I am incredibly excited to share this with you all. There are two things that I am passionate about and inspire me; visual and performing arts and a more recent addition, permaculture. If there is one thing I learned up until now is to share ones passion with others and if one has the opportunity. Besides the art classes that I offer which you are already informed about I would like to add gardening classes for children. I am by no means and expert on permaculture but I believe through passion, research and practical application this will soon change. I would love to share this my learning process with children that are interested in creating as sustainable future and their own fruitful gardens. (balconies and small town house gardens included)
Some of you might wonder what permaculture is? According to Bill Mollison the ‘inventor’ of permaculture: “Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.” Permaculture gardening is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered around simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. Or to simplify it is a way to have an organic food garden that’s stunningly beautiful, productive, and comes without any tedious garden work…(at least not after setting up) 😉
Children will learn the 12 principles of permaculture design which are: to observe and interact with nature; learn how to catch and store energy; how to expand their yield; creatively use and respond to change; use edges and value the marginal; use and value diversity; learn to work in manageable chunks; integrate different elements of the garden; design on a grand scale by adding details together; produce no waste; learn to use and value renewable resources and last but not least learn to become self-reliant. The 12 principles of permaculture design are listed in the diagram below.
I have a 1800m² Erf in WHK West that I would like to develop into a permaculture garden and use this as an example for the children to work and learn simultaneously. The process of developing the garden will be slow but will ensure that the children will be exposed to learning everything first hand. Classes will be a mix of theory and practical.
The classes will be offered on Fridays from 15h30-17h00 (following the art classes) The fee will be N$450.00 per child per month.
If you have children attending art classes already there will be a discount of N$100.00 per child on the permaculture classes.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me (details below )and I will answer them as best as possible.
Kirsten Wechslberger 