I left Songaia two weeks ago – a busy two weeks running around to a few of the stranger corners of Portland looking for a place to live. I toured houses that until recently had been growing serious amounts of weed in the basement, houses where the roommates dressed all in purple and told me about how in summers they’d put out an above-ground pool for the raccoons to play in. Houses that grew their own hops, houses that brewed their own beer, houses with chickens and ducks. It was a stressful few days, but now I’m all moved into the passive house at Kailash Ecovillage, have already started training for my new job at a community garden, and am enjoying my first weekend. But the first I want to share a paragraph I started back at Songaia:
A few nights ago, Songaia had a meeting about a major issue affecting the physical site – a developing reality regarded as negative needs a response. A series of detailed site maps were projected on the screen: the present situation, the impending impact, several possible responses to mitigate the worst harms. People asked questions, a few got up to point ideas out on the map. The discussion was orderly, playful, and constructive. Plans were proposed that – whether or not they are ultimately implemented – would represent major changes and potentials for growth. Forces outside of their control were accepted, and paths were sought to allow the community to respond creatively to the forces impacting it, to capture energy and opportunities from the change. The community has not decided which if any possibilities it may pursue, but it seems clear that they are not going to just sit and let circumstances happen. I hadn’t thought before, but the intentionality in intentional community can look out as well as in. This, Songaia, is permaculture.
What I meant, writing that Songaia is permaculture, is the way the community responded to a challenge. Disruption was treated not as something to draw a red line against or try to control, but as a source of creative force, a change that can perhaps be captured through careful planning. This is core of the permaculture design principle that doesn’t just apply to plants.
What I meant, writing that Songaia is permaculture, is the way the community responded to a challenge. Disruption was treated not as something to draw a red line against or try to control, but as a source of creative force, a change that can perhaps be captured through careful planning. This is core of the permaculture design principle that doesn’t just apply to plants.
| For my whole time at Songaia, I was in awe of how open, how friendly and kind, and how seemingly joyful everyone at Songaia was, how they seem to celebrate more than people other places. And it was directly through kindness and help of people at Songaia that I’m able to look forward to a year of learning in community, in gardening, and in permaculture here in Portland. | 
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