Permaculture and Zen?
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"Permaculture is grounded in a respectful approach to others, to all of life, and to future  generations–dedicated to leaving the planet in better condition than we found it.”
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- Bill Wilson – Midwest Permaculture

​"What is Permaculture?
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"Through a set of principles for social and agricultural design, permaculture utilizes the patterns and features of natural ecosystems to design human-made systems that care for people, care for the earth, and redistribute the surplus. From agro-ecological food systems like forest gardens, to sequestering carbon through soil building, to catching and storing rainwater for irrigation and drinking, permaculture works with nature to meet the needs of people while regenerating the natural world. Permaculture is a design science; a movement; and a toolbox for transitioning to a just and sustainable way of living." 
(Source)

Here at the Zen Center it all started with a permaculture garden.
​But permaculture is way more than just  gardening. Like Zen it's a way of holding life: 

Just like when sitting Zazen, where we are invited to become very still, to become listening itself - if we want to create a garden based on permaculture principles we are invited to listen as well.
To listen to all that is:  to the weather, to changes throughout the seasons, to the land, to her needs, to her potential, to the living beings that live in her folds and crevices, and to that which might want to emerge from this ancient community. 

Permaculture is the willingness to slow down, to pause, to listen and to change course - returning to Earth community. 
​It's listening to the pattern of nature. Learning from and co-creating in harmony with life - in the acknowledgment of the unbreakable and sacred interconnectedness of all that is.

Permaculture is compassion in action, as it actively aims to heal, to restore, to regenerate, and to give more than we take, following nature's teaching.

Permaculture, like Zen is an active commitment:
The will to return to living in harmony with life and taking our correct place within this great unfolding.
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"When you look at what is happening to our world -
and it is hard to look at what’s happening to our water, our air, our trees, our fellow species -
it becomes clear that unless you have some roots in a spiritual practice that holds life sacred and encourages joyful communion with all your fellow beings, facing the enormous challenges ahead becomes nearly impossible."        

- Joanna Macy 

Beginning in September 2017 we partnered with Permaculture Designers Timothy Kercheville and Michael Beck to help us design and implement a permaculture garden that would help feed the resident community and guests who come to sit retreat. 
Our long term vision though is not only to become sustainable but to contribute to a much needed culture of regeneration: 

"In general, regenerative systems create conditions conducive to life, nurturing diversity and complexity characterized by mutually supportive relationships that build resilience, adaptive capacity and transformability throughout the system as a whole.
​In the creation of a regenerative enterprise we should ask (...)
How can our connection with the system we are harvesting from grow the integrity, resilience and long-term viability of these people and this place?
(...) By caring for and working towards the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems, enterprises can collaborate to become catalysts of a culture of regeneration."
- Daniel Christian Wahl   (Source)

Our project is just a little over a year old, but it has already transformed the Zen Center and our resident community!

If you are interested in learning more about the permaculture project at Furnace Mountain Zen Center please contact us.
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Also, if you feel inspired by our project and want to support it - we greatly appreciate donations towards it, as it is entirely run by volunteers who offer their heart, time and energy.

We also welcome your support if you want to help in other ways - for example through donating your time and energy...
- or through donating seeds, tools, practices...
- and through connecting us with other groups, interested folks, educators, schools .....

Please get in touch about your questions or suggestions...

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May we turn inwards and stumble upon our true roots in the intertwining biology of this exquisite planet.
May nourishment and power pulse through these roots, and fierce determination to continue the billion-year dance
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​- John Seed