Lessons I learnt at Native Place, Kamshet when doing my 2 Day PDC (Permaculture Design Course)

One big lesson I learnt while doing my 2 day Permaculture course is..

The Art of Observation!

On the first session of the first day itself, we were given a task where we were told to identify 20 things at Native Place.

With my Amateur Environmental Lens of looking at nature, I started.

And yes, got stuck at seeing only Green everywhere.

But then... it happened!

A tiny yellow butterfly flying as though it was dancing...

And another one.

And another one.

All coming and going while playing the dance of nature.

I managed only to focus on one element of nature.

And nature was playing a millon odd tunes at one moment of time.

But it was a start. A beginning of observing nature in its more profound state. Without judgement. Without subjectivity. In all its beautiful glory and grace.

When Astrid was sharing her profound wisdom and experience with us it was this art of experience in keen observation and with extreme patience that I was absorbing.

Chandan Mulherkar helping us feel the Soil!

When Chandan was making us aware about soil, it was this deep connection with it that he was helping us make, is what I absorbed.

So finally what I got wasn't just observing nature. I was observing myself through it!

I wasn’t just learning about nature. Nature was helping me learn something about myself through it. As a channel. As a vehicle.

There are only few places in life where I visit that make me come out with knowing myself better. Native Place has become one of those places.

There is something deep, something mystical, something hard to express is what I found here. That something I shall keep forever in my heart.

> Going to the roots

My experience with nature has always upto this point remained on the surface.

Whether it was watering plants in school when I was a child or trekking in a forest. I found my connection with nature always at surface level and lacking depth.

This workshop along with a few volunteering activities I did recently helped me break through the superficial and connect with nature in a way that I never thought was possible.

> Artful Observation.

At first I never understood the sense of capturing pics of nature. Why take them when there were so many available online.

But seeing one student going out there, constantly taking pics and doing it again and again, I realised that taking pics could be about practicing the art of capturing nature's hidden depth in a beautiful and artistic way. A habit of artful observation.

> Care. Need to create the beautiful.

Astrid sharing here deep wisdom and experience

To see Astrid care for each of her plants as they were her own. This was simply Awe Inspiring.

> Nature's challenge for you.

Even though Native Place was sending vibes of Harmony across to me, it wasn't easy to tune in to that harmony. At many times I drifted away into my own thoughts. At other I wasn’t able to grasp all its love that it was sending.

And thats a huge challenge that nature presents us. It constantly pushes us to raise our consciousness higher. It tasks us to focus and help ourselves become as harmonious as nature presents itself to be.

> Nature is not just all sunshine and rainbow

Chandan kept reminding us how nature was not always at its best. It also has its dark side.

It needs protection from us to help it come back to its glory.

Yes, humans have, in recent history, destroyed more than they have created with the idea of what nature can give us in the short term.

But, If we were to flip that question to what we can give to nature (Earth Care) so nature keeps giving back to us for the long term (People Care), then we could arrive at a Harmonious co-existance (Fare Share) with it and ourselves at the same time!