July 2025 Permaculture Newsletter
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What a summer it has been! The gardens are not just growing—they are exploding with life. The compost is hot, the pollinators are dancing, and the abundance, oh yes, the abundance is flowing like a perennial stream restored to its natural rhythm. Communities are rising, people are gathering, and we are witnessing what Brock Doleman would call “a hydrological awakening of the human spirit.” Here at PINA, we are filled with a radiant hope. Not a passive hope—but a dynamic, functional, stacked-in-time-and-space kind of hope. Because there is work to be done—and you are the ones to do it. The Permaculture Design Contest is almost upon us—a clarion call for those bold enough to dream and design a new reality. And coming up later in the month, we launch a new Intro to Permaculture series—a fertile doorway for fresh eyes and eager hands, where the ethics take root, the principles come alive, and a new generation of designers begins to weave themselves into the great mycelial network of Earth repair. We see it everywhere now. A groundswell. A movement. A guild of awakened souls casting off the monoculture mindset and planting the seeds of resilience. People everywhere are breaking free from the degenerative inertia of the status quo and turning toward the sun—toward Permaculture—with open hands and courageous hearts. Let this be the season we plan with purpose and start turning our ideas into real, productive results. 2025 Permaculture Design Contest Approaches
Beginning August 15th, the call goes out once more. A new Permaculture Design Contest will commence—an open invitation to all who would dare to dream, to design, and to deliver real solutions in the landscapes of their lives. Over the years, this contest has lifted up the quiet heroes—the soil stewards, the water harvesters, the edge-dwellers—those who have rolled up their sleeves and planted hope in the ground. And this year, we want to recognize you. There are two tracks on this regenerative journey. The first? A call to Design with Biochar. “Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.”
There are hundreds of uses for biochar—some yet unimagined. What will you design that no one else has thought of? What system will you stack? What feedback loop will you reinforce? What beauty will you yield? For those just emerging on the path—there is a second track: If you’ve just completed your PDC, you can enter the design you already created. That’s right—you don’t need to start from scratch. Just send us your work. No fuss. No complexity. And who knows? You could be crowned this year’s most promising new designer. This year—we are not just talking recognition. We are talking resources. Real support. $10,000 in prize money. At PINA, we are not just about theory—we are about implementation.
Membership Goes into OverdriveLast month, we opened the gates wide for our annual Membership Drive—and wow, did you show up. Thanks to your incredible response, PINA now has more active members than ever before in our history. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank each and every one of you for stepping into this growing movement. As part of the celebration, we gave away a FREE biochar kiln to one lucky new member—chosen at random, because regeneration, like nature, sometimes works in beautiful surprises. Want to see who won? You’ll find the results at the link below.
And if you’re still watching from the edge, wondering whether now is the right time to jump in—it is. New Monthly Intro to Permaculture Series
Hosted by long-time educator and food forest evangelist Greg Peterson, and co-sponsored by PINA and The Urban Farm, this new Intro to Permaculture series invites you into the living matrix of regenerative design. Starting August 11th, join us every 2nd Monday for a free, live session featuring diverse voices from across the permaculture landscape. Each month, a new teacher will share 30–35 minutes of core concepts—rooted in ethics, principles, and practical action—followed by lively Q&A and a few parting seeds to plant in your own life. Whether you’re just discovering permaculture or seeking to reconnect with its deeper patterns, these sessions are an ideal mycelial touchpoint to local PDCs and global movements alike.
BE FEATURED IN THE NEWSLETTER Members, we want to highlight your work in our newsletter. Please email a project you’re proud of to communications@pina.in. PINA invites you to share content for a future edition of our newsletter! See an article or news item you think we should feature? Contact us to let us know. Permaculture Principles: Biochar Style
In her insightful post “Biochar and Permaculture Principles,” PINA’s own Gloria Flora walks us through how the act of making and using biochar is a living expression of permaculture ethics and principles in action. From turning pruning piles into carbon gold, to capturing energy, cycling nutrients, and creating no waste, biochar is more than a soil amendment—it’s a systems-thinking solution. Gloria shows how this ancient technique intersects beautifully with every permaculture principle, from “Observe and Interact” to “Creatively Use and Respond to Change.” Whether you’re heating your tea kettle with a backyard burn or closing the loop on your orchard trimmings, biochar is a humble, powerful tool in our regenerative toolbox. As Gloria reminds us, this isn’t just about soil—it’s about sequestering carbon, supporting life, and building the future we need, one small, slow burn at a time.
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