Revitalising Permaculture

Speaker: Rosemary Morrow (Rowe)

Background – Born in Perth, Rosemary Morrow (Rowe) was claimed early by the Earth; plants, animals, stones, weather. Some years in the Kimberleys as a young girl confirmed it. Later she trained in agriculture science with which she was very disappointed, then moved to France where she lived in the L’Arche community. Later at Jordans Village in England she realised she would become a Quaker. Back in Australia in the 1980s Rowe’s Permaculture Design Course provided the basis for a concern for Earth restoration. She considers permaculture to be ‘sacred knowledge’ to be carried and shared with others. Since then, when asked, she has travelled to teach the Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) to others who, due to circumstances, could not access it any other way. This took her to immediate post-war Vietnam as well as Cambodia, Uganda, Ethiopia and other countries. Rowe’s present concern is to make teaching sustainable and encourage others to succeed her as teachers.

Tonight’s Talk – Rowe Morrow will give us a short history of permaculture and how we can incorporate it into our lives, our family and our community. Rowe will explain how the Permaculture toolbox enables us to establish productive environments, providing our food, energy, shelter, material and non-material needs; as well as the social and economic infrastructures to support them, save money and reduce carbon. Learn how permaculture offers us tangible strategies to contribute to climate changes and make it relevant from balcony to farm, city to the wilderness.

Bring your pencil and paper as Rowe will then lead us into a brief design exercise for everyone and teach us how to begin at home. Finishing off with a discussion on the difference permaculture is making globally and how we can meet the challenges, sustainable development goals, and local needs as a restorative practice.

Permaculture is proving extraordinarily relevant for people living in war and post war zones, also those in refugee camps. This goes against common beliefs that permaculture work requires a certain amount of land. People build gardens in plastic bottles up the walls of containers and tents. The initiatives in these places lead the work for what the world will need in the future. This is where we find our permaculture leaders.