On a 160 acre cattle ranch on the Big Island of Hawaii, Antonio Wuttke is establishing patterns and systems for a permaculture food forest farm. The project merges integrative health, environmental responsibility, and social change inspiring community members to become active participants in the stewardship of the land while building the capacity to understand land restoration, sustainability, and the intersection of place and society.
Antonio explains “Our present era of raised consciousness is yielding to natural principles, surrendering to the wisdom of the earth. The wide-ranging interactions with land, soil, and vegetation have consistently confirmed that the best designs interpret and echo nature and local preexisting conditions, rather than aim at control. The most beautiful environments are ‘sustainable’ by being solidly anchored in natural processes, rather than imposed from the outside.”
Working with co-director Thaïs Mazur of The Karuna Center, Antonio leads workshops on meaningful engagement and teaches practices to reflect natural principles of mutual support between humans and ecological systems for individual and global health – empowering individual and community; counteracting industrial/ corporate-driven alienation; rebuilding the world from the ground up. Creating resources and an inspiring environment for children is one of the most important intentions of the project. The project hosts groups of local students and community members to inspire a deeper more intimate relationship with Nature and teach an ecological systems approach.
In collaboration with The Fukushima Kids Project, children from the nuclear disaster area around Fukushima, Japan come to Hue Hue to get a break from the radiation exposure and thus greatly improve their chance of growing up cancer-free. Rather than imposing our own ideas on a place, Antonio applies the principle of mindful engagement by paying attention to the natural wisdom already present in a new environment.
“We can’t just rush into a new world without even looking or truly arriving. We are often too convinced that we know something better than the environment we are in. When arriving into an unfamiliar place, arrive as a visitor — remember how magical it is to arrive in a new town where you don’t know anyone, and have no judgments. Allow everything to be part of that newness. Make acquaintances, go exploring, get lost, find your way again, gradually earn the privilege of being part of this community.”
Land restoration specialist and landscape architect Antonio Wuttke practices and inspires “harmonious relationships between wo/man and nature, continuously fine-tuning the zone of encounter, the transition between the human and non-human environment.” For 35 years as a builder & farmer living close to the land, he has dedicated himself to projects in diverse environments and social contexts combining a unique understanding of the human place on the planet. www.rememberingourplace.com