San Diego Permaculture

2012-10-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

New Permaculture Certificate Course - San Diego

Project Based Permaculture
Nov. 1-12, 2012 - 8 to 5 Daily
San Diego based

If you learn best by hands-on, project based learning, this course is for you. We begin by visiting several different habitats, exploring nature and asking how her resilience and beauty can inform how we live in harmony with all life on the only planet we have. We will explore native habitats, natural building techniques, alternative energy, water systems, economies and combine this new knowledge into a final design project. We can not fix the old world, we have to create a new one. Join us and become a part of the shift toward a new, regenerative community and planet.

Course fee $1,000. Scholarships, work trade and discounts available.
More info at link:
http://projectbasedpermaculture.weebly.com

U Mass Permaculture win White House Challenge

2012-03-06T20:27:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to the students at UMass who won the Campus Champions of Change Challenge launched by the White House and President Obama to shine a light on the innovative work being done on college campuses. A big step for Permaculture and helping folks wake up to regenerative living.

Links to article here:

http://www.gazettenet.com/2012/03/06/umass-garden-gets-national-recognition

https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge

Permaculture Gathering

2011-07-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

CONVERGE! San Diego Permaculture Meetup
Learn, Trade, Organize

August 6, 2011
Sky Mountain Ranch
limit to 40 people, please RSVP at link below.

Details here:
http://www.meetup.com/SanDiegoPermaculture/events/17540966/

Interview with Joan Stevens and Jay Ma 4-20-11

2011-04-22T22:18:00.001-07:00

http://visionarycultureradio.com/?p=218

Fruit Tree Sale

2011-04-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

CA Rare Fruit Growers Plant Sale
Saturday 4-23-11
10AM
101 Prado in Balboa Park

COB WORKSHOP

2010-04-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

April 10th
Saturday
9 - 4 pm
6th and Quince
in Balboa Park

Join us in repairing the Poetry Bench, a 20 foot long natural building project made of strawbale, cob and superadobe.
We will be repairing the clay plaster so park visitors can continue to enjoy this beautiful earthen bench under a stunning grove of magnolia trees. Bring a poem to drop in the poem drop box.

Our work day will consist of mixing clay/sand with your feet and sculpting cob with your hands. Its easy, fun and a brilliant way to build sustainable benches, ovens, homes.

Please bring a sack lunch, gloves, hat and water.
Donation - $5-10 is appreciated for materials.

For a slide show of how the bench was built
visit
http://digyourhandsinthedirt.blogspot.com/

also - website on local cob ovens
www.SchoolyardPizzaOven.com

Fallen Fruit at MCASD (downtown SD) Thu Feb 5 6-10pm + DIY WWOOF SD County

2009-01-30T11:37:00.001-08:00

[1] This event showed up at the sdtjdph calendar ( j9k.org/cal ) via
foodcalendar.org but I haven't seen it mentioned yet on any of the
lists. So here it is:

Links to event details:

http://tinyurl.com/bnx7n4 or:
http://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=cnUxamlkaTZndHZtb2VldjBpb2R0NXNnc28gbjIxZ283N3Jnc3JvYjJ1ZTAxdTM1czlrY2NAZw&ctz=America/Los_Angeles

The MCASD TNT info:
http://www.mcasd.org/events/lectures.asp#TNT

The following is pasted from the fallen fruit artist statement
http://www.fallenfruit.org/media/FF_statement.pdf on their downloads
page. Also check out their maps http://www.fallenfruit.org/maps.html .

The Principles of Fallen Fruit:
1. Fruit on public property belongs to all of us.
2. Mapping it is a way to share with everyone, learning neighborhoods
by foot, rather than by car.
3. Ask property owners to plant fruit trees for everyone.
4. Functional landscaping: ask cities to plant fruit trees in parks,
parking lots, and on streets.
5. Open dialogue within neighborhoods about public spaces.
6. Think about who has fruit and other resources, and who does not.

FALLENFRUIT is a collaboration of Dave Burns, Matias Viegener and
Austin Young http://www.fallenfruit.org

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Fallen Fruit is a collaborative art project which began as a whimsical
mapping of our neighborhood public fruit: all the fruit trees we could
find that grew on or over public property.
When your neighbor's fruit tree hangs into your yard, that fruit is
considered yours. But whose fruit is that on public property? We
believe that fruit planted on private property which overhangs public
space should be public property and created this project to encourage
people both to harvest and plant public fruit. The project is a
response to accelerating urbanization and the loss of people's
capacity to produce their own foods, as well as issues
around grassroots community activism, social welfare and social responsibility.

From the original printed edition, we expanded into a website which
posts local maps from the handmade to the high-tech, submitted by our
neighbors. We have pictures of fruit and
harvesting, including fruit pin-ups. Our ambition is to map the city,
the whole state, and then the world. We have also begun to propose
public fruit projects. These include further mapping, a campaign to
encourage property owners to plant fruit, petitions to the city to
plant streets and parking lots, and a proposal for a public fruit
park. We think of Fallen Fruit as much as community activism as an art
project. Our neighborhood is full of homeless people and uneaten
fruit: why can't the two be connected? We're not interested in random
theft. Our intention is to promote sharing and community-based
thinking.

We live in a world controlled by multinational corporations, in which
we don't know our neighbors, with a media that manufactures social
realities and ignores poverty and
oppression. Our food arrives processed and pre-wrapped, and few of us
know where it comes from. Our cities are full of wasted spaces and
neglected resources. Fallen Fruit proposes that we be able to make
more food with little effort and find ways to map it and networks for
sharing it. The injunction to share food is as old as the Bible, which
tells us that we should not harvest all our food for ourselves; the
fallen fruit should always be left for those who have nothing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2] DIY (do it yourself) WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms [and
other good places]) SD County:

While I'm emailing everyone,
I'm looking for local wwoof opportunities.
If I can camp or sleep on the floor at or near where I can work
(unpaid) ~4/hrs day, please let me know. I'm happy to do kitchen,
garden, computer and many other kinds of work.

My main goals are:
* to work with others and
* to visit and learn from different people and places in the county.

For more information, please visit:
http://fo-rest.blogspot.com/2009/01/diy-wwoof-in-sd-county-will-work-for.html

Peace & a smile,
Colin

SD Sunday Streets LinkedIn group

2008-12-17T08:05:00.001-08:00

[Car-free events] are good for surrounding shops and eateries that might otherwise be slow on Sundays. They are also a creative use of public space, helping residents and visitors to imagine uses for the streetscape beyond simply moving traffic through.

Michael Brennan sent you a message:

Please join the new LinkedIn Group called "San Diego Sunday Streets." We are trying to gather local support for this exciting movement going on in cities across the US.

Car-free events have been very successful in several cities, from Bogota's Ciclovia, to New York's Summer Streets 2008, to San Francisco's Sunday Streets. The events are good for surrounding shops and eateries that might otherwise be slow on Sundays. They are also a creative use of public space, helping residents and visitors to imagine uses for the streetscape beyond simply moving traffic through. A Sunday Streets program in San Diego would benefit the city in a variety of ways.

Here's the URL to join:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1496767

We hope that LinkedIn will provide enough contacts in the business and government communities that we can begin to connect with them, so feel free to invite others!

-Mike

rough SD Permaculture update

2008-10-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Mike T. is planning to visit in December and will be presenting on permaculture to his brother's high school class. He asked if I knew of any great pc demo sites in the area. Besides the wonderful new farm at city college, I don't--but tried to answer any way. Posting from my phone. [bad links fixed with computer]

--

The only new sites I've become aware of since you left: the city college urban farm: a must-see: http://www.sdcity.edu/esc , and girosol.org [http://www.girasolbaja.org/] (? Look up giro sol. I tried contacting them, got no reply. The workshop leaders were from Portland, if it happened). Missed the permacultureconvergence.org (socal ? See links from quailsprings if that's wrong), but heard there are now efforts to organize an sd-tj permaculture gathering this year. Marcia Boruta may be more in the know. She got Brad Lancaster here. . .

Deer park monastery would be another site, progressing fast: monks were at Brad's talk--brother stream and brother vu(?) (rain).

Then there are the other pieces: edible sd mag (haven't seen it, ediblesandiego.com ), the new city heights farmers market, chollas & 54th garden (groundbreaking 10/21).

Alias b's house is in a wonderful spot, nicest I've experienced in sd in fact (camped there), and a very good example of cobbling things together and figuring out problems: grey water, chickens, compost tea bubbler, banana basin (whatever it's called). Showing a great return on 3-4 months effort (~same time as city college farm).

AB's also had to deal with social challenges of pc. . . partner not as into all the experimentation and change. . .but that may be having a happier resolution.

and the restaurant side: the linkery, the local food plate I heard one was putting together.

and you may have seen it: looks like Ellee's getting FNL in gear for another conference.

Julie O's work on the 6th and Quince garden, balboa park.

and who knows what all's been going on with "north coastal food not lawns"--check with rachel of the solana center.

and I just heard of (searching for volunteer ops on americorps.org) a socal city repair variant: aclaparks.org

it's great you'll be here to shake things up. Josh R ( quakingaspenpermaculture.blogspot.com ) is another permie who returns here in december.

may post parts of this to various of the blogs I started. . .

peace,

Colin

Re: Permaculture in San Diego/California Rare Fruit Growers

2008-07-14T05:59:00.001-07:00

Ben,
There is enormous opportunity in SD for organizing around permaculture. I'm not able to help out much at the moment. I've forwarded your message on to Marc B, who may be able to, however.

I don't want to push ideas I will not be supporting--but if you can get to Quail Springs when Geoff Lawton is there and hear the story about the Permaculture Noosa organization, that may be an example SD can benefit from.

Addressing your questions:

> 1. Is there an active Permaculture group in San Diego?

Many people working in different ways on different pieces. SDFoodNotLawns, however, seems to have most of the local pc-aware people following it--try posting these questions to their email list--sdfoodnotlawns.com.

> 2. If so where do they meet? If not would you and others be interested in
> forming a group along with several of our interested members?

> 3. Do you ever speak to groups about Permaculture? If not do you know some
> one that does?

I've had great intentions and plans but have not followed through in any significant way--

> 4. Are there ever local Permaculture Design courses? If not then how would
> we go about getting a certified instructor here locally to teach a group?
>

Marcia Boruta of sdecc.igc.org organized at least one of these at camp stevens in Julian in 2003. I believe, however, she has retired from organizing and speaking about PC.

Lawton / the Designers' Manual recommends weekend PC courses for developing local teachers and local PC--
We need some dedicated locals to go get certified and then set up weekend courses here. People who want more experienced teachers can always go to quail springs or other places. The rhizome collective may be a good example for developing our local PC.
--------------------------

There is a lot of potential here to educate and organize around PC.

My recommendations:

(1) establish a once-a-month weekend work party/trading party/skill share with a brief meeting as part of it that rotates at people's houses/at community PC-related projects or businesses. Travelling for short evening meetings over such a vast area as SD county does not make sense.

(2) establish local multiple-weekend PC cert courses.

(3) Generate demand for (2) by showing films related to PC at local venues--e.g. global gardener, & and the gardening australia video Marc B and I got from Josh.

(4+) Consider why PC has not yet found wide appeal in SD and SoCal--are there cultural barriers that could be opportunities?

I have a vision of SD where the excessively wide streets are depaved, sculpted for rainwater harvesting, and planted with useful and edible spieces. Maybe in the future I can help out, but for the time being I'm focused on spending more time in the forest.

I hope that you are able to find more collaborators through Marc B, SD Food Not Lawns, or through all the links on the web sites I've created in the past--such as sdperm.blogspot.com, sdtjdph.blogspot.com.

Peace,
Colin

> To give you some background about myself. I have been interested in
> Permaculture for several years now. I have been getting really serious about
> it in the last year or so as I see the status quo destructive practices of
> society starting to bear fruit. I want to get involved and involved now to
> preserve some semblance of a future for my descendants. I am a 5 generation
> Californian and am deeply distressed as to what this state has become
> especially in light of its past natural grandeur and agricultural history. I
> am currently the chair of the local California Rare Fruit Growers
> organization. You probably know about us already and what we are about. If
> not you can find out more about us at www.crfg.org and at our local chapter
> website nc.crfgsandiego.org We have several in the group that would like to
> also practice Permaculture on our backyard gardens and at a local level
> besides being active in CRFG. There are some really talented folks in our
> group that could bring multiple disciplines to bear. Looking forward to
> further discussion. Ben Pierce

From Jay @ the linkery: help us help

2008-05-09T00:55:00.001-07:00

The Linkery is a restaurant focusing on serving food that is prepared the pre-industrial way. There's more to it than that. But Jay mentions that he's

wondering how best we can fit into the overall elevation of consciousness -- which you're part of the vangaurd of -- in our target role as market-based agents of change.
We're super busy right now with our move, but even so I am trying not to lose touch with what matters. And as we come out of this transition, there should be more of where that came from. Any direction or advice you would like to share would be most welcome. In other words, from your perspective, what should we be focusing on, and how in particular can I / we help?

[emphasis added]

Some of my response:

Most of my thoughts about the larger vision of sustainability are derivative of Bill Mollison's (in The Designer's Manual + what I learned from Geoff Lawton at Quail Springs + some time at Earthaven). But there's also this ongoing development of technology and humanity that he doesn't seem to concern himself with--"All the technology we need to live sustainably is already known. . . we just need to implement it."--true, but. . .

(examples of the ongoing-development angle: Theory U / Otto Scharmer, Senge; holacracy; integral philosophy/leadership; Aurobindo; John Heron(?); William McDonough)

I'll consider your question more.

In the meantime, the best suggestion that comes to mind is to help San Diegans unify and mobilize around the permaculture vision of freedom & empowerment by means of the abundance that results from good design.

Here's a local permaculturist who moved away (he's back around the holidays). & Brad Lancaster transformed his neighborhood partly by tapping storm runoff water.

I don't know how it will mesh with the vision of The Linkery. . . there will always be restaurants. . .
But at one farmers' market Barry Logan was selling bunches of mallow (the common edible weed). . . Barry: "I want to put myself out of business... I want everyone feeding themselves from what grows around them."

One World Everybody Eats

Came to mind during your presentation.

March 7, 2008 Weekly Share - SDTJDPH

2008-03-07T18:25:00.001-08:00

[this is an attempt to provide an SD permaculture-type newsletter. View full newsletter. Please let me know any ideas you have to improve this. Peace, Colin]

"Earth Activist Training" Starhawk, Warner Springs, California May 3-17, 2008, near San Diego

2008-02-20T03:13:00.001-08:00

From: Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network

May 3-17
Warner Springs, California two-week-long intensive "Earth Activist Training"

In this course with a special focus on social permaculture, participants will learn ways to collaborate and build just and enduring alliances across social divides, as well as skills to build personal, interpersonal and community resilience to sustain themselves through hard times. This two-week residential intensive is a permaculture design certificate course and also offers a broad-brush overview of the regenerative design principles of permaculture. From inoculating mushrooms and digging swales to building with natural materials and sheet mulching the land, students have ample opportunity to experience these principles firsthand.

Taught by Starhawk, Margo Adair, Bill Aal, Charles Williams, and guest instructors.

Location: Manzanita Village, in Warner Springs, southern California
Cost: $1200-1700 sliding scale, some work trade and scholarships available. Includes meals and lodging.

For more information: www.earthactivisttraining.org < http://www.earthactivisttraining.org.html
Questions? < earthactivisttraining at gmail . com>

Sdpg mailing list
https://www.arashi.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/sdpg

Introductions!

2008-02-18T10:09:00.001-08:00

Comment here and say what you want from Permaculture San Diego, and what you'll help make happen. If you'd like an "Introduction to Permaculture" workshop in your neighborhood, tell us where you are!

Definitely share a bit about your background too--maybe say where you heard about permaculture.

Some history

2008-02-18T01:22:00.000-08:00

This will be very rough to start--I'll make a better effort eventually.

In San Diego some initial permaculture work was done by Marcia Boruta with the SDECC. Currently there is no main PC organizer. We do have the SDPG email list.

To understand the magnitude and power of PC, it helps to spend some time with Permaculture: a Designers' Manual. Chapter 14--"Strategies for an Alternative Nation"--is particularly noteworthy.

I will help you get a copy of this if you contact me.

Also, view the entire Global Gardener video series -- search for Bill Mollison + Global Gardener. But Marc and I can organize a showing of this.

And, if you want your mind still further blown, read Travels in Dreams.

This not a cult of one man, however. The more you look into the PC movement the more you will find wonderful people doing powerful things.

Quail Springs is the closest great permaculture I have experienced, though there are many LA-area efforts.

Josh Robinson is some other PC greatness I got to experience recently.

It's not just men:

But here's one more man I wanted to mention:

Geoff Lawton