Monday, April 19, 2010
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Earth Activist Training
Marshfield, Vermont, USA
July 25-Aug 8, 2010
Co-taught by Starhawk and Charles Williams
Two weeks that can change your life and change the world!
A permaculture design certificate course with a grounding in earth-based spirituality, and a focus on organizing, activism, and social permaculture as well as urban and rural land-based systems. Learn how to heal soil and cleanse water, how to design human systems that mimic natural systems, using a minimum of energy and resources and creating real abundance and social justice. Explore the strategies and organizing tools we need to make our visions real, and the daily practice, magic and rituals that can sustain our spirits. Participatory, hands-on teaching with lots of ritual, games, projects, songs, and laughs along with an intensive curriculum in ecological design.
Cost: $1400-$1800 sliding scale. Work trade and scholarships available, apply early!
CThis will be a rustic EAT. We will camp on the land, attend class in the Earthship, and eat as much local food as we can (including wildcrafted food).
Location: Neruda Community in Marshfield, VT http://neruda.editide.us
Childcare can be arranged for children over 3 at additional cost.
For more information: www.EarthActivistTraining.org
800-381-7940 (USA).
earthactivisttraining@gmail.com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
container gardening
I feel this is an interesting idea, worthwile to try out in a very dry part of my garden....
'It can efficiently be used for “desert gardening“.
....
As in the drylands extreme drought, and thus extreme evaporation, is one of the main problems for agriculture and gardening, I suggest to limit this evaporation by using a plastic bottle to obtain a higher water use efficiency. Indeed, water can be stocked in a volume of potting soil, wherein a water absorbing soil conditioner can play its supplementary water stocking role.'
Source: Seeds for Food
Monday, July 6, 2009
Let us ban hunger and poverty from the world
Banning all hunger and poverty from the world seems an impossible task, but we can empower ourselves and others by doing some small contributions.
"We don’t ask you any money.
Only send, when it suits you, the seeds you find in the fruits you eat yourself.
Just rinse these seeds in water and dry them on a plate (not on a piece of paper as it would stick to the seeds).
As soon as the seeds are thoroughly dried, put them in a paper envelope and put the name of the species on it.
The more we gather seeds the more families we can help."
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." (Daodejing, 64.12)
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sometimes, though, the plates are really being balanced on the ends of the sticks.
Do you ever feel like you're watching a bad movie about the collapse of civilization, while doing your best to hold visions of viability and creative possibility? There is so much about the governing corporate bodies that essentially rule the world that is corrupt. We can see that their game is rigged. The plates are attached to the sticks. There is no balance, no real brilliance, just illusion.
Outside of the circus ring, however, real people are balancing plates on sticks everyday. We all know places where we are pulling off the challenging, maybe even the seemingly impossible. We know others doing the same.
The possibility for continued human viability, for a while anyway, lies in our resilience and our ability to do the seemingly impossible, or even just the very difficult.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
HOME project
Through the landscapes of 54 countries captured from above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an unique journey all around the planet, to contemplate it and to understand it.
But HOME is more than a documentary with a message, it is a magnificent movie in its own right.
Every breathtaking shot shows the Earth - our Earth - as we have never seen it before.
Every image shows the Earth's treasures we are destroying and all the wonders we can still preserve. "From the sky, there's less need for explanations".
Our vision becomes more immediate, intuitive and emotional. HOME has an impact on anyone who sees it.
It awakens in us the awareness that is needed to change the way we see the world. (HOME embraces the major ecological issues that confront us and shows how everything on our planet is interconnected.)
YouTube - homeproject's Channel
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Skills for the New Millennium Tour
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Obama, you have four years to save Earth, yes you can!
Monday, December 1, 2008
100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change
Of course, in a heavy urbanized setting you'll have to be creative!
In 2005, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon began a one-year experiment in local eating.
Their 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted, inspiring thousands of individuals, and even whole communities, to change the way they eat.
Locally raised and produced food has been called “the new organic" — better tasting, better for the environment, better for local economies, and better for your health.
From reviving the family farm to reconnecting with the seasons, the local foods movement is turning good eating into a revolution.
100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Polar bears resort to cannibalism as Arctic ice shrinks - CNN.com
"The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears," according to
Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. "They are
dependent on the Arctic sea ice for all of their essential behaviors, and as the
ice melts and global warming transforms the Arctic, polar bears are starving,
drowning, even resorting to cannibalism because they don't have access to their
usual food sources."
On the other side....
Sarah Palin is really into drilling mother earth...Sen. John McCain's choice of a running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska,
favors drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, questioned the
science behind predictions of sea ice loss linked to global warming and opposed
a state initiative that would have banned metal mines from discharging pollution
into salmon streams.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/510779.html
Friday, September 19, 2008
Transition Towns
The mission of our embryonic charity is:
* to inspire
* to encourage
* to network
* to support and
* to train
communities as they consider, adopt, adapt and implement the transition model in order to establish a Transition Initiative in their locale.
The transition model emboldens communities to look peak oil and climate change squarely in the eye and unleash the collective genius of their own people to find the answers to this big question:
for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how are we going to:
- significantly rebuild resilience (in response to peak oil)
- drastically reduce carbon emissions (in response to climate change)?
Typically, self-determined solutions will involve some flavour of relocalisation.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Infoshop News - Permaculture Education Bus Seized by Twin Cities Police at RNC
Permaculture Education Bus Seized by Twin Cities Police at RNC POLICE SEIZE PERMIBUS
Please Post Far and Wide including any Media Contacts You May Have
At approximately 6:25 pm on August 30, 2008 Minneapolis Police, Minnesota State Troopers, Ramsey County Sheriffs, Saint Paul Police, and University of Minnesota Police pulled over the Earth Activist Training Permaculture Demonstration Bus (Permibus) by exit 237 on Interstate 94.
Initially the police told the people on the bus to exit.
When the people on the bus asked if they were being detained they were told that they were but police wereunable to provide justification.
When asked why they pulled the bus over they refused to answer.
After repeated requests to explain why the bus had been stopped Officer Honican of the Minneapolis Police explained that this was just a routine traffic stop though he did not explain the reason for the traffic stop.
The police then told Stan Wilson, the driver and registered owner of the Permibus, that they were going to impound the bus in case they wanted to execute a search warrant later.
After more than an hour of being questioned by Stan and Delyla Wilson as to the legalities of their detainment and the impoundment of the Permibus, the police then informed Stan that the bus, which is legally registered as a passenger vehicle in the state of Montana, was being impounded for a commercial vehicle inspection.Shortly afterward Sergeant Paul Davis, a commercial vehicle inspector arrived on scene.
Despite the polices insistence that the reason for impoundment was for a commercial vehicle inspection the Permibus crew were not allowed to remove anything from the bus including computers, toiletries, and 17-year-old Megan Wilson's shoes.
The police finally allowed the animals to be removed from the Permibus before it was towed, leaving the Permibus family standing beside their chickens and dogs, homeless on the highway.
The Permibus was relocating from the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis, where they had spent the day teaching Urban Permaculture, to a friend's house in Saint Paul for a well deserved break.
The Permibus has been in the Minneapolis area since August 2nd when the crew appeared at the Midtown Farmers Market for a morning of Permaculture education including Permaculture 101, chicken care, seed ball making for kids, and the Permi-puppet show.
During the past month the Permibus has parked at several local businesses and, as a neighborly gesture of respect for local police, Mr. Wilson contacted the appropriate precincts just to let them know the Permibus was in the area and had permission from the business owners to be parked on their lot.
Through this, as well as other casual discussions with Minneapolis and Saint Paul police officers, the Permibus crew found the local police to be interested and respectful.
However on August 30th all that changed when, for no apparent valid reason
the police pulled over and seized the Permibus.
After the incident Stan Wilson said, "If the combined law enforcement of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and the State of Minnesota can pull over and impound a vehicle and home used to teach organic gardening and sustainability, one has to wonder what it is our government really fears.
After all, we seek to teach people that the real meaning of homeland security is local food, fuel and energy production.
For that we have had our lives stolen by government men with guns."
As of now, after repeated requests to be present at any vehicle inspection, with an list of what they are inspecting for, as well as requests to be served any warrants for searches of the vehicles prior to a search and to be present during the search the Permi-family has been unable to ascertain the current status of the Permibus.
On site Mr. Wilson was told that Officer Palmerranky was the inspector in charge of the case and would determine if the Permi-family's rights protecting them from unreasonable search and seizure would be respected.
Neither Officer Palmerranky nor his supervisor has yet to return Mr. Wilson's calls.
The loss of her home and possessions is particularly difficult on seventeen-year-old Megan Wilson. Megan, a shining example of what this country asks of today's youth, has dedicated herself to making positive changes in the world.
She was the youth keynote speaker at the Local to Global conference in Phoenix AZ, has taught conflict resolution at youth shelters and is the outreach coordinator for the Skills for a New Millennium Tour, the family traveling educational project.
Megan believes that, "While I understand that the world we live in is not as it should be I strive to live and teach in a way that shows the world how life could be.
What I don't understand is why I can't get dressed for an evening out with friends in my own home without armed men stealing my life out from under me."
The Permi-family, along with their dogs and Permaculture super-hero chickens are currently being housed by folks in the Twin Cities.
The Skills for a New Millennium Tour is a family education project that travels around the United States teaching homesteading, citizenship, and life skills at farmers markets, community gardens, churches, intentional communities, schools, and in people's living rooms.
The Skills Tour is a donation supported project dedicated to providing tools for sustainable living, including Permaculture, to anyone who is interested, regardless of income.
"We believe that any solution that is not accessible to the poor and urban areas is not a real solution for the future," states Delyla Wilson.
Permaculture is a design system with ethics and principles that can be applied to food production, home design, and community building in order to increase sustainability in food production, energy production, and social systems.
The Permibus is a rolling demonstration of small scale sustainable living with three people, three dogs, three chickens, and a box of worms as permanent residence.
The chickens and worms are part of a closed-loop food productions composting system that supports the Permibus's traveling garden.
For more information on the seizure of the Permibus, the Skills for the New Millennium Tour, or Permaculture, the Wilson's can be reached at 406-721-8427 or through email at skillstour@gmail.com.
You can also see pictures and read stories about the last six months of their educational adventures at permibus.livejournal.com.
To our supporters:
First we ask that as many people as possible contact precinct one in
Minneapolis, MN at 612-673-5701 and Mayor Rybak atPhone: (612) 673-2100 or call 311 or call (612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis.
Also call the Ramsey County Sheriff Sheriff - Bob Fletcher 651-266-9300 and demand the immediate release of the Permibus.
We are also in desperate need of donations.
Though we do not yet know the full cost of getting the permibus returned we know that it will include tow fee, impound fees, and legal fees.
To donate contact us directly for a local address or...
Donate On-line: Go to: www.earthactivisttraining.org/donate.htm
Click on: Donate Now!
Under "Gift Information" write: Permibus
Under "Please send acknowledgment of this gift to" write: skillstour@gmail.com
Donate by Mail: Make check payable to: A.C.T.
On the "For" line write: Permibus
Send check to: A.C.T. 1405 Hillmount St.
Austin, TX 78704
Comment:
a fair warning to all our permaculture fans: you might be considered an eco-terrorist in America!
Monday, August 18, 2008
BAGLAD(Y) Sustainable In Style
Creating stylish bags from scrap and rags.
Project at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam , oct. '07 By Sander
F. van Hest for Lifestyle Design Dept.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Swomp4 direct environmental action in Amsterdam - GroenFront! - EarthFirst!
Swomp4 direct action in the Rustenburgerstraat in Amsterdam squats piece of
land and starts urban regeneration permaculture project
On Friday July 11 a group of squatters occupied this piece of land in the
Rustenburgerstraat in de Pijp in Amsterdam.
Technically they are wild campers, as the law in Holland only allows you to
squat a building that has been empty for one year.
Within three days they already had running water and had started to plant
vegetables and develop an urban permaculture project.
This is direct action at its very best.
More on this:
Monday, July 21, 2008
Permaculture in Amsterdam Saturday 160808
Baruch loves to offer a permaculture talk for whoever is interested.
The ethics and principles can be covered in an evening with a combination of discussion and games, can be fun and very useful. Anyone interested?
Date/time: Saturday 160808 (full moon in aquarius, partial eclips) 18.00
Costs: potluck & donation for Baruch
Location: Amsterdam
Info: dreamcat@xs4all.nl
Monday, June 30, 2008
Workshop Urban Permaculture has been canceled!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Upgrading my tiny garden
Watch that corner in the triangle, that's the place to start a small 'cold' compost-heap.
Now, a few months later, my garden is running wild!
Even the potatoes are flowering.
Now I have to figure out how to keep the potatoes in check; having potatoes in my garden for a long time will deplete the ground unless I find some other plants that will remedy this...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Fukuoka Farming website
Masanobu Fukuoka was a Japanese farmer who developed what many consider to be a revolutionary method of sustainable agriculture. He is also the author of "The One-Straw Revolution" and several other books examining both his philosophy and his method of farming.INFORMATION ON:
This website is an outgrowth and extension of The Fukuoka Farming Mailing List. Both were created as a place where people interested in Fukuoka's method can network and share resources and experiences.
- Identifying and using plants
- Trees, forest gardens, and agroforestry
- Bioremediation
- Using plants to detoxify soils and water
- Edible wild foods
- Foraging, growing, and using wild plants
- Making and using seedballs
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Mulching
"Cold Outdoor Pile
Pro:
Easy to start. Can add material continuously.
Very low maintenance and the resulting compost is very rich in soil organisms.Contra:
Takes more than a year to decompose. Some nutrients are leached and can also attract animals."
Intrepreting the system mentioned above, I just started piling up 'grown' waste (old straw, tough vegetable stems and hedge clippings) and 'green' waste (fruit, coffee grounds, cut flowers, grass clippings) in small amounts every week.
It looks I have to be very patient... that'll teach me for being a lazy gardener!
Sour Mulch
"..both drought and excess water can cause similar symptoms -- both damage roots, and the plant wilts and turns brown....When organic material used for mulch has been composted improperly, the result can be "sour mulch," which is toxic to lawns, bedding plants, and newly planted shrubs. "
Oops! There is a brown spot in my garden, just in the corner where I left a large pile of compost for a while...