I have been interested in permaculture for more than three years. To me, a permaculture site looks like a perfect place to live from the point of views of beauty, green, energy, health, food, local, environment, and self sufficiency.

The Omar Niode Foundation’s blog post Unlocking Nature's Potential at Bumi Langit Institute illustrated my experience at a permaculture complex in Yogyakarta, Indonesia run by Darwina and Iskandar Waworuntu. Bumi Langit, translated Sky Earth, opens its doors for school tours, and courses such as permaculture, organic farming and healthy food.

Around the contoured land of a 3-hectare property visitors can see see a fish pond, goats, chickens, rabbits, and cows, the domesticated animals providing resources for Bumi Langit activities. Facing the cow section was a structure for composting house waste and animals dung. There are different sections of no-till gardens with all kinds of crops only seen in organic markets.

 Image: wattspermaculture.com.au

Another visit to a permaculture site was in Melbourne that I reported in CERES- A Showcase of Sustainable Living.  CERES - Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies, founded in 1982, is an award winning, not-for-profit, sustainability center located on 4.5 hectares rehabilitated mined land.

In a nutshell, CERES has green technology displays, eco-buildings, education and training programs, and social enterprises that demonstrate food security, sustainable agriculture, energy efficiencies, and water conservation in action. The social enterprises interested me most and range from organic market, café, and community kitchen, to permaculture nursery and fair food organics delivery.

Almost three years after my visit to Bumi Langit and CERES, I had the opportunity to take an Introduction to Permaculture Course organized by The Kul Kul Farm at The Green School in Bali.

The Green School, opened in 2008, is the brainchild of Cynthia and John Hardy, successful business professionals who reside in Bali. Its curriculum combines the academic rigour with hands-on experiential learning within a Green Studies curriculum and a Creative Arts curriculum.

The Kul Kul Farm is a social enterprise located within 2 minutes of the main Green School Campus. It is is a living, learning farm, market garden and education center offering residential courses, weekend workshops and events in regenerative agriculture, organic food-growing and sustainable living.

It was in these picturesque green places that I learned about the holistic theory and some hands-on activities that made the knowledge sink in. My weekend class is part of a 17-day Permaculture Design Course being held at the Kul Kul Farm.

Our instructor is Penny Livingston-Stark who is internationally recognized as a prominent permaculture teacher, designer, and speaker and holds a MS in Eco-Social Regeneration and a Diploma in Permaculture Design. She specializes in site planning and the design of resource-rich landscapes integrating, rainwater collection, edible and medicinal planting, spring development, pond and water systems, habitat development and watershed restoration for homes, co-housing communities, businesses, and diverse yield perennial farms.

The energetic Orin Hardy and Maria Faruggia, the founders of The Kul Kul Farm, led us in the hands-on activities of the weekend class that encouraged participants to gain skills and knowledge to create resilience, efficiency and abundance in homes and communities.

Penny started the day by illustrating that in the world that we live in today everything is interrelated. Therefore, in every decision we make, we have to think about the consequences of our actions to at least 7 generations in the future. The 7-Generation principle is the philosophy of sustainable living originated in the Native American communities.

 Image: The Kul Kul Farm

The permaculture 45 participants came from 15 countries with 35 students stayed for the longer course. This diversity enhanced the class as each has his/her unique experience and perception in relation to the interdisciplinary subjects. The longer class had the opportunity to meet local Balinese farmers that have for decades applied permaculture principles into their cultural and agricultural practices.

Permaculture may be the answer to the environmental and social challenges that we are facing today as it is a design process and set of principles that guides us to live and work in ecologically responsible ways. It can be applied to managing land, growing food, designing structures, improving landscapes, and living in community.

The first thing that we have to understand in class is the permaculture ethics of earth care, people care, and fair share. Permaculturists are expected to prevent energy from leaving before basic needs of the whole system are satisfied.

Over the weekend I learned the basics of permaculture with emphasis on the Mollison Permaculture Principles. Observation use protracted and thoughtful observation of natural system rather than protracted and thoughtless labor. The topic of diversity delved into the knowledge that as sustainable systems mature, they become increasingly diverse over time. The number of elements is not as important as the functional relationship between them.

Local focus is to think globally and act locally by growing food, save seed, support local economy, and cooperate with neighbors. A problem is a solution where your focus is on turning constraints into resources. There are 23 more items to ponder in the Mollison Permaculture Principles, each with its own interesting role in nature.

Snacks and lunches during the two-day course are always healthy and nutritious as The Kul Kul Farm provides quality local ‘off the land’ ingredients to make delicious and authentic Balinese meals as well as a few international options. It also caters to vegetarians, vegans & people who don’t eat

wheat or gluten.

I do wish to have a permaculture spot one day, inspired by The Kul Kul Farm’s statement: whether you are interested in growing food in pots on your balcony, designing a kitchen garden, starting community garden, developing techniques to reduce waste and energy consumption or you may have a larger professional project in mind, a Permaculture Design Course will improve your ability to understand and interact with your local environment and give you the inspiration, knowledge and confidence to create great permaculture designs.

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Text: Amanda Niode. Images: Omar Niode Foundation, unless otherwise noted.