Okay, so I know that women can multi-task, I know that we can give in a myriad of ways, I know that we channel our unique energies into a multitude of dreams, but after talking to Robin Clayfield about her life, my head was in a tizz. This woman’s passion and energy has created and flavoured so many worthwhile projects and enterprises.

As a deep visionary and dedicated creator, Robin’s life was never going to be one of routine, stagnation or mediocrity. Her earlier life was influenced by her father. He was a forester and a strong political supporter. Robin grew up with a love of the environment and a desire to actively protect and preserve the Earth.

University provided a platform for Robin to not only study the social sciences including communication, psychology and sociology but to also give voice to her concerns and ideas about environmental conservation and social justice campaigns. During these years she was active in MAUM, the Movement Against Uranium Mining, warning people about ‘Global Warming’, Women’s issues and Student Rights issues. However upon finishing her Tertiary studies she found the ‘big wide world’ vary challenging and depressing and eventually decided to ‘drop out’ of society for awhile.

In the early 80’s Robin and her partner found themselves in Northern New South Wales Rainforests where, after a couple of years Robin completed a Permaculture course specifically for women. This was to change her life. Robin had discovered her passion. She felt a sense of awe, satisfaction and empowerment from growing her own vegetables. Little did she know the journey that this was to take her on, and the incentive it would provide her to delve into diverse areas of teaching and learning.

It was in 1986 that a friend invited Robin to visit their potential new home in a community in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Due to the political climate of Queensland at the time, she thought she would never be tempted to move there. However, as Robin drove over the mountains on her way to Conondale, something inside of her resonated with the area and she felt a strong sense of coming home. At the time she thought it was a perfect place to raise her baby daughter and to nurture her Permaculture designing career. Crystal Waters became her home and has been for the last twenty two years.

Through out this time Robin had been travelling back to Tyalgum to assist her original Permaculture teacher. She did this by facilitating certain sections of the course and by cooking meals for the participants. So impressed were the participants with the meals that they were constantly asking Robin for the recipes. With the encouragement of a friend, Robin’s journey as an author began and she wrote “You Can Have Your Permaculture and Eat It Too”, a fabulous gardening and cook book that is still sold tody.

Also at this time Robin and Skye were teaching Permaculture courses at Crystal Waters. It quickly became apparent to both of them that the traditional method of teaching the course, in fact the traditional method of teaching most things was not the most effective and productive way for people to learn. A new style of teaching began to emerge and ‘dynamic learning’ took seed. Robin describes it as ‘intensive training in the use and development of creative, interactive learning methods and educational empowerment techniques….. It is for people willing to look past the expert/dominant/hierarchical process called teaching to a more interactive, participatory process of encouraging learning’. The success of this style blossomed into the “Manual for Teaching Permaculure Creatively” and a variety of resources, games and cards to support the process outlined in the manual. Together Robin and her partner taught the course all over the world. Today Robin continues to teach, facilitate, evolve, author and manage the Permaculture courses and ‘Dynamic Groups, Dynamic Learning’ workshops.

Robin as author had not finished yet though. Six years ago Robin came out of a long persistent illness (Ross River virus) that at times left her completely without energy and full of pain. As a means of healing Robin began to write down all the things she could do to nurture and nourish herself. “Gifts For Wild Women” emerged. This empowerment and process book (with accompanying cards) is a gift to women from Robin. And as an extension of this gift Robin began facilitating Wild Women weekends, ceremony and ritual.

As with most projects that Robin undertakes their success leads to bigger things. She was invited to be a part of the ‘Being Woman’ festival where she conducts workshops and ceremony. Robin was also approached to conduct ceremony and hold sacred space at “The Joining Festival” and is part of the circle of Elders for the Joining also. Being a part of these transformative gatherings provides her with deep satisfaction.

Mmm, now are you thinking “how does she fit this all in” – well I haven’t finished yet. On top of all of this, Robin plays in an eight piece marimba band called Jambezi, maintains her own Permaculture garden at home, co-runs the Chai Tent at Woodford Folk Festival, has a consulting business and does guest presentations, co-teaches Certificate iv in Training and Assessment (using her unique style of delivery) and home schools her high-school level son. In fact she is doing such a fantastic job that recently she was asked to be on the Home Education Advisory Board. She has also found a new form to express her passions – that of a guided meditation CD titled “Seeds for Change”. And she does all this as a single mother and as a Grandmother of two.

If you were to ask Robin why she does all of this she would say “out of service” – service to her children, to her community, to the Earth and to her passion and dreams. She does concede that it is probably time for her to slow down, to step back a little and take up her role as mentor. But for the time being there are projects that need pruning, some that need fertilising, some that need harvesting and definitely many that need sharing. She would love someone with the same passions to assist her in the everyday running of her diverse business, giving her more time to tend to the actual creating and delivery.

Robin is a fantastic example of following and living your dreams and as much as she has already accomplished, I don’t think that her creative streak is quite satiated yet. I look forward to seeing what next unfolds from this amazing lady. To find out about any of Robin’s workshops or resources, visit her websites.