Saturday, I toured the properties of two of the giants in the permaculture world. James Stark and Penny Livingston Stark brought these ideas over from Australia and have been working their land in the Marin Headlands and training teachers since the 1980s. All through my classes, and as I visit other permaculture sites, everyone I meet who is doing this work speaks reverently of their time with Penny. I have to admit, I was a bit jealous. Would I ever catch up with this internationally renowned teacher?
That's Penny in the photo above, standing over the fire pit. I'm thrilled to have met her, and to listen to her. I've met other teachers like her, who treat knowledge not as a possession, but as an entity unto itself, and it is their privilege to share it with us. I know her deeper message of celebrating all the good work people everywhere are doing got into me, because:
Sunday night at church, our newly formed "Green Team" (organized entirely without my involvement) announced "Bike to Church Day." Caitlan turned to me and whispered, "Oh, I'm sorry Mister Man, you're not extreme anymore."
"Caitlan," I whispered back, "that's a good thing. The world won't get saved if I'm the only one doing the saving."
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