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I, (Scott David Church)*, do hereby solemnly (and playfully) promise myself, and any others present, that I will care for the Earth, care for people, and take no more than my fair share for personal use. I understand my personal use, in fact, as working to to regenerate life in the land, in my communities, and in myself (my spirit, my soul, being, my Oneness). I will honor the efforts of my fellow Permaculturists in any form I find them. I will examine both intent and effect in my observation. I will give feedback lovingly, and accept the burden of working on myself. My network gives me strength, and I give back to it what I can, knowing that the stronger my network, the stronger I am. I take this obligation freely. I pledge to discharge these sacred duties faithfully, so help me (God/Goddess/me/nature/FSM). 

*Parentheses and words/other words intended to accommodate the  wide range of beliefs present  in my particular course. If you want to use this pledge, feel free to modify words as necessary.

I took an Oath of Office when I commissioned into the Air Force. I’ve always considered it a powerful statement, and it still gives me goosebumps when I hear people pledge themselves to a purpose. As I was about to receive my Permaculture Design Certificate last week, I realized there was no such pledge I’d be making in this capacity, although I consider the work just as (if not more) important. So, I wrote myself the above Promise. After showing off my clapping skills as a member of The Pink Flamincos of Colombia (Tennessee), I read it at our final group activity, the renowned PDC talent show.

It felt good to re-read that and transcribe it onto the Internet. It’s been a week since our last day at Spiral Ridge, and I am still having frequent revelations about how the world needs Permaculture, and seeing places that might have nice soil for gardens, with pleasant microclimates for experimental polycultures. I want to plant seeds everywhere, make compost, catch solar energy, dig holes… the whole shebang, but I am realizing that in addition to making my own yard a veritable paradise of edibles and medicinal herbs, I can have a bigger effect if I apply myself to social permaculture. This means helping to create systems that perpetuate the useful knowledge and and best practices that I just learned.

For now, I’m going to dry some molokhia that I can send to my wife. She’ll like that, and she’ll probably cook it for somebody. It grows really well in Alabama. 

I am still observing, though, and recording many thoughts on the best places to put my energy. Throughout my reflection, I have been feeling like I can have the greatest impact through practicing social permaculture. This means engaging more people around me, and helping them get on board with at least a few of the solutions that raise awareness, enhance personal wellness, and connect people to each other and the earth.

Our final activity at the Spiral Ridge Fall Permaculture Design Course was to define Permaculture for ourselves. My thoughts: What is Permaculture? At it’s most basic, it’s a way to provide for your needs. When you get into it, though, it turns out to me much more.
It is a way of thinking, designing, and creating abundance that encompasses the sum total of responsible and regenerative farming, cradle-to-cradle living, and ethical decision making. It incorporates old school knowledge and cutting edge techniques to feed, shelter, and care for people. When people are talking about how to fix the world, permaculture is the solution that most people have never heard of.

5 Related goals:

1. Plan to facitste a PDC in 2016.
2. Write more instructional posts from here out.
3. Improve/create network with reliable and organized Permaculturists.
4. Experiment/implement key line design (more on this later)
5. Create full on designs for every property I can affect.

Being a better man starts with seeing yourself as you are. Sometimes that means seeing yourself lying in a dirt road laughing your ass off at the night sky during a blood moon lunar eclipse, because of the absurdity of it all. See, you stayed up even though you were exhausted to see this once in 32 years event, and now it’s completely cloudy and dark, and you haven’t set up camp. This is a silly place to start, but it’s as good a starting place as any.

The habits you have make up your character. Fortunately, this is not something you do too often, else people might think you were too much of a maniac to be near. The habits that make you less effective become clear from an external perspective. Touching the fat on your belly, your are reminded to eat healthy things, generally in moderation. A general malaise and lack of energy is impetus to get more exercise, and keep your body free of junk or toxins. Feeling cold and alone, you are reminded of those who make you feel comfort, so you call your wife and child, who badly need your support, especially because you must be away at the moment. Living your life apart no longer seems simply inconvenient, it seems unnatural. You should live with your family. This is the right way to love, and to nurture them, which is what wives and children (and anybody) generally need the most.

This makes sense. Now you have to make it work. You’re smart, you’ll figure it out.

You are grateful to have a borrowed hammock, and moreover, friends and family who care for you as you go to sleep. Good night.

I’m writing this from Spiral Ridge, a sustainable, permaculture homestead outside of Summertown, Tennessee. I’m here for 12 days to get a Permaculture Design Certification. The folks who are teaching it are a married couple who have been here for six years. When they arrived, they had almost nothing, except a lifetime of knowledge and useful skill building. They built a cabin, powered by 400W of solar panels, heated by passive solar, and supplied water from a well. They transformed the landscape from a barren, just logged hilltop to a lush and densely packed edible forest and food production hub, while raising four children. Pretty awesome and dedicated people.

What is Permaculture? Everybody who practices it gets asked this question at some point, and there are plenty of different answers. The word is often interpreted to be a mashup of “permanent agriculture.” That’s only one aspect, though. At its core, Permaculture is a discipline to care for the Earth and to care for people, in a responsible and fair way. Permaculturists interact with and support their local ecosystems, strengthening the productivity of landscapes with care create more value than they will harvest, thus improving the land. They build great empires of biodiversity using small and slow solutions, which eventually produce yields which are magnitudes of order above that of “traditional” farming. I get to experience this first hand because the Air Force has seen fit to pay for and send me out here for this class. It may be surprising, but this is where my Intelligence career has led me.

In the style of so many other listicles, here are 10 things that happen when you go to a PDC.

1. You realize that you are not alone in trying to save the world for future generations with your neurotic recycling and composting habits. Actually, you are falling short.
2. You share your intimate life goals with strangers. These strangers share their life goals with you. These strangers become your friends.
3. You make friends with skills. Like, real skills that are useful. Building skills, bow hunting skills, tracking skills, planting skills, negotiation skills, food preservation skills…
4. Because of all those skills, you suddenly feel like you have a pretty good chance to survive any impending apocalypse, including the arrival of zombies.
5. You realize how much you don’t know, and you become intensely curious about matters of microbial soil life, what pigs like to eat, how to sculpt turtles from clay, and where water goes when it lands on the ground after a rain.
6. You get excited when your new friends can answer your questions.
7. You develop the ability to design lifescapes, where land and life intersect in a way that is beneficial to both. This feels awesome.
8. You feel so awesome, you believe you can do things that you have no business doing what-so-ever, like DJing karaoke in a country bar (maybe called “The Rebel.”) You do it, and it actually works.
9. You spontaneously burst into dance/clapping fits/chanting “nematode”/laughter, because you trust the people around you like you trust your childhood friends.
10. You develop the urge to share this experience with other people, and you form your own plans to host a permaculture design course, so that others can experience what you have just gone through, and enjoyed so much.

PS. There are still 3 more days of this course to go…

*Results typical under specific circumstances.

I’m Scott, and I have lots of ideas. Leadership, Permaculture, Technology, Wellness. These are things that the world needs more of, so I write, talk, and think about them a lot. I want my son to grow up in a better world than the one we have, and I want to have fun creating it for him.

I tell all my students to write down their goals. This simple act is powerful – it puts a thought into the world in a way that can be observed, contemplated, and revisited later. I write goals because it makes me more likely to achieve them. The activity serves as a form of introspection and metacognition, allowing me to think through my planning process, and examine my beliefs motivating my action. I believe ensuring that goals are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-oriented) helps  So, I’ll enumerate some of my own goals for this site here.

I will…

-Capture and report quality insights from where leadership, permaculture, technology, and wellness intersect

-Provide a unique perspective, examining concepts and ideas from my multiple viewpoints (leader, father, entrepreneur, intelligence analyst, military, suburbanite, occasional maniac)

-Report lessons learned and real-time updates on what is working and what isn’t

-Explain how to those wanting to do some of the things I do

-Encourage others to act for the betterment of this world, and the world our children will inhabit

-Connect with both like-minded and contrary individuals

-Entertain, especially if you like slapstick and/or how chickens are really little dinosaurs

-Post weekly

OK. That’ll do it for now.

Resiliently,

Scott