Holt Gård in Norway was the exciting scenery of this year’s Nordic Permaculture Gathering and took place on the last weekend before the calendar spring. The meeting is a tradition that has deep roots for permaculture associations in the Scandinavian countries. The meeting was attended by members of the Agro-Perma-Lab collective at the invitation of the Norwegian Permaculture Association, which currently has over 800 members.
After the pandemic, the Scandinavians managed to meet again in person. In addition to Norwegian, Swedish and Danish participants, the meeting was attended by representatives of permaculture from Chile, Poland and Germany.
The most important conclusion from the meeting is that it begins a new era for Scandinavian cooperation. There have been significant changes in the management boards, especially in Sweden, and thus also new perspectives on working together. The Norwegian Graduate Guild and the Nordic Academy of Permaculture were founded and presented by Jan Bang and Cathrine Dolleris.
Permaculture in the Nordic countries has been compared to an ecosystem where everything starts with the pioneers and gradually matures into a forest. A forest fire or other disaster ensures the renewal of the forest and the gene pool. Cooperation within the LAND network was being discussed (map of LAND centers in Great Britain. Polish, unofficial and yet unverified centers can be found here. More complete map of permaculture in Poland here).
There were many ideas for its continuation and development. Permaculture journals were presented and the possibilities of cooperation were discussed, incl. sharing articles between editorial offices. Sweden and Norway now have their beautiful permaculture magazines. The next meeting will probably take place in Denmark in Grobund, in February 2023.
Norwegian Permaculture link