"permanent-culture"

Permaculture is a term coined by Australian Bill Mollison to define a new (yet also very old)endeavor that encompasses a wide variety of things from such academic disciplines as ecology and environmental science to very ancient wisdom pertaining to agriculture and living in harmony with nature. Three of my sons took a 10-day course on permaculture last Spring, thoroughly loved it, and then convinced me to do the same. So, several months later I was enrolled and took a similar course myself, and also thoroughly enjoyed it! On the one hand it felt overwhelming because permaculture is such a big topic covering such a wide range of ideas and information. That course was only an introduction, truly just a scratching of the surface. But it opened a door that I wish I could have walked through years ago and begun exploring at a much younger age. But here I am at 56, deciding to settle down in a rural setting and asking the question, "How do I combine my quest to know God, to draw closer to Him, with this other newer passion to have a closer connection with the land, with my Creator's handiwork?"

One of the things I so appreciate about permaculture is its inherent assumption that all of life is interrelated and interdependent. As Christians this shouldn't be a new concept, but I fear the Church has contributed to a disjointed view of our relationship to the physical world instead of promoting a harmonious one. Even though the apostles and the early church fathers rejected gnosticism (which taught that the physical world was evil) it is my observation that this earliest of Christian heresies has continued to plague the Church to the present day. Instead of celebrating and embracing this earth that Creator prepared for us to live in and be caretakers of, as Christians we have all too often been suspicious and wary of it. We will quote such Scriptures as "Set your minds on things above,not on earthly things" (Col.3:2) to support this mindset, yet ignore ones like Psalm 115:16 - "The heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man." Fortunately there are some Christians - and I trust that this is a growing number - who have continued to affirm the inherent goodness and value of the physical creation. Personally, I would take it a step further. Not only is God's creation a good one, it is central and vitally important to the gospel itself. Just as ecology and permaculture, from a purely human perspective, affirm the "wholeness" of nature, so the Scriptures affirm the connection between the holiness of God and His creation: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory!" And what can be more affirming of our physicalness than the incarnation itself - God himself took on our physical form! There is an incredible mystery here and it's no wonder that the earliest defenders of the faith fought tooth and nail to defend the truth of Christ's humanity. The whole movement in Scripture is from heaven to earth, not visa-versa: "I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven . . .'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them . . .'" (Rev.21:2-3) . . . we are looking forward to a new . . . earth, the home of righteousness. (2 Pet. 3:14)

Permaculture is the combination of the two (or three) words, "permanent (agri)culture". The modern originators of this concept were motivated out of a desire to find ways to integrate agriculture and human lifestyles with the very fabric of the natural world in such a way that the environment would be enhanced - and therefore maintained permanently -rather than degraded and destroyed. In this paradigm I have found the closest thing yet to explain and give definition to the developing vision I believe God is working within me.