What makes a garden productive, healthy, diverse? Observation, time, appreciation and care. The same goes for a person, for the local and global community. What we practice in our smallest circles, expands. With the support of outdoor activity cards for the whole community, supported by various permacultural activities, the problem of not being in tune with nature will be transformed into a solution. How can we be? What kind of change are we growing? Creating a learning and convivial community.

Litija, Slovenia, Zasavska region

Many of our regional challenges are also national.
Politics of hate and repression dividing people in two poles. The right wing government took power during corona crisis, it's either left or right- right or wrong, dualistic thinking overshadowing the ability of people to connect.
Lack of awareness of self-sufficiency potential, even though life slowed down during covid-19, plans are in place to restart the economy by disregarding nature and exploit.
Lack of awareness of community potential for learning. Slovenia is known as a gardening nation and we want to use this communal niche to address diversity, self-sufficiency and appreciation, connection with one another and nature.
We can only start regenerating our systems if we feel ourselves as part of the Earth, the first step.

The nature based activity cards will be our means to include people from all walks of life in our project. https://valuesandframes.org/ states that you can grow attitudes towards values of democracy, peace, citizenship by working on seemingly disconnected matters- in our case this nuance is the garden and more importantly ethics and principles of permaculture in outdoor learning. It is not necessary to talk about left or right opinions, pro and contra, because you end up in the same argumentative state. Winning happening is the approach we are going for, engaging families and community in appreciative and cooperative outdoor activities, offering families with fewer opportunities support with permacultural design and opening debates on the street through street actions.

Development of nature activity cards and the frame (activities by the river, on the meadow, in the garden, in the forest), nov-jan and may-aug
Cards illustration process, jan-may, may-avg
Distribution of cards to the 1500 pupils in schools, (may and then sept), accompanying movement campaign (families report on carrying out the activities, additional communication attention to the project, emphasising the reconnection to Earth) may-nov
Permacultural design course for 20 part. apr/may
Mentorship to (10) permacultural projects and mentorship offered in community space, may-sept
Street, permaculture and community garden actions (more than 15), may-sept
Exhibition of the What kind of change are we growing? (material from street actions, activity cards and the whole process), nov

We can learn co-creation only when we live co-creatively. There are 1500 pupils in our schools, we expect 35% of the families coming back to us and joining the movement campaign.
20 individuals trained in permaculture and global learning to become Change gardeners and mentor local community. 2000 people in the community engaged in street actions and 500 visiting the exhibition and joining on the community gardening initiative. 10 permaculture designs prepared and carried out for families with fewer opportunities. Local community becomes more resilient, supports local producers, reconnects with the Earth and lives by the permaculture principles- Care for earth, care for people, fair share. In addition we envision many more initiatives sprouting as a consequence of our project- at least 15.

We coordinate an indoor communal space and a community garden, that we take care of collectively. Witnessing so much potential in gardening and nature based approaches in general, we would like to take it to the next level. Concretely, nature based activity cards distributed to all pupils and an accompanying movement campaign will motivate citizens to go outside and participate in community life. Through a permacultural designer course we will train 20 designers who will consequently work on supporting permacultural projects in the locality. Community centre and garden will showcase examples of permacultural good practices though its ethics- Care for people, Care for earth, Fair share. Community centre will become a hub for meaningful encounters and a way of reconnecting to the essentials.

We want to motivate the community to go and meet outside! what can you do in a forest, what in a garden, what by the river- encouraging people to explore hidden parts of the town and consequently appreciate the nature more, recognize what kind of changes they can start growing. We have created the walls in which we reside, and consequently the walls in our head. If we physically do things to break down the walls, abundance enters. We believe the main motivation stems from the impact we saw community gardening and activities for young people in nature have on the participants. The freedom and connection you feel, which comes often as something unexpected. It has a healing potential with which we can heal ourselves and the Earth.

Outdoor Activity cards development - 100cards (content creation process, illustration, design and printing (1500x) 11000€
Permaculture design course 6 weekends for 20 people (accommodation, food and logistics support) 7200€
PDC 6 weekends for 20 people and mentorship in the community- content preparation and implementation 12000€
6 street and 10 garden/DIY actions (material and work) 3800€
Coordination -personnel costs 12000€
Admin costs 1200€
Movement campaign and PR 2800€

Any kind of idea, comment, feedback on how to improve the initiative is welcome! If you are using nature based approaches, permaculture in your work, we can also think about how to do something together in our communities!