As part of our online Permaculture Design Course, we encourage participants to spend time in nature to observe. Here are some reflections from Naomi, course participant in 2022/23 on observing flow, also published on her own blog livinglearninggettingolder.com.

Hi I’m Liz and I am very fortunate to live in the Stroud Valleys with my partner. I am originally from the West Midlands and am proud to consider myself as a Black Country “wench”, having grown up in a former mining village next to a steel making town, all now long gone. That background, where folks don’t have much, has inspired a resilience in me to make the most of what we have, help who we can and grow as much food as possible.

I’m in my early 30s and have spent much of the last decade ‘being a comedian’ which has mostly meant doing stand up, until the last few years during which I’ve been lucky enough to spend most of my time writing and acting in sitcoms for the BBC. I feel lucky and I enjoy it, but nevertheless I increasingly felt like something was missing from my life and more specifically I felt disconnected from nature and like I didn’t spend enough time outdoors, which I suppose is what ‘led me to permaculture’.