[Scpg] Fwd: Annual permaculture letter

[Dan Hemenway]

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Hemenway <permacltur at aol.com>
To: permacltur at aol.com; designcoursemail at aol.com; barkingfrogspc at aol.com; yankeeperm at aol.com; elfinpdc1 at aol.com
Sent: Thu, May 27, 2010 4:16 pm
Subject: Annual permaculture letter



Barking FrogsPermaculture Center


 
YankeePermaculture 


Elfin Permaculture 
PO Box 69
Sparr FL 32192-0069 USA
BarkingFrogsPC at aol.com


 


http://www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org


 
 
Anillustrated version of this letter may be downloaded from our website.
 
Spring,2010
GreetingsFriends:
 
We have seen several years elapse since we sent what we thencalled our ‘annual’ letter to people who have contacted us in connection withpermaculture.  That interval hasseen many developments, both advances and setbacks.  We will try to provide an overview. 
 
TIPS Journal
With articles frommany contributors, we have revived our sporadic publication, TheInternational Permaculture Solutions Journal, the latest in an evolving series of journalsbegun in 1983. Vol. II, of TIPS Journal (successor of TIPSY Journal) begins aswitch to CD as our primary medium, with a very small, probably one-time, printrun.  TIPS II addresses as itsmajor theme ‘Patterning’, with contributions from several permaculturists,including Dan Hemenway, Bill Mollison, Thelma Snell, Richard Webb, and MichelleMaggiorie. The 100-page, ad-free full-color issue also features substantialsections about humanure composting, treating kudzu as a resource instead of acurse, a permaculture ‘basics’ adapted from materials used in our six-month PermacultureDesign Course Online, and apiece on establishing a local food system by accomplished urban permaculturistRobert Waldrop. The CD edition also includes a number of extras.  The journal is ready to distribute inprint, with the CDs on order. (Under no circumstances can our journal bepurchased as a download. Ifyou 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 isblack and white on inside pages. It costs much more to produce, so it will cost more to subscribers. Weprovide a print edition strictly as a convenience to people who find readingfrom a CD difficult or inaccessible. People who subscribed before 2009 willreceive the print version, as it is what we expected to be publishing at thattime.  However, in deference to theexcessive delay in getting this issue out, we will substitute the CD on requestfrom paid subscribers. Prospective contributors should contact Dandirectly at the above email address.
 
Teaching
For reasons outlinedbelow, we now confine most of our teaching to our annual online PermacultureDesign Course.  We engaged RobertWaldrop as moderator and discussion leader, and we have substantially improvedthe course CD, now also available in a Self-Study version.  After 14 annual course cycles, we willnot begin a new cycle in 2010. Cycle 15 will begin Jan. 9, 2011, and Cycle 16is scheduled to start after Easter, 2012. In this way, we are switching the course from our cool season to our hotseason, for reasons that relate to our other projects. Download our coursepre-registration package for details about our online course.
 
Graphics Library
During more than 25years of teaching permaculture, I generated a library of tens of thousands ofphotos, which we are gradually scanning and editing to make available to othersinterested in these topics. At present, we have indexed some 4,000 images,including almost all of our digital photographs and an increasing number ofslides from our slide presentations, as I scan them into digital format.  About 600 of the images have beenfitted with thumbnails on the Index, a new feature, and another ongoingproject.  Permaculture teachers,people undertaking permaculture self-study, publishers, etc., may obtain theindex and order pictures individually. In addition, we plan to break down a number of slide presentations intoself-study CDs, with appropriate text. The first such CD, on mulch (particularly sheet mulch), will be wrappedup after we get TIPS II into the mail. More detail on available graphics is inthe extra section of our Journal CD or at our website.
 
BaldCypress Project 
Ourbald cypress project thrives, with more than 700 trees in the ground in some ofour marshy ‘land’. Many of the trees have grown much faster that publishedestimates.  We do not plan to teachthe trees to read for that reason. The next step is to harvest seed from maturetrees and start another batch. We partly funded the purchase and planting oftrees with our Tree Tithefunds.
 
Chinampas Project
 
We continue to develop and adapt our chinampastechniques, and to work out management strategies suited to our conditions innorth-central Florida. Most of our annual vegetables now come from thechinampas. We plan a photo CD and perhaps a journal article on how we have donethings and what we have learned about adapting chinampas beyond the Valley ofMexico.
 
Container Gardening Project
We integrated container gardening into our twoworking chinampas, and now have plans to adapt a third chinampa under developmentwith containers made of logs. These will hold trees for a new forest garden,hybridizing containers, chinampas, and forest gardens. Look for reports infuture publications. Container gardening concepts may be the topic of oursecond self-study CD.
 
Agroforestry Program
Wehave several areas in forest gardening and agroforestry, some producing foryears, and some in various stages of development. We find that integration withour little poultry flock’s foraging works particularly well. We have begun convertingthe former pasture into a tree crops zone, and will add grapes to our peachplantings this year to have a polyculture more resistant to an increasinglyunpredictable climate, particularly early warm weather followed by late frosts.
 
Bamboo Project
Our bamboo plantings have developed groves andprovide fuel, construction materials, crafts materials, and garden poles andstakes. They contribute to other projects, and provide a favorite foraging sitefor poultry, shelterbelt protection, and material to shred for poultry literand mulch. Some species serve as a minor component to our rabbit feed.
 
WaterCatchment Design
With the installation of a new roof on thepermaculture center, we will have an integrated roof catchment system forirrigation and livestock. Installation of smaller systems on sheds and rabbitcages will follow. Most livestock water already comes from roof catchment intobuckets. We will direct surplus roof catchment rainwater to areas that we wishto maintain as consistently wet. Paddy rice cultivation lurks in longer-rangeplans. Rice has worked well for providing one alternative to purchased grainsfor our poultry and straw litter for the poultry house.
 
PersonalNews
We had bad news on the medical front, when Cynthiawas diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a few years ago. This has all butcompletely eliminated our ability to travel as teaching permaculturists.  So Dan has decided to become availableto lead programs within a commuting distance from our place.  He has been redesigning some of thelonger programs to offer them over a series of weekends, including a fullpermaculture design course that can coincide with the schedule of our onlinecertificate course.  In general, hecan easily manage leading programs within a 50-mile radius of Gainesville orOcala, and a bit further with special arrangements. Basic terms and programdescriptions should be downloaded from our website. Dan is also available to dosome consulting and private design work, though we prefer teaching workshops onthe client’s site when that is an option. We require long lead times, especially if it will be necessary to obtainsupport with animal care and watering while Dan is away. Details of theprograms modified for Florida are not yet firm enough to be on our website, butthe fee schedules and program descriptions there apply. Longer programs may beoffered as a series of weekends.
 
Almost everyone receiving this letter alsoworks to heal Mother Earth and her people. Thank you for your part in thecombined effort worldwide. To support our work, or to provide information toyourself or others, please consider purchasing our publications or CD-ROMs foryourself or as gifts.  We also havea Tree-Tithe program, Scholarship Funds, and “Third World” publication fund forwhich we gratefully accept money. 
 
ForMother Earth, 
 
 
 
 
DanHemenway                                                   Cynthia Hemenway
 
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