Happy new season patreon gang,
I've been eagerly anticipating the release of this ongoing video shorts series with you for some months now. Having been in one location primarily these past several weeks has allowed me to finally catch up on the (huge) backlog of life admin, including these draft postings that have sat for too long!
This permaculture-themed series is made possible due to the extraordinary foresight and artistry of my friends Dana Wilson, Delvin Solkinson, TJ Squires, in addition to several other collaborators. Dana and Delvin and I crossed paths in the spring of 2013 in the forests of coastal British Columbia (BC) when I was a homestead farm helper at their mutual friends' - essentially, I was a WWOOFer. Having had prior exposure to organic food production and principles of permaculture (without knowing then the extent and depth it has!) while working in rural Panama, I intended to dive deeper into these realms starting in BC, then continually learning and practicing from more folks in different climates and seasons as I headed south to further diversify the hands-on experiences.
Dana had previously lived and worked in India doing video production, and returned to her native Canada to pursue a simpler way of living while deepening her ecological observations, design, and practice. We met within my first week or 2 on the homestead farm of our mutual friends, and I remember kicking it off well with Dana immediately. Dana is one of the influential friends in my life who has shown me the spectrum of joys and challenges of living in a tiny house, while balancing a life rooted in ethics and artistry yet embracing capital as a necessary part of modern society. I am so thankful for our friendship and all the subtle and deeper life advice as well as stories she has shared with me through the years.
Delvin has been a permaculture practitioner and teacher since well before we met, and has studied under/alongside permaculture masters such as Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton, the Bullock Brothers, and many more. Dana was at the time taking one of Delvin's advanced PDC (permaculture design course), and invited me to sit-in on a couple of their meet-up's to tour and learn from existing permaculture sites in the small town where we met and also in Vancouver BC. I remember being awestruck by the intentionality of design rooted in knowledge + observations of natural systems (part of my studies in university) and the harmony that sprouts from it for the humans, wildlife, as well as the built environment. Delvin is currently residing at CoSM, Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors, where he continues his teachings, and works alongside TJ Squires, the video editor of this series.
Both Dana & Delvin are fellow supporters here on Patreon, and it is our hope since we connected to establish an ongoing sharing of (my) media themed in nature, community, and systems thinking to create content that's aligned with our social and environmental ethics and principles. In these videos are clips that I have recorded all along the west coast of North America, New Zealand, and more. I certainly wish for us to keep doing this for a long, long time!
Well, without delay, here is a list of shorts the team has created so far:
Follow Delvin's channel to see future videos via Youtube, Vimeo, Instagram.
Hope autumn is off to a healthy, beautiful start to you all.
From a foggy morning in Seattle,
Jonathan
