Processing Some Early Permaculture Experiences

Hi, processing some early permaculture experiences. Have experience with WWOOF and Workaway. Tried a couple farms, both in Europe and North America. Had a mixed bag of experiences - realized goals did not align with all the farms I stayed at. Eventually found two that I've been able to work with consistently for the past two years or so. Found that I'm better suited toward ethnobotany, or possibly herbalism. Early permaculture experiences taught me that I'm better at small-scale detailed work. stuff like locksmithing or soldering, for example, comes to me more naturally than larger-scale work like farming or carpentry. I would be better at carving a refined and detailed spoon, for example, than building a house.

Eventually found a lineage that did work for me - material from Mike Hoag seems to have worked well. Now just more conscious of my strengths and weaknesses as well as the trajectory of different fields. So five years ago I perceived ethnobotany, herbalism, permaculture and environmental biology as allies and saw the connections between them, which is a strength I'm learning to honour. However, as I get more experience some of the details matter more and I see the fields have different trajectories or goals in some areas. Couple years ago saw all four like an impressionist painting, now it's more like pointallism.

Have the most experience with ethnobotany. Herbalism has felt supportive as well, and personal path might be diverging from folks aligned with permaculture. I do value cross-field collaboration a lot, but I'm learning not to overextend myself as I have done a couple times in the past.

Just posting to test the waters a bit, see if I still align with what's going on on these forums. Was pretty active on the Fisker forums for a couple years, but now am aligning more with Hoag and a couple works by anthropologist David Graeber. Debt and Utopia of Rules for example.

Anthropology is my primary discipline, have a lot of other pursuits and hobbies. Usually integrate them into anthropology as the flagship or 'bridge of the enterprise' discipline.

All that is to say, am a fairly friendly guy who might like to collaborate with y'all, and seeing if this community works for me. Definitely in a phase of trying people and communities to see what works. Couple communities I tried in the permaculture world weren't supportive, focusing my energy on the good supportive ones. Would like to try this one out and see if we click.

Best,
James

It sounds like you've done some exploring to figure out what you're drawn to and what you're good at.  Keep at it, glad you're here.

Francis Sojun wrote:Have the most experience with ethnobotany.

We have forgotten so much of how we used to use plants. I like to try and replicate how things might have been done locally - it must be so much easier to learn from people doing it than trying to guess out of a book.

> ethnobotany, herbalism, permaculture and environmental biology have different trajectories

As a newbie to this space, can i just say that i would love to see you write up your thoughts on this?  I can sort of grasp the concept but im sure your concrete experiences would help me understand far better!

Today I learned a new word! Ethnobotany.

I took a few anthropology classes in community college but that was some time ago. I loved the learning experience.

I'd definitely be interested in hearing more about your perspective in future threads.

Not being in any type of organizational role with Permies.com or other permaculture concerns, I nevertheless feel this to be a very important post.  The OP noted variation in several experienced permaculture programs and tested the waters in each.....perhaps with no apparent guidance on the part of the organizers to define the main thrust or over-arching philosophy(s) of their particular program.  That's not to say that one should not test out how each approach 'fits' their interests and goals because very often one finds this out along the way.  Still, I do feel from my own experience in past student mentoring that keeping cognizant, on the part of the trainers/organizers, that some may be more suited to one discipline over another would be beneficial to both parties.  Maybe this happens already and organically....I'm just musing at this point.  My perspective here is that others have noted how smaller tribes seem to find a 'fit' for all of their members....and that appears to come from both the experimentation of the pupil -and- the observations of the mentors.  That 'mechanism', if you will, for finding a productive and sometimes even harmonious outcome might be worth deliberately integrating into the different global programs for training new disciples into permaculture perhaps.   Again, this may already happen quite naturally, but I'm just picking up on a sentiment expressed within the entry of the OP.