So today, I’m not going to go over any of my hobbies other than to mention that one of them is called “Permaculture.” It’s a design science driven by a specific set of ethics to improve the land and grow abundance (food, friends, and fun.) The ethics state that any decisions made when designing a system should first consider whether the actions taken will harm the earth. If they do not, then consider will they harm people. If neither the earth, nor the people are harmed, then finally take care to build in a balance such that you limit growth of any one element of the system such that it will not consume more than it should. This last ethic is often misunderstood, and is often represented as “if you have abundance, you should freely share it with others, and not charge anything for your efforts.” In other words (using the misunderstood third ethic,) they are often summed up as:
earth care
people care
fair share
The first two are pretty accurate. The last, not as much. It is good to share abundance, but there is nothing wrong with getting something in return for your efforts.
I digress. The sad news for today is that one of the founding fathers (and the most well recognized of them) has passed away. Bill Mollison died on September 24th. He gave a great gift to the world by sharing his experiences and ideas about how to better grow food, and it is a sad day knowing that he has passed on.
The happy news is that we are expanding our family via a foster care situation. A friend of the family has asked us to step in while she is away for a while, and we are happy to do so. We have seven children that are excited to meet their new foster-ish siblings, and this weekend should be exciting, since we are meeting them and bringing them home.
There’s nothing more important than family, and sometimes family is who you CHOOSE, not who you share blood ties with. My great wisdom to share for today is this: (in the words of one of my favorite authors, Michael W. Lucas) “Go do something in meatspace.”