Dear friends,
We live in a time when the world is continuing to demand that we work harder, faster and more efficiently. And so we trade our precious time for money. When my wife was a nurse she would put an “X” through the days she was working 12-hour shifts to to tell herself that she should just count those days as not existing for her. And so she would set her hopes on the days that didn’t have “X’s.” This was a way of living from weekend to weekend even when she didn’t have a normal Monday through Friday workweek.
(Or, actually, for many of us now, the world is requiring that we stay home. “Hurry up and wait.” You’d think we’re all in the military now! Of course, I can also understand not wanting to get sick and die from contracting a disease from a stranger!)
Hope hucksters
Some are satisfied with all this or, at least, resigned to it, but others are looking for a way out, which is why there are so many hucksters selling their “system.” You might call this the hope industry. There are real estate investing bandwagons, internet marketing bandwagons, healthy lifestyle / dietary supplements bandwagons, and religious bandwagons.
Perhaps you’ve tried some of these (or all of them!) and maybe you’ve learned something, but in the end you were disappointed. Perhaps you’re naturally attracted to “concepts,” as I am. When I first learned about permaculture it was after I had done a lot of sales jobs, owned rental property, owned my own business with a partner, and lastly had pursued what in my mind was a “career” in pastoral ministry---I was thus trying to get on “God’s payroll,” as a friend put it to me. And I had reached a reasonable level of comfort in everything I had pursued, meaning I could have stayed with any one of these opportunities, but I left them all. And I think it was because, even if the money didn’t fall apart, the hope I was looking for always fell apart.
Money vs. freedom
Looking back, I would say, it was because it really wasn’t money I was looking for, but freedom, which was so elusive. Because, in whatever business I pursued, I always found that there were more human managers, owners, government officials, regulators, board-members, and church council-members, etc., behind the scenes, that I hadn’t counted on. In each case, what I had hoped was a improv stage on which to play my part in life was actually subject to a proprietary system. And so, “being my own boss,” would never truly be a possibility. It didn’t really exist. There was just the possibility of becoming one of these owner/board-members behind the scenes, but I had trouble finding one of these groups that I liked. I always encountered talented, great people, but also very much tied down and overburdened by the money interests they watched over.
So once, when I reached a particularly low point, when it seemed that all that was left for me was survival and helping my bride of less than two years to survive, I took a cue from my wife’s keen interest in gardening and decided to watch some gardening videos on youtube. I don’t know what came over me. Perhaps a rare bout of humility! And that’s when I found permaculture. Yes, it was a concept, but it was like---the original concept.
So what is permaculture?
The word comes from a 1978 book by two Australians, one of them a shark fisherman, seaman, forester, mill worker, trapper, tractor-driver and naturalist. And if those are not enough titles, this man also worked as a wildlife surveyor, museum curator and fisheries commissioner. And then he got a degree in bio-geography and became a professor of environmental psychology, prior to co-authoring Permaculture One with one of his graduate students---permaculture being a blending of the words “permanent” and “agriculture.”
Of course I’m talking about Bill Mollison, the Father of the permaculture movement. According to Mollison, Permaculture is "a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labour; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.”
(Incidentally, Bill Mollison’s graduate student co-author, David Holmgren, also acknowledges Bill Mollison as the Father of the permaculture Movement, while he is content with the title, co-originator of the permaculture concept---a truly, inspirational and humble man.)
After a quick look at permaculture around the Internet, I saw that there were people who, even in post urban sprawl, modern America, had found a way to more or less live on the land as farmers, even on extremely small pieces of land, growing much of their own food and sharing and bartering with kindred-spirits. And some of them did quite well selling micro-greens or broiler chickens even on other people’s land in urban areas. Of course there’s nothing new about farming and living close to the land. But permaculture also taught alternative housing to reduce energy consumption, alternative ways of getting water and energy, alternative everything.
There were a lot of interesting practical components, such as rocket-mass stoves, plant guilds, biogas digesters, and Keyline irrigation. And there was also the theoretical side, which arose out of real experience. To quote Bill Mollison, “We can teach philosophy by teaching gardening, but we cannot teach gardening by teaching philosophy.” I was hooked!
Where “the rubber meets the road” or, ahem, “the roots meet the soil”
And it didn’t hurt that permaculture people were super positive and seemed to have a lot of faith in what they were doing. Of course I was still skeptical. I realized that it must be a lot harder than the permaculture promoters made it look, but that didn’t worry me too much because, I wouldn't mind doing hard physical work if given the chance, and, even if I didn’t have a way to start making my living from the soil, the permaculture concept just gave me hope. It was a small light at the end of the tunnel.
And I also noticed that permaculture transcends nationality, politics, and money itself and that, in fact, as a mere idea, it can never be copy-righted or controlled by one group. As I understand it, attempts to copy-right the word “permaculture” have failed, as have attempts to apply for a “service mark,” which is a variation of a “trademark.” So it just exists as a great word to galvanize a movement all about living more simply and humbly on the land, working with nature and not against it. The movement has its popularizers and others who are stalwarts who protect its purity, (so that the word doesn’t end up meaning nothing, which is always a danger if people with opposing interests try to co-opt the word), but it remains just a loose association of people devoted to the teachings of Bill Mollison, together with other worthy teachings which have been collected.
I had encountered a few road blocks in pursuing pastoral ministry, but I hadn't lost my faith in God, and, I thought, isn’t this is how God intended people to live? And isn’t this how good, simple people have always lived? And how billions of people around the world still live?
Probably if you’ve read this far, you’re one of those people who has a fascination with creation. I’ve always had that fascination. And I’ve spent a lot of time working outdoors in the environmental services industry. But it’s like I didn’t know how I was supposed to fit into it. And, here, permaculture was telling me that I could really be a part of it, not exploiting it pridefully, but gently enhancing it, supporting it and---to the point---it would support me. And permaculture was providing concrete ideas of how to do that.
I had already begun to doubt an exploitative interpretation of Genesis 1:26, the passage which is called the ‘dominion mandate’ or ‘cultural mandate.’ And then I found a book called The Bible and Ecology, that showed how the Bible really talks about man being part of the ecology rather than over and above it. And I realize that not everyone reading this will be interested in what the Bible has to say about it, but for me it was another step on the journey toward freedom. For those who are interested, read the book of Job, especially chapters 38-41.
Freedom
But the biggest step toward freedom was when I realized that, even though it was impossible for me to truly pursue permaculture while working a full time job and paying rent or paying off a mortgage in the United States, I could still advance permaculture through helping others to do it. And then I would always be a part of what we had created together and welcome therein.
I should mention that I didn’t really go looking for people to help. It was as if, as soon as I had the interest in permaculture and the longing to do it, then the people who needed help somehow mysteriously found me. Amazing how things work! And now we’re creating something together. To me it’s better than a vacation timeshare and I’m all about "retiring" there as soon as possible! I wouldn't really be retiring. But you know what I mean.
I think this is more what Jesus had in mind than what passes as Christianity today. As Jesus said, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9). “Eternal dwellings” - “permanent agriculture”---do you see the connection? Everyone hungers to do something that is going to last.
And I think we don’t realize today how much Jesus was in touch with nature. “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Please join us!
It’s a long story for another day, but I have some very dear friends in Nakyaka, Uganda, a small village 42 miles north of Jinja, not far from the Victoria Nile River. And just last year, 2019, in March, I visited them and together we traveled to another district in Uganda on the other side of the capitol, Kampala, where we visited the Permaculture Research Institute of Uganda.
And we were introduced there to a simple permaculture farm. In some ways it was not very different from other farms in Uganda, where people do a lot of farming by hand, but you could see that many components were creatively combined to create an abundance and diversity of food.
Of course no chemical pesticides or industrial fertilizers or even tractors were used on the site, which is one of the hallmarks of permaculture. (Although, it should be said that, permaculture is not opposed to using heavy equipment to create ponds for example.) And at least a couple components were included, which average Ugandans cannot easily afford, namely, rainwater capturing systems, and biogas digesters for using methane gas (harvested from cow dung) for cooking.
From left: Joachim Lunagula; I forget his name; Jagwe Gerald, of PRI-Uganda; myself; 'my' father, Stephen Lunagula; Stelio Lunagula.
My companions were my father, Stephen Lunagula and his two sons Stelio and Joachim. He is not actually my father, in case you were wondering! But I call him that, both because we are close and because he is presiding over everything we are doing in Uganda. He has eleven living children. Big families are common. And later he visited the permaculture research institute again with his wife, Elizabeth and some other people from Nakyaka village and the surrounding area, including some school teachers.
You see my father, Stephen, is also the dean of a primary and secondary school, which has about 200 students and can accommodate many more, up to around 600. And when we told this to the director of the Permaculture Research Institute, they were happy because they want to partner with schools to teach permaculture, involving the students in combined hands on and classroom learning.
Will you also partner with us to make this instruction available and to assist with establishing a permaculture farm on the school land? Growing food at the school means that more children can come to school, even if they are not able to pay their full tuition at the start of the term, because there will be food for their lunches, not to mention three squares for boarding students and teachers.
Our biggest need now is for water for the farm. The dry season is fast approaching and it will be impossible to water all the plants on the farm by hauling water jugs. Therefore we ask for assistance with a hand operated machine for making Interlocking Soil Stabilized Bricks (ISSBs) to be used in rainwater tanks. This machine can make bricks out of ubiquitous soil without the need for firing them which consumes many trees in Uganda! Also less sand is needed, further reducing the environmental impact.
In addition to this you can sign up at $15 monthly, which covers about twelve school uniforms per year, or $35 monthly to sponsor a teacher. Teachers earn about $35 per month when school is in session. Or sign up at $50 or $100 to help with many strategic needs including building a permaculture learning center and guest house and installing borehole wells for drinking water.
Please donate at ecomercy.org. We are now a 501(c)(3) public charity.
We will keep you updated with reporting. So much of the news we consume today is bad news, let us provide some good news in your life!
Our mission:
Helping our partnering schools in rural Uganda achieve financial sustainability and the empowerment to help their surrounding communities through the introduction of inexpensive and environmentally-sustainable technologies under the banner of permaculture.
Immediate needs:
ISSB Machines (2) for making bricks while saving trees. $2300 each.
Rainwater tanks made from interlocking stabilized soil bricks (ISSBs).
Bio-gas digesters for harvesting methane gas from cow manure for use in school cook stoves as a substitute for firewood, which is a major drain on school budgets.
Bio-sand filters for pure drinking water from any source. These can be used at schools and also given to families in the community.
An iPad or similar tablet computer with a keyboard for my father, Stephen, to use to more easily communicate with us.
And many other solutions which can be implemented at permaculture demonstration sites, located conveniently next to schools.
Please also help with:
Permaculture learning center.
Guest house. Would you like to come visit us?
More land.
A house on site for our dean, my father Stephen Lunagula and his wife Elizabeth and children.
My definition of permaculture:
Permaculture, being a combination of the words “permanent” and “agriculture,” is now a worldwide movement, but it is not so much a particular group of people, as a roadmap for living in such a way that environmental resources, such as soil and water, are not degraded, but increased. It is a body of practical wisdom and a collection of best practices for living on the land and providing necessities through small scale gardening and farming, emphasizing connections between elements in the farm so that, as in an natural ecosystem, no byproduct goes to waste.
Again, please join us! Set up a re-occurring donation at ecomercy.org.
May God bless you abundantly,
Martin Becktell, Director
EcoMercy International, Inc.
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