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Permalink Reply by Willi Paul on September 5, 2011 at 2:00am

In my case, I am developing a new Permaculture Guild for San Mateo County

http://www.meetup.com/Permaculture-Guild-San-Mateo-County

 

One challenge here is to create a "virtual geographical boundary" where

no exists at present! Specific community boundaries invite & drive community.

 

WOX

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Permalink Reply by Permie Hubster on September 5, 2011 at 1:46pm

Hi Ben and Willi

Great question Ben! I've been meaning to post something about this on the website, I was thinking of using the title "Not Another Permaculture Website...", ha ha.

Willi, your comment hits one of the nails on the head. Until we know what our community actually looks like, we have relatively little ability to expand our networks and effectiveness.

Us permaculture people have some amazing eco-skills and are having an inspiring, positive, practical impact in creating a better future. However, the very intensive nature of the work we are doing means that many of us choose to invest all our available energy into improving the land projects we are working on.

From a community perspective, this so often results in amazing projects but fragmented community. I believe that Permaculture Guilds are one of the most valuable resources within our community, yet prior to now, no resource has existed to socially link these and the many permaculture projects together. I've been participating in and observing permaculture communities here and in Australia for a number of years and this fragmentation seems almost universal through the global community.

So for sometime I've been exploring what resources are already out there to see how the situation could be improved - I'm probably a member of the same four permaculture networks you talk about Ben, I've signed up to so many different permaculture sites and groups over the years!

After reviewing it all, we ended up deciding to set up this network to try and bring together the greatest combination of social-connection tools specifically for the permaculture community - there are more we're working on, such as potentially adding in mapping functionality to visually encourage us all when we see just how many of us are out there and how widely we're spread! I think the permaculture community has been itching for the opportunity Permaculturehub presents - the feedback I've already received definitely indicates this too.

I could write an essay about all the ways I think Permaculturehub will be able to - finally - really connect the national (and maybe one day, the global) permaculture community. So to keep it shorter I'll just jot down a few of the ways I hope Permaculturehub will be able to benefit permaculture people everywhere, IMAGINE:

• A permaculture teacher in Tennessee distributes course notes to her PDC students via a private Permaculturehub Group (in the name of her Permaculture Consulting business), providing a platform for them to discuss what they've learned at the course as well as immediately plugging these new permaculture people into and keeping them engaged with the broader permaculture community
• A permaculture CSA co-op farmer in Oregon starts a blog on his Permaculturehub My page where he tells stories about farm life, describes the produce the farm is currently growing, and discusses the latest permaculture farming advancements. His permaculture customers and a bunch of new local permaculture people start "following" him from their own My page, generating new demand for his organic produce and leading to his farming co-op buying some additional traditionally farmed land and converting it over to organic farming processes
• A permaculture guild uses Permaculturehub as its main organizing tool, facilitating discussions, posting videos and photos of recent projects, and promoting it to a bunch of local people who weren't even aware of the local group. Using the event functionality of Permaculturehub they receive more than 20 RSVP's, turning a small permablitz project into a community changing event
• A local council member hears about permaculture, finds Permaculturehub on the net and discovers that there are three guilds already meeting in his city. The linkages he makes with the local teams lead to a rewriting of the city's landscaping bylaws
• A regional permaculture convergence in the Mid-West draws a crowd of several hundred for a weekend of recharging and imagining the future. Videos of key sessions and discussions are posted and linked to the Permaculturehub Illinois group, engaging the Illinois permaculture people who weren't able to attend and allowing others from around the country to catch the energy from the event
• Over time, a number of individuals from around Bismarck, North Dakota join Permaculturehub, upon discovering that there are five of them in close proximity they decide to get together and out of this a new Guild is formed
• An experienced permaculture practitioner is relocated by her employer and uses permaculturehub to identify and connect with the permaculture guilds in her new location

Wow, just thinking through these possiblities pumps me up! And there is so much more potential - facilitating  trading of permaculture services and products through the Permaculturehub Classifieds functionality, linking up new land purchasers with permaculture focused financing groups through connections made on Permaculturehub, the development and dissemination of permaculture resource toolsets on such topics as Setting Up a New Guild or Starting Your Permaculture Business as a result of discussions on Permaculturehub, the removal of the duplication of effort and the frequent 'reinventing of the wheel' in the community as permaculturehub members and guilds utilize the experiences and resources of others in the network.

The opportunities are many, and really only limited by the imagination of the Permaculturehub community and what it wants Permaculturehub to become.

I'd love to hear the many ideas and dreams that people have about what could be possible with Permaculturehub and the permaculture community.

Happy growing

Jesse

PS. This has almost become essay length! Thanks for reading to the end!

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