[Scpg] Thurs. JUNE 12 Permaculture Discussion Group in Santa Barbara and Upcoming Events

Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson lakinroe at silcom.com
Tue Jun 10 05:54:23 PDT 2003


NEXT PERMACULTURE DISCUSSION GROUP in SB is THURS June 12 6:30pm
at Gail & Gary Milliken 510 Los Verdes Drive

This will be the ongoing interactive meeting showing videos covering many 
parts of a lecture series on Permaculture Design by Bill Mollison one of 
the founders of Permaculture , audio tapes, other Permaculture Videos, 
slides and discussion each month. The meetings are free and open to folks 
who want to study and learn more about Permaculture..
wes roe lakinroe at silcom.com

The idea is to have meetings at member houses the second Thursday of each 
month This will allow us to see how to implement Permaculture Design at 
each meeting site plus see video's and together further develop our 
understandings of Permaculture Principles and Design.The meetings are free 
and open to folks who want to study and learn more about Permaculture..
The seventh  Video of Bill Mollison's Co founder of Permaculture Series be 
show and discussed.

So if you would like to have a future meeting at your house contact Margie 
Bushman sbpcnet at silcom.com 805-962-2571

Gail & Gary Milliken
510 Los Verdes Drive

 From the Freeway:
Take the Turnpike exit and turn north toward the mountains. Turn right on 
La Gama (first street after the Wake Center). Turn left at the tee onto Los 
Verdes.

 From Cathedral Oaks:
Turn south onto Turnpike. Take the second left onto La Gama. Turn left at 
the tee onto Los Verdes.

Park anywhere on the grass.

Permaculture Discussion Group in Ojai Monthly Meeting OnGoing
Contact for monthly meetings Jodi Womack 805-646-4450 x2. Jodi at davidco.com 
and DorothyWallstein<dwallstein at uncommonconsulting.com>



***** PLEASE NOTE  A GREAT WAY TO SUPPORT THE SANTA BARBARA PERMACULTURE 
NETWORK *****

Larry Santoyo of Earthflow is offering a 5% Discount on the Upcoming 
Permaculture Design Courses offered in San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles CA 
AND an additional 5% will be donated directly to the Santa Barbara 
Permaculture Network!.. to help support more Programs in our region
         This is a great way for those who want to take a Permaculture 
Design Course to help support the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network 
Programs and learn about the fundamentals of Permaculture
                 Thanks Wes Roe and Margie Bushman Santa Barbara 
Permaculture Network
                 ps see article from Hopedance Magazine on a Permaculture 
Design Course in Ojai Ca 1997



FUTURE PERMACULTURE EVENTS IN OUR REGION

****** PLEASE FORWARD ******* PLEASE POST ****************
-two week intensive -discounts and work-trades still available
"What Permaculturalists are doing is the most important activity that any 
group is doing on the planet..."
Dr. David Suzuki, award winning scientist, educator and producer

Join us as we celebrate the 5 year anniversary of the Center of Natural 
Design with the finest gatherings of veteran Permaculture Teachers and 
Internationally Acclaimed Educators and Leaders in the Worldwide 
Sustainability Movement!
Permaculture is the art and science that applies patterns found in nature 
to the design and construction of human and natural environments... The 
Permaculture Design Course has truly transformed the lives and enhanced the 
careers of thousands of people around the world, including: teachers, 
students, architects, landscapers, community developers, social workers, 
city planners, farmers, gardeners, homeowners and business owners...

JULY 13-26 2003 PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE: at the Center of Natural Design
Two Week Intensive, July 13-26, 2003
San Luis Obispo County, California
www.earthflow.com

TEACHING STAFF
The Center of Natural Design is proud to showcase a consortium of Friends, 
Internationally Acclaimed Educators and Leaders in the Worldwide 
Sustainability Movement, including:
Larry Santoyo, Designer/Director
the Center of Natural Design
Scott Pittman, Director
The Permaculture Institute
Penny Livingston-Stark, Director
Permaculture Institute of Northern California
Toby Hemenway, Author
Gaia's Garden: a Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
John Valenzuela, International Design Consultant
Dr. Bill Roley, Director
Permaculture Institute of Southern California
with:
Lois Arkin, Executive Director CRSP at L.A. EcoVillage
Joseph Kennedy, Editor, the Art of Natural Building
Jeff Oldham, Manager, Gaiam/RealGoods Design Group
Anna Marie Carter, the "Seed Lady" of Watts
Dr. Richard Smith, EarthActivist & EcoPsycologist
Linda Seeley, Deep Ecologist
and a growing list of other Very Special Guests...

SPECIALIZED CURRICULUM
This course has something for everyone... Curriculum includes inspiring 
examples of sustainable land use and human ingenuity from around the world.
The core curriculum includes chapters 1-14 of the Permaculture Designers' 
Manual and additionally includes new, updated and expanded material: 
Eco-Literacy, Designing and Building your own Home-Ecosystem, Natural 
Building Techniques, Food-Forests, Fossil-less Fuels and Energy, Industrial 
Ecology, Patterns of Human Dynamics & Community, Practicing Democracy, 
MicroVillage Networks, EcoUrbanism and more...
Also Field Trips, Design Exercises, a variety of Hands-on Learning 
Opportunities and the infamous Talent Show!
Each course is divided into 3 parts (of four days each). Successful 
completion of all three parts entitles students to Certification and 
eligibility for apprenticeship programs.
JULY 13-26, 2003 -two week intensive
PART 1: July 13-16
EcoLiteracy, Intro to Permaculture, Natural Patterns & More...
PART 2: July 18-21
Food, Water, Shelter, Sustainable Resource Management, Natural Building, 
Home Ecosystems & More...
PART 3: July 23-26
Creating Community, Eco-Economics, EcoVillage Design & More...

LOCATION
The Center of Natural Design... is located 200+ miles South of San 
Francisco and 200+ miles North of Los Angeles, on California's central 
coast... The 10-acre private retreat features bio-diversity gardens, day 
spa, centuries-old oak woodlands and coastal chaparral. Extinct volcanoes, 
scenic coastline and nearby Wine Country truly complement the beautyŠ


Additional activities include: Hiking, Biking, Kayaking, Yoga, Massage, 
Beach Combing, Big Sur Coast, Wine Tasting and the Graduation/Talent Show 
will feature "FlashPoint Pizzeria" an Earthen Oven Pizza Party...
TUITION & FEES:
$1550.00 for two week intensive" -register for all or part.
$550. per four day block
$155 per day
(Camping and Meals included)
Discounts for early registration.
Costs includes: Tuition & Registration, Materials, Field Trips, Certification,
Day Rates, Trade, Work-trade, Payment Plans, and Group Discounts also 
available...
FOR MORE INFORMATION, DISCOUNTS, UPDATES AND DETAILED COURSE SCHEDULE.
see- www.earthflow.com

OTHER TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

URBAN PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE: Los Angeles, California

EcoUrbanism and the Future of Sustainability
Six weekends Aug/Sept
Part 1: August 9-10 & August 16-17
Part 2: August 30-31 & September 6-7
Part 3: September 20-21 & September 27-28

SPACE IS LIMITED Don't miss this opportunity!
For Registration contact: Larry Santoyo
info at earthflow.com
800.469.5857 (message)
805.528.3763 (9-5 Pacific Standard Time)
see- www.earthflow.com
in cooperation with: The Center of Natural Design, the Terra Foundation & 
EarthFlow Design Works

Here is an Article on a Permaculture Design Course that  took place in Ojai 
summer 1997 to get a feel of what an amazing level of co operation and 
learning happens at a Course

taken from Permaculture "The Quiet Revolution" Hopedance Magazine #31 Issue 
31 - November / December 2001

Permaculture Education & Certification:
                                        A First Person Account

                                        The land occupied by the Happy Valley
                                        School and the Ojai Foundation has 
a beauty
                                        that comes from its unique location 
in isolated
                                        mountains near the relentless urban 
sprawl of
                                        Los Angeles. The beauty of the 
upper Ojai
                                        valley made it a logical selection 
as the site of
                                        the fictional Valley of Shangrila 
in the 1939
                                        film, The Lost Horizon. As I 
arrived in Ojai's
                                        upper valley on a late afternoon in 
June,
                                        hawks soared overhead and wisps of fog
                                        slipped over the mountains in the 
gathering
                                        twilight. In the quiet of a Sunday 
night, it was
                                        apparent that the next two weeks of
                                        permaculture study would take place 
in an
                                        ideal location.

                                        On the top of a scenic ridge, the Ojai
                                        Foundation land is covered with 
California live
                                        oaks. With the rustic ambiance of a 
summer
                                        camp, the Ojai Foundation is an 
ideal place to
                                        retreat from everyday life and to 
focus on the
                                        study of permaculture. Walking each 
morning
                                        down the hill to a large tent, 
where the
                                        permaculture lectures were held, was an
                                        invigorating start for each day. 
The evening
                                        hikes back up the hill to the Ojai 
Foundation
                                        featured the nightly roll call of 
coyotes and
                                        skies filled with stars.

                                        Beginning with the first day of 
class, it was
                                        clear that a permaculture design course
                                        teaches more than a set syllabus of 
material.
                                        One of the first lessons we learned 
was that
                                        100 people, taken from their familiar
                                        surroundings, could coalesce into a
                                        community. When someone suggested the
                                        idea of composting the food waste 
from the
                                        group's meals, a crew immediately
                                        assembled to dig a compost pit. 
Buffet meals,
                                        eaten under ancient walnut trees, 
became the
                                        focal point for fascinating 
conversations. A
                                        realization quickly dawned that we 
had all
                                        been independently thinking many of the
                                        same things regarding the need for
                                        sustainable community, appropriate
                                        technology and alternative 
solutions to many
                                        of the world's thornier problems. 
Mealtime
                                        conversations became one of the best
                                        aspects of the permaculture design 
course
                                        experience.

                                        The organizers of the course 
utilized a variety
                                        of appropriate technologies to provide
                                        services for the course 
participants. There
                                        was an innovative form of air 
conditioning that
                                        included a large tube, with fans 
pumping
                                        cooler air out of a hole dug in the 
ground. For
                                        heating dish water, there was a 
solar water
                                        heater placed in a strategic 
location. There
                                        was also a shower set up, erected 
for use by
                                        the students who camped in tents. 
The shower
                                        stalls were made out of bales of 
straw. After a
                                        few days of the course, it was easy to
                                        conclude that one could live 
comfortably under
                                        rustic conditions with appropriate 
but minimal
                                        equipment.

                                        The founder of permaculture, Bill 
Mollison,
                                        lectured during many days of the 
course.
                                        Along with his humorous stories and
                                        iconoclastic tall tales, Mollison 
included many
                                        pearls of wisdom on the subjects of 
trees,
                                        forests, water usage, domesticated 
animals
                                        and the perception of patterns in 
landscapes.
                                        His co-instructor Scott Pittman 
brought a dry
                                        wit and years of experience in the 
design and
                                        construction of adobe, cob and 
strawbale
                                        buildings. Pittman also taught the 
class how to
                                        dig the water-catching trenches 
known as
                                        "swales." Even though much has been 
written,
                                        including several textbooks, on the 
subject of
                                        permaculture, there was great 
benefit in
                                        learning about these topics 
directly from
                                        teachers with years of experience.

                                        In addition to the formal classroom 
lectures,
                                        course participants received the 
additional
                                        benefit of learning from our peers 
during
                                        evening presentations. Each 
evening, our
                                        fellow students shared video tapes 
and other
                                        materials, with any interested 
classmates.
                                        Included in the evening programs were
                                        lectures on community-supported 
agriculture,
                                        architectural applications of 
fractal geometry,
                                        eco-feminism, sustainable forestry, 
inner-city
                                        gardening projects, and a humorous, but
                                        serious, video that depicted a 
cross-country
                                        car trip using discarded frying oil 
instead of
                                        diesel fuel. The various evening 
programs
                                        were informative and they 
complemented the
                                        material covered in the 
permaculture course
                                        curriculum.

                                        After a week of lectures, we moved 
out onto a
                                        ridge at the Ojai Foundation. Armed 
with
                                        shovels, we learned the art of 
digging swales.
                                        The somewhat archaic word "swale" 
refers to
                                        the terracing of the hillsides for 
the purpose of
                                        capturing water run-off and avoiding
                                        damaging erosion. With the use of 
simple
                                        leveling tools, made from bamboo and a
                                        "plumb" line with a rock as a 
weight, it was
                                        possible to dig the swales while 
following the
                                        contours of the hillside slope. 
Before we
                                        ventured out to dig swales, we 
learned that the
                                        U.S. government, during the WPA 
projects of
                                        the 1930s, put in many large swales 
in the
                                        arid regions of the Western United 
States.
                                        These landforms may be seen today, 
still
                                        working correctly after nearly six 
decades.

                                        The culmination of the permaculture 
design
                                        course came when the students were 
divided
                                        into teams with the intention of 
creating a
                                        landscape design for use by the 
organization
                                        that owns the land of the Happy 
Valley School
                                        and Ojai Foundation. The land was 
divided
                                        into two sections, with four design 
teams
                                        focusing on each section. The 
design teams
                                        studied aspects of 
gardening/agriculture,
                                        water, physical structures, and the 
invisible
                                        structures of administration that 
make the
                                        other aspects of the design possible.

                                        As individuals and as groups of design
                                        teammates, we walked the land. In 
our study,
                                        we observed signs of water flow, 
noted the
                                        slope of hillsides and looked for 
potential that
                                        could be worked into the completed
                                        permaculture design. After the 
preliminary
                                        observations were completed, each 
design
                                        team met to produce maps and reports on
                                        their area of study. The result of 
all of this
                                        labor was a meeting for the entire 
class in
                                        which the teams presented their 
completed
                                        designs to the land's governing board.

                                        After the lectures, design meetings 
and other
                                        activities, the permaculture course 
came to a
                                        close with a talent show. On the 
last two nights
                                        of the course, there were mandatory 
talent
                                        presentations by all of the course 
participants.
                                        These talent shows included diverse
                                        performances such as the singing of 
"Robbie
                                        Barley and the Swalers," as well as a
                                        dramatic peeling of an orange by an 
organic
                                        cotton farmer from Texas. The 
talent shows
                                        demonstrated the evolution of a 
community
                                        that came together for two weeks with a
                                        common interest in permaculture's 
ethics of
                                        care of the earth and care of people.
                                        Attending a permaculture design 
course can
                                        be a great opportunity to learn 
useful skills, to
                                        acquire unique information and to 
renew a
                                        commitment to integrate life and 
work in the
                                        service of permaculture's ideals.

                                                                 by Susan 
Newcomer
                                                 [reprinted from 
www.crescentmeadow.com]

Central Coast Permaculture -ongoing -San Luis Obispo, Ca
Permaculture Fundamentals -classes First and Second Saturdays of each month.
Natural Building Techniques -classes on the Fourth Saturdays of each month.
contact Larry Santoyo, 800.469.5857 <info at earthflow,com>






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