Sunday, April 13, 2008

Why & How about Urban Permaculture?

Most of us live in cities – crowded and ‘far from the farm’
So how can we apply the principles of permaculture to our lives?

In URBAN PERMACULTURE we will learn some permaculture basics and as a team, develop a hands-on project in a small, urban back yard in a major Dutch city.

We will learn the Permaculture Ethics and Principles, come to understand some basics of site observation, assessment, and planning.

In addition, we’ll informally share such al resources as best books, videos, local seed banks and other support for the urban permie.

We will explain and demonstrate as many of the following activities as we can based on our demo site: basics of sheet-mulching composting, vermiculture (composting with worms), creating an herb spiral/tower, bioremediation to remove toxins from soil.

AND we will make sacred seedballs to take home and for guerilla gardening

Urban Permaculture

If you live in a city, you may wonder if it is possible to live a life in connection with Nature.
Is it possible to grow your own food?
Is the earth in your small garden healthy?
How do you compost if you live in an apartment?
What sort of edible, native plants will thrive in the changing Lowlands climate, on our balconies or in our backyard?
In URBAN PERMACULTURE, you’ll get a fast overview of the entire scope of Permaculture (from collecting and managing water to creating a ‘food forest’ to bioremediation).
Then we’ll work hands-on in a city garden or two to put the basic strategies of soil-building, food growth and composting into action.
URBAN PERMACULTURE is not a replacement for a permaculture design certificate.
It is a very practical way to ‘jump start’ your knowledge and abilities in growing food within the city, to gain confidence and to meet community!

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a holistic system of working with water and soil, energy and plants.The ideal is to create ‘sustainable hedonism’ – healthy, delicious and local organic food we grow for ourselves, for example.
Wikipedia includes a full description of Permaculture in many languages.
Permaculture was pioneered by Bill Mollison, David Holmgren and Geoff Lawton in the 1970s.
Today it is one of the passions of Starhawk, whose book THE EARTH PATH is about using permaculture principles; the Earth Activist Training (EAT) is a 2-week intensive in beginning permaculture.