Our P.E.R.M.A. Culture Story


The ALT Group want to create a P.E.R.M.A*Culture in Consett. We want to create an ALTernative day to day culture in Consett, aimed towards improving everyone's quality of life, health and wellbeing.

At The ALT Group, we believe in supporting and nurturing each other as well as the value of personal development. We want to create an environment where both these practices are commonplace and cooperation rather than competition rules.

During our exploration into the world of self development we discovered Psychologist Dr Jeff Kuryk's formula P.E.R.M.A. to create synergy in any person's life to allow them to flourish. This formula is based upon the book Flourish by Dr Martin E.P. Seligman.

Not only does this formula mimic what we have found to be true for our personal welbeing but it also marry's with the wisdom of Permaculture. The principle being to create synergy systems that work with nature and thrive.

Permaculutre

Traditionally, Permaculture is a way of designing restorative systems, that work with nature, often in agriculture practices. At The ALT Group we are also interested in using Permaculture in social and individual circumstances.

Using three main ethics; Earth Care, People Care and Fair Shares and a series of guiding principles, permaculture observes nature and replicates it's patterns and systems to create diverse and nurturing solutions.
When applied to growing food and agriculture, permaculutre methods are all organic and naturally grown. By using all resources available from the land and by create a biodiverse ecology many yields can be harvested, throughout the year.

Permaculture protects the environment and values wildlife and works alongside nature to create systems that work in harmony. By using methods to build rather than deplete diversity more varieties can thrive throughout the growing season, even in more difficult conditions.

All permaculture systems consider the whole, looking through both a wide lens at the bigger picture while considering the small details and elements that contribute.
For us working as a team, learning and developing, making mistakes and getting better are all part of the process of our projects and work towards creating the whole experience.
Permaculture principles can be applied to any environment, at any scale from dense urban settlements to individual homes, from farms to entire regions.
Description by Mollison

Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, climatic factors and weather cycles are all part of the picture.
Description by Mollison
We have used permaculture designs and principles on all our projects and we would like to us this space to share some of those solutions with you.
By sharing stories, successes and failures we hope to inspire, motivate and help you be able to adapt some permaculure practices into your daily life.

Hugelkutur

Find out how we created additional, self feeding and self watering, "Hill bed" growing systems at our Community Garden

Community Farm

Our Community Farm project, organically grow Fruit, Vegetables, Herbs & Flowers using previously unused land. We use Permaculture Principles to support a sustainable local farming system.

Volunteer with Us

If you have some spare time, or would like to learn new skills while helping your community, have a look at what volunteering opportunities we have.