Santa Cruz Permaculture is a leading organization in the permaculture movement, based in the biodiverse and ecologically significant Central Coast region of California. It serves as a hub for education, hands-on practice, and community building, actively working to cultivate a more thriving, just, and sustainable world through the application of permaculture principles.
The Roots of Santa Cruz Permaculture: Design for a Permanent Culture
While the term "permaculture" itself was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in Australia in the 1970s, Santa Cruz Permaculture emerged from the local context of the Santa Cruz area, a region with a long history of organic agriculture and environmental consciousness. The organization, founded by David Shaw, is built upon the core ethics of permaculture: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share.
Santa Cruz Permaculture Design Course
Shaw, with a background that includes a PhD in environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz focusing on agroecology, political ecology, and sustainable communities, brings a deep academic and practical understanding to the organization. Santa Cruz Permaculture was founded with the explicit aim of supporting individuals in pursuing "right livelihood" – work that serves both people and Earth – and to contribute to social transformation.
Their philosophy is that permaculture is about creating a "permanent culture" where humans live on Earth in a way that leaves things better than they found them for future generations. It's about designing beneficial relationships between all elements of a system, whether it's a garden, a business, or a community.
Mission and Vision: Nurturing a Thriving, Just, and Sustainable World
Santa Cruz Permaculture's mission is to nurture a thriving, just, and sustainable world through courses, consulting, and farming. They aim to equip people with the knowledge, skills, and whole-systems strategies needed to implement resilient and beautiful permaculture designs.
Their vision is for a world where:
- Human settlements and institutions are consciously designed using ethical, whole-systems approaches derived from ecosystems, nature-connected communities, and time-tested systems.
- Abundance is created by observing existing systems and natural processes to artfully, conscientiously, and strategically optimize how various parts of a system work together.
- Individuals are empowered to actively participate in building a more regenerative and equitable future.
Key Pillars of Action: Education, Cultivation, and Community
Santa Cruz Permaculture operates through several interconnected initiatives, emphasizing hands-on learning and practical application:
1. Comprehensive Permaculture Education:
- Permaculture Design Courses (PDCs): This is a cornerstone of their offerings. The PDC is a globally recognized certification course covering all fundamental permaculture topics as developed by Bill Mollison. Santa Cruz Permaculture emphasizes hands-on learning, field trips to diverse sites, and draws on leading designers and teachers from across Northern California to provide diverse expertise.
- Advanced Permaculture Courses: For those seeking deeper knowledge, they offer courses that delve into specialized areas.
- Skills-Building Workshops: They offer a variety of shorter, practical courses on topics like:
- Food Forests: Best practices for orchard establishment and management, designing productive vegetable gardens, and preserving the harvest.
- Regenerative Beekeeping: Sustainable approaches to beekeeping.
- Herbalism and Medicine-Making: Connecting people with the medicinal properties of plants.
- Rainwater Harvesting and Fire Resilience: Crucial skills for adapting to California's climate challenges.
- Farm Internships and Immersion Programs: Providing intensive, immersive learning experiences on their farm, covering a wide range of regenerative agriculture practices, watershed restoration, tool use, and community development. These programs aim to provide a "transitional job program" to help people build careers in sustainability and social justice.
2. Regenerative Organic Farming at a 26-Acre Farm:
- Stewardship of Land: As of April 2022, Santa Cruz Permaculture became stewards of a beautiful 26-acre farm near Davenport, California, on the unceded territory of the Quiroste people. This farm serves as a living laboratory and demonstration site.
- Transition to Regenerative Practices: While the land has been farmed organically for decades, the team is actively transitioning it to a regenerative, organic, no-till, mixed vegetable, flower, fruit, herb, and agroforestry farm. This involves:
- Soil Regeneration: Focusing on feeding soil microbes, improving organic matter through lush winter cover crops and annual compost application, and implementing no-till methods to reduce soil disturbance.
- Water Conservation: Utilizing drip irrigation, covering soil with cover crops and mulches to prevent erosion, and implementing permaculture best practices to "slow it, spread it, sink it" to manage water. Their irrigation water comes from surface water, not wells.
- Biodiversity Enhancement: Growing a large diversity of crops (over 80 varieties) and creating natural habitats to attract beneficial insects and birds, reducing reliance on pesticides.
- Agroforestry and Perennial Systems: Integrating trees and shrubs into their farming system for long-term productivity and ecological benefits. They plan to expand cultivation to include more perennial flowers, willow, elderberry, and even Kernza (a perennial grain).
- Farm-to-Community Model: The farm produces delicious and nutritious foods for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, U-Pick opportunities, a farm stand, farmers' markets, an online shop, and local caterers, restaurants, and wholesale customers.
3. Community Building and Engagement:
- Community Events: Hosting events that bring people together to learn, share, and connect with nature and each other.
- Permaculture Action Days: While more broadly associated with the Permaculture Action Network, Santa Cruz Permaculture often participates in or hosts similar events that mobilize people for hands-on creation of regenerative systems in urban and rural settings.
- Networking: Fostering a strong network of alumni from their courses and connecting individuals with projects and resources, building lasting relationships within the permaculture community.
- Addressing "Doomerism": David Shaw emphasizes that connecting with students and seeing them learn practical skills for regenerating ecosystems helps counter despair about global environmental issues, reinforcing a sense of agency and positive action.
Impact and Achievements: Cultivating Resilience
Santa Cruz Permaculture has made a significant impact on individuals and the local landscape:
- Skilled Workforce: Over 1,000 alumni have gone through their programs, gaining practical skills for sustainable living and careers in regenerative agriculture.
- Demonstration of Regenerative Practices: The 26-acre farm serves as a vital demonstration site, showcasing how large-scale regenerative organic farming can increase biodiversity, improve soil health, conserve water, and build community resilience.
- Resource Mobilization: They successfully secured a $105,000 grant for land and water improvement from the Natural Resource Conservation District, demonstrating external recognition and support for their work.
- Community Engagement: Through their CSA, farm stand, U-Pick, and events, they directly connect the community with local, sustainably grown food.
- Inspiring Action: By offering accessible courses and hands-on experiences, they inspire individuals to take direct action in their own lives and communities towards sustainability. As one student put it, they "found so much more than design. I found a community, connections, self awareness, growth."
Santa Cruz Permaculture is a vibrant example of how permaculture principles can be applied to create tangible, positive change. By blending ethical design, practical farming, and deep community engagement, they are actively building a more regenerative and resilient future from the ground up.
