Notes from a PRI Internship Graduate: Permaculture Boot Camp; a Design Project in Action
Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, People Systems, Social Gatherings, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by P. David Stockhausen July 9, 2010
Before venturing to Australia and The Permaculture Research institute this past January, I’d found myself answering the same query over and over again “…okay, wait, tell me again, what is Permaculture anyway?” And now, since returning from the PRI to the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve encountered the same questions from friends and family though now with more of a peppered interest in where Permaculture might lead me. My answer is often less about where Permaculture is going to lead me, but instead where it’s going to lead us.
Being a trained observer of natural patterns, it’s pretty difficult not to notice an obvious dearth in awareness around the subject of Permaculture. Furthermore, I feel that it goes without saying that there’s an urgent need for permaculture education that is a direct conduit to action. Once one knows and deeply understands our global state of affairs and environmental situation through the educational lens of a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC), it is difficult not to have a sense of urgency about permanent cultural repair. To me, it appears that this type of urgency isn’t often shared by those who don’t see the issues and the solutions through the lens of Permaculture and whole systems thinking.
Comments (6)Letters from the West Bank – Seeds of Hope Scattered from the West Bank’s First PDC
Aid Projects, Alternatives to Political Systems, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor June 30, 2010
Editor’s caution: I trust our objective, peace-loving permaculture readers will resist the temptation to comment such, but just in case, please know that non-productive, antagonistic comments against any of the players involved in the Israeli/Palestinian Middle-East conflict will not be moderated through. Keep them civil, well-intentioned and constructive and you’ll pass muster though.
The view at sunset, westwards from Marda, Palestine
All photographs © copyright Craig Mackintosh
This is now the second time I’ve had an automatic weapon aimed at me. I hope it doesn’t become a habit….
Comments (22)Take a tour of Hayes Valley Farm
Community Projects, Urban Projects — by Patrick Blampied June 23, 2010
Located in the center of San Francisco, Hayes Valley Farm is an education and research project with a focus on urban agriculture. With its roots in Permaculture, the site which was previously an eyesore, has been turned into a living community hub where people come regularly to meet and connect with each other. Friends exchange food, recipes, stories and knowledge about ways we can all live in greater harmony with our surroundings. They are surrounded by an abundant and rich forest of food that encourages connection and understanding of the vital life systems that support human kind.
The project started less than 6 months ago but has moved in leaps and bounds. It is founded on an interim use agreement for a two to five year time frame – after which the city moves forward with other development plans for the site.
Comments (4)GrowUp Project
Biodiversity, Community Projects, Consumerism, Economics, Global Warming/Climate Change, Presentations/Demonstrations, Social Gatherings, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Urban Projects, peak oil — by Lee Hewson June 21, 2010
The GrowUp project aims to develop a model community/communities which, as much as possible are self sufficient, low impact and carbon negative,and whose main objective will be to reforest/replant, as we believe that this is the starting point to solve the problems facing humanity. Assisting the Earth to regenerate biomass, soils, water and nutrient capacities. Following permaculture principles, we will address the problem of greenhouse gas emissions whist providing a source of fuel, food and material for shelter which will allow people to create low impact homes, and small communities and to provide for their needs locally and organically. By creating forest gardens to provide for our food supply, we will also work at increasing biodiversity, reducing carbon in the atmosphere,increasing carbon in the soil, at retaining more water in the soil and re establishing nature’s way of controlling the water cycle, at increasing the fertility of the soil and stopping soil erosion; the list of benefits that intelligently replanting achieves goes on.
How to Make a Home Made Bee Hive
Insects, Processing & Food Preservation, Urban Projects — by Peter Dilley
The photograph above is of my home made bee hive. This is the ultimate beginner bee hive and the one I highly recommend you consider. Its benefits are that it is horizontal and not vertical so you don’t break your back lifting heavy boxes. The legs are cut to make the top of the hive at your own waist level. Now you can tend your bees without much bending and in a very comfortable relaxed state. This hive does not use bee frames. Instead of forcing bees to make comb cells the size we humans want, bees in the hive design I run build their entire comb themselves with their own wax (store bought wax has chemicals and pesticides treatment that stores in the wax fat, so your bees get medication even if you don’t want them to, or other potential diseases). Because the bees make all their own wax you get lots of honey like with traditional hives but you also get lots of wax. This is perfect for the homestead as you can make so many useful things from wax – from furniture and wood polishes, to candles, and so on! This hive is also perfect for beginners because you don’t have to buy thousands of dollars of honey extraction equipment. I bought a bread knife from a dollar shop and use that to harvest comb.
Comments (19)Compost Heated Hot Water in Canberra
Compost, Energy Systems, Urban Projects — by Patrick Blampied June 17, 2010
Leigh Blackall has set up a compost water heating system after being inspired by a series of Youtube videos including one featuring Zaytuna’s compost heated shower.
He’s documented setting up his system here:
Free Range Permaculture on Costa’s Garden Odyssey
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, News, Society, Urban Projects — by Patrick Blampied June 12, 2010
You might remember that Kim Kruse from Free Range Permaculture in Cairns appeared on SBS show Costa’s Garden Odyssey a few weeks ago. In case you missed it, check out the clip below:
Permablitz Gold Coast Hits Burleigh Heads State School
Community Projects, Education Centres, Land, Social Gatherings, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Leah Galvin June 4, 2010
photograph © copyright Craig Mackintosh
This Sunday, on June 6, 2010, Permablitz Gold Coast and Burleigh Heads State School are joining together to hold a working bee day full of vegetable gardening activities and odd jobs around the school. Come along for a great opportunity to learn skills in growing food yourself while making connections with your school and wider community.
On the day we will be putting in a 10 metre long mullet fish shaped vegetable garden from scratch. It will be a no-dig style garden straight on top of the existing lawn beside the school’s admin building. This will be the beginning of more vegetable gardens going in at the school.
Learn about where to start your vegetable garden using Permaculture principles with the support of friendly people from your local community. There will be free workshops on the day including worm farming and chemical free gardening. Lets show the kids how to make the connections between fresh, organic food and health! There will also be kids activities and BBQ on the day.
Comments (1)The Transformation of Our Urban Home
Biological Cleaning, Building, Energy Systems, Retrofitting, Urban Projects, Waste Systems & Recycling, Water Harvesting — by Rob Avis May 28, 2010
by Rob Avis
In August 2008, my wife Michelle and I returned to Calgary, Canada, after spending one year traveling abroad in search of sustainability solutions. With backgrounds in mechanical engineering, our “sabbatical” started off in Denmark – we were drawn there by the lure of technological solutions to energy issues. After several months of volunteering and filling our brains with information (wind energy, solar applications, passive buildings, biogas, plant oil engines… and more) we ended up back in North America prepared to explore the U.S. and Mexico in our plant-oil powered Westfalia.
We knew that something thus far in our sustainability search was missing and were starting to suspect that the missing link might be permaculture (although we didn’t really know what it was quite yet). Our travels brought us to several eco-sites, including an ecovillage near Mexico City. We stopped to do some WWOOFing at a permaculture farm and then headed further south to visit the indigenous Mexicans of the Chiapas, interested to learn about their agricultural practices. An Earthship workshop and geodesic greenhouses in New Mexico and an education center and CSA project in Colorado to name a few other adventures. And to culminate this amazing year we signed up for a Permaculture Design Course at Bullocks Homestead in Washington. The entire experience was nothing short of amazing.
Next task – put all of this information to productive use! Oh boy.
Comments (9)Parking Lots to Parks: Designing Livable Cities
Land, Roads, Society, Urban Projects — by Earth Policy Institute
Rush hour in Utrecht, Holland
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
As I was being driven through Tel Aviv from my hotel to a conference center in 1998, I could not help but note the overwhelming presence of cars and parking lots. It was obvious that Tel Aviv, expanding from a small settlement a half-century ago to a city of some 3 million today, had evolved during the automobile era. It occurred to me that the ratio of parks to parking lots may be the best indicator of the livability of a city—an indication of whether the city is designed for people or for cars.
Tel Aviv is not the world’s only fast-growing city. Urbanization is the second dominant demographic trend of our time, after population growth itself. In 1900, some 150 million people lived in cities. By 2000, it was 2.8 billion people, a 19-fold increase. Now more than half of us live in cities—making humans, for the first time, an urban species.
Comments (3)Chicago’s $1.3 Million Experiment in Democracy
Alternatives to Political Systems, Community Projects, Eco-Villages, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Yes Magazine May 27, 2010
For the first time in the U.S., the city’s 49th Ward lets taxpayers directly decide how public money is spent.
by Josh Lerner, Megan Wade Antieau
On Chicago’s far north side, citizens are taking democracy into their own hands. Through the first “participatory budgeting” experiment in the United States, residents of Chicago’s 49th Ward have spent the past year deciding how to spend $1.3 million in taxpayer dollars. Over 1,600 community members stepped up to decide on improvements for their neighborhoods, showing how participatory budgeting can pave the way for a new kind of grassroots democracy, in Chicago and beyond.
Comments (4)The Tragedy of Suburbia
Building, Eco-Villages, Land, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 26, 2010
James Howard Kunstler takes an insightful and often hilarious look at the stupidity of contemporary big-box urban ‘design’, and looks at where we need to head instead. Don’t miss it!
Further Reading:
Comments (7)Reclaiming the Streets
Building, Land, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Earth Policy Institute
Editor’s Note: This is an important topic. In addition to the post below, check out this great video talk.
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
Cars promise mobility, and in a largely rural setting they provide it. But in an urbanizing world, where more than half of us live in cities, there is an inherent conflict between the automobile and the city. After a point, as their numbers multiply, automobiles provide not mobility but immobility, as well as increased air pollution and the health problems that come with it. Urban transport systems based on a combination of rail lines, bus lines, bicycle pathways, and pedestrian walkways offer the best of all possible worlds in providing mobility, low-cost transportation, and a healthy urban environment.
Comments (2)Urban Worm Farm Solution – Step by Step Setup
Compost, Rehabilitation, Soil Conservation, Urban Projects, Working Animals — by Patrick Blampied May 24, 2010
After discovering our family compost bin was in a dangerously anaerobic state I decided a worm farm would be a much more suitable and productive way to deal with organic waste from the kitchen.
Comments (6)Letters from Chile – Eco Escuela El Manzano, a Nice Place to Learn
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Education Centres, People Systems, Society, Urban Projects, Village Development, peak oil — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor May 22, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is Part X of a series. If you haven’t already, be sure to catch Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, and Part IX!
All photographs copyright © Craig Mackintosh
My time in Chile was encouraging. It gives me some hope in mankind to see a community rallying together to meet present historical realities. Not all is perfect of course. Not all are fully lucid and fully engaged, and whipping up enthusiasm, ethically, in a way that respects individual choice, is a challenge in leadership and patience (sometimes the shock of an earthquake or other disaster can help a little here…), but the good news is that the needed work at El Manzano has more than begun, and it should beget hope for the rest of us – that it is possible to awaken the people around us to unite around intelligent, historically appropriate plans for transition.
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