Our Guest:
Rosemary Morrow is a permaculture teacher, author, speaker, and agricultural scientist. She has spent decades travelling the world designing healthy living systems and applying permaculture as a practice to restore our planetary health. She has worked locally across Australia as well as globally with farmers and villagers in Africa, Central and Southeast Asia; people of war-torn nations such as Vietnam and Afghanistan; and communities experiencing the serious effects of climate change like the Solomon Islands. Rosemary’s latest book, Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture, brings together 40 years of evidence-based approaches to guide us towards the regeneration of our Earth. Endorsed by the United Nations as a tool for their Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, this book shares how communities, cities, workplaces, and governments can collectively and positively shape our futures.
Listen in and learn about:
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- Good signs of being attached to the earth
- Agriculture as a good foundation, a good tool
- Two things she learned in Africa – 1) When people are hungry and starving you need to provide them with energy first, and 2) People need to be providing their own food before they go to market.
- Permaculture design as an instrument of restoration
- The many countries Rosemary has traveled to
- Rosemary’s definition of permaculture: “Practices to restore earth & society to health”
- How the Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture was developed.
- “If you can’t make the right analysis, you’ll end up with the wrong solution.”
- How permaculture has changed over the last 40 years
- A permaculture design course is powerful, but it only gives you an idea of what you can do
- Permaculture is all about the water. Get the water right first.
- Build basins that are recreation areas during dry times and capture surface water to manage during floods
- How her book can be used to move the permaculture conversation forward
- Rosemary’s hope for our future
- Do you know a US permaculturist who works with refugees? Send an email to Greg at greg@urbanfarm.org
- Recognition for permaculture work, especially in places where English is not spoken
- Writing her book with the intention of reaching a more global audience
As well as:
Her failure – Planting a community garden where people really wanted and needed to grow something individually
Her success – Permaculture for Refugees
Her drive – An interest in an ethical life and an obligation to give back
Her advice – “Engage in restoration, engage in the environment. Tune in to out there.”
Books written by Rosemary:
Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture
Rosemary’s Book recommendations:
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
Biodiversity by E.O. Wilson
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankel
How to reach Rosemary:
Website: melliodora.com bluemountainspermacultureinstitute.org.au
UrbanFarm.org/Rowe
