Wenderlynn Bagnall - Educator Profile

Biography

I grew up in a rural village in Hertfordshire 20 miles north of London. I was lucky to have access to nature being surrounded by fields and trees. My parents were conventional farmers as was my grandfather. I missed the opportunity to be part of this experience being the youngest of my siblings.

My life was shaped by a violent, dysfunctional family, poor education, mental illness as a teenager and social exclusion as a result. I never settled into a career, not having any qualifications. Whilst having a young family I went to college part-time, gaining several qualifications and became a Mature Students Officer. I later became a victim of domestic violence which was to become another milestone in shaping my life. I started work in further education, supporting and teaching marginalised groups.
For most, these events would have sealed the story of their life. I have since realised that they were a reason for me to learn from the social issues and problems that created them. This was useful in my work with disadvantaged youths.

In 2008, whilst being on the committee of a local transition towns group, I discovered permaculture. Being part of this group was a step towards a more sustainable way of life. In 2010 I became redundant. This lead to a change in paradigm and in 2011, whilst still living in Hertfordshire, my husband and I bought a small plot of land in Devon. Here we developed our land-based skills and started to put into practice the theory of permaculture.
I attended my first permaculture course in Brighton in 2012. I took my Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC), in 2013 with Aranya at Ourganics in Devon. My group experience led me to want to learn more about social Permaculture. I started my Diploma In Applied Permaculture Design at the end of that year and booked on my first social permaculture course in 2014.

I moved to Devon full time in 2015 with my husband to set up our community project, North Devon Permaculture, which is based at Wishtree. This a 5 acre offgrid permaculture, LAND learner and experimental, small farming project. This has shifted our lives into a different paradigm. We are now evolving this into a social enterprise, using permaculture and agroforestry to grow food and help support people with their wellbeing.
We run a consultancy, designing and implementing edible gardens as well as running a plant nursery.

I strongly believe in the connection the land has to our wellbeing and use the lessons from nature to self-heal and for developing my teaching practice. People and land are not separate. They are very much one. Living in such a minimalist way has helped me to learn what is truly valuable and what are our true human feelings and emotions, rather than ones which have developed as part of our upbringing and cultural practices and social beliefs. I appreciate the need for designing systems that work closely with nature and the importance of systems thinking. Through this I have evolved deeply, developing a truer sense of self and authenticity.
I started running permaculture workshops and teaching in August 2015. I consider myself to be one of the new wave of teachers now evolving within permaculture in the UK. I have volunteered for the Permaculture Association UK and have been part of their ambassador programme. I was on the planning committee for the first South West Permaculture Convergence in 2017.

Qualifications and skills
Qualifications: 

Current

• North Devon Permaculture CIC, agroforestry, education, Devon - co-founder and director
• Studying towards my Diploma In Applied Permaculture Design - since 2013

Teacher Training 2010 - 2015
• Permaculture Educators Course [Friland, Denmark]
• 7 Ways To Think Differently (People & Permaculture) [Ragman’s Lane Farm, Gloucs]
• Introduction to Permaculture [Karuna, Shropshire]
• Permaculture Design Certificate [Well End, London]
• CTLLS - Adult education [Hertford Regional College, Hertfordshire]

Courses 2011 - 2017

• Social Enterprise Training [Dartington Devon & Plymouth]
• Permaculture Livelihood [Ourganics, Dorset]
• 7 Ways To Think Differently [Gilwell Park, London]
• People & Permaculture Facilitators In Training [The Fold, Bransford, Worcester]
• Permaculture Design Certificate [Ourganics, Dorset]
• Practical Permaculture Gardening [Brighton Permaculture Trust]
• Practical Horticulture skills [Capel Manor College, Hertfordshire]
• Introduction To The Environment - [Open University module only]



Skills, technical expertise and areas of interest: 

Skills, technical experience
• Agroforestry
• Food Forest
• Producing and harvesting food naturally
• Hedgelaying
• Woodland management
• Scything
• No dig gardening
• Edible Garden Design and implementation
• Low maintenance and low cost gardening
• Propagation of unusual edible and useful trees and plants
• working knowledge of Animal husbandry
• First flush diversion
• Rain water catchment
• Working knowledge of water collection and harvesting using ditches, swales and ponds.
• Teaching Permaculture solo since 2015
• Regenerative living
• Upcycling
• Facilitation of community groups
• Facilitation
• Talks on edible gardening
• Talks on permaculture
• Creating a Permaculture livelihood
• using solutions based thinking
• Community resilience and regeneration
• Managing a livelihood on a very low income.
• fund raising
• Raised £3000 for North Devon Permaculture through Crowdfunder
• Disadvantaged youths and other marginalised groups
• Social entrepreneurship
• Reiki Master Practitioner

Areas of interest
• Social Permaculture
• Growing edible and useful perennial plants
• Designing land based systems
• Garden/ land based design
• Edible Garden Designs
• The Design Web
• 8 forms of capital
• Systems thinking
• Building resilient and regenerative communities
• Localisation
• Decentralisation
• Devolution
• Regenerative and resilient living
• Gift economy
• Transition Towns
• RegenAG
• Permaculture and mental illness
• Regenerative living
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Raising awareness that we are nature, we just need to find our way again.
• Holding on to the child within us all
• Herbalism
• Open seed pollination
• REconomy
• Non violent communication
• Effective communication
• Right livelihood
• Using paganism in designing
• Social entrepreneurship
• Reiki
• Fund raising
• Volunteering
• Recycling - how to reuse just about everything!



Areas of Permaculture Design Experience: 

• Studying towards Diploma In Applied Permaculture Design
• I co-manage a 5 acre Permaculture, land learner project, implementing people care and land based designs.
• I was a co-founder of Thriving Ways.
• Since 2013 I have created and co-created several private edible garden designs
• I am co-founder and director of North Devon Permaculture social enterprise.
• I used The Design Web to create the original North Devon Permaculture Network in 2014 (now Hatherleigh Edges and Permaculture Community Regeneration Group)
• Currently co- designing a pilot project to create and edible garden for our preschool
• Teaching introduction to Permaculture courses incorporating a third day for social Permaculture.
• Designing selfcare for mental illness using Permaculture tools and techniques.
• Using Permaculture for my own mental illness
• Running a 5 acre Permaculture livelihood for two people, living and meeting some of our needs on a very low income.

Teaching Information

Please contact me for details.


Wenderlynn Bagnall - Main Profile

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