Kink & Permaculture (Intro) (Patreon)

When I'm not busy at the cafe, or slinging gear at one of San Francisco's street fairs or play parties, you can often find me in the garden. Back in my Austin days, I was known as the Gardenatrix -- the urban homesteader with fairly elaborate rope trellises throughout the backyard. Back then, I studied permaculture, which has taken root throughout my thinking about systems of any kind. 

Permaculture is often associated with edible landscapes, but it's much more than that: a kind of systems theory for thinking about culture interacts with the living environment. I like to say that permaculture is to gardening as urban design theory is to architecture; it encompasses and integrates a much wider variety of techniques and tools. 

So, why am I writing about permaculture here, in a kink blog? Sure, it's summer and I'm literally up to my eyeballs in tomatoes, but it's more than that. As I revisit my gardening and permaculture books to plan the fall landscape at home, I realize how critical those same permaculture philosophies are to how I approach running Wicked Grounds, building the larger kink community, and even managing conflicts. Since I've been having a bit of a dry spell for writing, I thought it might be interesting to explore the implications of permaculture ethics and principles for building kink community. In a series of 13 (or more . . . ?) posts, I'll be doing exactly that -- while also answering a few "Ask Wicked Mir" posts and doing more traditional columns. 

We're also looking at re-launching the Wicked Grounds podcast, so look forward to more information about that in the weeks ahead! 

Stay tuned. Part 1 (Observe & Interact) is coming soon!