Barking Frogs
Permaculture Center
Elfin Permaculture
PO Box 69
Sparr FL 32192-0069 USA
An
illustrated version of this letter may be downloaded from our website.
Spring,
2010
Greetings
Friends:
We have seen several years elapse since we sent what we then
called our ‘annual’ letter to people who have contacted us in connection with
permaculture. That interval has
seen many developments, both advances and setbacks. We will try to provide an overview.
TIPS Journal
With articles from
many contributors, we have revived our sporadic publication, The
International Permaculture Solutions Journal, the latest in an evolving series of journals
begun in 1983. Vol. II, of TIPS Journal (successor of TIPSY Journal) begins a
switch to CD as our primary medium, with a very small, probably one-time, print
run. TIPS II addresses as its
major theme ‘Patterning’, with contributions from several permaculturists,
including Dan Hemenway, Bill Mollison, Thelma Snell, Richard Webb, and Michelle
Maggiorie. The 100-page, ad-free full-color issue also features substantial
sections about humanure composting, treating kudzu as a resource instead of a
curse, a permaculture ‘basics’ adapted from materials used in our six-month Permaculture
Design Course Online, and a
piece on establishing a local food system by accomplished urban permaculturist
Robert Waldrop. The CD edition also includes a number of extras. The journal is ready to distribute in
print, with the CDs on order. (Under no circumstances can our journal be
purchased as a download. If
you encounter it offered as a download, please notify us of that piracy.)
Download more info on TIPS II from our website, www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org
.
The print edition is
black and white on inside pages.
It costs much more to produce, so it will cost more to subscribers. We
provide a print edition strictly as a convenience to people who find reading
from a CD difficult or inaccessible. People who subscribed before 2009 will
receive the print version, as it is what we expected to be publishing at that
time. However, in deference to the
excessive delay in getting this issue out, we will substitute the CD on request
from paid subscribers. Prospective contributors should contact Dan
directly at the above email address.
Teaching
For reasons outlined
below, we now confine most of our teaching to our annual online Permaculture
Design Course. We engaged Robert
Waldrop as moderator and discussion leader, and we have substantially improved
the course CD, now also available in a Self-Study version. After 14 annual course cycles, we will
not begin a new cycle in 2010. Cycle 15 will begin Jan. 9, 2011, and Cycle 16
is scheduled to start after Easter, 2012.
In this way, we are switching the course from our cool season to our hot
season, for reasons that relate to our other projects. Download our course
pre-registration package for details about our online course.
Graphics Library
During more than 25
years of teaching permaculture, I generated a library of tens of thousands of
photos, which we are gradually scanning and editing to make available to others
interested in these topics. At present, we have indexed some 4,000 images,
including almost all of our digital photographs and an increasing number of
slides from our slide presentations, as I scan them into digital format. About 600 of the images have been
fitted with thumbnails on the Index, a new feature, and another ongoing
project. Permaculture teachers,
people undertaking permaculture self-study, publishers, etc., may obtain the
index and order pictures individually.
In addition, we plan to break down a number of slide presentations into
self-study CDs, with appropriate text.
The first such CD, on mulch (particularly sheet mulch), will be wrapped
up after we get TIPS II into the mail. More detail on available graphics is in
the extra section of our Journal CD or at our website.
Bald
Cypress Project
Our
bald cypress project thrives, with more than 700 trees in the ground in some of
our marshy ‘land’. Many of the trees have grown much faster that published
estimates. We do not plan to teach
the trees to read for that reason. The next step is to harvest seed from mature
trees and start another batch. We partly funded the purchase and planting of
trees with our Tree Tithe
funds.
Chinampas Project
We continue to develop and adapt our chinampas
techniques, and to work out management strategies suited to our conditions in
north-central Florida. Most of our annual vegetables now come from the
chinampas. We plan a photo CD and perhaps a journal article on how we have done
things and what we have learned about adapting chinampas beyond the Valley of
Mexico.
Container Gardening Project
We integrated container gardening into our two
working chinampas, and now have plans to adapt a third chinampa under development
with containers made of logs. These will hold trees for a new forest garden,
hybridizing containers, chinampas, and forest gardens. Look for reports in
future publications. Container gardening concepts may be the topic of our
second self-study CD.
Agroforestry Program
We
have several areas in forest gardening and agroforestry, some producing for
years, and some in various stages of development. We find that integration with
our little poultry flock’s foraging works particularly well. We have begun converting
the former pasture into a tree crops zone, and will add grapes to our peach
plantings this year to have a polyculture more resistant to an increasingly
unpredictable climate, particularly early warm weather followed by late frosts.
Bamboo Project
Our bamboo plantings have developed groves and
provide fuel, construction materials, crafts materials, and garden poles and
stakes. They contribute to other projects, and provide a favorite foraging site
for poultry, shelterbelt protection, and material to shred for poultry liter
and mulch. Some species serve as a minor component to our rabbit feed.
Water
Catchment Design
With the installation of a new roof on the
permaculture center, we will have an integrated roof catchment system for
irrigation and livestock. Installation of smaller systems on sheds and rabbit
cages will follow. Most livestock water already comes from roof catchment into
buckets. We will direct surplus roof catchment rainwater to areas that we wish
to maintain as consistently wet. Paddy rice cultivation lurks in longer-range
plans. Rice has worked well for providing one alternative to purchased grains
for our poultry and straw litter for the poultry house.
Personal
News
We had bad news on the medical front, when Cynthia
was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few years ago. This has all but
completely eliminated our ability to travel as teaching permaculturists. So Dan has decided to become available
to lead programs within a commuting distance from our place. He has been redesigning some of the
longer programs to offer them over a series of weekends, including a full
permaculture design course that can coincide with the schedule of our online
certificate course. In general, he
can easily manage leading programs within a 50-mile radius of Gainesville or
Ocala, and a bit further with special arrangements. Basic terms and program
descriptions should be downloaded from our website. Dan is also available to do
some consulting and private design work, though we prefer teaching workshops on
the client’s site when that is an option.
We require long lead times, especially if it will be necessary to obtain
support with animal care and watering while Dan is away. Details of the
programs modified for Florida are not yet firm enough to be on our website, but
the fee schedules and program descriptions there apply. Longer programs may be
offered as a series of weekends.
Almost everyone receiving this letter also
works to heal Mother Earth and her people. Thank you for your part in the
combined effort worldwide. To support our work, or to provide information to
yourself or others, please consider purchasing our publications or CD-ROMs for
yourself or as gifts. We also have
a Tree-Tithe program, Scholarship Funds, and “Third World” publication fund for
which we gratefully accept money.
For
Mother Earth,
Dan
Hemenway
Cynthia Hemenway
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