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Developing your property the Permaculture way
Press release,
March 17th 2010
Developing your property the Permaculture way is very satisfying, especially as it's ethically sound.
Tanja and Florian Pauls got in touch with Permaculture here in NZ ten years ago, which changed their lives for ever. After a degree in Landscape Management from the university of Glasgow and a Permaculture Design Certificate they came out 5 years ago to live their dream. Having arrived in Motueka last March, they knew they had reached their destination. "The sense of community in this area is strong and the home schooling network is great" says Tanja.
"Growing our own food sustainably, is very important to us". Following the permaculture model of a holistic approach to food production comes as second nature since the couple embraced the philosophy into their everyday life. Permaculture is an acronym of permanent agriculture and is a holistic design approach based on ethics and principles. It looks at the building blocks and processes of ecology and mimics them to create a system that is diverse and abundant in yield.
"Wherever we lived we always had a vegetable garden and often animals like chickens, goats and ponies. Now we want to put our roots down and plant some fruit trees, too!
For our three children Soley (7), Faline (3) and Leenas (newborn) we feel it is very important to be a living example and modelling a way of life that makes sense, is fulfilling and has a purpose that benefits not only us but also the community." Subsequently, the family experiments with solar cooking, cooling, earth building and alternative transport.
All of these things can be part of a Permaculture system which doesn't stop with gardening. Low impact house design and economic structures are also part of Permaculture. Permaculture gave birth to the Transition Town movement (a global phenomena), which looks at the impact of rising oil prices and climate change and encourages the community to create their very own future for their community as it goes through the transition to a lesser oil dependency.
"The solutions that permaculture gives us are endless and designs are very individual". 'The problem is the solution' is an encouraging poverb in Permaculture, looking at cause and effect and long term sustainable practices.
Tanja and Florian recently started their business called ABUNDANZ, offering services in the realm of sustainable land and garden design and development. They do design work, consultation and education. Last year they co-taught the Permaculture module at the Riverside "Tending Our Living Earth" course, which was running very successfully, attracting people from the community as well as 10 other nationalities.
"We love working with people and helping them to find their sustainable solutions that work."
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