Suddenly, it’s okay to just not turn up

Recently we have noticed an unhappy trend. People book into our courses and then don't show up on the day. I'm not unsympathetic, and I know that life can be unpredictable, but we're seeing this occur in numbers well beyond the reasonable. Not only are people failing to show, they are failing to let us …

Using permaculture to mitigate flooding: Part 2

I'm listening to the repeat of a radio interview with someone who is an expert on flood mitigation and it's reminding me of an old systems thinking aphorism: "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" The engineer's recommendations include raising dam walls and moving people to higher ground. For an …

Using permaculture to mitigate flooding: Part 1

It's another year of grey skies, but there is always light on the horizon This month I wrote an article for the local newsletter about what we can do to mitigate flooding. I'm sharing an edited version here for people that might find it useful as we face another big year of rain, but please …