When we drove to the LINK Retreat I at Haltian Pappila I didn’t knew what I have signed up for – actually I did, but I didn’t fully realise it before it became real. It sounded interesting and as a teacher I kind of had to participate. The whole workshop was planned by Lumia and Kathy.
The old vicarage, the Haltian Pappila – which was the house of the main priest of Luopioinen – stands impressive surrounded by old trees, even some hundred-year-old fir trees.
Before the first official retreat day the teachers had a get-together in the kitchen to get to know each other. Johanna, who runs the Pappila, greeted us with fresh tea.
We found our room, settled in and in no time nightfall came.
On the next day we started breakfast at 8 and then the course at 10. Kaisa Käärmemaa, our Work That Reconnects teacher, started with the first session. She introduced us to her teaching, the different topics, her approach and then we created the classroom rules. Not to say: What happens at Pappila stays in Pappila.
The day continued with various activities. Unfortunately we hit some bad weather and couldn’t be outside. The day passed fast. Erja and Johanna, our hosts, served us delicious food – a different soup every day for lunch and all kinds of tasty foods for dinner.
Kaisa was our teacher for the first 2 days and then Lumia and Kathy took over. We learned about cultural emergence and did a design using Looby’s design web. Kathy took a deep dive with us into what she calls “compass” – a multi level design framework where it is not just about the planning and doing, but also about the how (something I often miss in the Finnish permaculture community). At the end of the day we went for sauna at the lake shore.
On the last day it was then finally my turn. I held the first lecture about Digital Permaculture. We compared and discussed different communication methods and services. We gathered information about communication tools and the entities which provide them to us. We discussed planned obsolescence and compared licenses. A participant asked me about the usage of WhatsApp in her community and I argued that WhatsApp doesn’t align with permaculture ethics. One day after my lecture Meta announced that WhatsApp will soon be showing advertisement.
Then we took some time to close the circle and wish everyone safe travels home. What a blast those 4 days were.
After the retreat is before the retreat and all the participants are eglible for coaching by either Kathy, Lumia or me.
