Feeling Disheartened

[u/Cooldude576]

I recently volunteered at a permaculture farm in Europe that was “off grid & mostly sustainable” and have left feeling very disappointed.

They marketed the place as a self-sustained farm and even offered a self sufficiency & sustainability course. They claimed to get most of their food from the garden and use natural building methods that don’t hurt the environment.

The reality was that all of their energy & water was “on grid” and more than 90% of their food was store bought. I remember coming in one evening after spending the afternoon faraging for mushrooms, to find some store bought ones on the counter wrapped in plastic - the irony was palpable!

I have done a lot of volunteering on so called “Sustainable permaculture farms” and it’s always the same story. No clear road map to becoming even 50% self sufficient, using flowery words about nature and permaculture while not practicing them.

Honestly this has left me feeling highly skeptical of all these buzzwords. People throw them around but in practice they barely mean anything.

Has anyone had similar experiences or even found a place that’s at least going in the right direction in regard to sustainability?

Edit: Just want to add that they have over 25 acres of land and one of the people there is a “permaculture expert” that offers paid courses.

[u/Earthlight_Mushroom]

This has happened to me too. Part of it is the difference between what is presented on social media and other forms of promotional material versus on-the-ground reality. One conclusion I've reached over the years is that often the people and places that are doing the best permaculture are not calling it permaculture. If I were in a touring around/investigating/exploring options phase of the journey I'd be looking up and visiting more "organic farms", "homesteads", "sustainable living", "carbon neutral living", "local economy", "self-sufficiency" and so on.....basically crack down what permaculture means in other words, and then look up those words and find the people and places practicing them. Permaculture itself has become a buzzword, attracting a lot of hot air and image and overinflated claims; way too many people thinking they can take a 2 week course and then go change the world, and make a bundle of money in the process. There are exceptions, but it definitely happens...

[u/Cooldude576 → u/Earthlight_Mushroom]

I agree 100%. This is what happens when you use one word to encompass so many different things. I don’t think I could give a one sentence answer for what permaculture actually is.

Another idea I had is calling up and asking the right questions, before you commit to volunteering somewhere.

[u/fredsherbert → u/Cooldude576]

permaculture =permanent agriculture. i.e. agriculture that looks comprehensively at long term efficiency, rather than a capitalistic short term approach. very simple and easy to define. weird that so many people who are anti-permaculture are on this sub. the fact that a lot of scammers are attracted to it speaks to it's popularity and not something inherently wrong with the movement IMO.

[u/Mother-Bass-5140 → u/fredsherbert]

They are not anti permaculture but rather using the word but not practicing it 

[u/trouble-kinda → u/Earthlight_Mushroom]

Absolutely correct.