This was the first meeting about a new permaculture network for Swansea and Neath, organised through Permaculture Ambassadors Local Gathering funding. Peter Stopp (coordinator of the South Wales Paramaethu Cymru Network) had already been planning to set up a regional network. It had become increasingly difficult to manage a single network for such a large area so he brought more people on board to help, including Shaun and Nicola from Café Make in Pontardawe.

Lampeter Permaculture Group (LPG) is starting a local seed library, Banc Hadau Llambed, with the aim of fostering local food resilience by encouraging more local people to save good quality seeds of veg that grow well in local conditions.

A Swansea based foster family have set up an Eco-retreat on the Gower to allow foster-children to have contact with nature. Here is their story...

One Planet Development is a forward thinking and radical planning policy, unique to Wales, that enables people to live and work sustainably on their own land.
Here Stefan Cartwright - co-founder of the One Planet Council gives an introduction to the policy.

As the Assembly holds a consultation on 'Rethinking food in Wales' Jane Powell asks what Paramaethu has to offer. Permaculture design goes beyond the novel land uses for which ii is best known, and draws on traditional wisdom and historical experiences of social change to propose new approaches to modern challenges. 

In our second article on rooting permaculture in Welsh culture, Sue Laverack reflects on diversity, language and tradition. Sue worked as a counsellor for many years before moving to a smallholding in southwest Wales, where she is learning Welsh.

It’s a principle of permaculture design that the boundary between contrasting ecosystems, such as an estuary or a woodland edge, is particularly diverse and productive.The recent Paramaethu Cymru gathering produced some exciting new insights and directions by bringing together some of the different communities in Wales.

In the first of a series of articles on the importance of rootedness in Wales, Marit Parker challenges permaculturists to value Welsh approaches and perspectives as part of the UK tradition.

As part of our quarterly Paramaethu Cymru coordinators’ meeting we include a site visit treat! This time we visited dedicated eco builders Debbie and Julian who also happen to grow the most amazing salad, veg and soft fruit.