How to practice hybrid permaculture (and worry less about the news) with Ian Lillington & Marita Zeh
ReskillienceShow Notes
Ever wish you could sit down with permie elders to hear their take on the current chaos; what to do, where to live, and whether it's really that bad in the grand scheme of things? Well just call me Genie cos this convo with permaculture educators and radical homemakers Ian Lillington and Marita Zeh will deliver.
Ian and Marita live in a solar passive straw-bale home on the edge of Castlemaine, Victoria, surrounded by fruit and nut trees and veggie gardens, where students come to see – and feel – what it is to be wrapped in abundance. And this is where I found them, on a sunny autumn morning, in the cosy warmth of their kitchen, dealing with masses of peaches, pistachios and zucchini. And we all sat down and chopped and chatted, eventually remembering to turn on the mics.
In this convo:
Pursuing a hybrid model of permaculture
Rat poison sandwich
Renting till your 40s
What is good debt?
Where is even affordable anymore?
How to deal with gluts
Giving to community
Small garden farming
Being strategically connected to the grid
Diverse household energy systems
Scales of usage
An elder's perspective on current affairs
Sharing permaculture as a political act
Permaculture priorities
Gratitude vs. fear
Impermaculture
🧙♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙♀️
Send Ian an email ~ [email protected]
Or keep it old school with a text ~ 0478 297 057
The Castlemaine Permaculture Hub PDC [https://holmgren.com.au/permaculture-events/permaculture-design-course-pdc-2025/]
(for locals) Castlemaine Permaculture FB group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/445686212227432]
(national) Permaculture Australia FB group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/874575125557524]
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Planting guides and sow-what-when calendars are great and all, but what happens when the seasons don't play nice? When spring arrives earlier, frost hits later, or heatwaves burn your crops to a crisp? There's no controlling the weather, but with tools like phenology, you can make better predictions and grow more food!
NOTE: I've done breathwork every day since this interview and – you gaias! – it's really helping me human.
"In a time of fracturing seasons, when everything's going awry, there are still cycles that we can set our hearts by."