Blog by Barbara Scheltus - van den Berg

After more than 15 years of hosting volunteers on our permaculture farm, I thought I knew this terrain pretty well. We’ve hosted people from all over the world, in different life phases; with different expectations, skills and levels of initiative. I’ve seen beautiful exchanges; and I’ve seen situations slowly drain energy on all sides.

So when I decided to create an online course on how to successfully host volunteers, I didn’t expect to be surprised.

But I was.

January has a strange reputation with the pressure of new intentions, resolutions and heroic plans that usually don't survive February. It is a fun subject at the christmas-dinner table though. What will you leave behind in the new year? What will you pick up or give more attention?
A permaculture approachwould be to observe (energy, time, land, relationships, body) and ask what wants to grow this year.

Permaculture began with gardens, chickens and food forests. In its early days, it was all about designing sustainable systems for growing food in harmony with nature. And rightly so; these practices remain vital in a world facing ecological breakdown.

But something deeper has been growing beneath the surface. Over time, permaculture has expanded from landscapes to lifescapes. From composting kitchen scraps to composting cultural norms. From planting trees to planting the seeds of new ways of being together.

They came for two days and stayed for five; the kind of extension we don't just welcome, but celebrate!

Last week, a fellow permaculture family visited our homestead in the heart of Croatia. What started as a short stopover turned into a beautiful five-day cultural and creative exchange. We shared not only food and space, but values, questions, stories, and laughter.