This blog has just passsed it’s third birthday. I am now posting less frequently, and that reflects the fact that much of what I’ve written is seasonal, so why post a picture of a bee on willow, when there are already plenty of them on the blog somewhere else, probably this time last year, and the year before? If somebody is searching for a topic, the chances are that they will find what they are looking for in an older post. For those of you who follow the blog, I’m hoping that you will be just as interested in what I’m doing, as in the factual content. I still intend to put up plenty of new material, but it needs to be new, or update a project that is ongoing.
Lots has been going on since I last posted. The most important is that I’ve signed up to do the Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design. One of the early decisions that I’ve had to make is how to present my portfolio for assessment. The assessments are a little way away, but without some planning, the workload could be huge.
I asked a fellow Diploma student if he wanted to design a way of presenting my portfolio for me. That sounds like I was giving him work to do, but one of the criteria upon which you are assessed is how you engage with the wider permaculture network. So me asking him for help, and him giving help, counts as a positive for us both. If he had decided to design a solution as one of his Diploma Design projects, it would also have given him another design to include in his portfolio. This sort of thinking is an example of the permaculture principle ‘Every element should perform more than one function’ (Mollison), or ‘Multiple Outputs’ (Whitefield). So in this case, the help gives each of us credit for engagement, he gets another design to add to his portfolio, and I get a designed solution for my portfolio.
When Darius and I chatted, he made an observation that has led to a whole new way of thinking. I was thinking that I would need a website to display my work, and/or a second blog. My thinking was that a website has a nice hierarchical form, that makes it easy to navigate through. A blog is less easy to find a way through. You can make a series of pages, but they stand alone. The posts, like this one, are archived in one way. My blog is archived by date. It could be changed, but that would mean a lot of work, and a loss of Search Engine Ranking, whilst the site is indexed again. Starting from scratch seemed like less work. Darius’s input was that my blog was my porfolio, I didn’t need anything else, and that all of the evidence that I would need to present was already there.
All of the information, and all of the pictures here are a large resource. Another permaculture principle is to ‘Catch and Store Energy’ (Holmgren), so that you can use it in times of need. This blog is an example of stored energy, mine, in the form of time, effort, knowledge, pictures, and links. So now that I need it, it’s here to help me. Another permaculture principle is to ‘Obtain a Yield’ (Holmgren). So far, the blog has been my way of sharing what I’ve learnt, but there has not been a significant yield for me so far. The pop up ads that you see are nothing to do with me, they are put up by WordPress, who provide the webspace free. Time for me to Cash in.
For me, it means looking carefully at the categories and tags that I use, so that posts that include permaculture principles, or relate the Diploma in some way, are eay to find. A bit of work there, will help overcome any navigation problems. I also need to go through all of the old posts, add permaculture/diploma tags, and small comments that relate the content to permaculture in general,and the diploma process in particular. that will take a bit of time, but probably not as much as starting from scratch.
For you, I hope that there will be little difference. There will be a bit more permaculture stuff than there has been, but that reflects it’s growing importance to me. Most posts will also make reference to any permaculture principles that are relevant, and may include references to the diploma criteria. As each of my portfolio designs are recorded, I will post them as separate pages, which you will be able to read, and comment on.
I’m enjoying the diploma work so far, and hope that you will enjoy reading about it too.
Take care
Deano
Regarding there having been no significant yield for you from this blog so far – can I ask how much writing the blog posts has made you think about what you are doing and what you learn from it. I certainly find that writing my blog crystallises my thinking and gives new ideas and I’d be amazed if you hadn’t also been going through the same process time and time again over the last three years, but perhaps without realising it.
All the best with the Diploma, it sounds like a lot of work, but fun work.
Anni
Hi Anni
It’s difficult to quantify how much I have learnt through writing the blog. Going through something again does help to fix it in your memory, and I do have to organise my thoughts a little bit more, to try and communicate them effectively. I also enjoy doing it, which is a yield, but using it for the diploma is a real bonus.
The diploma is les work for me than most. I’m coming at it from a completely different angle Anni. Many start it directly after their design course, with no experience, and then have to ‘create’ ten projects, documenting them in the process. I have the thinking and doing already done, but have to record it all, and then present it. No idea how long it will take, but looking forward to it.
When is your book due?
Deano
Here’s my diploma blog – http://bethspermaculturediploma.wordpress.com/
The two important yields I get from it are that it is documentation of the things that I am doing towards my diploma. It’s really easy to forget what you’ve done and where you’ve been when you’re working on projects I find, so writing down every little thing that I have done to move forward is really really useful. It’s probably a little baffling to other people.
The other reason that I like it is because it acts as a repository of information for me. I’m trying to make sure that all of my designs are on there just so I know that all of my designs are in one place other than my computer. It also means that i can share them with other people – if I want to. I’ve password protected some.
I have used categories so that when I write a post, it appears on the front page of my blog and also in the section pertaining to that diploma project. It’s really useful.
Hi Beth
Until now I’ve been practising permacuture snug in the knowledge that i was never going to do the dipoma, and never going to teach. So all of my work has been unrecorded, other than here. It does act as a storage vehicle, but that hasn’t been a huge yield until now.
What I hope to get now, with the right tags and categories, is a chronological list of my progression, the ability to click on a principle, or a technique, or an element within the design, and retrieve all of the posts relevant to it, and then pages with each portfolio project described, and links to the relevant posts. Probably not as much work as it sounds.
I’ll take a look at the way that your posts are categorised, and tagged, and see if I can use some of that here.
Nice to hear from you
Deano
I think my catagories are better than my tags, but I can always go back and change/reorganise the tags when I come to submit
Possibly true. One of the problems with categories is that for SEO purposes, posts should really be just one category. So if a post is part of both a project, and your pathway, choosing a category can become tricky. I haven’t yet worked out the most efficient way for me to do it yet, and with a lot of older posts, adding relevant tags is probably going to be less work.
Deano
I think most of mine are in only one catagory, but they also show up on the home page, so you can see them on two pages on my blog. I haven’t worked out SEO yet, but I am starting to get a bit fascinated by how people find you. So much to learn…!
Wow that sounds interesting …..if hard work , sure you will do well at it as you are so keen on the subject matter
We are hoping to incorporate some permaculture principles when we move
See you soon
Great post Deano, great idea to use the blog as your portfolio, good luck
Hi Rachel
Thanks for the comment. Credit goes to Darius. His input took me out of the box that I was thinking inside, and let me approach it from a different direction. As long as I can organise it so that the information is available, it should be OK.
Hi Sharron
How is it progressing? Great to hear that you are planning to use some of the principles in your design. Patti should be able to help, having cone the Introduction course that we are running. Perhaps the pair of you coud host a design day?
See you again soon
Deano
Should move in July
Was planning on taking some time to observe and get a feel for the plot but we have taken over the polytunnel already , we have made a start on putting in some lasagne style raised beds
Would love to do some sort of a design thing ,remind me later in the year!
Good luck Deano…
Hi Deano
Re the book, I believe it will take at least another 12 months being edited / marketed etc. Anni
Thanks Deb.