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Lucy Elder-Slow on Teaching Permaculture, Learning Pathways, and Designing Education with Children

Lucy Elder-Slow on Teaching Permaculture, Learning Pathways, and Designing Education with Children

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 In episode 115 of the Permaculture Vine Podcast, Cormac Harkin speaks with Lusi Alderslowe about her background in permaculture, how she came to teaching, and the different ways permaculture design can be applied to education, community work, and working with children.Lusi begins by introducing herself and explaining that she lives in South West Scotland, in Dumfries and Galloway. She notes that she has mostly lived in Scotland, including time spent living in Glasgow and Edinburgh, before settling where she is now. She describes herself as a permaculture educator and shares that she has been practicing permaculture since 2005, when she first studied a permaculture design course.Before studying permaculture, Lusi completed a master’s degree in human ecology. She explains that this felt like the academic side of permaculture and included concepts such as head, heart, and hand. One of the modules she studied was eco-psychology, and she explains that her interest has always been strongly connected to nature and how people relate to it.Lusi first heard about permaculture through a friend who was studying in Newcastle. This happened after she had been living and working in Africa, where she experienced living in community and living off-grid. She reflects on how this experience helped her realise how wealthy people are in industrialised countries, how much is already available, and how much is not actually needed. She describes permaculture as offering positive solutions to global problems through everyday actions.She went on to complete her permaculture design course in 2005, shortly after the birth of her son. She explains that she attended the course over weekends and brought her baby with her, completing the course in person. A few years later, she began teaching permaculture herself, moving into education alongside raising her children.After completing her design course, Lusi enrolled in the permaculture diploma. She explains that the diploma involves completing ten designs and that these designs can be varied. She describes working on designs related to parenting, community gardens, personal sustainability, and garden design. One of her early projects was Nurture in Nature, an outdoor playgroup for parents and young children living in an inner-city environment. She ran this group for six years as part of her diploma journey.Lusi explains that one of the strengths of the diploma is that it supports people to do projects they are already motivated to work on. She describes the diploma as a way to receive feedback on designs and develop confidence, while also allowing flexibility in how work is presented. Writing is not the only option, and she discusses alternatives such as presenting work verbally or through recorded conversations.As the conversation continues, Lusi explains what motivated her to start teaching permaculture. She describes noticing that there were no permaculture design courses being taught in the cities where she lived. Rather than waiting for someone else to fill that gap, she decided to organise courses herself. This led her to complete teacher training and to organise permaculture courses by bringing teachers to her location rather than travelling elsewhere.She talks through how she developed as a teacher by co-teaching, assisting more experienced tutors, and building session plans over time. She explains that this approach helped her gain confidence and made it possible to eventually lead full permaculture design courses herself. She later became the lead tutor on two-week courses in Scotland and Ireland, as well as running long-running weekend-based courses in Glasgow.Lusi describes how her permaculture design courses have evolved over time. More recently, she has developed a hybrid model that combines online materials with in-person practical days. The online content allows participants to revisit videos and tools when working on future designs, while the in-person days focus on outdoor learning, visiting community gardens, and seeing different systems in practice.A significant part of Lusi’s work focuses on children and education. She discusses teaching teachers, working with schools, and developing projects that combine outdoor learning with subjects such as maths and literacy. She describes writing booklets for parents and carers that introduce outdoor activities linked to curriculum learning, as well as working on materials designed directly for children.Lusi also reflects on large-scale projects she has been involved in, including funded programmes that reached thousands of people through outdoor learning activities. She explains how permaculture ethics are embedded into all of this work and how concepts such as earth care, people care, and fair share are introduced in practical, accessible ways.Towards the end of the conversation, Lusi shares her perspective on why this work matters to her personally. She explains that permaculture gives her energy and a sense of meaning...
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