Social Permaculture

Being part of the five person facilitation team for the Social Permaculture course in the UK was a major highlight of Robin’s whole year. Months of planning and Skype meetings across five countries saw the group find their flow and direction together and create the bones of the program. The Sustainability Centre in Hampshire was the perfect Permaculture venue and many people camped and enjoyed the surrounding woods. Here’s a few definitions of Social Permaculture by some of the facilitators. Starhawk “Preparing people to step into positions of power and leadership “Social Permaculture is creating new sets of principles and guidelines for groups” The art of social permaculture and facilitating groups is to be aware on as many levels as possible of what is happening under the surface The goal of social permaculture is to bring tools and skills to communities impacted by the most destruction or do not have …

Robin attended the Australasian Facilitators Network (AFN) Conference in Ballana, Nth NSW in early November last year. This annual gathering of peers, along with the approaching ‘Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning’ course in mid-November in SE Qld, were used as the launching pad for Robin’s long dreamed of ‘Creative Process Wild Card’ set. Beautiful graphic design by Robin’s partner Rob Clark and thorough editing and brilliant InDesign tuition by Eve Witney made the project possible and supported Robin to achieve a high standard result. The Cards evolved out of a long used ‘Dynamic Groups’ course activity that’s designed to challenge participants to try out new and creative processes to teach or present on a topic. This evolved from an original process that Skye and Robin began using 25 years ago to great effect. For example, if you are a little tired of teaching your pet topic the same way each time …

Thanks to the awesome graphic design skills and willingness of Robin’s partner Rob Clark ‘The Manual for Teaching Permaculture Creatively’ now has a brand new colour cover. Very fitting seeing as the iconic 320 page text, written by Skye and Robin in the early 90s and published by their business Earthcare Education in 1995, is turning 21 this year. Yeah! Many hundreds of people have purchased the Manual and it’s enjoyed in over 65 countries. In recent times it’s become available as a PDF through a DropBox Folder system. It was originally designed as a solid ring binder so it could be a huge ‘Tool Box’ to be added to over and over by its new owners as they witnessed, created or adapted processes that they wanted to remember and find easily. This hard copy is preferable to most people though click this link if you’d like to purchase the PDF …

Robin recently completed a massive five week teaching and facilitation journey in Victoria, timed around an invitation to present at ‘Rainbow Serpent Festival’ and also enabling her to present at ‘Sustainable Living Festival’ and display her relevant books and resources there while helping out in the Edible Garden Area. ‘Rainbow Serpent Festival’ was a fantastic and wildly different event which mostly catered to young people out to dance and party hard. The more recently introduced ‘Lifestyle Village’ area opens the festival to a wider more conscious audience which is where Robin was invited in to be part of. It’s replete with a visionary art gallery, two ephemeral temple spaces, a small and a quite large presentation and workshop venue as well as a Permaculture garden area, Indigenous village, free healing and massage zone and children’s area. Robin presented two workshops on Permaculture design and Social Permaculture and was the only …

Robin spent a full 5 weeks in August and September 2015 on an amazingly full and fruitful adventure to UK and Spain, presenting courses in three countries, attending the International Permaculture Conference and Convergence, offering workshops there and also on the core facilitation team for an exciting global Permaculture initiative called Permaculture’s Next Big Step. She came home exhausted yet deeply satisfied at the response to her work and managed to cover the costs of her trip and sell lots of books, manuals and training resources that went home to dozens of different countries. One outcome is invitations to offer her ‘Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning’ Creative Facilitation and Teacher Training course in something like 7 European countries and the UK again in the middle months of 2017. Her trip began in the Mediterranean, on the Spanish island of Mallorca where she was hosted by PermaMed to run a one day …

“Social Permaculture supports People Care and healthy Group Culture”  – Robin Clayfield Softening the Edges Social Permaculture and Beyond There was a special charge in the air and woodland gardens at the Sustainability Centre in the British Countryside. It was here, under the full moon, that a colourful mosaic of people from all ages, languages, cultures and countries was woven together, representing the fabric of the World Community. We met in a circle, bright eyed and open to a creative journey ahead. What followed could not have been known by anyone, not even the facilitators. The Social Permaculture Course emerged through a series of interaction between the core facilitators, a team of apprentices and a host of participants, shaping itself like a permaculture design to the site specific situation, elements and energies, influences and ideas that sprang out of this incredible transformational environment. At the heart of this new magic …