As you may know, both of us are Finnish Permaculture Association actives since its creation in 2016. This fall we and the other actives have been working on ideas on how to make the association more sustainable in terms of people - the problem has been the same as in most of commonly-run associations: a handful of tired actives and hardly any opportunities for members to contribute (other than money and participation in events). The solution we came up was sociocracy, and that was one of the themes talked about and practiced in the fall event of the association on the 7th of December 2019 in Helsinki.
Besides the wonderful information we got on sociocraty and teal organizations, there were also great talks about permaculture projects in Finland going on. It is always so inspiring to hear about what people are doing and see practical permaculture examples from the same latitudes as ourselves! A few of the projects presented were Yrttimäki, Lillklobb Permaculture, Alexis D. Jutras's project, Oma Maa and Helsinki permaculture study group, we also got a chance to talk about Beyond Buckthorns too. The participants of the latest Teaching Permaculture Teachers training Dominik, Anton and Kalle told us about their time in Bulgaria and there was also some thoughts about organizing a PDC in Finland in the future. Kalle then talked beautifully about the invisible structures in and on the edge to permaculture and how we must look at our society differently to be able to change in the midst of climate chaos. A 20-minute learning cafe (derivate of the World Café) about the future of the association in the middle of the presentations was brilliant to keep our heads active! All in all the program part was very inspiring and informative, which is exactly how it had been envisioned!
After that it was party time! It was so nice to see people talking, sharing and connecting (and dancing!) in a friendly and free setting. Mind you, many of us had been there for the whole day already, so to see that kind of energy after a full day of learning, meeting and listening was nothing to take for granted.
I am very thankful for everyone who came and contributed to the event and can't wait to see what we all do next!
