Dear Eden International brothers and sisters,

It makes sense for the international permaculture movement, the WWOOF movement and the Fifth Epochal Revelation to join to develop properties along Edenic education principles.  Permaculture was developed by Bill Mollison in Australia (one of his consultants was Arthur Sappington!), and it is now a worldwide movement with tremendous teachers like Geoff Lawton and Andrew Millison.  Watch Andrew Millison's videos online, especially the water stories videos where he draws water flows and plantings on a see-through panel.  He is a GREAT TEACHER!  

Permaculture design principles were developed in warm climate drylands, so the frontier of permaculture is in arctic and subarctic maritime climates like yours.  I had some success doing subarctic permaculture on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, latitude 59.  One of the keys is greenhousing combined with poultry.  We attached a greenhouse to the chicken house, and in the winter let the chickens into the greenhouse.  They prepared the soil for us and had a ball eating worms and slugs and grubs.  In the spring we just shoveled out some paths, shoveled up the raised beds, and planted.  The crops we grew in that greenhouse were amazing!!!!  It is worthwhile to cover your greenhouse with hard durable stuff, Lexan is wavy durable stuff that comes in 2 x 10' panels, it is so tough you can bounce an axe off it.  (Plastic sheeting just falls to pieces.)

Once you get Bill Mollison's book I will teach you the permaculture design principles from afar.  Can't come hold your hand but studying permaculture together is almost as good!  Mention permaculture in your WWOOF material and you will attract some great thoughtful WWOOFers.  If you start this process now you will have a good workable plan by the time the WWOOFers arrive in the spring.

You will do fine if you cast yourselves as lifelong learners just starting the permaculture process. 

Get hold of Bill Mollison's book Permaculture: A Designers' Manual.  This book is worth whatever you have to pay to get it.  Dig into the book to start to understand what permaculture is.  

First step is to print a map of your land, probably from satellite photos, and then make six or seven plastic see-through overlays.  Each overlay is a different vector:  sun arc, water flows, animal paths, human paths and vehicle roads, wind flows, contours of elevation (unless it is dead flat), main buildings, outbuildings.  Start getting data onto your overlays.  You must make maps to evolve workable design plan for your property. 

This process will help you develop a masterful understanding of your land.  

Find out if there are permaculturists in your region and link with them. 

Love and blessings,
Lindianne