Holt Gård in Norway served as the exciting backdrop for this year’s Nordic Permaculture Gathering, held in the final weekend before the official start of spring. This meeting is a tradition deeply rooted in permaculture associations in the Scandinavian countries. Members of the Agro-Perma-Lab collective were invited to attend by the Norwegian Permaculture Association, which currently boasts over 800 members.
After several years of pandemic-related challenges, the Scandinavians succeeded in gathering in person once more. In addition to Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish participants, representatives from Chile, Poland, and Germany also joined the meeting.
Perhaps the most significant takeaway from the gathering is that it marks the beginning of a new era for Scandinavian collaboration. There have been significant changes in the leadership of organizations, especially the Swedish one, leading to fresh perspectives on working together. The Norwegian Diploma Guild and the Nordic Permaculture Academy were established and presented by Jan Bang and Cathrine Dolleris.
Permaculture in the Nordic countries was likened to an ecosystem where everything starts with pioneers and gradually matures into a forest. A forest fire or other disaster ensures the renewal of the forest and its gene pool.
The meeting discussed collaboration within the LAND network (map of LAND centers in the UK; unofficial and unverified Polish centers can be found here; a more comprehensive map of permaculture in Poland is available here). Many ideas for continuation and development emerged, including the sharing of articles between editorial teams. Sweden and Norway now have their beautiful permaculture magazines.
The next meeting is likely to take place in Denmark at Grobund in February 2023.
Norwegian Permaculture link