Hi there fellow Steemians. I thought it would be a good idea to raise some awareness about Permaculture Festivals including The Sark Roots Festival that I am blessed to be involved with. I hope this information finds you well and inspires you to come visit us this year, go to one nearer to you or perhaps start your own.

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Image Credit: Roz Rolls Original Artwork

Since the very beginnings of human existence festival culture has existed. Humans are communal beings by nature and it makes sense that even in the earliest of times we would gather together to celebrate values and events that were of importance.

"A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. Next to religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural. Food is such a vital resource that many festivals are associated with harvest time." Source

Somewhere along the lines though, with the advent of modern music festivals, these values have drastically deviated from their origins.

Not that it's a bad thing in terms of community and sharing but the impact they have on the environment is heartbreaking. We have developed a culture of carefree partying and it's always someone else's job to clear up. This however is just an extension of the consumerist conglomerate that we have become.

What If We Could Change All That?

Let's face it, we all like to party. Good music and awe-inspiring entertainment in the company of friends and new acquaintances. Celebrating life, energy and being connected. Sharing knowledge and experience and bringing something of value to one another. This is where a permaculture festival is a valuable component in addressing local and global problems and celebrating the good that can be achieved when we cooperate with love and understanding of ourselves and our environment.

What is permaculture? I hear you say...

Permaculture is a solution based design philosophy which was developed in the 1970s by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. It began as an integrated systems approach to sustainable living based on growing perennial food crops. Since then it has evolved to incorporate social and economic design, and has spread virally around the globe.
Permaculture is working to re-design our impact on the Earth and regenerate what has been lost.
By observing and learning from nature, and weaving together traditional and indigenous wisdom with new scientific understanding, permaculture seeks to create beneficial and co-operative relationships within a system.
These thinking tools can be applied to all aspects of our living and designing.

There are 12 principles that help to guide us through the design process.

The three strong ethical principles which form the heart of permaculture.

• Care of the earth
• Care of people
• Return of surplus to Earth and people (also called “Fair Share”)

Sark Roots Festival September 14th ~ 16th 2018

Image Credit: Roz Rolls/ Angie Tiare Original Artwork

Sark Roots Festival was founded in 2016 by my good friend and soul sister, Roz Rolls, a native New Zealander of Cook Islands decent and her partner, Laszlo Kulcsar. Roz came to settle in Sark about 16 years ago, following the birth of her first child. It is through her connection with Kia Taeria, an organization set up in the Cook Islands that works towards 'awareness of environmental responsibility and individual action' . Thanks to Roz, a sub affiliate of this organisation now exists in Sark. She is an active community member who has extensive experience in permaculture practices and has almost finished her degree in permaculture design. She has designed and built 3 permaculture gardens here in Sark, that help the local economy by providing work, food and tourist benefits.

We had been toying with the idea of a bringing another festival to the island. Roz felt that if we could incorporate permaculture into the mix it would provide a valuable way of helping push Sark to be more sustainable as well as help the local economy out. And so Sark Roots was born...

"Sark Roots is back for its third year! Starting at 3pm on the 14th of September till 6pm the 16th September. Sark Roots is a celebration of land, sea and community, promoting local initiatives with a global conscience and inspiring grass roots movements!
A weekend of Live music, DJ's, dancing, workshops, local food, local brews, creative activities for all the family and lots of more!"
Source

Image Credit

There are many things to see and do at the festival. A mixture of local, Channel Islands and UK bands and musicians are lined up for the entertainment. There are two marquis for the music. One houses the main stage where live music plays all throughout the day right up until the festival closes for the evening. The other is used for workshops during the day. At night it becomes a haven for DJ's playing dance, psy trance and other genres.
Heaps of workshops are available such as Yoga, Sustainable lifestyles, lantern making, arts and crafts, drumming, slack lining, meditation, belly dancing, reflexology, nutrition, well-being and so many more.

Image Credit

Image Credit African Drumming with Stu Ogier

There are talks about sustainability and permaculture. Walks around the island, star gazing (Sark is the world's first dark sky island), foraging and visits to the permaculture gardens.

Image Credit Stocks Hotel Permaculture Garden

The festival has a real ethos of re-usability and sustainability.

We made pallet benches on site, other furniture is donated. All the signs are hand made from recycled materials. We even have compost toilets! The tent decorations are from reclaimed materials.
The setup is thoughtfully placed to give a feeling of flow and interconnection. Wherever you are standing within the grounds, you will see and feel part of the whole festival.
Central to the design is the action packed children's area complete with a trampoline and dedicated relaxation tent for tired tots, breastfeeding mothers or those just wanting to relax. Face painting, story telling and child friendly workshops too.
Food is sold in compostable packaging and you even get a discount if you bring your own plates, cups and cutlery. Cups with the logo are sold and you get some money back for returning them, or you can keep them as a souvenir.
Sark Roots is also a member of festival vision 2025 which is a collective of over 60 UK festivals who pledge to reduce their environmental footprint 50% by 2025.

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All this comes together to make a relaxing, friendly, communal and eye-opening experience. It is also a great boost to the local economy, and works well on this island where the main source of income for many is from tourism.

Here's a video we made of Sark Roots Festival 2016:

Here's How You Can Get involved

If you're interested in joining us for this year's Sark Roots Festival, tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite

Volunteering

If you like the sound of what we have to offer and would like to come along and help us, we will be looking for Volunteers to join our team during the festival and also in the lead up and pack down.
Camping pitch, showers and food will be provided for volunteers.

Please contact us at:

[email protected]

If you have been to a permaculture festival I would love to read about it.

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