemeral nature of life on this planet as we stay informed and in touch with our increasingly harsh reality.
In our classes at Three Acre Permaculture, we talk about strategies. One philosophy of permaculture design is to have strategies in place for when things go wrong. Because they will. This is relevant to gardens as well as relationships and evidently even on a global scale. Permaculture design is ethical and holistic design. There’s as many ways to do that as there are permaculture practitioners.
Most graduates of the permaculture design course start to design their lives proactively. Very few of us go on to become professional garden designers.
Our courses at Three Acre Permaculture are heavy with philosophies of “social permaculture” including: how we interact with others, how we spend our time, what strategies we use when we inevitably feel hopeless and helpless, and personal accountability.
Permaculture is active. Permaculture design is iterative.
One small strategy I am personally trying to remember is a concept called “sphere of influence”. Considering what I can do, and what’s within my ability to control as obviously there is an overwhelming amount happening outside of my individual control.
This may be as small as a hot shower, jumping jacks, cooking a healthy meal for my family, or putting on a favourite record to shift the energy. It might be taking the dog for an extra long walk, or heading to the forest alone to “be”. It might be telling a friend I’m having a hard time and letting them hold space. Or choosing to be extra patient with my teenager, where my parents wouldn’t have been with me (this in itself is potentially world changing).
Small things matter. Small tweaks, small efforts, even the act of just “noticing” can be truly life changing as it allows us a fragment of time to make a choice. To be proactive rather than reactive. I liken this to the ripples in a pond. Those ripples move out in greater and greater increments, and individuals and our actions also have that effect. It might feel insignificant, but it isn’t.
Hang in there, friend. I believe in you.
Sending love.
Michael (and Helen)
***
COURSE INFO!
A few of you have expressed interest in learning with us and we’d love that too.
This year all our courses are Pay What You Can with a suggested range and they’re open to anyone regardless of ability to pay. There’s a sliding scale dollar amount on each registration page as always. No one will be refused because of money. Those who cannot pay with money will be asked to “pay” in other ways: community engagement, volunteering, etc. In my experience, things are valued more when there is a value exchange ascribed.
Our 2026 itinerary available at our w3bs1te
