Progress through design and implementation of a permaculture site can be slow and overwhelming. Or fast — too fast — with regrets. Or haphazard, with two steps forward and one steps back.
SEEDs consultation and coaching process is designed to educate you about the foundational aspects of permaculture, empower you to move through the design process in a structured and supported way, and strategically plan both the design and implementation so that your time, efforts and money are leveraged.
SEEDs moved away from the typical consulting gig, because clients seemed under stress to absorb everything in a few hours, and we also noticed that they didn’t make a lot of progress, because they got bogged down when they had one or two questions but felt like they had to “save them up” for an additional hour of consulting. This seemed like the equivalent of someone trying to drink from a firehose and then having no water for weeks. Ugh.
Instead, SEEDs pairs our expertise in permaculture design and teaching with coaching to nurture you along the path as you design your site.
Because here’s the thing: any design is an initial first engagement with the living land and will need to change as one’s relationship deepens and the Place evolves. So instead of relying on an outside expert, through this process, I aim to help you deepen your relationship with the land and the design process so that the skills and ways of being that you learn help you grow with the land instead of simply impose our human ideas on it.
To do this, SEEDs works with you in Phases. To begin a Phase, we meet in person or online, depending on your location, so that you get the information you need in digestible chunks, and then you can work on your own between sessions. During our engagement, you can also email or call me, because I want you to feel supported and empowered to do this regenerative work. Phases are paid for separately, and you choose the pace at which you complete the work necessary for each.
In the first phase, SEEDs
- Provides you an extensive “Stakeholder Questionnaire.” This document helps you get clear about your vision for the site, and gives SEEDs insights into that vision, as well as any constraints you are facing.
- Builds upon your existing knowledge of permaculture, so that you have a solid foundation upon which to base our work.
- Outlines the design process so that you have a template for our work together.
- Visits your site, depending on your location.
- Provides you the skills necessary to perform a thorough site assessment and analysis of your site.
- Takes you through an interesting, even fun way to interview stakeholders and frame your goals.
Please note: Do-it-yourself types often skip over these steps because they want to get their hands on some tools! (This is the “too fast – with regrets” approach.) However, these steps are crucial to coming up with a good long-term design that is cost-effective and an efficient use of time.
Phase I includes a rich array of handouts, checklists and resources so you feel confident working on your own between our work sessions.
SEEDs also provides you a design portfolio where you collect all information related to your design and showcase your home improvements–which increase the value of your home should you sell in the future. Alternatively, you can provide family members who inherit their home with vital information about the site, thus saving duplication of efforts or loss of vital information.
Phase two is the creative design phase. We will explore design methods, and brainstorm lots of design solutions. Then we finalize a design, where you learn how to how to draw out a basic design plans, select plants, think about costs and ROI, plan for implementation, document your efforts, and schedule timely upkeep so that you get maximum “fruits” from your labor.
Again, handouts, checklists and resources are already compiled for you.
As you can probably see, SEEDs is really excited about empowering people with ecological design!
What’s the next step?
If this process looks like a fit for you, please send me an email at karryn@seedsustainabilityconsulting.com so we can schedule a time to discuss things further via phone. If you can answer the following questions, that’s also helpful!
- What is the ideal outcome you’d like to experience from working with me?
- How important is this project (on a scale of 1-10)?
- What’s your current relationship with your living land?
- Who (other than you) is interested in incorporating permaculture into your site? Is anyone resistant or skeptical?
- Is there budget allocated for this project? Please elaborate.
- When would you like to start working with me on this? Are you in a hurry to get to the “final product”? How much time can you dedicate per week to working independently on the design process and later, on implementation?
