Diploma day!

On Saturday I ran an accreditation event and received my diploma in applied permaculture design. Over sixty people attended, bringing together my friends, family, Muddy Boots attendees and invited guests from local permaculture networks. My tutor Hannah Thorogood came too and awarded me the diploma. It was lovely to show people my forest school site and and talk a little about what I’ve been working on over the last five years.

I did a 45 minute talk and then ran forest school type activities. We also shared a meal and cooked over a campfire. Talking for 45 minutes about myself and my work did push me to the edges of my comfort zone, but that is where the best learning happens and I actually ended up really enjoying doing it. Talking outside is far for comfortable for me than if we’d have to be inside in a church hall.

Despite strong winds and the threat of rain, we had a fantastic day outdoors. The bell tent was up and lots of tarp shelters as well as all the forest school favourite activities. Its was a fab day and well received by all.

It’s been a long journey to get here and now i’m going to take the chance to ‘pause’, reflect, rest and consider my next steps.

Doing my presentation in the woods

Some of my guests around the campfire

With my peer review panel

Final portfolio assessment

I had my final portfolio assessment last week and I have passed! The next stage is for a senior tutor to sign me off and then I’ll have an event to complete my accreditation and celebrate my work!

I’m so pleased to have reached this point, I really didn’t think I would at a few points in this five year journey! The next steps are looking pretty exciting, Permaculture association have been in touch and asked me to write something for Permaculture works magazine and my tutor has even suggested I consider writing a book based on a few of my designs! Wow, I’d love that, what an exciting idea. so watch this space.

I’ll keep posting here occasionally alongside running Muddy Boots. You can also follow my journey on my other social media sites.

Muddy Boots website

Muddy Boots Facebook

Muddy Boots Instagram

REFINE – WILD AND HEALTHY

PLANNING THE REFINE STAGE

Design – Produce your design. Revisit your boundaries and resources, are your plans realistic? It may be helpful to present your design in a visual format even if it is a non-land based design. How could you share your design with other people?

Practical tasks – How are you going to make your design happen? Make your implementation and maintenance plans. Do the work, make your design a reality and document the process.

Tweaks – Tweak the project as you progress.

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ACTIVITY FOR THE REFINE STAGE

Design

The designing has been divided into three sections;

1. Foraging in the local area
2.  Adding herbs and medicinal plants to my home garden.
3. So what will I do with all these plants once I’ve grown or foraged for them?
   

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As per my planning, I began the design stage by looking back at my boundaries and resourses. I considered what I could use to make my designing quicker and easier. I decided I’d use annotated images taken from google maps for the local and garden mapping. I’d revist my previous garden design and use this as a base map on which to add my updated plans, thus saving me lots of time measuring and drawing another map of my garden.

1. Foraging in the local area.

When I was designing my forest school business, it was important to me that the woods were near to my house. I got lucky by gaining permission to use parish council woodland that I can see from my house and walk to within a few minutes. You can see the locations from the map. I decided that this was the area that i’d use for the foraging element of this design.

This shows the rough area in which I plan to forage. I plan to use the woods, meadow, park and canal side for my foraging because I am already a regular visitor to these places and they are so convenient.

See the text below for details of what I have observed growing in the 4 areas specified and what I plan to forage for.

1. In the woods – Wild garlic, garlic mustard, rocket, nettles and elder.
2. In the park and meadow – Elder, roses, garlic mustard, yarrow and nettles
3. Along the paths – Elder, roses, nettles and garlic mustard
4. Along the canal paths – Elder, roses, nettles and garlic mustard

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2. Adding herbs and medicinal plants to my home garden.

This map shows an aerial view of my garden and how it sits with the neighbouring properties. The length of the garden is approximately 125 foot and the width varies from 28-24 foot along the boundary.

To save time and effectively use resources, I have re-used the map of my garden that I created previously in Design 2 Food from my garden. I Have used this as my base map and added overlays for this design.

This is my original map of my whole garden that I drew up in 2014

This map shows an enlargement of a section of the garden that I was re-designing in 2014. This map is useful for me again as most of my current designing will again take place in this area.

 

This map shows the tweaks that I’d planned for my garden when I updated the design in January 2015.

 

This simple base map was created for this design and shows the major changes that have taken place in this area of my garden since my tweaks in 2015.

In summary, these are the changes that I’ve made to date before this particular design;

1. The two large beds at the bottom of the map have been partially removed and replaced with patios. They are lovely sunny spots where we enjoy resting, relaxing and cooking over the campfire. Boarder beds remain as do the large overhanging fruit trees.

2. The children now each have their own raised bed in which to plan whatever they like. All three beds have some perennial plants that are thriving and the kids plant annual flowers and veg crops around these.

3.  One of the raised beds had been removed and replaced with a chicken house and attached run. We only have three chickens now, so they need less room.

4. The large chicken shed and runs have been removed. This has opened up a large area that I have not yet planned what to do with. it may become a lawned area or maybe an outdoor kitchen or maybe a play area for the kids. This is another design in itself.

5. The soft fruit/ forest garden beds are doing well. We harvest lots of fruit from them now and I plan on continuing to work on making them even more productive over the coming years.

This more detailed overlay shows where I plan to put the plants I’ve decided to use for this design. I’ve kept my plans quite loose at this stage, especially in the kids beds as I want them to have some input into designing these beds. I will also be adding plants to areas of my garden not included on this map. I will be adding pots of herbs in areas close to my house more wild garlic, garlic mustard, rocket and nettles around the edges of my garden, especially at the north more wild end and I will be adding Echinacea and yarrow to my flower border on the east boundary.

 

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3. So what will I do with all these plants once I’ve grown or foraged for them?

Part of my design is to make my own homemade herbal remedies using the plants that I’ve chosen. Last year while I was in the thinking/ researching stages for this design, I made a few remedies. Some were made at home and some on a day course I went on about making herbal oils and balms. I’ve been using them on myself and my family over the winter months and enjoying the process of experimenting and learning.

I made a lemon balm and bramble oil which is good as a salad dressing or a spoonful added to hot water or herbal tea. It’s good for a sore or irritated throat.

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I made this oil with rosemary, pine needles and mint (Unfortunately the label is blurred now) It’s for a chesty cough.

My kids and I foraged for rosehips in the autumn and made loads of this rosehip syrup. Its delicious and we’ve been using it all winter when we feel under the weather.

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We made extra rosehip syrup to give away to friends and family , check out the beautiful colour!

 

When I was ill with the flu last month it was the perfect opportunity to try out some of my planned remedies. As I was early in the design stage, I decided to start by only using remedies that I already had around my home. (using the permaculture principle of small and slow solutions) I used my stash of dried herbs to make herbal teas to help with sleep and immunity. (recipes below) I drank lots of lemon, honey and ginger tea. I’d normally add a shot os whiskey too, but I didn’t on this occasion as i was doing ‘dry-january’. I put a spoonful of pro-biotic and vitamin C powders into my drinks. I used lemon and oregano essential oils and a blend called ‘On-guard’ rubbed into my feet, my chest and added a drop in my drinking water twice a day.

I made ‘immuni-tea’ herbal blend using elderberries, rosehips, chamomile, elderflowers and echinacea. This recipe is from a book called ‘Witch’ by Lisa Lister.

I made a ‘sleepy tea’ blend to help with my broken nights. This included lavender, chamomile, rose and Echinacea.

I drank a spoonful of apple cider vinegar first thing in the morning with a big glass of water. I actually really enjoy the taste and find it helps me to have an appetite wich otherwise can be low during illness.

Other remedies I am planning on trying out;

I am planning on making Elderberry syrup next autumn using this recipe here 

I will also make Rosehip syrup again using a recipe like this one here

I will make lemon honey ginger drinks like this simple recipe here

I will try the flu bomb essential oils remedies as roller balls and capsules like this one here

I will make lots of wild garlic pesto and will add other foraged green in to a recipe similar to this one

I will be experimenting with a new plant in my garden, Yarrow and using it for remedies like the one here

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Practical tasks – Implementation and maintenance plans

I found that when I wrote my goal list, it turned into an implementation plan! So you can view that against the end of this post here.

I turned my goals list into an implementation plan by re-formatting it into monthly chunks. This makes it more clear to see what needs to be done and the timescales involved. I have printed out a copy of this table and am ticking off each task as it is achieved.

MONTH	TASKS TO DO
FEBRUARY	I will draw up a plan of how to add my chosen plants into my home garden.
	I will prune my elder
	I will walk the local area to look at what is growing and talk with people with local knowledge.
	I will look at existing maps of my area and draw my own version showing where to find the plants I want to forage for.
	I will look at prices for all items to purchase and decide on the most cost-effective way to make my purchases.
	I will complete the write up for this design
MARCH	I will look in plant and seed catalogues and order my chosen plants and get ready to start them off in the spring once the weather has improved.
	I will research herbal remedies and make decisions about what I’d like to try making this year.
	I will find out more about using yarrow and see if it is growing locally or add it to my garden.
	I will find some good recipes for yarrow remedies
	I will make my food purchases and include the food items in our diet
	I will use the oils in preventative ways and as treatments when needed
APRIL	I will add plants as planned in my design from April onwards
	I will leave a patch of nettles at the end of my garden.
	I will encourage the wild garlic, garlic mustard and rocket growing wild in my garden.
	I will harvest wild greens at the correct time and add them to our diet as fresh greens, pestos and as cooked greens.
MAY	I will forage for spring greens, nettles, wild garlic, garlic mustard.
JUNE	I will harvest yarrow
SEPTEMBER	I will harvest elderberries and process to make syrup
OCTOBER	I will harvest rosehips after the first frost and process them to make syrup.

I’m not really at the stage of being ready for a maintenance plan as yet as I still have to do the implementation. So this will be addressed later on in the process.

Tweaks –  I have already made some initial changes to my original plans. As I’ve got further along with the process, I’ve tweaked my ideas more to be more realistic about what time and space I have available to me.

On reflection, I decided maybe not to grow the following;

• Eucalyptus (this is a non native tree, so not ideally suited to my back garden. I think that using eucalypts essential oils will be a better option)
• Echinacea and yarrow ( herbal remedies will be a better option but I may add them to my garden anyway for their beauty alone)
• Leafy greens (My chickens will eat these before I do, adding them to my weekly veg box order will be a better option)
• I’m still not sure about growing tomatoes either as when I’ve grown these for the last few years, I have found them to be a lot of work and I’ve lot almost the entire harvest to blight at the last-minute. Once blight is in your ground, it’s very hard to grow the same plant type again without succumbing to it again.

As this project is an ongoing project that has not yet been implemented, I expect there will be lots of further tweaks to my design in the future.

 

CREATE – WILD AND HEALTHY

PLANNING THE CREATE STAGE

Permaculture ethics and principles – Evaluate your ideas against ethic and principles. Use this to narrow down options and make decisions about what options to pursue.

Parts – You should now have a good ideas about what the ideas to take forward are. Consider what you will need to use to create this design.  Consider the functions required and what parts do you need to make your design work? How will these parts work together most effectively?

Goals – Set yourself goals about how this design will address your aims. Make your goals SMART so that you can see if they have been achieved.

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ACTIVITY FOR THE CREATE STAGE

Apply Permaculture ethics I re-visted my research table, looked in more details at where the remedies are sourced from and accessed each option against the permaculture ethics of earth care, people care and fair shares. This led me to discount some possibilities as unsuitable and make decisions about how to pursue others. Please see the ‘parts’ stage after the table for a summary of my decisions.

NATURAL COLD REMEDIES

REMEDY	PROPERTIES	WHERE DOES THIS COME FROM? Conventional sources	WHERE DOES THIS COME FROM? Wild or home-grown sources	APPLY PERMACULTURE ETHICS	DECISION
Vitamin C	Reduces the length of a cold	Citrus fruit Tomatoes Peppers Most fruits Green veg	Rose hips Garlic mustard Wild garlic Elderberry Wild strawberries Lambs lettuce Wild rocket	Earth care – Its better to use items that I can grow/ forage myself, or those that grow locally and definitely in the uk to avoid airfreight and pollution associated with travel. People care – Consider what we like the taste of and enjoy eating Fair shares – Buy fair-trade items and organic/ FT seeds. Only take a small amount if collecting from the wild.	Home grown Toms and green leafy veg   Forage for rose hips, wild garlic, mustard, rocket and elderberry
Vitamin D	Reduces your risk of catching a cold in the first place.	Fish Meat Eggs Milk Mushrooms Supplements	Sunlight Wild caught fish Wild mushrooms	EC – Consider the sources and the production chain. Positive or negative affects on the earth? PC – We are veggie/ almost vegan, so the meat, fish, diary and eggs are not options for us FS – Collecting wild mushrooms is a risky option	Supplement   Get plenty of sunshine
Zinc	Reduces the length of a cold	Red meat Chicken Seafood Pumpkin seeds Chickpeas Cacao Cashew nuts Mushrooms	Spinach	EC – Consider the sources and the production chain. Positive or negative affects on the earth? PC – We are veggie/ almost vegan, so the meat, fish, diary and eggs are not options for us	Home-grown spinach   Supplement   Plenty of seeds, nuts cacao and mushrooms brought from ethics suppliers
Oregano and/or thyme essential oil	Antimicrobial and antiviral treatment	Oregano Thyme Essential oils purchased from shops	Oregano Thyme	Currently purchased from DoTerra, a company with ethics in line with permaculture, so I’m happy to stick with this	DoTerra EO and add more of the herbs to my garden to use in culinary ways and as herbal teas
Cinnamon	Effective antiviral and antibiotic Relieve cough and congestion and lower fever.	Bark of the cassia tree Essential oils purchased from shops	N/A	Currently purchased from DoTerra, a company with ethics in line with permaculture, so I’m happy to stick with this	DoTerra EO
Eucalyptus essential oil	Opens nasal passages and promotes clear breathing	Eucalyptus tree Essential oils purchased from shops	N/A	Currently purchased from DoTerra, a company with ethics in line with permaculture, so I’m happy to stick with this	DoTerra EO
HERBAL
Ginger	Ginger helps bring down inflammation, clear congestion and support the immune system. Soothes sore throats.	Ginger root, fresh or powered in tablet form	Will grow in the UK on a sunny windowsill	To try growing it ourselves seems to fit the best with all the principles	Grow it ourselves   Buy fresh from ethics suppliers
Ginseng	Boost the immune system Reduces length and severity of a cold Can prevent you catching a cold	Ginseng root in tablet form	Will grow in the UK outside in a woodland environment	To try growing it ourselves seems to fit the best with all the principles	Grow it ourselves   Buy fresh from ethics suppliers
Echinacea	Reduces the length and severity of a cold	Tablet form	Roots and flower heads of the Echinacea plant	To try growing it ourselves seems to fit the best with all the principles	Grow it ourselves   Buy fresh from ethics suppliers
Elderberry	Stops the cold virus from multiplying	Syrup form Tablet form	Elderberries collected from the wild and processed into a syrup	EC – Collect locally from the wild from places we can walk too. PC – Can be educational for the kids. FS – Just take our fair share. Can I share with friends or maybe do a swop scheme with friends who are also making herbal remedies?	Collect from the wild and make into syrup
Nettle leaf	It contains large amounts of vitamins and trace minerals and helps the body stay hydrated and remove toxins.	N/A	Nettles collected and processed	EC – Collect locally from the wild from places we can walk too. PC – Can be educational for the kids. FS – Just take our fair share.	Collect from the wild and eat as a green veg or soup or in smoothies.
Yarrow	Unsurpassed for flu and fever, and great for children. If used abundantly in tea or tincture at the beginning of an illness, it will usually shorten the illness to less than 24 hours	Not commonly used but can be found in herbal tea mixtures	Yallow collected and processed into a tea or tincture	EC – Collect locally from the wild from places we can walk too. Add it to our garden PC – Can be educational for the kids. FS – Just take our fair share.	Start growing this in our garden   Learn about how to process and use it
Chamomile	Calms the nerves, helps children sleep better and reduces inflammation or fever.	Herbal tea mixes Essential oils purchased from shops	Chamomile collected and processed into a tea or tincture	EC – Collect locally from the wild from places we can walk too. Add it to our garden PC – Can be educational for the kids. FS – Just take our fair share.	Start growing this in our garden   Learn about how to process and use it
Peppermint	Great for all digestive disturbances and for lowering fever. It is antimicrobial and antiviral	Herbal tea mixes Essential oils purchased from shops	Peppermint collected and processed into a tea or tincture	EC – Collect locally from the wild from places we can walk too. Add it to our garden PC – Can be educational for the kids. FS – Just take our fair share.	Start growing this in our garden   Learn about how to process and use it
OTHER
Garlic	Stimulates the immune system and fights the virus. Natural antibiotic, anti fungal, and antibacterial	Fresh garlic bulbs Dried and powdered in table form	Wild garlic Garlic bulbs	EC – Collect locally from the wild from places we can walk too. Add it to our garden PC – Can be educational for the kids. FS – Just take our fair share.	Collect wild garlic in the spring and process into pesto and freeze to have extend the season
Honey	Honey has antioxidants, antiviral and antibacterial properties, boosts the immune system and soothes sore throats and coughs.	From bees Purchased from shops or directly from producers	Wild bees. Bee hive in my garden	EC – Consider the sources and the production chain. Positive or negative affects on the earth? PC – As above FS – try to support small local producers rather than big corporations.	Purchase from local ethical bee keeper
Coconut oil	Coconut oil is high in lauric acid and is thought to dissolve the lipid coating around some viruses and make them more susceptible to attack by the immune system.	Purchased from shops	Not in the UK	EC – Consider the sources and the production chain. Positive or negative affects on the earth? PC – As above FS – try to support small local producers rather than big corporations.	Purchase from ethical producer

 

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Principles

So having thought more about which remedies to pursue and how to source them, I thought i’d look at permaculture principles and consider how to apply them to my ideas. As this is my final design for the diploma, I thought i’d look briefly at each of the 12 Holmgren principles, giving more or less attention to each principle as I deemed appropriate for this design. 

Principle	Possible application in this design
Observe and interact	Research before acting Observe my health and the health of my family and how any illnesses manifest in us Observe and note any remedies tried and the effects Learn from others
Catch and store energy	Harvest wild foods at the correct time for optimal potency Process or store then to expand the season that they are available to us.
Obtain a yield	Make sure I am getting useful results Harvest what I need Use what I produce
Apply self-regulation and accept feedback	Observe and note any remedies tried and the effects Make changes and tweaks to the design as needed
Use and value renewable resources and services	Consider where I am sourcing my purchases. Is it the best source?
Produce no waste	Use what I produce; don’t waste my hard work by making these remedies and then forgetting about them. Can I double up by using this knowledge to lead wild harvesting, herbal remedy making sessions for muddy boots?
Design from pattern to detail	Look at the patterns in the year when these wild foods will be available Look at where they most like to grow in the wild and see if I have suitable niches in my garden Consider the moon phase and when is the most potent time to harvest wild foods and begin remedies.
Integrate rather than segregate	Use remedies together for maximum impact Use plant guilds in my garden designing
Use small and slow solutions	See what I already have, knowledge, books, herbs, plants in the garden, essential oils, supplements and use these first before rushing out and making purchases
Use and value diversity	How do the remedies work together? Are they more powerful in union with each other? Use plant guilds in my garden designing
Use edges and value the marginal	Look to the edges of the woods, the canal towpath etc. as these are often the richest place to harvest wild foods. Can I design more herbs into the edges of my garden, along the paths etc.
Creatively use and respond to change	Observe and note any remedies tried and the effects Make changes and tweaks to the design as needed Respond to the season changes in my planning

Parts

For the ‘parts stage’ I looked at both of the tables above and made decisions about which elements to include in my design. The decisions I made were as as follows;

I will grow at home; I will add tomatoes, green leafy veg, echinacea and yarrow to my raised beds.I will grow pots of peppermint. I will also experiment with growing ginseng and ginger in containers on my conservatory or on our sunny patio. I will add wild garlic, garlic mustard, rocket and nettles to the wild areas of my garden. I will prune the Elder in our garden and harvest the berries from it this year.

I will forage locally for; rose hips, wild garlic, garlic mustard, rocket, nettles, yarrow, mint and elderberry.

I will purchase from ethical sources and add to my diet; seeds, nuts, cacao, mushrooms , coconut oil and honey

I will purchase from ethical sources and use as a supplement; DoTerra Cinnamon, oregano, eucalyptus, peppermint and thyme essential oils. Vitamin D, vitamin C and zinc supplements.

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I considered how these parts could work together by asking myself a range of questions; 

What grows well together? Where was the best location in the garden for each plant? What can I forage for at the same time of year / in similar locations? What is the best was to make my purchases?

I looked at plant guilds/companion planting for the new plants I was planning on adding to my garden.

I also considered where was the best location in the garden for each plant I was planning on adding to my garden.

In pots – Peppermint, other mints, ginger, ginseng

In wild areas of my garden – Nettles, garlic mustard, wild garlic, herbs

In herb/ flower beds in full sun – Echinacea, yarrow, oregano, thyme

In annual/ perenial veg beds in full sun – tomotoes, rocket

In annual/perenial veg beds in part shade – leafy greens, wild garlic,

Against boundary wall in full sun – Roses

On reflection, I decided maybe not to grow – Eucalypus (non- native, essential oils will be a better option) Echinacea and yarrow ( herbal remedies will be a better option but I may add them to my garden anyway for their beauty alone) Leafy greens (My chickens will eat these before I do, adding them to my weekly veg box order will be a better option)

What can I forage for at the same time of year / in similar locations?

I thought about when in the year i’d need to forage for my chosen remedies.

I considered what is the best was to make my purchases? Could I buy in combination or bulk to get the best deals? I looked at adding the items required to my  6 weekly SUMA order and settled on this for now. It links back in nicely to another of my diploma designs and fits in well with my current buying habits. I will buy the essential oils from DoTerra as I already have an account with them and feel their ethics are in line with my own.

I already have a good collection of DoTerra essential oils and will add the selected additional oils to my collection as and when I can afford them or when they are on special offer.

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Setting goals

To make my goals more achievable and SMART, I decided to allocate each task to a suitable month. This became more of an implementation planning exercise than a goal setting exercise in the end.

Grow at home

• February I will draw up a plan of how to add my chosen plants into my home garden.
• I will prune my elder
• March I will look in plant and seed catalogues and order my chosen plants and start them off in the spring.
• April onwards I will add plants over the spring-summer.
• I will leave a patch of nettles at the end of my garden.
• I will encourage the wild garlic, garlic mustard and rocket growing wild in my garden. I will harvest these at the correct time and add them to our diet as fresh greens, pestos and as cooked greens.

Foraging

• Before the end of Feb I will walk the local area to look at what is growing and talk with people with local knowledge.
• I will look at existing maps of my area and draw my own version showing where to find the plants I want to forage for.
• March I will research herbal remedies and make decisions about what I’d like to try making this year.
• I will find out more about using yarrow and see if its growing locally or add it to my garden. I will find some good recipes for remedies
• April-June I will forage for spring greens, nettles, wild garlic, garlic mustard.
• May – June I will harvest yarrow
• Late aug-sept – I will harvest elderberries and process to make syrup
• Oct I will harvest rosehips after the first frost and process them to make syrup.

Making purchases

• February I will look at prices for all items to purchase and decide on the most cost effective way to make my purchases.
• March onwards. I will make my purchases and include the food items in our diet.
• I will use the oils in preventative ways and as treatments when needed.

PLAN – WILD AND HEALTHY

The PLAN phase includes these stages; EMOTIONS, PATTERNS and IDEAS

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PLANNING THE PLAN STAGE

Emotions – Use an adapted version of the six thinking hats tool to explore your emotions about this design.

Patterns – Look at related patterns in your own life and natures patterns

Ideas – What ideas do you have for solutions?

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ACTIVITY FOR THE PLAN STAGE

Emotions

I looked at the six thinking hats tool and just used the stages that felt useful to me. I focussed on the emotions that the design brought up for me; what did I feel positive and hopeful about? What did I feel fearful and cautious about?

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Patterns

I considered some natural patterns that felt relevant to this design. I didn’t actually find this a very useful exercise on this occasion, so quickly moved onto the next stage. However, some useful ideas included;

Seasonal patterns – what foods are available in which seasons? How can I use effective self -care suitable to each season to minimise the likehood of illnesses occuring?

The moon cycle – Can I use the moon pattern to consider when to plant, harvest and process the plants?

Illness cycles – When do most illnesses occur? What is the cycle of symptoms within the illness?

Patterns evident in plants – Could I use a branching pattern, a web pattern, a spiral etc to help in my designing? Could I design a yes/no type path to lead to possible remedies for a range of symptoms?

I thought about the permaculture of designing from pattern to detail and brainstormed this.

I thought about the zoning pattern and patterns of time and applied my ideas to this.

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Ideas

This is a brainstorm I made from my initial ideas and online research.

I looked back at my research notes and  I set myself a challenge to put together a table in under two hours, listing the all the ideas for useful remedies that came up most frequently in my research .

NATURAL COLD REMEDIES

REMEDY	PROPERTIES	HOW TO USE	CAUTION
VITAMINS AND MINERALS
Vitamin C	Reduces the length of a cold	Take as a powder or supplement. 500-2000 milligrams every 2 hours is recommended. Increase vit C containing fruit and veg, for e.g. oranges, kiwis, bell peppers, guavas, strawberries, dark leafy greens, papaya, broccoli and Brussels sprouts	Don’t use in high doses with children. Can cause diaherra. Best to stick to natural sources rather than supplements.
Vitamin D	Reduces your risk of catching a cold in the first place.	Sunlight and fish are great sources of D.
Zinc	Reduces the length of a cold	Lozenge at first sign of symptoms	Can cause nausea and unpleasant taste in the mouth
ESSENTIAL OILS
Oregano and/or thyme essential oil	Antimicrobial and antiviral treatment	Diffuse or massage 1 drop onto feet in a carrier oil Take a drop in water or a veggie capsule.	Do not use if pregnant
Cinnamon	Effective antiviral and antibiotic Relieve cough and congestion and lower fever.	Mix 1 tablespoon of cinnamon essential oil with 1 teaspoon of honey and stir to make a spicy and very effective tea that helps
On Guard essential oil (DoTerra)	Effective antiviral and antibiotic. Proven to kill viruses, used in numerous hospitals in the US and UK	Diffuse or massage 1 drop onto feet in a carrier oil Take a drop in water or a veggie capsule.
Eucalyptus essential oil	Opens nasal passages and promotes clear breathing	Put 4-5 drops of eucalyptus oil in a glass bowl. Add boiling water and lean over the bowl. Cover your head with a towel to trap the steam in and inhale deeply for 5-10 minutes. Repeat twice a da	Do not use for people with liver problems
HERBAL
Ginger and / or tumeric	Both herbs help to bring down inflammation, clear congestion and support the immune system. Soothes sore throats.	Drink 2-3 cups of fresh ginger tea daily. Freshly grated ginger root (about 2 teaspoons) in a cup of hot water. Add tumeric to food and drinks.
Ginseng	Boost the immune system Reduces length and severity of a cold Can prevent you catching a cold
Andrographis paniculata, or Indian Echinacea	Natural Ayurveda herbal medicine that seems to stimulate the immune system Can prevent you catching a cold
Echinacea	Reduces the length and severity of a cold		Can cause allergic reactions
Elderberry	Stops the cold virus from multiplying	Elderberry tea or syrup	Not suitable with certain medications to do with blood clotting
Nettle leaf	It contains large amounts of vitamins and trace minerals and helps the body stay hydrated and remove toxins.	Nettle Leaf– In a tea with Red Raspberry Leaf, Alfalfa and Peppermint, it makes a powerful immune supporting and illness preventing remedy.
Yarrow	Unsurpassed for flu and fever, and great for children. If used abundantly in tea or tincture at the beginning of an illness, it will usually shorten the illness to less than 24 hours. It is especially good for fevers as it induces perspiration and is great for all childhood type illnesses	It is naturally bitter, so it is often good to include peppermint and stevia leaf when making a tea.
Chamomile	Calms the nerves, helps children sleep better and reduces inflammation or fever. It is also great for regulating hormones and for the skin and can be used regularly for good sleep.	Take in tea and tincture formula.
Peppermint	Great for all digestive disturbances and for lowering fever. It is antimicrobial and antiviral	It can be used as a tea or tincture or rubbed on the skin to bring a high fever down. It can be consumed as a hot tea or cold tea during illness in any amounts.
Catnip	It helps induce sleep and settles the stomach	As a tincture or tea
OTHER
Garlic	Stimulates the immune system and fights the virus. Natural antibiotic, anti fungal, and antibacterial		If pregnant, only take 1 raw clove of garlic per day
Apple cyder vinegar		Make an ACV tea to sip and/or gargle. Use 2 tablespoons ACV, 1-2 tablespoons honey (to taste), lemon juice (again, to taste) and a little hot water to dilute
Honey	Honey has antioxidants, antiviral and antibacterial properties, boosts the immune system and soothes sore throats and coughs.	Add 1-2 tablespoons to your ACV tea, ginger tea or just a cup of warm boiled water. Add some lemon for the added benefit of Vitamin C.	Do not giver honey to children under 12 months old
Coconut oil	Coconut oil is high in lauric acid and is thought to dissolve the lipid coating around some viruses and make them more susceptible to attack by the immune system.	When ill, take for 5-6 tablespoons per day in food or melted and stirred into hot tea.
Herbal steam	Congestion and kill viruses and bacteria in the lungs, bronchial or sinuses.	Boil 1-2 cups of water in a large pot. Remove from heat; add 2 teaspoons of thyme, rosemary and oregano. Cover for 5 minutes with a lid, and then remove lid and put face directly over pot with towel covering your head to hold in the heat. Breathe in the steam as long as you can, aim for 15 minutes.
Neti pot –	The salt kills bacteria and the warm water flushes out the nasal passages. Nasal irrigation can be an effective way to relieve sinus symptoms.	Every morning and night, fill the net pot with a small amount of salt (about 1 teaspoon) in warm water to wash out sinuses.
General	ALSO Reduce sugar intake, keep hydrated, rest as much as possible, keep warm, eat healthy light foods, get plenty of sleep, take gentle exercise.

Sources of information consulted (plus the books listed in previous post)

https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/12-tips-prevent-colds-flu-1#1

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4472/10-Holistic-Remedies-for-the-Common-Cold.html

 https://wellnessmama.com/1499/natural-remedies-for-illness/

https://draxe.com/natural-cold-remedies/

https://www.doterra.com/US/en

I also watched loads of people’s home cold remedies videos on you tube and spoke with my friend Andrea who is a Naturopath.

 

 

REFLECT – WILD AND HEALTHY

For this design I shall be following my own design process as explained in my previous post here 

The Reflect stage is made up of three activities; DEFINE, OBSERVE and RESEARCH.

One of my aims for this design was to use a quick and efficient design process with a view to really getting down to the heart of how to approach a Permaculture design in real life. I want to continue using permaculture after I complete my diploma, and feel that the best way to ensure that happens is by developing a design process what works well for me.

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PLANNING THE REFLECT STAGE

Define – Define the problem or issue what you are working with. What outcomes or goals are you aiming for?

Observe – List any initial observations of the problem or issues that may be useful. Consider what observations may be useful to you in the designing process. Observe your boundaries and resources.

Research – Do some initial research around your problem or issue that helps to increase your knowledge of the area and may bring to light potential ideas for solutions.

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ACTIVITY FOR THE REFLECT STAGE

DEFINE – This design aims to research and explore the use of wild and herbal remedies to support a specific health issue, the prevention and care of the common cold.

• I will find make some effective home remedies to support my family’s health.
• I will design how to add the herbs for my chosen remedies into my home garden.
• I will find out where I can collect ingredients locally from the wild
  

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  OBSERVE

• I have been observing myself and my family getting colds forever and very consciously over the last year or so.
• I have observed a few plants that grow wild locally that I feel could help me in this design.
• I have carried out sustained observations of my own garden, the zones and sectors, what grows well etc, over the last 10 years.
• I thought it would be useful to observe and record any colds that occur in my family while I am involved in this design and note any remedies tried and the outcomes of that experimentation.
• I observed my boundaries and resources in the form of a brainstorm

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RESEARCH  – A big desired outcome for this design is the research element.  I really wanted to use this design to educate myself in practical ways that can help my family.

In order to support my research, I have signed up to do a ‘Wild food mentor’ online course. I’ve been following this since late summer 2017 and working through the syllabus season by season Eat weeds academy

I have signed up for a ‘spring into health’ online course coming in March 2018 to learn more about holistic health and specifically the usage of essential oils to keep the body healthy and as a preventative measure. This is being led in part by the health coach that i’ve used before Rochelle Hubbard.

I have signed up for a free Online Workshop with Herbalist Holly Bellebuono to learn about crafting herbal remedies.

I have done lots of online research and read loads of books around the subject, there is so much information out there its rather overwhelming. Here are some of the books that I’ve gathered on the subject and dipped into for inspiration.

        

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CONCLUSIONS

What decisions has this design let me to?

I want to keep running my Muddy Boots business in 2018, repeating the most successful things and dropping things that didn’t work so well. I have looked at what I can change in order to do this and have set myself smart goals, maintenance and implementation plans.

I will work on my business 3 or 4 days per week. 1 day for planning, admin and marketing and 2 or 3 days each week delivering sessions.

Alongside running my business I’d like to work for another company, school or organisation again, 1 day per week. Ideally event management or teaching art, craft or photography. Either as an after school club for a primary school or 1-1 teaching again for Autism outreach or Soft Touch. Update – I have now been contracted for 6 months to work on an Arts award project 1-1 with a teenager on the autistic spectrum for Soft Touch Arts. I will be doing this for 2 contact hours every Wednesday.

I need to put my prices up by around 15% across all activities to ensure that my business is sustainable and pays me a wage reflective of all the work that I put in. I will pay myself a minimum of £8 PH for admin time and £12 PH for contact time.

I need to spend time this year on education or further training for myself. This will likely be in the form of day courses or self-study rather than taking on a long-term commitment. I have committed to attend 6 CPD day courses and 3 networking events in 2018. Update. I will be attending the first of these in March, a two-day outdoor first aid course.

I will aim to complete my Permaculture diploma by spring 2018, freeing up time and brain-space for focus on Muddy Boots and teaching.

I need to schedule self-care time into my weeks. Yoga, mediation, exercise, time in nature and social time are important to keep me feeling happy and balanced.

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Looking back to the three initial aims for this design, how successful have I been?

To reflect on my current career situation – Yes I feel I did this briefly although it was not required to be a big part of the design. It’s always useful to look back to learn from your positive and negative experiences. I have always enjoyed the jobs I’ve undertaken, but some have been more fulfilling than others. I’m pretty clear about which jobs I’m happy to repeat and which I’d rather leave in the past. It has definitely been useful to look at activities tried as part of Muddy Boots from a business point of view and access the successes and failures and which type of sessions are worth repeating in the future.

To consider how to move my career forwards positively – Yes I looked at lots of possible options and soon narrowed them down to realistic and achievable options. I have made good decisions and have ensured I have a poly income career path that gives me security for the future.

To act as a practical planning tool for my 2018 business planning for Muddy Boots. Doing this design in late 2017 and early 2018 really helped me to focus my mind on my business planning. I really reflected well and hopefully have avoided making the same mistakes again that I made last year. I’ve never been so clear about how I want my business to work financially and feel positive that I can achieve my goals for 2018.

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How was it using my own design process rather than a traditional Permaculture design process? 

To address this questions, I did a quick PNI analysis.

POSITIVE:

• It was challenging, fun, complex, freeing and useful!
• It helped me to make more sense of permaculture design tools and use them in a way that made sense to me, rather than just blindly grabbing one and trying it on for size.
• I used a wide range of design tools
• I really came to understand more about my cyclical nature and how to use this to its best advantage
• I feel I’m more likely now to continue using permaculture design processes and tools now post-diploma, as I’ve refined my usage somewhat.
• I really got to grips with the financial side of this design, something that I’ve shied away from in the past. So that was a really useful learning experience.
• This design was super practical for me. It was work I needed to do anyway, so by applying a permaculture design process to it and writing it up for me diploma, it served multiples purposes for me. By applying the design, I came up with a better result which should hopefully make my year ahead more enjoyable and profitable.

NEGATIVE:

• I have not really considered yet how or when I would address any tweaks. So maybe this important stage of the design process was missing.
• This design has felt rather heavy on the written word. I’ve done lots of tables and brainstorms which, although useful for presenting ideas and information, can be rather boring to produce and to read.
• It’s not been my most creative design, they was not any drawn elements or maps included and I really enjoy this stage of designing, so that was a shame.

INTERESTING:

• I feel more connected than ever to the moon cycle and look up to the sky almost every evening for a bit of moon-gazing. This has got to be good for the soul and peace of mind!
• My period has synced exactly to the moon cycle, this can only be in response to my increased awareness of both cycles. This is really exciting to me and makes me feel more in-tune with nature.
• What was the actual design? Without a garden plan to present, non-land based designs can feel a little lost as what to present as the ‘final design’

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REFINE

REFINE

Sage phase – Days 22-29

Design tools that focus in on details, make decisions and solve problems

These tend to be the days when I get into the details of an issue, find the best solutions, refine the details, plan how to make progress and make solid decisions.

Permaculture tools that suit this stage include making implementation and maintenance plans, setting smart goals, doing detailed careful work like drawing base maps or recording finances. I also found this stage the best for writing up my designs as I was happy to spend whole days alone, quiet, focussed and deeply engaged in my work.

So, previously in this design, I’d made the decision to continue working on my Muddy Boots business 3-4 days per week and refine the activities I offered in order to maximise my enjoyment and profits. I’d also decided to seek employment in arts education with another company for 1 day per week. This felt like real progress, so I was able to begin to focus in on my business in detail and plan how to make it more effective for the coming year.

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I have done lots of work on my 2017 and 2018 finances. This content is in another blog post here and is password protected. Message me to get the password and see this content.

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I created a business tasks list and asked myself three questions; am I good at this task? Do I enjoy it, is this task vital? I then thought about what I could change in reflection of this.

I considered what I could change in reflection on my business tasks list and set about trying to make the suggested changes.

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So all of the work done to date can be summarised as 7 main suggested changes to make to my Muddy Boots business and career path. This is the core of my design.

1. Look into buying or renting my own site.
2. Create more efficient admin and marketing systems or buy in help from a person or service.
3. Ensure I am paid for all hours that I work.
4. Reduce expenses and increase profits
5. Reduce time spent on kit management and moving kit around
6. Ensure I am earning from poly-income sources
7. Schedule in CPD time.

I decided to write my implementation plan and use this activity to break down each of the seven actions into the activities that I needed to do to create positive changes towards making each action happen.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

ACTION	ACTIVITIES NEEDED	PROGRESS TO DATE	DEADLINE	COMPLETED
Look into buying or renting my own site	I will sign up to woodland buying websites and aim to visit any woodland that comes up for sale within 25 miles of my home.	I visited woodland 25 miles away from me in early Jan 2018 but it sold to someone else almost immediately. It was really interesting and I shall continue to ponder this option for the future and look at other woodland that appears for sale locally.  Kirby wood	On-going
	I will consider the finances of buying a site and find out if I could get a loan for this purpose.	I looked into the logistics of borrowing £30,000 from my mortgage lender. We considered using our savings and pensions to invest into a woodland	On-going
	I will join the small woodland owners FB group and do a few intro posts	Yes I’ve done this and made some interesting new links	Feb.	Yes. Continue using the forum regularly
	I will speak to people locally who may be able to help me, local councillors, land owners, farmers etc.	I need to follow up a possible lead on a woodland in s. Leicestershire that belongs to the council	Asap
Create more efficient admin and marketing systems or buy in help from a person or service	Research possible admin systems to use	Not really done this	Asap
	I will look again at all my current admin systems and make changes to make systems more efficient to manage.	I’ve re-done some of my more cumbersome admin systems to make them quicker to action	Before march	Done
	I will aim to keep admin time to less than 4 hours per week after the initial planning weeks are over.	Still in the initial set up weeks at time of writing so lots of admin time is happening	March onwards
	I will consider what marketing is most effective for me and draw up a strategy for 2018 spring/summer marketing of events.	Decided to have longer block bookings and incentives for booking multiple blocks. I identified that I was likely to be able to fill most of my spaces via my mailing list. So extra marketing outside of my normal FB and Instagram marketing was probably not required. I will however produce some flyers and posters for my local library to raise the profile and awareness of MB locally.	Jan-Feb.	Done
	I will use an email-marketing tool to make my spring mail out as attractive and effective as possible.	I chose to use ‘campaign monitor’ and did a lovely spring-summer mail out. It was really effective and helped to fill well over 50% of my spaces within 48 hours!	Design the email in Jan   Goes live Feb. 1st	Done
	Look into raising the profile of MB in local press or online link ups.	I was the featured blogger on ‘The crop club’ website with an article I wrote about the importance of outdoor play and links to all my social media sites.	First week in Feb.	Done
Ensure I am paid for all hours that I work	I will do a financial review of 2017	I looked back at all figures for 2017 and drew conclusions about which activities worked best.	Jan	Done
	I will do a financial projection for 2018.	I did lots of work on my finances so that I had realistic and achievable aims for 2018	Jan	Done
	I will assign myself a weekly wage and set up a direct debit monthly from my business to personal accounts to pay my wages.	I have decided on an hourly wage for admin work and face-to-face work. I have paid myself for the marketing and admin time done in Jan and early Feb. I will set up a monthly DD for March onwards.	March	Done
Reduce expenses and increase profits	I will aim to use more found, donated and recycled items in my sessions and reduce the need for buying materials.	On-going	On-going
	I will set and abide by a maximum per session expenses cost.	I don’t think this is realistic due to differing sessions but will keep careful records instead and record the average.	N/A	N/A
	I will increase each session cost by 15%.	Decided to put prices up by 15% for most sessions and factored this into the pricing.	Jan	Done
	I will adjust the forest parties pricing to make it more profitable	Reviewed and adjusted my Forest party packages to give more options to cater to a variety of price points and to make them more sustainable and profitable for me	Jan	Done
	I will aim to keep the overall expenses at less than 1/3 of the income for 2018.	Keep careful records and all receipts.	On-going
Reduce time spent on kit management and moving kit around	I will put more shelves up in my kit storage area	I managed to find some shelves to re-purpose and set these up in my storage area.	Jan	Done
	I will ensure all kit if tidy, labelled and re-stocked before sessions re-start in 2018.	I will tidy my kit storage area and re-stock with what I need for the 2018 season	Before end Feb.
	I will spend no more than 1 hour before each session preparing and packing kit.	I will plan what kit to take to each session more effectively.	March onwards
	I will record this time in a log.	Need to set up a log book	March onwards
	I will plan double sessions whenever possible into my diary.	Planned in full days rather than half days, i.e. double sessions or a session and a party, so that I minimise kit movement and set up/pack up time.	Jan	Done
Ensure I am earning from poly-income sources	I will plan to have five different MB income streams in 2018 (forest pre-school, allotment playgroup, forest family days, forest parties and women’s retreat days)	2018 planning winter 2017 onwards	On-going
	I will aim to work for other people at 2 festivals or events in 2018.	I spoke to my Forest school colleagues and expressed an interest in doing some assisting work	Dec 2017 onwards
	I will seek employment with another company for 1 day per week.	I approached Soft Touch arts about taking up my 1-1 arts and photography teaching again. They offered me 2 hours per week starting in mid January, contracted initially for 6 months. I have now started this work every Wednesday morning.	Dec 2017	Done
Schedule in CPD time	I will attend a minimum of six CPD day courses.	I have been in touch with the local FS network and have expressed my interest in attending their CPD days.	Jan onwards
	I will attend three networking sessions during 2018	As above	Jan onwards
	I will renew my first aid certificate in spring 2018	I have booked onto a course in late Feb	Feb
	I will look into adding children’s yoga into my morning circles and gain the necessary training for this	I have been watching online kids yoga for teachers course. I have been attending yoga classes myself at least twice a week	Feb.
	I will learn more about foraging and herbal medicine	I have booked onto a spring foraging workshop.	On-going
	I will gain more skills and confidence in tool use	I need to book onto a tool workshop	On-going
	I will gain more confidence and skills in campfire cookery techniques	I need to book onto a campfire cookery workshop and try out some new skills in my garden before sharing them at sessions	On-going

Maintainance plan

I decided the most useful way to write a maintenance plan would be to divide it into timely tasks. I looked at the tasks that I need to perform at various timescales that made sense to me; daily, before each session, after each session, weekly,  per season and annually.

Daily tasks

• Check emails
• Check Facebook and Instagram for messages that need a response
• Update to FB / Insta for marketing as required
• Check and update all diaries
• Write task lists and complete each days tasks

Before each session

• check the session plan and kit list
• Pack all kit required
• Pack all food and drink required
• Complete any outstanding admin tasks
• Arrive on site early to set up

After each session

• Wash all food and cooking kit in cool box
• wash all cloths and washing up boxes
• unpack and restock the shelves
• Note any observations about the session activities and the group
• Edit photographs taken and download onto computer
• Financial records and totals as required

Additional weekly tasks

• Check and update finances and paid lists
• Chase people for payments as required
• Order materials as required
• Purchase food and drink items for sessions
• Social media updates to advertise upcoming sessions and document events
• Working for Soft Touch every Wednesday – planning and face to face work.

Per season tasks

• Plan my sessions
• Book assistant/ volunteers as required
• Major email out for next season bookings
• Marketing for next season bookings
• Major kit check and wash
• Order new kit
• Check and update first aid boxes
• Create and distribute end of season feedback forms and make changes as appropriate.

Annual tasks

• Plan the years dates
• Consider my aims for the year
• Creative review/ forward plan for the year
• Financial review
• Financial forward planning
• Review feedback forms and make changes as appropriate
• Tax return
• Ensure all certification is up to date, first aid, DBS, etc
• Renew PL Insurance and send copies to all parish council

 

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CREATE

CREATE

Mother phase – days 14-21

Design tools that are playful, fun, collaborative and social.

In these weeks of my cycle I focussed on the following design tools, client interviews, boundaries and resources and random assembly

I actually found it really difficult to work on this design in this stage of my cycle. At this point I wanted to be out there in the world making things happen and being active. As most design tools are about planning and reflecting, I found they didn’t suit me well in this stage. So not a lot of planning happened in this stage but lots of action occurred, I followed up on my plans, visited sites, talked to people and put ideas into action.

This whole design was one big client interview. It seeks to identify and clarify what I want from my career and how I can get it. With this in mind I looked at my boundaries and resources in terms of; time, money, skills and my wishes.

I’d previously thought about other career options for me to add to my working week. I decided to use the permaculture design tool of ‘random assembly’ to play around with possible ideas for what I could type of work I could add to my career. I picked my top 12 ‘other job’ ideas and pitted them each against a permaculture principle at random. I’d written the 12 work ideas and 12 principles onto sticky notes, paired them up randomly and reflected upon the connections that the pairings suggested to me.

This activity was fun and quick to do. It worked relatively well and quickly helped me to disregard some possible job choices, I don’t really want to go back to child-minding, waitressing or shop work. Although these jobs would likely be able to fit in well with my other commitments and be low-stress, they’d also be low pay and without the career advancing opportunities that I am seeking.

I decided I really wanted to utilise my existing skills in arts teaching and workshop/event leading. I’d love to gain further qualification at some point, however my current focus is on Muddy Boots, so really what I am seeking is a job option that fits with this and enhances my transferable skill set. So these activities clarified for me that I am probably looking at taking on a short-term event management job, or an arts teaching role.

 

PLAN

PLAN

Maiden phase – days 7-13

Design tools that are active, physical and creative

The PLAN stage of my design comes in on days 7-13 of my cycle. This is the point in the month where I have lots of energy, drive and enthusiasm. It’s a great time for putting plans into action, engaging in physical work and being actively creative.

Permaculture tools that suit this stage include; input/output analysis, wild design, zone and sectors, paste, designing and putting ideas into action.

I did some wild designing. I find this really hard and most of my ideas are very much based in reality? I’m not sure how ‘Wild’ they really are? I guess most ideas are achievable over time. This shows me that I’ve created the right career for myself! I’m not yearning for something else entirely, so this puts me into a really privileged position actually.

I looked briefly at zones, both in terms of where I worked and how frequently I held activity. I struggled to get my head around this tool for this purpose, but it did lead me to consider what I’d like to shift around the zones. Ie what I’d like to more of and what i’d like to do less of and how that could possibly be achieved. This fed into the table at the bottom of this blog post.

I looked at spirals of erosion that were at work in my life currently.

I looked at spirals of abundance that were happening for me.

I considered how I could intervene in my spirals of erosion to create positive change. I’ve added these thoughts into my less of/more table at the bottom of this page and will use these in my future planning.

I looked at my business needs (inputs) and yields, both positive and negative (outputs)

I looked more specifially at some of my business inputs and outputs; time, money, energy, space, creativity and kit.

I thought about the needs that my business fulfils for me

I thought about my needs that my business does not currently fulfil for me

I considered possible solutions that would help me with my unfulfilled needs

The tools that I’ve used in this stage clarified for me that I needed to maximise what worked and what I enjoyed and minimise what I didn’t.  Running my own business gives me the autonomy to do this, which is a really valuable point that I needed to exploit. I did some further thinking around this as detailed in the photos above and came up with various possible solutions.

DO MORE	HOW?
Spend more time outdoors in the woods and on the allotment.	Run more sessions Arrive early for a leisurely set up and breakfast alone outdoors Stay late and enjoy the outdoors after each session.
Work with women	Run more retreat days Mother and daughter days Set up a red tent or moon circle group
Forging and cooking in the woodland	Make this a regular part of my sessions Set up foraging and feasting days Do specific campfire cooking skills days Attend some further training in these areas Make my final Permaculture design on this subject?
Make more of the season celebrations in my work	Read more about Pagan festivals Schedule in sessions marking the major festivals Start using the moon phases in my work
Natural crafting	Attend more day courses and learn new skills to pass on Have a natural craft at every session for people to do Lead some adult crafting sessions

DO LESS	HOW?
Chasing payments	Set up a PayPal option on the website to take payments? Pay for an online booking system?
Time in front of the computer and admin time	Set up effective admin systems in Jan and fib so that admin and computer time is minimized once sessions start running. Consider paying someone to help me with admin? Maybe as a one-off to help me find more efficient systems or on going as an admin worker.
Kit moving and managing	Minimise the kit I take to each session Always run double sessions so that each day I work is a full day and I am only setting up once for two sessions.
Time spent on marketing	Have longer blocks that people book for Give a financial incentive for booking multiple blocks in one go so that marketing and admin time is minimised. Consider what marketing is more effective and only do those. Take some marketing advise Pay someone to help me set up a marketing strategy Do I need more marketing? Can I fill all my sessions anyway from my mailing list and great word of mouth?