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Great Big Ideas & Takeaways:
Fans of Geoff Lawton will love this NEW never-before-seen look at his journey to create a thriving garden oasis in the desert of Jordan, one of the driest, most salty soiled locations on the planet.
Combining film footage collected over more than a decade, with fresh commentary from Geoff, “Greening The Desert Journey” aims to inspire you with a long-term look at how permaculture can transform a landscape… and dramatically change lives in the process.
- How permaculture can transform the driest, most barren landscape into a thriving food forest that feeds and supports local people.
- Secrets for capturing and retaining water in areas of extreme water scarcity and insecurity.
- Strategically giving nature what she needs to thrive—so that, in turn, humans can harvest what we need to support life.
Bonus Video:
- Take a deep dive with Geoff Lawton into how nature’s patterns form the basis of successful permaculture design.
- Why nature will always push back when you try to impose straight lines.
- An introduction to the basic patterns of nature, with a look at how they present themselves in the world around you.
About The Speaker:
Geoff Lawton is a world-renowned Permaculture consultant, designer and teacher. Geoff has done thousands of permaculture designs in 6 continents and close to 50 countries around the world. Clients have included private individuals, groups, communities, governments, aid organizations, non-government organizations and multinational companies.
Geoff learned permaculture in 1983 directly from its founder, the legendary Bill Mollison. When Bill Mollison retired, he chose Geoff to establish and direct a new Permaculture Research Institute in Australia. Geoff is still the Managing Director of the non-profit which is expanding into the US, Jordan, Canada, Chile, Turkey, Greece, and Afghanistan.
Geoff has won numerous awards. In 1996 Geoff was accredited with the Permaculture Community Services Award by the Permaculture movement. PRI Australia won the Humanitarian Water & Food Award for 2010 for their initiative “Greening the Desert.”
Geoff is a renowned teacher and has educated over 15,000 students in Permaculture worldwide. Geoff can be reached at www.GeoffLawtonOnline.com to access his training in Permaculture and environmental sustainability.
QUESTION: What’s your favorite takeaway from Geoff’s presentation?
Maybe there is hope for gardening beyond potatoes in the sand & rock with no additional water resources.
Hi Penny
yes it is all about understanding how to design to the situation and working with the carbon pathways you learn to recognise in the natural systems in the area.
Thank God and you to brought this kind of online practical learnig which I like.
First I would like to join you for the gardening to grow healthier food for communities with less work in sense that to grow food is difficult but for me is simple because I followed home steading step by step and requirements to grow healthier food .
Every season we use compost no expensive machine no dilling,raking,then we keep compost bin for the plants but it takes time to
be lead feeding the plants it also call it mulch when its lead ,plants needs energy during summer,then compostin bin keeps high temporature which plants needs more to have once you provide them then it will grow much
health but no chemical for the organic pesticide only thing is care and how much water you can provide to them this way is good you can save money for the next season and you can feed the communities as can.
Thank you,
Peter
I come from a traditional farming background and the 1st time I saw some of Geoff’s work I was skeptical to sat the least. But after seeing his videos, getting his weekly emails, and doing some studying on Perma culture from Geoff and other sites I see this is a powerful way to provide food and re c use misuse I found our precious resources. I am definitely on board and continue to want to learn more.
Hi Melanie
I am glad we have been able to convince you to come on board, welcome.
Geoff
I showed this to my advanced biology classes today, particularly since we are talking about ecosystems. I felt a bit guilty since I know what Bill Mollison thought about teaching it in schools, but I let the presentation speak for itself.
Several kids are now all fired to do more.
Thank you!!!
What profound comments from a great thinker.
Hi Cindy, I am so delighted Geoff has given presentations at two of our Summits. He truly is the thought leader in this space.
Hi Cindy
the only thing that you can find that is common in all permaculture people is that we like to think things through.
Splemdid!
You’re a savior of our planet … keep going in that direction … TY 🙂
Hi Jean-Guy
we can all play a part.
um no .. but obviously a great teacher with alot of understanding hopefully at least he knows where this understsanding comes from
Jordan has got to be one of the toughest places on earth to try and do this. Makes me want to stop whining about how bad Texas is…
LOL, Marjory, my thoughts exactly!! Looking out across the front little pasture this morning I realized there is a “permiculture” out there of sorts; it’s only 18″ high. But with proper planning and execution there can be abundance for people and sheep. Even if hay has to be bought to feed the sheep until the trees get above their heads and out of reach, in the long run the results will be well worth the effort and expense.
Hi Jean
I am there right now typing these replies and yes it is tough work here, the situation is hard, it makes me really appreciate our Sub Tropical farm in Northern New South Wales, Australia
Whoo hoo! So glad to see you online Geoff.
Or maybe instead get a little smile going because you KNOW it will still be Texas, but just a good deal greener and easier to chew on. Character is retained, but in an enhanced way.
O my God -there is hope for humanity (unless Monsanto torpedo it).
Hi Urszula
we have seen that torpedo coming a long time ago and have all the side step moves to dodge it : )
Great news Geoff! Do tell us what we have to do…
Sandy
These are great videos from Geoff, they prove that deserts can be turned around. Unfortunately these videos have been on Youtube for over a year i think, i was hoping for some new information. Hopefully chemical farmers in the USA will see the light and realize that Permaculture is the way forward and not conventional farming.
Hi Mech
the last section is brand new I just filmed it, I am still in Jordan typing this : ) For the new people to our work we felt we had to fill in the history, I have some new detailed videos of our present advances coming out soon.
And Mech, on the encore day, Geoff will have some completely never seen before footage on patterns for you.
The value of earth, water, air and energy is life and all creation. These are controlled by more aggressive quests for comfort and showy displays of wealth, superiority, numbers and power. Self sufficient permacultures and those who support them do not help more aggressive power quests. So how can this work? Geoff Lawton, Dan Kittredge and Don Tipping are preaching my religion.
Hi Susan
I think you will find it will be forced upon us by the ill health of our children : (
Pingback: Greening The Desert Journey – Geoff Lawton
All is well, however, I am personally insulted that he refuses to recognize Israel. West of Jordan is Israel. That is a recognized international country nevermind the biblical history. West of Jordan is Israel.
By the way, the Israelis have been showing the world how to grow completely in the desert for many tens of years.
Salaam Monique
Palestine and all of Ballardah Sham still has full tribal governance that resonates with permaculture and is permanent in every way.
All the tribes of the region can live in peace and abundance with permaculture design, as it use to be, it will be again : )
We are always ready to share as everyone should, for the sake of the innocent children.
“West of Jordan is the State of Palestine, recognized by over 135 UN member nations, and west of that is the State of Israel. I support an equitable, two-state solution so that the people of the region can co-exist in harmony.”
Geoff I am not here for political discourse. Your work to help people live off the land is impressive. I have signed up on your site. I am glad you are helping green the desert and get the families and children self sufficient in food and self care. I hope to learn the principles from you and others on my land in East Tennessee and then when I go back home (to Israel) I hope to further your work with my friends in the villages as well. Salamtak.
PS. Most of us in Israel get along well and share in commerce and work no matter what religion.
Geoff, I loved seeing the unifying video footage and appreciate all your great inspirational videos.
It all gives me hope for my little piece of high desert. My land is at 6000feet elevation, in semi-arid Colorado, with hot summers and frigid winters, and things just don’t grow as rapidly as in more temperate conditions.
I do have a young food forest and windbreak starting to grow, and some sheet mulch beds that are building top soil. Most of my food forest is still only about waist or shoulder high, so doesn’t do much to slow the harsh winds across the desert, or to cast shade, but we are slowly getting there. Finding plants that can withstand both the hot dry summers and -20 F. winters has been a real challenge.
Hi Donna
you need large earth berms shaped as crescents facing south and planted to windbreak trees to create sun trap micro-climates and deciduous vine shade trellis for summer. Also an underground http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/build-underground-greenhouse-garden-year-round.html
https://au.pinterest.com/explore/underground-greenhouse/
Hi Geoff,
Thank you so much for the hard work and tenacity. You are one of my heroes. I live in a climate similar to Donnas and I’ve been struggling to find plants that can withstand the hot summers and frigid winters with extremes on both ends. Your crescent idea would work perfectly in my designs for tall cob walls. I was planning them straight in my small urban yard, but crescent would create sun traps in winter and plant climbing vines over them for shade in the summer. Brilliant! Thanks so much! P.S. I’m also loving the sneak peek for your online course.
Whew Donna, sounds tough. But you can do it!
Hi there.
Thank you so much Geoff for the video.
I’m in the uae and the sand in my garden looks just like what you showed in the beginning of the video…
I’ve already planted 3 date palms and a moringa and they are doing really well.
I want to try some vegetables now as the cool “winter” (our growing season) is just starting… I think I’ll need to sign up to your newsletter for info on how to achieve that… going over to your site now…
Hi Samiha
With good shade and sunken beds we can even grow vegetable in the UAE summer.
Hello Samiha,
I live in the desert in Phoenix Arizona. I have created my garden beds to catch and hold the water. I of course mulch and use compost. Make sure you see Geoff Lawton’s video called, “Soils”, if you haven’t already.
I have found amazing results with growing a cover crop with my veggies. I use grass crops such as oat or barley. In the summer I use sorghum. Oh, and SUNFLOWERS are a must!!!
If you would like to stay in touch my facebook name is Grace Pignatello and so is my user name on Geoff’s forum, “permaculturenews.com”
May you have many happy veggies!
By the way, I noticed some rabbits in the video… how do they survive the heat? Is it those clay pots they popped out of??
Hi Samiha
Our rabbit house is built half under ground and has rock and concrete pitched floor and underground footings, an earth bag super adobe internal wall that separates them from the chicken house, straw bale walls above ground and and earth insulated roof and they are happy.
Geoff s projects and life work gives me hope for the future! This video is such a good example how we can share our knowledge, overcome cultural barriers and come together to do what is nurturing us most: gardening! At the moment I am depressed to see on a daily basis how we as humans destroy the very land that feeds us.So well done Geoff and Majory- thank you!!
I am so pleased to hear that our work gives you hope Elke, because that has always been our intention, because even if we can just see there is hope we can create miracles : )
Kindly confirm the free gifts are for those who purchased the package?
Hi Trish
The free gifts are 9 free videos of ours, click the window at the top right of this page, plus I have another presentation video coming up here on this summit, teaching a great subject “Pattern Understanding”.
Kind Regards Geoff
How does one protect their plants from the chemtrails. If a greenhouse is not an option
Hi Trish
Good quality compost tea full of beneficial organisms sprayed on the leaves as a folia spray creates a shield the covers the whole plant. When you have a soil that is fully charged with beneficial soil life through compost additions you have a soil ecosystem and they will naturally come out of the soil and over the plants as a protective shield. This is why these plants do not get insect attacks or plant diseases because they are just about invisible to insect pests and there is no room for disease because they are cover in beneficial organisms.
This is the best shield your plants can have against anything.
Thank you so much for that answer Geoff. I get asked about chem-trails all the time. Yes, I totally get it – the living microorganism shield – that would do it.
Hi Geoff!
I love the work that you are doing! Keep up the good work! Are you doing an online PDC this year? I’m Sorry about Bill! I’m know he is proud of you! I would love to see you in the States sometime.
Hi Dana
yes we are about to release a new online course, what I am calling “online PDC 2.0” I have been working on it for nearly a year now and I am really proud of it. I have taken the PDC to a new level of learning.
Good afternoon! My name is Reem and I am a third year medical student and a member of the University of Iowa Lecture Committee in the USA. I was wondering if you give public talks and would be interested in speaking within a University setting about permaculture. Our emphasis next fall will be on sustainability and I feel that you would be the perfect person to speak to our students about that topic. I am starting to learn about permaculture and find it exciting and I’m sure other students would as well. Thank you for today’s video!
Hi Reem
yes I do that and it would be my pleasure.
Kind regards Geoff
Wonderful! Is there a specific contact you would like me to get ahold of to discuss specifics and get more information? Thanks again!
Trish, Paul Gautschi, in his Back to Eden film, and tours, said if we have a cover of mulch over the soil, that mulch protects the plants from chemtrails, salt spray from hurricanes, and many other problems. You can watch all the videos on you tube. He uses mostly wood chips, but use what you can get–just don’t leave the ground bare.
That is right Donna
cover soil with mulch which favours the soil eco-system.
As always, great material from a master. I always love watching your videos. Thank you.
Thanks Nancy we keep trying to get the message across.
Hugelkultur continues to appear to provide the ideal solution for us to deploy here in the economically desolate, once fertile US Delta region. Unlike the central Ohio Valley and the plains that carry moisture toward the Missippi River from there, our farmland is high in silt and clay. And lately, it shows increasing degradation from glysophate which is easy to spot since it leaves rainbow patterns throughout the habitat that was once the home for millions of green headed Mallard ducks and heaps of jumping frogs. Gone are the days of the crawfish pies!
I still like the picture of the baby rabbits the best! :)-
Wonderful! Is there a specific contact you would like me to get ahold of to discuss specifics and get more information? Thanks again!
Lol!, we have plenty of them watching over our small lettuce garden, but I appreciate the offer, mate!
http://www.permaculturenew.org
Fabulous Geoff was looking forward to an update on this. Have you by any chance ever visited the island of Malta I have some plans here and it has quite the arid climate. If your ever on this beautiful island would appreciate your input.
Hi Graham
I have had student take the course from Malta http://permaculturemalta.org/about/
Awesome! I wish I’d known I was so close to this amazing operation when I lived in Palestine last winter. I’d have loved to see it for myself!
Hi Geoff I loved your on line course. I took the first one a few years ago. Everything from staff interaction to presentations were impeccable and beautifully done.
Are you still doing the Friday Five? I really enjoyed getting it then it stopped.
Hi Anupo. I’ve been getting every single Friday Five since they started. I love them too. I remember Geoff sending out a “Do you still want to get these” email several weeks ago, and I think unless you said yes and signed up again, you would stop receiving them.
Here is the address to sign up again. Try that and see if it works: http://start.geofflawtononline.com/friday-newsletter/
Hi Anupo
Fred has the answer below every 6 months we send out an email asking if you still want to receive the FF, just to keep an active group and bother people you must of mist it.
The next “online PDC 2.0” is designed from everything we learnt from the first 3 and it is going to be a game changer.
Thank you Geoff!
Once again I am amazed how you and your team have created life where there was only death. Your videos about greening the desert have shown me what is possible. Right now I have young garden beds growing on compacted clay and gravel here in Phoenix Arizona because of what you have done.
Thank you also for taking the time to take pictures and videos about what you are doing and sharing what you know is important, for the rest of us to learn and turn our focus to.
I am also very excited about your online design permaculture course! Thank you for working day and night to bring this to us!
May your hopes and dreams continue to become reality,
Grace
Heh Grace
nice to realise someone knows I work day and night on all this thank you for understanding : )
Thank you Geoff. You are truly a visionary and an earth angel. There are so many ways to work with nature and this needs to be taught everywhere .
Thanks also for returning to the summit.
Marjorie and her team are bringing so much hope to so many people.
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thanks a lot Geoff! this is the world of permaculture for food to feed the world and solving climate change, i wish you a lot of succes from France
I’m happy to see an update of this fantastic project!
I took Geoff’s online course last year. Marjory, do it! But definitely be ready for a lot of work…work that will change your life.
It was a huge investment, and I was on the fence, but my gut knew I needed to take the course, and stick with it, and I’m glad I did.
I’m in the implementation stage of my own property, and I’ve already harvested figs, dragon fruit, passionfruit, and my first lime! My poultry are happier, and I am learning all the time.
I wrote an article about it for Permaculture North America Magazine. You can read more here:
https://permaculturemag.org/2016/10/urban-tropical-permaculture/
Permaculture will change the way you see things, use things, do things. And then you want to thunk yourself on the head, for all those decades of living before you learned about it!
Anybody can do this. But you must be realistic. It takes an enormous amount of learning, then you must commit to putting in the time, money, energy, and thinking/observing to make it a reality.
If you are willing, you will be rewarded many times over. And the good news is, it gets more rewarding over time, as you start to get food, shade, and more.
Aloha,
Alina Niemi
Author of Low-Water Veggie Gardening and The New Scoop (A vegan ice cream cookbook).
WOW – it gives one hope for the world!
Wonderful!
We should give support in Mexico to introduce and develope Permaculture in the countryside there. But we have to find out what kind of approach should be taken so that the natives there want to work together and achieve the goals for transition and development. How can we if it is difficult to gather the energie of the people there?
Hi Maria
try this one http://permaculturenews.org/2013/05/07/haomekka-permaculture-in-mexico/
This up here is a question to Geoff and thank you for inspire and be so generous
goeff is so inspired it brings tears to my eyes
Don’t worry Sam it has brought plenty of tear to mine to over the years as it has been a very hard slog : )
Way to go Geoff, your enthusiasm and spirit helps us to show to the world that permaculture is a solution and can be practised anywhere.
I hope you will keep on inspiring people and teaching them for a long time. I can see you are having fun , Thank You : )
Hi Herb
I am also trying as the great permaculture teacher Graham Bell said “if you are nit having fun you have got the design wrong” : )
Great, optimistic presentation and NO sales pitch! Very generous, Geoff!
Amazing man with an amazing life transforming the world and the mind-set. Blessings!
Hi Sheri
yes mind-set on dogged persistence thanks to Bill Mollison.
G’day Geoff,
Another great presentation, thank you.
Geoff just a quick question do you have a small nursery and seed bank that could give away or sell at low cost to the locals?
Hi Dan
yes we do in Australia and in Jordan and any of our other projects like India and Malaysia too.
Donna Nielson thank you so much. Appreciated your input
Geoff Thank you so much. You are SIMPLY THE BEST!
great information and inspirational as always Geoff. good stuff
Truly amazing!
Thank you people for the appreciation, I am here in Jordan for 2 more days and then I fly home to Australia to all my wonderful interns and farm staff on Zaytuna Farm which so full of life and joy.
I am committed to trying to help the global community of people that want to change to world to be a better place, for as long as I have the strength in my body.
Kind Regards Geoff
Thank You!
This is truely amazing! Wonderful! A few years back i watched a program where someone had taken 2 beavers ( male and female) to the desert, played babbling brook noise, and those 2 beavers went to work digging and packing mud and in 2 yrs created a very nice pond and plantlife. ( i guess they made what could be a swale) i havent heard what the out ome of that project was since. Hopefully wasnt abandoned. Your project is amazing, using whats available, and creating life. Sustainability! This has been a huge eye opener for me, how we must work with mother earth ( the planet ?) to create a future for humanity
Very impressive and inspirational!
I saw some information on making charcoal to incorporate into the soil to create long lasting habitat for soil micro-organisms. Would that be preferable to using “raw” organic matter such as sticks and logs in the berms?
Hi Jean
we need to charge the bio-char with beneficial soil organisms so there are good occupancy rates.
Great video! However, I clicked the link for the bonus videos, but never got an email. I tried it again the next day, but still nothing—not in spam either. I am already on Geoff’s “Friday Five” mailing list, so the address cannot be blocked.
Hi Debbie if you are on the Friday Five list go into http://www.geofflawtononline.com and click the video channel and they are there.
Thanks. It must have been the unusual layout where one page slides over the other that threw me off.
Thank you for the inspiration! More so though, I really REALLY enjoyed your Bonus Video of the patterns! AMAZING! You seriously blew my mind when you started in on the spinal column! I love anatomy and physiology, patterns, and other natural ways too! I hope your travels went well and you’re enjoying being back. Thank you again, Prince of Permaculture! Keep on keepin’ on!
Hi Nikki
I will do my best to keep being of service as my contribution to the global community of people who want to change the world to be a better place.
Hi Geoff,
Thanks for both videos! You did an amazing (& inspiring) job on greening the dessert, and the pattern understanding video is also amazing and inspiring, in a different way!
The subject of patterns I always found a bit difficult; now I look at it with “new eyes”!
Thank you very much.
Hi Barbara
that is great I am really it resonated with you.
I loved your 9 permaculture videos and now really like your bonus video. Thank you for helping us to keep learning! I look forward to getting news about your new online course!
Hi Nancy
if you get the Friday Five newsletter you will get the news on the new online course VERY VERY soon.
Greetings Marjory/Geoff!
Will this Bonus video be added to the Archives on the Grow Network Mother Earth News fair archive for those of us who purchased the Digital package?
If not ‘Pretty Please’ could you include it?
Marjory will have to answer this one.
Yes, we will be placing it in the premium area!
Fantastic!
… and Thank You Geoff! Fantastic & Inspirational videos!
Patterns in nature. All over Universe, a unity of pattern, one core pattern … to me this is Design! and where’s Design there’s a Designer …
Thank you for showing and telling about it Geoff.
My pleasure Inge
So we live on the surface of a sphere. Plant life forms intersect the surface of the sphere according to the core pattern. Man has tried to intersect the with square patterns which has produced a scatter pattern of irregular nets.[cities]
What I observed in your presentation is that straight lines go through germination points. I have seen this with logging roads where the earth was pushed down and came up on the sides in turn the vegetation came up from the sides and formed a canopy over the road. Therefore My driveway is a core shaped tube and the plum grove beside it is another core tube with the field on the other side of it. The pressure of travel and the browsing of the deer maintain the core shape.
Thank you; I am beginning to see this three dimensional edge through out my farm.
The bonus feature on patterns, blew my mind. I always knew we were connected to other living things, but to see it recorded in our bone structure and living tissue, just as in a tree, or the globe – makes us profoundly related.
Many of your videos have helped me to see a piece of property and know what I want to do with it.
The one i am renting now is perfect for Permaculture because its a creekbed that has been left dry and cut off from any source of water. If i buy it, i will be putting in trees and berry bushes in a wonderful teired setup
Dear Geoff, I feel so humbled, blessed and grateful to have seen your presentations here. I know very little about permaculture, but I am devoted to Pachamama, our dear Mother Earth. What you are doing, along with so many others dedicated to this work, as you no doubt recognize, is working to save us all, all creatures, all plants, animals, rocks, and water with air & soils. I will watch your series and feel drawn to your work, but I have my work to do as well, in concert with you: healing the people and bringing them into relationship with our Mother, to slow and stop the destruction, to regreeen our world. I send you blessings for peace, love and abundant energy in all you do. Namaste, Riesah
Both of these videos were incredibly inspiring and exciting. Seeing what you’ve accomplished in Jordan is very moving. A literal oasis in the desert, this project gives so much hope for humans not only to survive but to thrive, even in the harshest of climates.
As for the second video, I have always been fascinated with spirals and patterns in nature and this opened my eyes to a new and exciting one… the core pattern!… something new to ponder and play with in my art.
Thank you, Geoff, for all the work and heart you’ve put into your mission – it is a great gift to the world. It is so inspiring to see someone who has truly found their calling. I look forward to checking out more of your permaculture videos and getting involved!
This is just amazing. Amazing. Thank you for sharing. What you have done in the desert is almost unbelievable. The talk on patterns will keep me thinking probably forever.
I actually didn’t watch this the first time it was offered because I didn’t think it had any bearing on my situation. How wrong I was. Thank you Marjory for the opportunity to catch something I missed before.
Amazing. Congrats. Good work.
Wow! Wow! Wow! The little drop “me” is bouncing in and out of the Great Ocean Me in a state of quite, extreme excitation. This explains why we know it when we hear a Pure Truth. Why we can speak in our language to someone who has never heard those words and still understand each other. Why the rain water can seep into lifeless soil nested under mulch and bring it back to life! Your students have a slightly stunned look in their eyes. Does it take a while for them to fully understand what you are teaching them? Not just the food survival of their family, but of their village, and their nation, in in a healing peace, stand securely in that peace with the world? This pattern once again transforms my understanding of the vision of Permaculture. A tremendous gift. Thanks again, Geoff for helping us all march on.
Geoff you are a true genius! A clear expression of pattern. Thank you for an inspiring presentation.
I first learnt about permaculture as part of the Organic horticulture & holistic studies course I took ten years ago. Since then I have been gathering knowledge wherever and whenever, and applying it as I can at my allotment and garden, both on north facing slopes in North London (and both on heavy clay).
Both Geoff’s talks have been enlightening – the first inspiring, and the second finally making some of my physics lessons at school some 30 years ago make sense!
How does permiculture do with extremely alkaline desert soil (like Nevada)? Has it ever been tested there? Just curious.