Amidst a bounty of ripening fruit from water-wise and greywater-fed gardens, we are enjoying both the sweet taste of summer and the incredible success of another Community Resilience Challenge with over 20,000 local, regional and national actions, projects and pledges.

In short, you rock and the ripples from our shared actions grows bigger and bigger. So thank you.

One important thing that helps us take heart and take action is knowing that every choice we make matters and makes a ripple.

We've received a range of questions about the cost of the IPC in Britain - conference and convergence. This blog post gives some background information.

Like every other convergence, and permaculture conference, by far the biggest input is the time and labour of hundreds of volunteers, most of them also participants in the event. The permaculture movement has a strong tradition and ethic of everyone being active contributors. No one is just an attendee or delegate.

Formidable Vegetable Sound System have released a new remix album Radish Beets!

You can see Charlie Mgee at the International Permaculture Conference and Convergence in London, this September. See details of Charlie's Conference workshop, Sing the Change You Want to See.

The IPC is a truly global event with participation coming from at least 50 countries. Here is a snapshot analysis to give you a bit of a picture of who is going to be at the convergence. Next month we will show a similar break down for the conference.

400 people have already bought their tickets to the convergence, and they come from 6 continents: Africa (3%); Latin America (5%); Asia (7%), North America (10%), Australia & Aotearoa (9%); Europe (65%). Amongst the list of delegates are people from some countries that have never been into an IPC.

A team of intrepid IPCUK convergence coordinators met up at Gilwell Park, the site of the IPCUK Convergence. We spent 3 days on site with a mission to come up with some design suggestions for the site layout of the IPCUK.

Part three of three.

Would you like a chance to sell your permaculture related products at this year’s International Permaculture Convergence?

I am creating the design for the Market Place at the International Permaculture Convergence in September, so If you are coming to the convergence and would like to have a stall at the Market Place then please contact me for more details.

Katie Shepherd, Diploma In Applied Permaculture Design Apprentice

[email protected]

Photos show examples of permaculture related products

The vision for this design is to take the sleeping and eating sectors of IPCUK Convergence and to design them as neighbourhoods - self-organising, community building, supporting everyones wellbeing, supporting and extending learnings and integrating seamlessly with the rest of the convergence. They will be key demonstrations of People Care at the convergence and this design will be made as transparent and accessible as possible to maximise the potential for learning and sharing.

Brains bursting full of information from the day’s observations and considerations, we noticed a limit to our own potential for absorbing more information. So in the glow of the fire from the wood burner in Gidney Cabin we entered into analysis by musing through the 6 Thinking Hats of Edward de Bono… This was a really useful way to round off the day of surveying and enter into the digestion phase of the information.

Part two of three.

One of the many unique things about IPCUK is the coming together of some of the world's most experienced and talented permaculture educators. European Children in Permaculture designers will host an innovative programme for educators and children together, to learn from others in a dynamic, entertaining and fun way!

The 68th UN General Assembly declared 2015 the International Year of Soils. The International Permaculture Conference this September is listed as an event by the FAO.