Garden fertility out of thin air!
Matthew Keilwitz
Graduate of: Permaculture Design Course at Skywater Center, 2003
In June of 2003 my then best friend, now brother-in-law (thats a totally different story) and I cruised down form Washington to Skywater Center to take a Permaculture design course. I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew is that I was unhappy. I had just come back from working with Seattle and was completely disenchanted with society, industry, and humanity in general.
When we arrived at Skywater Center, a man with a glowing smile crawled out of the bushes and intoduced himself as James. Then he promptly asked for our registration money. I thought, "Oh great, here is this filthy medium again, I thought this was going to be different." I asked the man named James as I handed him the cash "Is this going to be worth it?" He just grinned and said "ask me again in two weeks."
Keep in mind that this is the first experience that I had ever had dealing with earthy people. I come from a very conservative family and had always been warned about folks like these. Boy did I have my bubble popped.
After two weeks of the Northern California sun, a moon that was continued to increase in size and proximity, and six hours of class a day sitting next to naked hippies smeared with green clay under some of the most beautiful oak trees on this earth, I was a changed person. I knew what connectivity was and understood how it effected everything that I could possibly imagine. I had new skills and the understanding to use them in a benevolent way. I was a Permaculturist.
At the graduation ceremony/ talent show I sat in front of fifty people with tears streaming down my face and thanked them for helping me grow. I thanked them all for what they taught me individually and as a community and I am still grateful more than any of them will ever know. From the hands of one of the most beautiful people alive, Penny Livingston-Stark, I received a small certificate with my name on it that will forever remain one of my most prized posesions. And from James, the man who crawled out of the bushes my first morning there, a handshake and a smile of recognition. We exchanged no words, but he knew that I knew that the course was absolutely worth it.
The next day we recieved on last lecture from James on how to be an activist. I don't remember much of that speech other than the words, "You cannot be afraid of what you are capable of." That one sentence still rings in my ears to this day and will forever be the most powerful statement that I have ever witnessed.
I am now a kayak guide on the lower Columbia river. I use my Permaculture skills to teach people how to reconnect with their surrounding environment and we do it in a way that is totally benign. By using human power to paddle ourselves around the estuary we not only make ourselves healthier, but we become aware of our cultures effect on this environment, and how we can change to be a part of it instead of apart from it.
