Emergent Design ~ Finding the White Tiger

Permaculture Womens Guild

By Jennifer English Morgan “Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.” ~ Robert L. Peters During the 2016 election cycle in the USA, I experienced an upheaval of my emotional stability, as anger, elation, and fear arose during and after the November election. Shifting to see what was behind the emotions, I recognized the presence of a collective force. The feelings were not mine to hold. I am an empath. The emotions were arising out of my link to the state of the world around me. I had already once been verbally assaulted by a Trump supporter in…

The Elephant at the Front Door: A Designers Approach to Shadow Work

Permaculture Womens Guild

By Jennifer English Morgan Crash, clatter, smash, tink, tink. A careless boy’s ball shatters the front window pane. A scorned lover flings a picture frame into the brick fireplace. A glass slipping through nervous fingers falls to the floor. All adrenaline rushes of fear, anger, and surprise. Moments of exhilaration turned sour if left to ferment. When trauma goes unresolved, fragments of the soul get imprisoned. The glass is a broken mirror. The shards and cracks remind us of suffering. Painful memories lodge into our psyche. Eckhart Tolle named this tenant, the pain body. It’s that little voice in our…

How to Organize a Seed Swap

Permaculture Womens Guild

Whether you save your own seeds or just have a bunch of leftover packets from years past, a seed swap is a great way to expand the diversity of both your garden and your community. By Heather Jo Flores But don’t limit yourself to just seeds! I have been organizing events like these for close to 20 years and folks have brought surplus plants, trees, garden supplies, food preserves and homebrews. A seed swap attracts more than just the local permaculture crowd. People from all walks of life have a passion for gardening and seed saving, and this event can…

Why do we need a permaculture women’s guild?

Permaculture Womens Guild

By Laura Bee “The goal of the PWG is to hold space for women who choose to work with women, for whatever reason is real for them. We aren’t asking permission to do this, nor are we seeking approval. We are simply, in permaculture terms, filling a niche that has been open for far too long”. — Heather Jo Flores, founder of the Permaculture Women’s Guild. I started my permaculture journey in April 2016, shortly after leaving an extremely stressful full-time job. I left with a lack of confidence and a depleted sense of purpose. Around this time, my friend Charlie Gray…

Decolonizing Permaculture: Bridging the gap between privilege and oppression

Permaculture Womens Guild

by Heather Jo Flores As Published in issue #98 of Permaculture Design Magazine, November 2015 First of all, I want to say that I do not represent anyone but myself, and though I have vetted this article with several peers and mentors, I do not presume to know the needs and desires of anyone else. However, it seems to me that there are ripples of injustice coursing through the permaculture community, manifesting as a pattern of landowners and/or self-proclaimed leaders doing things that hurt, offend, oppress, and devalue others. These behaviors discredit the permaculture movement at large, and unless we…