From poverty to permaculture abundance, with Luwayo Biswick, director of the Permaculture Paradise Institute: 071

I try to keep my fingers on the pulse of whats going on in the world of permaculture, natural building and regenerative living, since after all that’s the focus of this podcast, and as a result I find tons of inspiring projects and designers doing ground-breaking work around the world. One of the people and projects that have really caught my attention in the last two months is Luwayo Bizwick and his organization Permaculture Paradise Institute in Malawi. The scope of his projects and the impact he’s having on the agricultural practices in his country are truly inspiring. In this interview we talk about the challenges that Luwayo faced while growing up and how the epidemics of malnutrition and poverty in Malawi can be addressed through holistic design. We go into detail about the goals of the Permaculture Paradise Institute as well as the strategies to accomplish them. We also dissect his incredible guilded and polyculture systems on the farm and much much more. This is one of the most profound and eye-opening interviews I’ve yet done and Luwayo has a poetic way with words that really helps to build narrative around the sometimes-dry technical aspects of permaculture which I admire very much. When we recorded the episode originally we had a pretty lousy connection (turns out Guatemala to Malawi is challenging on a little wifi hookup) and so he was kind enough to send me his answers to the questions a second time and what resulted was an impressive expansion on this answers the first time around, and so I’ve published the second round in the show notes for this episode on abundantedge.com I highly recommend that anyone who enjoyed the interview have a listen to the second audio as well. It’s under 25 minutes long and absolutely worth the time. So before I drag on too long, here’s Luwayo Resources: Permaculture Paradise Institute on Facebook Luwayo Biswick on Facebook