USA Permaculture – Summer 2011

Everything came together yesterday for me and my design group. I started the day a bit nervous as to how we were going to be ready to present our design for the farmhouse site by this morning. And I went to sleep feeling proud of what we had accomplished as a group and excited to present the next day. As I lay in bed I realized all the parts that had felt still fragmented in my mind just a week ago finally had fallen into place within the context of the design process. I know I still have much to learn, but I understand now the level of detail one can get into with a design and how each thing we have learned throughout this course could potentially fit into the design process. I am excited to go through the process again and again in the upcoming months and years, taking it to new levels and learning new things each time.

Just to give those of you not here a taste of what came out of our design processes I want to share with you my group’s goals statement and design concept. The goal statement is what we came up with at the beginning of the process, based on the information we had gathered from our client. The design concept illustrates how we fulfilled these goals within our design.

Goal Statement: The farmhouse space nourishes the individual and community in mind, body, and spirit. The design invites people in, inspiring jubilation, quiet contemplation, and growth. It is robust and low maintenance.

Design Concept: Many beautiful paths invite community members to enjoy both tranquil contemplation and communal celebration. Edible shrubs, trees, herbs, as well as beautiful ornamentals and a few annual vegetables invite you to enjoy the ceremonial fire-pit whilst respecting the farmhouse’s privacy.  The peace garden leads you to a contemplative, vine-covered gazebo then through the cool, shady forest garden while still providing plenty of non-paved parking for community and guests.

I will also make sure to share some pictures of everyone’s designs in the near future. Every group came up with something awesome and unique. It was great to see other’s ideas, see where our designs overlapped, and where they differed. It was also a learning experience for me to see people’s different choices in how they presented or conveyed information, which helped make me see that there are many different ways in which one can design.

As we worked hard on our designs for most of yesterday, a few other very exciting things were also mixed in. In the morning we continued to lime plaster the cob bench, and now it is almost done!! And it looks great! We also got to help with the installation of a new pond by the chickens and populate an older pond in the Shanti garden with water loving plants. That was a fun adventure of going down to the swimming hole and pulling up some lilies and grasses to bring over to the pond. It’s amazing to realize how easy it is to just bring over some wetland plants to populate a new, man made pond! It’s amazing how resilient plants really are.

In the evening a man named Walker joined us to share a few activities from the art of mentoring community. We retrained our eyes to use wide angle vision, learned how to walk silently in the forest, and even how to shapeshift and walk among wild animals.

It was a full day and rewarding day. It’s hard to believe that we are coming to the end of our course but I am excited to continue these new connections I have made and see where everyone goes next with their new knowledge and skills.

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Today, I was passed out in the far corner of the octagon room after taking allergy medication, not to return to life until later in the day. Thanks to benadryl, delicious scallion & ginger tea, and the homies here at Sirius I have returned to a full recovery. From what I heard in my half dream- delirium this morning, many people got to work on the cob bench in the gardens & the beginnings of a pond in the orchards! Woohoo. I can’t say much about the work done this morning because I was sleeping but I can tell you that I was dreaming about chopping wood in manhattan or something… strange.

Let’s see… after that I ate some food… fell asleep again… woke up.. found some energy source somewhere and finally started to get to work on the design project… Wahoo. Shout out to my design group for holding it down while I slept all day, you are amazing people. WAHOO. Things have gotten pretty silly in the Octagon room here tonight, design projects strewn about the floor.. dance party.. it was wild.

Sad to think that these are the last few days with this group of people but ahhhh whateva man. It’s been good! Looking forward to the talent show, for sure. Nighty night permaculturalists.

maria.

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Arielle just made my job really easy, describing in such detail what we did today. Really, what’s on my mind right now is how impressed I am by the way Kay, Natalie and the Living Routes folks have put this course together. It’s remarkably sane and balanced between work and rest, lecture, discussion and hands-in-the-dirt!

And really inspiring. Actually, there’s so much information coming at us, for me it’s a little tough to know what to think about it all right now. As I shared last Friday, I’m really trying to absorb some (divine-) guidance and inspiration for my next career step after I finish my master’s in a few months. But the people, projects and ideas that we’re being exposed to here (today, a discussion of interpersonal challenges in creating a new regenerative culture, more structured steps forward in the thorough walk-through of the permaculture design process, and then a great discussion about all things ecovillage with Daniel Greenberg, founder of Living Routes) all go together to make such a rich experience, I’m mostly feeling privileged to be doing this.

I want to participate in this movement toward a more ethical and right-sized human culture. And I believe it’s possible for me, but the details are still fuzzy. I’m coming from so much schooling.. today I thought, maybe I should try farming for a little while. That would be a very different path than the one I’ve assumed I’m on, but maybe it would give a bit more perspective on whether being a scientist is what I’m cut out for–which I’m really not sure about.

Anyway, I need to keep it short and get my ass to bed.. I have had a cold for the last couple days, woke up feeling like crap this morning but by midday I forgot I was supposed to be sick. This is such a great course! (this is sincere.. I’m not a salesman and don’t throw praise like this around lightly)

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Today we had a relaxing morning before getting to work. We started off with a long stretch, before revisioning yesterday’s awesome field trips. A group wide discussion on communication broke out. We agreed that the largest problems in permaculture designs stem from leaders who are “egocentric not ecocentric,” or certain their ideas are best and refuse to consider alternative designs. We discussed the different ways of listening to a speaker touching on both the engaged listener sending positive vibes and the bored and distracted listener discouraging the speaker. Then, we turned to whoever was on our right and practiced listening. My partner and I discussed growing up around conflict and trying to overcome our impulse to withdraw.

Check in ended and we divided up into our design groups. We walked out to the Farmhouse site for a final look-over before drawing our final design. Heading back with a better idea of what goes where, we started a 15 minute break. Back in the Octagon, we were given a card with a plant on it and blanks for height, width, water requirements, sun, pollination, months spent flowering, etc. By filling in the blanks, we determined what type of guild we would belong to. Outside, we planted ourselves around the European pear tree (Grayson). At some point Deegan arrived, signaled by piano music coming from the Octagon. Of course we played games! Then lunch. Afterwards, we got right back to design work. I researched (with limited success) plants for our herb spiral. We worked until about 6 o clock, and had some down time before dinner. Now, it is around 9 pm and student sharing is about to begin. Tomorrow looks like another busy day, with a pond instillation and finishing up our designs.

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Today we had our third and final field trip! We ventured to Conway, MA to see Goldthread Apothecary and Natural Roots horse-powered CSA farm. Both of these places are not necessarily permaculture farms, but they’re pretty epic, nonetheless.

We began our tour at Goldthread by getting a little bit of background on the medical industry. Bill, the owner of the farm and of the apothecary, also owns a little shop in town where he sells his products and practices acupuncture. He told us that the farm provides 70% of the herbs he needs to make the teas, tinctures, salves, and essential oils sold through his CSA and the apothecary. Bill first explained how many common ailments have been treated for thousands of years using plants, and it is only a recent paradigm shift that has caused people to exclusively trust the chemicals encapsulated in pills. He explained that we can grow a lot of our own medicine for very cheap, and we do not need to rely on modern medicine for many health care needs. He introduced a triangle model of health care use, where natural plant remedies are on the bottom, holistic health care next up, then western medicine, then emergency medicine at the tip top of the triangle. A strategy for reducing health care costs would be to educate people that small, day to day ailments like headaches, sun burn, acne, the common cold, coughs, minor pain, etc. do not require costly pills, but can be treated with plants. Some long term health issues can be alleviated with other practices like acupuncture,  and only the more serious conditions require western medicine. And of course, were your appendix to rupture or if you were to break a bone, emergency western medicine is the place to go. But the idea is, start at the bottom of the triangle and only use expensive health care systems when absolutely appropriate or necessary. We were also introduced to Sally, their golden retriever and newest addition to the farm.

After our introduction, we got a tour of the grounds (which we beautiful, btw). We saw all sorts of plants, flowers, and herbs like rosemary, echinacea, calendula, plantain, dandelion, basil, sage, goldenseal, mullen, chamomile, mint, mimosa, stinging nettles and many others. There was also apple, peach, and pear trees. After a walk around the gardens, we got to go up and check out the drying room, and the classroom where Bill teaches workshops and intensives. If anyone is interested, more info can be found on his website:

http://www.goldthreadapothecary.com/?p=intensives

Then before we left, Bill showed us his essential oil distiller that is fueled by wood. It was quite the contraption! A big sterling steel drum suspended over a flame, and a large coil that dripped into a container. Seemed to be more physics involved then I was willing to wrap my head around at that moment, but a very cool contraption, indeed.

For lunch we drove up the road to our second destination of the day, Natural Roots CSA Farm. We enjoyed a packed lunch down by the stream, and took a quick swim. ^_^ It began to rain, so we packed up and headed for shelter. Kay was an intern at this farm once upon a time, and explained that the farm was powered by up to 4 horses, and that a tractor couldn’t even get out to the fields, which are across a stream. The land also has the world’s last traditional industrial sized mizo factory on it. Mizo is a Japanese dish; it’s fermented soy. I actually had it for the first time last night at a sushi restaurant, it’s pretty tasty!  We went in to check out the little shop, get some honey, mizo, ice cream, local meat, or kambucha, and then went out to check out the grounds. There were some rice patties right up by the factory (!) and a lovely little pond. Down in the valley, across the stream, we got to meet David Fisher, who runs the CSA and told us a bit about his crop rotation and horses.

All in all, another educational journey in Massachusetts. There is so many awesome things going on here in this valley! I can’t believe there is only 3 more days of class left, and then it’s graduation! These 3 weeks, well, really these past 2 months have flown by a Sirius. I’ll be sad to leave here Friday, but I’m oober excited to break ground back home in Minnesota. Who knows, maybe one day the Hiawatha Valley of the Mississippi River will be just as regenerative as Pioneer Valley of the South River.

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I have somethin’ to say! Listen up folks and folkettes! This place here…the Sirius Eco-village….is an oasis of love and light. For reallies. The education…amazing, the environment….inspiring….the lifestyle….right on…..the food….deliciouso….the blueberries…..digesting in my stomach, but THE PEOPLE! Forget about it! That’s where it’s at. The friends I’ve made here are lifelong, I kid you not. I’ve never felt so much love from a group of complete strangers. I have accumulated enough hugs to last me 10 lifetimes. These young Permies have taught me to love again and not always be so tough and jerkish. I mean I’m still a jerk but this jerk can love again. We hiked a mountain composed entirely of sharp, jagged rocks…barefoot. And had a blast doing it because of the raw radness that is this group of humans. We sweat on each other at the sauna party. Emma wrestled a giant pond snake. That was truly amazing. We sang songs, danced dances, drank deep the cup of a life fully lived all whilst learning invaluable Permaculture. I’ve had epiphany upon epiphany. I can truly say that I know myself much better than I ever have and have this course, but more importantly, these people to thank. I bow deeply to this fine institution and the extraordinary people that are my new family. I bid you all a good day and a hip-hop hooray. Katherine is a deity.

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Sunday was a chance to unwind. After a fun pizza party on Saturday night, it was very nice to be able to take some time for ourselves and just relax. People in our class were scattered about the community and the valley. I used my time to go for a lovely swim in a creek and walk through some summery wilderness, and in the evening went contra dancing. Its very important to have some down time, especially after such an intense week of class. Relaxing is not just about laziness; it is actually an important part of the learning cycle, as it enables us to process what we have learned. So while it may seem that Sunday was just down time, it was also very important for integrating the huge amount of information we’ve been exposed to over the past few weeks.

Its interesting to notice how in such a short time I’ve come to feel at home here at Sirius. I led a few friends on tours of the community during the party and today, and started to realize that I already have connected to the land here and am comfortable showing people around. Of course I don’t have the same expertise as the people who have created and built this community, but just being in such a beautiful space for a few weeks gives a sense of connection to place. And the welcoming sense of the people here also has helped me feel very at home. What I’m trying to get across if its not clear already is: I am grateful to be in this community for this course.

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What a Saturday.

The morning started off with explorations of finance and permaculture: what money is, David Holmgren’s ideas about money, a market game with wildly escalating prices for chocolate bars, how to get funding for projects, why the financial system is the way it is and how to categorize assets more meaningfully.

We shared resources and ideas and explored what we want and need as designers and beings. We capped the morning off with breakout groups. I participated in one discussing what happiness is, what wealth is, and what success is.

Some resources:

Chris Martenson’s Crash Course about how to live simply and why:

Example of localized currencies:

http://www.berkshares.org/

http://www.ithacahours.org/

Cool site about the future of money:

http://www.gmlets.u-net.com/

Tools for fundraising, alternative sources of money:

http://www.kickstarter.com/

http://foundationcenter.org/

http://www.pcuonline.org/ (Permaculture Credit Union)

http://alternatives.org/ (Alternatives Federal Credit Union)

Bookkeeping Skills:

http://www.aipb.org/ (American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers, study at home certification course)

Small Business Development Center (good business planning course which helps with proposal writing):

http://www.sba.gov/content/small-business-development-centers-sbdcs

Then we kicked off a MASSIVE PARTY. It was incredible. The pingpong tournament alone was mindboggling with international participants. Or at least one. Who totally won. Vive le France!

There was a nice turnout of folks from within and beyond Sirius Community – introductions featured participants from Russia, Israel, Canada and several states.

Nick of Ohio held it down on the cob oven, which cooks pizzas in 30 seconds at temperatures exceeded 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. An enthusiastic crew in the kitchen kept a steady stream of handmade deliciousness pouring into the oven and the crowds had fun adding toppings and slicing. There was also organic salad with garden ingredients and homemade compote and cake. Herbal tea brewed in the sun and some delicious weather topped off the menu.

Singer-songwriter Hannah from a community across the street and former resident Tony Bernardo topped off the evening with stellar musical performances in the beautiful Octagon Room community space. Christmas lights, flowers, visible timber framing and a very enthusiastic audience made a great context for inspired and heartfelt music. Tony’s performance was the CD release party for his upcoming album “Come Back Together”.

Check out Tony’s MySpace page at:

http://www.myspace.com/tonybernardo/music

Pictures below: A BerkShare; the community circle before dinner; Nick making edible art; adding toppings; and Tony Bernardo singing.

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Yesterday was a full day. The morning began with some heady conversations about financial permaculture. At least for me, I find the topic of money pretty uncomfortable. I tend to try and ignore it as best I can and hope that it just works itself out somehow. But Natalie and Kay introduced us to a new way of looking at capital and assets. What if capital wasn’t just about financial and material assets? What if we also included spiritual, cultural, intellectual, experiential, living, and social capital when we looked to balance our books? Perhaps one person is rich in spiritual capital but poor in financial, and another person is rich in financial capital but feel spiritually unfilled. Can a relationship be built there to share resources and abundance in order to fulfill each individual’s needs? If we are able to recognize and value all these different kinds of capital and match abundance for one person with scarcity for another then perhaps we can all experience abundance. As we tried on this different paradigm we tried to identify our needs and yields within each of these areas. Although I know I must have abundance in some of these areas I found it hard to identify what my assets were. I think after having grown up in a culture that emphasizes financial and material wealth it becomes hard to recognize other kinds of wealth and realize that they have value, not just to you but to other people as well. But in order to see the value of say, my biracial background and exposure to both Japanese and American culture, as something that is of value to other’s and that I could use to obtain more living capital (such as land and seeds) takes a paradigm shift that I don’t think I have quite figured out yet. But I intend to wrestle with the idea for a bit as I want to be able to see all these different kinds of capital clearly in order to be better able to recognize value in my own self and in others.

After all this heady talk of financial permaculture we switched gears to preparing for our cob oven pizza party. It felt good to just work in the kitchen, spinning out the pizza dough and decompressing from a week of lots of information. The evening was one filled with music, good food, and relaxation. I helped put toppings on pizza as Nick orchestrating the cooking of the pizza’s. Each pizza cooked in under a minute in the beautiful cob oven that got to over 1000 degrees fahrenheit! It was a pretty awesome evening and a great way to start our day off.

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When we think about waste, we often just want to get it away from us, but everything goes somewhere. There is no such thing as “away”. Today began with learning about the current waste systems and how they are not efficient in cycling water. “pretty insane” is how Jono describes the dominant system. The current system is falling apart and full of holes (literally). He describes how ground water finds its way into the system though holes in the pipes. So after he describes the problems with the current scenario he gives us examples of alternatives like Moldering toilets and composting toilets. Another example that I found very interesting is the “living machine”. This is a method of treating water by using plants to filter out the impurities. They do this by directing the water through a series of bays where different sets of organisms clean the water until its suitable to release back into the ecosystem. This system still has its problems, however it is more “sane” than what were doing now.
We transitioned into our presentations of our site analysis. We described what we found on our walk through of our sites. I found it really interesting to see different perspectives on the same piece of land. Everyone had a different drawing and a slightly different take on what was happening there. Afterwards we were instructed to begin designing possible solutions to the sites we assessed. Jono said we should loosely design twelve possibilities and then glean the ideas that stick into one or two final possibilities.
All in all it was very engaging.

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