Food Futures recently hosted a four day Permaculture Design course for more than 20 people from the Lancaster district and beyond. Nick Lakin attended the course as part of his new role as FoodFutures’ marketing and communications coordinator.
When you start a new job it always feels like you’re thrown in at the deep end to some extent.
Change can be daunting and overwhelming, and whilst exciting, there are questions over whether you can live up to expectations, and be the best version of yourself.
I became the new marketing and communications coordinator at FoodFutures last month, and I’m already feeling challenged…and rewarded!
One of my interview tasks was to write 300 words about “what food means to you”.
I’d definitely not come across that question in a job interview before!
Getting to know the FoodFutures network and the people involved, not least because of the fluid and multi-stranded nature of it, has been fascinating, sometimes confusing, but generally heartwarming and inspiring.
There are also so many other people and projects I’m yet to meet.
In my second week in the role I joined around 20 other people on a four day ‘Permaculture Design Course’ at Halton Mill.
People from all walks of life and all manner of work backgrounds with an interest in the subject attended.
I’d heard of permaculture before (a friend consistently reminds me he did a permaculture course in Australia about 25 years ago), but I was not really that clued up on the particulars.
Broken down into three ethical standpoints it means ‘care of the earth’, ‘care of people’ and ‘fairshare’, although there’s a lot more to it than that.
There’s biology, chemistry, physics, geography, geology, sociology, psychology, horticulture, and even spirituality in the mix too.
In a nutshell, permaculture design is a holistic approach to land management and settlement design that mimics natural ecosystems with a focus on sustainability, resilience, and working in harmony with nature to create productive and diverse systems.
It was an incredibly engaging course taught by an inspiring tutor – Aranya – who certainly knows his stuff.
I learned about microclimates, agroforestry, zoning, elevation planning, nitrogen fixers, mycelial threads, dynamic accumulators, compost teas, guilds and companion planting.
It was the first of its kind run by FoodFutures, and the final day was held at the recently purchased land in Lancaster.
The group was tasked with designing uses for the site using permaculture ethics and principles.
The results may shape what it is hoped will become a fantastic community food resource for North Lancashire.
It certainly feels like exciting times ahead, and I am very much looking forward to being a part of it.
If you’re part of the FoodFutures network, and have a story to share, or you just want to know more, please get in touch with me via marketing@lessuk.org.
