Applying the philosophy in a specific community.

The essence of a successful approach to building a sustainable and workable rural community is working hand in hand from the start with the community and building a philosophy of inclusivity from the word go.

Different communities have different strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities as well as their own individual combination of human individuals. Obtaining contribution from all towards the greater whole and the ultimate good of the community is a prerequisite.

Some will get involvement from the outset and others might be a bit skeptical until they see positive results. Bringing in expert input and advice is a tactic that bears fruit, not only for this community but also for those brought in from other communities to share and help build.

Permaculture is a much bandied about word and has lost a great deal of its impact through repetition and being randomly used to describe community programs that don’t adhere to the basic concepts.

Someone brought in to work and teach can not only strengthen the community and its structures but will gain much food for thought and take back a different perspective on methods and techniques that go to build a workable and sustainable permaculture ethos.

This meeting of minds and sharing the same philosophy on the individual and the individual rural community and their right to structure and build sustainability in their distinct and unique way is a crucial building block for communities as well as other communities that they meet with and share ideas that they have worked.

Permaculture deals with the growing of food and the efficient use of arable and fertile land as well as the structure of grazing fields, planted fields and rested fields. As a starting off point it has the benefits of dealing with the basic need for a reliable and stable source of healthy nourishment that comes from planting crops with a plan and getting back into sync with the earth and its cycles.

Those in a community that are initially skeptic will be confronted with results that show short term, immediate gain and benefits for the entire community.

This is a critical step in reinforcing the community belief in their individual identity and the culture of building their place on the planet from the bottom up independent from government choices or decisions made by big business.

As a foundation, instilling a belief in the people regarding their capacity to supply enough food for all from the earth is a great boost and can underpin the next stages of constructing new houses and other structures and fencing for keeping animals out of vegetable patches. Water management is a factor in choosing where to plant and where the waste management site is located as that can infect and affect the growing of healthy and nutritious vegetables, herbs and fruit.

These are all key long term decisions and need to be thoroughly discussed with the community and people need to be chosen to work on these aspects of community existence in a full time capacity.

The emphasis is on building a program block by block that never actually reaches a destination but keeps evolving as the dynamic changes and the flow of people, food, livestock, waste and water keeps changing, increasing and decreasing related to human movement, demand and climate change.