Hi, We're a fledgling permaculture based home/ smallholding in the far North of Scotland. We're also members of a small community of individuals with a permaculture interest (with and without PDCs) in this patch (Caithness and Sutherland) in which we've formed a peer support group. We have a Facebook Group here and a Facebook Messenger Group here.
My educational permaculture biography is presently short but my permaculture journey has been long. I first came to hear the word permaculture in the late 70s by a chance conversation with a friend who had spent some time travelling in and around Tasmania/Australia and let me borrow a pamphlet written by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. I've been wracking my brains and think it was something like Permaculture for Australian Organic Farmers but it's a long time ago and he took the pamphlet back when I'd done but did give me a passing glance at his copy of Permaculture One which he wouldn't part with. I took on some of the principles through my engineering / design career and eventually came to permaculture proper some considerable time later.
I've read Bill Mollisons books, watched various of his TV programmes & PDCs. I've gone on to read, study & watch Patrick Whitefield, Geoff Lawton & others and it's taken an age to formalise my knowledge by taking my PDC. I had the great pleasure of taking part in the first sponsored Permaculture Scotland Design Course in Orkney where I've formalised my permaculture learning through gaining a PDC under the expert tutelage of the late Graham Bell, Mark Shipperlee and Casper Lampkin. I'm now consolidating that experience on my own land and in starting to teach (they say the best way to learn is to teach).
I've co-taught an in-person Permaculture Introduction and Forest Gardening weekend course with Graham Bell and joined Lusi Alderslowe in teaching the Permaculture Associations Foundations in Permaculture Course specifically for the Highlands and Islands where our challenges are somewhat different to the norm and did a brief introduction to permaculture for an online level 2 award course in forest gardening and am now focusing on climate action work.
I've joined the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network & Transition Network Hub for Scotland (SCCAN) to focus on teaching climate action in Scotland. Previously I represented the Permaculture Association from the Scottish perspective by running their Twitter account, co-managing their Facebook page & Facebook group which I encourage you to join, being the Projects Network Development Officer - Scotland (covers ScotLAND demonstration sites and projects) and working for the Permaculture Association on their Pebble Trust funded work. I have also been working at promoting #52ClimateActions via their website www.52climateactions.com. I'm a past member of the Permaculture Scotland Events Team and Working Group and am a member of the Permaculture Association's Educator's Working Group.
I'm presently developing an Introduction to Permaculture course in Caithness, facilitating Climate For Change conversations, Carbon Literacy facilitation, work with Active Hope and the Climate Coach Alliance and looking to develop Community Climate Coaching in Scotland for SCCAN. I hope to add to that by aiding and abetting the odd PDC along the way, building my own site as a demonstration centre and developing my educators credentials further (for example I took Permaculture Teacher Training with Graham Bell and Rakesh in March 2021).
If you're up here or visiting Caithness and Sutherland do get in touch.
Steve Marquis
Achentoot (just pop it into Google Maps)
Scotland