I'm Kareen Erbe, founder of Broken Ground. I've helped thousands of people turn their backyards into delicious, edible landscapes through gardening classes, consultations, and edible garden designs.
I grew up with a garden, rummaging through our raspberry patch, picking snow peas off the vine, and digging up potatoes. For snacks, I ate my mom's homemade rhubarb jam on warm, freshly baked bread. My mom was a homemaker extraordinaire. She baked bread, gardened, canned food, made pasta, pies, jellies and jams. She refused to buy us brand name clothing; instead of The Gap or Eddie Bauer, we shopped at thrift stores. Before it was common to reduce, reuse and recycle, my mom reused plastic bags and gave us cloth lunch totes to take to school.
As I was growing up, I didn't appreciate my mom's values, skills and knowledge. Although having a garden was fun and her bread was delicious, I still wanted the pop tarts and fruit loops from our neighbors' pantry. Though I didn't learn all I could have from my mom's treasure box of knowledge, in hindsight I realize that those values left their mark.
Fast forward to my early twenties and I was outraged, idealistic and deeply involved in social justice and human rights issues. I traveled to Latin America, spending almost a year as a human rights observer in Guatemala. I came back from that experience wanting to 'change the world', knowing that our consumer way of life in the U.S. was dramatically affecting people in the developing world.
I taught workshops to high school students about the effects of globalization and encouraged them to think critically about the issues. Yet I frequently heard, "there isn't much we can do about it."
My anger and helplessness grew alongside the world's problems. Burned out, I took a step back and realized that I had spent most of my twenties being "against" someone or something. My activist approach felt unhelpful and empowered no one.
So rather than dwell on the problems, I looked for solutions and found them.
I enrolled in the course, Gandhi and Globalization, offered by Dr. Vandana Shiva at her organic farm in India. The learning experience was eye-opening. Using Gandhi's philosophy as an example, the course encouraged localized economies, growing our own food and taking responsibility for our own existence. It showed me how these actions could easily be applied to the current reality of globalization.
It was during this course that I first heard the term permaculture. I was immediately hooked by this concept and the solutions it had to offer. In permaculture, there is a saying,
"All the world's problems can be solved in a garden."
Indeed, I have found over my years of gardening that this simple statement just might be true. On a personal level, the ability to grow food and create something with our own hands is a powerful act. The opportunity to get outside every day and connect with our natural world is a calming force. On a community and global level, growing our own food and taking responsibility for ourselves are the best ways to combat climate change and reduce our ecological footprint. It is a step out of the overwhelming problems and a step into the solution. I feel grateful, hopeful and empowered because I am living part of the solution.
Permaculture gives me an outlet, a way to create abundance instead of feeling helpless.
With the fresh food that I pull out of my garden each season, confidence builds that together we can solve problems by living simpler and healthier.
I envision a world where community is created around growing food, where we value our farmers and the land, and where 'progress' in our society is measured by how we contribute in a meaningful way to the world.
I grew up with a garden, rummaging through our raspberry patch, picking snow peas off the vine, and digging up potatoes. For snacks, I ate my mom's homemade rhubarb jam on warm, freshly baked bread. My mom was a homemaker extraordinaire. She baked bread, gardened, canned food, made pasta, pies, jellies and jams. She refused to buy us brand name clothing; instead of The Gap or Eddie Bauer, we shopped at thrift stores. Before it was common to reduce, reuse and recycle, my mom reused plastic bags and gave us cloth lunch totes to take to school.
As I was growing up, I didn't appreciate my mom's values, skills and knowledge. Although having a garden was fun and her bread was delicious, I still wanted the pop tarts and fruit loops from our neighbors' pantry. Though I didn't learn all I could have from my mom's treasure box of knowledge, in hindsight I realize that those values left their mark.
Fast forward to my early twenties and I was outraged, idealistic and deeply involved in social justice and human rights issues. I traveled to Latin America, spending almost a year as a human rights observer in Guatemala. I came back from that experience wanting to 'change the world', knowing that our consumer way of life in the U.S. was dramatically affecting people in the developing world.
I taught workshops to high school students about the effects of globalization and encouraged them to think critically about the issues. Yet I frequently heard, "there isn't much we can do about it."
My anger and helplessness grew alongside the world's problems. Burned out, I took a step back and realized that I had spent most of my twenties being "against" someone or something. My activist approach felt unhelpful and empowered no one.
So rather than dwell on the problems, I looked for solutions and found them.
I enrolled in the course, Gandhi and Globalization, offered by Dr. Vandana Shiva at her organic farm in India. The learning experience was eye-opening. Using Gandhi's philosophy as an example, the course encouraged localized economies, growing our own food and taking responsibility for our own existence. It showed me how these actions could easily be applied to the current reality of globalization.
It was during this course that I first heard the term permaculture. I was immediately hooked by this concept and the solutions it had to offer. In permaculture, there is a saying,
"All the world's problems can be solved in a garden."
Indeed, I have found over my years of gardening that this simple statement just might be true. On a personal level, the ability to grow food and create something with our own hands is a powerful act. The opportunity to get outside every day and connect with our natural world is a calming force. On a community and global level, growing our own food and taking responsibility for ourselves are the best ways to combat climate change and reduce our ecological footprint. It is a step out of the overwhelming problems and a step into the solution. I feel grateful, hopeful and empowered because I am living part of the solution.
Permaculture gives me an outlet, a way to create abundance instead of feeling helpless.
With the fresh food that I pull out of my garden each season, confidence builds that together we can solve problems by living simpler and healthier.
I envision a world where community is created around growing food, where we value our farmers and the land, and where 'progress' in our society is measured by how we contribute in a meaningful way to the world.
Broken Ground is based in Bozeman, Montana where the growing season is short but the summer days are long.
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Click on the video to the left and watch my presentation at the Ellen Theater in Bozeman. In it, I explain why I do what I do and how permaculture can provide a positive way forward.
Enjoy! |
Human Scale Business did an interview with me, click below or listen to the podcast here.
Finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find.
- Terry Tempest Williams