Vital Cycles

In my interview with Lydia Neilsen and Anne Freiwald, we discuss their permaculture organization, Vital Cycles. In addition to teaching programs to certify folks in permaculture, Vital Cycles, as these two wonderful ecologically savvy women will describe, is about making meaningful connections to the earth. 

I met with these two in Anne’s garden to discuss the power of teaching and training ourselves to the rhythms of the earth. Additionally, both Anne and Lydia share a deep love of song, and are song carriers that help humans live our days in literal harmony.

You can find several bits of song woven throughout the podcast as short and sweet interludes between each interview question. The songs come from a variety of West Coast songwriters like Debbi-Narga Brown, Molly Hartwell, Mo Washburn, and Osprey Flies the Nest, among others. All of them are sung by Lydia and Anne, who, in addition to their permaculture offerings, facilitate song circles in the Santa Cruz area. 

I am really excited to be sharing a podcast about permaculture. I have a rich history of learning about plants and ecology, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon permaculture that I really felt like I had come home. There’s something really synergistic about consciously designing our lives and the spaces we inhabit to be supportive of life. I think that if I could only interview folks about one topic that is going to change the world, it would be permaculture.

For those of you who aren’t super familiar with permaculture, there’s a whole world for you to step into. In this episode of “The Positive Fantastic” podcast, we’ll touch on some of the ways that permaculture can help us deal with the climate issues we’re currently facing.

But for fun, I’m gonna give an example of a key permaculture principle. There’s this concept called stacking functions. The idea is that you want to maximize the number of opportunities in any given example to be of the utmost benefit. Sounds groovy, right?

For example, say I really like flowers and I want to plant a flower bed in my yard. Well, maybe I put in a Buddlea bush because I want to attract butterflies and give them something to forage on. As that bush grows, it will provide shade for other flowers to grow beneath it that don’t need or want as much sun. Maybe I grow some calendula along the edge of the flower bed and then I have a beautiful, prolific flower that is both edible and medicinal.

Perhaps I have some old logs that are lying around and I use them in the bottom of the bed to help hold moisture and they’ll decompose into nutrient rich soil, both using up a resource I have and helping fertilize my flowers. The beauty of the flowers in the garden is of course a wonderful function that nourishes the soul. So, I stacked all those functions into one flower bed. It’s like ecological multi-tasking. 

And, I love me some multi-tasking. In a life where I am constantly trying to fit in as much wonder and enjoyment as I can possibly experience, stacking functions comes in handy on social levels too. For instance, whenever I set out to record a podcast, I get to do just that, but I also get to nurture a friendship, spend time getting to know someone better, and have a little adventure to go meet up with my interviewee. 

I appreciate how Lydia and Anne both talked about the real ecological roots of permaculture but then also factored in the social aspects that layer in for us all to create meaningful human relationships. And I hope that you’ll enjoy taking a dive into recognizing the Vital Cycles that guide our lives.