And the last permaculture principle is: Creatively use and respond to change.  Things change all the time.  Change can not be avoided.  You may as well embrace it.

The picture above is an experiment we did with cob rocket stoves.  We wanted to build 3 burners, but were’nt really sure what we were doing.  I had a well laid out plan, so I thought, but knew that it would likely not be perfect the first time.  I expected to have to change some of my plans part way through, which is why I built the burners one at a time.  I planned for my plans to change, so when I built one burner and had to alter it, I would be able to build the next burner just a little better.  By accepting that I did not know what I was doing, I was able to plan for it and make the changes easily.

Change can come in a wide variety of ways.  Change can be planned like the change of the seasons or it can be a unexpected like when your car breaks down.  The change of the seasons is easy to accept and respond to.  When it gets cold out, change to a warmer coat.  A car breaking down is not always so easy to accept or respond to.  However, a broken down car isn’t always a bad thing.  When my last car broke down, it forced me to get a new car.  I really like my new car and we were able to trade my old car for a truck.  We needed a truck pretty badly, so things worked out really well in the end.

It is not always the easiest thing to do to accept change.  We form habits and routines and then we have to change and it puts ripples in our lives.  Rather than let change create ripples, use whatever comes your way to make positive change and don’t get too frustrated.  Change is coming, take advantage of it when you can.

Thanks for reading all the principles with me.  I have learned some new things myself while putting these posts together and have really enjoyed it.

The next series of posts I do will be about gardening with children.  I have two kids and I want to teach them to be self sufficient and know how to feed themselves.  This summer, they are going to learn all about gardening and how to build a house.  Should be fun!

And the last permaculture principle links are:

Temperate Climate Permaculture

Permaculture

Think of it as an Adventure

The Perspective Project

Permaculture Principles