Green Options » permaculture

Turning Desert into a Garden/Food Forest

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:29:23 +0000

About two kilometers from the Dead Sea and two from where Jesus was christened, in the country of Jordan, Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute and his crew created a near miracle turning desert into a lush permaculture garden.

In August in this location, Lawton says that temperatures could rise above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). People farming there were farming under plastic strips and using tons of synthetic chemicals and fertilizers. The idea to grow a lush forest or garden of edible plants would probably make people laugh or roll their eyes. Nonetheless, the permaculture crew had exactly this vision in mind and a little funding to help them to do it.

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Greening Hollywood: Daytripping And Thinking of Ojai

Paige Donner — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:18:42 +0000

Urban environments beg for a breather – especially when summer rolls around. This holds true even for urban seascapes such as L.A., our country’s second largest city and known for its metropolitan sprawl. Thanks in part to Guru Energy Drink, a recent sponsor of Greening Hollywood, and Whole Food’s most popular energy drink, I was able to invite a couple of friends to join me day tripping up to a nature estate in Ojai.
Not too long ago, I befriended a fashion designer specialized in sustainable leather goods – one who makes chrome-free leather boots, jewelry and accessories. Her name is Calleen Cordero and she has a following both in L.A. and internationally, in cities like Berlin. Her pieces are [Pictured: Main House at Calliote]

fashionable, infused with quality craftsmanship and it’s only after the fact that one realizes their environmental aspect.

While speaking with her initially, however, we found ourselves on the subject of Ojai and the Ojai Foundation which has been teaching the arts of permaculture and sustainability back when these were “fringe” paths pursued by the hippie-culture. Ojai is the small “art town,” set back in the hills off the 101, between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. These days The Ojai Foundation is focused on “Council” a program they have been taking out to area schools in the local and surrounding counties. What is “Council?”

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Environmentalism, Organic Foods Explode in South Korea

Gavin Hudson — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 06:41:01 +0000

The success of organic foods was never a sure bet in South Korea. Since the Korean word for pesticides literally means “plant medicines” many Koreans have had a difficult time seeing what’s wrong with using them. But today’s ultra health conscious Korean is becoming more environmentally savvy too. Today, words like “blossom” and “bloom” are too mild to describe the exploding popularity of organic foods and environmentalism in South Korea.

Home Grown Food, What Could Be More Sustainable and Healthy?

Scott Cooney — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:33:44 +0000

The Obamas could change America and the world if they were to swap out some of their White House lawn for an organic or biodynamic garden. But what about YOUR backyard? Heck, for that matter, what about your front yard?

Hiring a good landscape designer knowledgeable about permaculture and organic/biodynamic gardening would be a terrific step toward food independence for you and your family. With Monsanto and other agribusiness contributing $60+ million to political campaigns last year, to Republicans by a wide margin (but down from almost a 4:1 ratio just 8 years ago, as an interesting aside probably affiliated with the growing interest in ethanol), isn’t it time to take some money and power away from them? One easy way to do that is to start growing your own food, free of GMOs, free of chemicals, and free of transportation pollution required to bring it to your kitchen.

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Permaculture: Perennial Vegetables Save Gardening Time and Energy

Brian Liloia — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:31:46 +0000

Many gardeners are familiar with the yearly pattern of creating and mending garden beds, starting seedlings, transplanting, watering plants, and then finally harvesting their favorite vegetables. It’s a lot of work to go through each year.

But unfamiliar to many gardeners are perennial vegetables — vegetables that do not require annual plantings, and provide fruit, leaf, and shoot year after year without constant replanting effort.

Most familiar is perhaps asparagus, but there are dozens of other perennial vegetables, and taking advantage of these varieties will save you time and energy throughout your gardening years, in addition to promoting a healthier garden ecology.

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Talking Sustainability with Scott Kellogg

Becky Striepe — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:14:40 +0000

Last night, Scott Kellogg from the Rhizome Collective spoke at Charis Books in Little Five Points. He talked about permaculture and taking back the word sustainability.

[Creative Commons photo by Chad Hanna]

Marketers and large corporations have co-opted the word sustainability to sell products. It’s come to mean expensive bamboo counter tops and organic cotton bedding. We need to take back that word to its original meaning. Sustainability is living within your means. It’s closing the waste cycle and finding ways to turn trash into something that’s usable again. Last night, Kellogg talked about some ways that Rhizome is accomplishing these things. Ways that we can, too!

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Urban Sustainability in the Rhizosphere

Becky Striepe — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:00:20 +0000

The Rhizome Collective operates out of a warehouse in Austin, Texas. Their mission is “to build the world [they] want to live in” through community organizing and education.

When the Collective got started, the warehouse where they work was centered on an asphalt courtyard. They pulled together to remove the asphalt and mulch the land. Now, the Rhizosphere Educational Center is home to a garden, rainwater harvesting, a polyculture pond, micro-livestock, and solar and wind energy collection. By designing these systems and living sustainably and through their workshops, they hope to help educate other communities about self-reliance.

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Santa Monica Celebrates Sustainability with a Week of Events

Cassie Walker — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:25:58 +0000

For the next week, the City of Santa Monica is featuring a variety of events related to sustainability. With so much going on, you’re sure to find an event of interest to you.

9/18: Find out about the successes and challenges of building a sustainable city at the 2008 Sustainable City Report Card Update at the Santa Monica Main Library, 7pm
9/21: Take part in a community potluck, a natural cob building workshop, permaculture design class, seed planting, live art, and more at the Westside Permaculture Festival at Sustainable Works and Santa Monica College, 12pm

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Native Architecture, Eco-Friendly Buildings

Courtney Carlisle — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:35:57 +0000

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to Florida-based builder, Susan Horn of Artisan Builders, who donates her time to help design and build eco-friendly playhouses (shown left) that are auctioned off to benefit a local charity she supports.

Horn has been building and living green since before there was a definition of “green living.” When her community built a brand new, beautiful (and toxic) school, she and a number of local parents pulled their children out due to a sharp increase in asthma symptoms. It was her childrens’ asthma that lead she and her husband, Peter, on a search for materials that would create the least toxic home environment possible.

Coupling their design acumen with years of research, they have recently moved out of their first eco-home (that coincidentally will become the new local Montessori school) and are moved into another in the area.

Below are some tips that Horn advocates and will be personally implementing.

With her son’s 16th birthday, Horn will be handing over the keys to her diesel Jetta and relying on a scooter and bicycle for transportation, making it important to plan errands ahead of time.
Horn talks about the importance of looking at architecture native to an area - there are distinct reasons why Adobe houses developed in New Mexico and for Southern homes having such large porches (the porches actually keep the house shaded and cooler in the hot summer months).
Permaculture is one of the most interesting ways to keep a house eco-friendly. Our manufactured lawns are filled with chemicals and use an abundance of resources to maintain. By looking at your area’s native flora and fauna, you can conserve a lot of those resources and your time. Nature will actually take care of your lawn for the most part - just as she has for years.

Horn lives in Seagrove, FL right in the middle of some of the first and premiere New Urbanist establishments along the scenic Highway 30-A, including Seaside, Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach.

Upcoming Events Explore Permaculture, Clean Tech

Cassie Walker — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:00:26 +0000

I’m always on the lookout for interesting new events that expand my knowledge, and introduce me to new people and ideas. Two such events are coming up over the next week in the Los Angeles area.

First up, this Sunday from 6pm - 8pm, a permaculture workshop will be held at All Shades of Green. For the uninitiated, like me, permaculture is generally defined as, “a system of perennial agriculture emphasizing the use of renewable natural resources and the enrichment of local ecosystems.” In layman’s terms, it refers to the design of agricultural systems that mimic natural systems.

The workshop will cover topics like building healthy soil, attracting wildlife, and landscape design. The facilitator, Melinda Joy Miller, founder of the Shambhalla Institute, is also a renowned feng shui master, so she brings those elements to bear as well.

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A Capitalist Dream: Company Designs and Maintains Organic Garden In Your Backyard

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:25:09 +0000

Most environmentally aware Americans would love a personal organic vegetable garden, but how many people actually have the time to cultivate one?. Thanks to a San Francisco-based company called MyFarm, Bay Area denizens can pay a weekly fee to have a backyard garden designed and maintained by professionals.

Customers choose between a Personal Installation (just enough food for themselves) and an Owner Member Installation (enough food for MyFarm to sell to other members). Owner members receive a discounted membership.

The company leaves no gardening detail ignored. Each garden is tested for toxins and receives a drip irrigation system to automatically water the vegetables. MyFarm even maintains a compost pile and takes care of all pesky weeds that arise.

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Boulder, CO Becomes the First U.S. Transition Town

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:26:47 +0000

The Transition Town initiative has been a fast-growing movement in the United Kingdom for over a year, with more than 50 towns currently signed up. Now the United States is catching up as Boulder, CO becomes the first official transition town in the country.

The Transition Town movement started in Kinsale, Ireland when permaculture teacher Rob Hopkins started thinking about the possibilities of applying permaculture theories to entire towns, instead of just to individual plots of land. Hopkins’ Energy Descent Action Plan provides a blueprint for towns hoping to transition to a more sustainable way of life.

Boulder County Going Local is an ambitious effort to prepare the area for the ramifications of climate change and peak oil.

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The Berkeley Permaculture Bike Tour: Photo Gallery

The Dave Room — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:32:51 +0000

This post is a photo gallery from the East Bay Permaculture Guild’s Permaculture Bike tour in Berkeley this past Sunday. It was glorious day and a slew of people came out.

But first a little background on permaculture:

The word permaculture, coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren during the 1970s, is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture as well it is was permanent culture. Through a series of publications, Mollison, Holmgren and their associates documented an approach to designing human settlements, in particular the development of perennial agricultural systems that mimic the structure and interrelationship found in natural ecologies.

This tour shows what some folks in Berkeley are doing to live more sustainably: growing their own food, raising chickens, capturing, heating, and conserving water, and generating electricity.

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Permaculture Bike Tour in Berkeley this Sunday (6 April 2008)

The Dave Room — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:38:11 +0000

This tour brings together two things that I think are very important - biking and permaculture. A $5 donation is requested, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. We’ll have a snack break around the middle of the tour, with light snacks provided. Please bring water, weather appropriate clothes, your favorite munchies and your thirst for knowledge. See you there…

That’s right, it’s time for this year’s East Bay Permaculture Guild bike tour in Berkeley.
The complete schedule is listed below.

We still need volunteers to help watch the bikes (one for each site we visit) and also someone to ride in the middle and back to make sure everyone is safe and together. If you donate your time, no need to donate money.

Don’t forget to bring water. munchies and warm clothes - it’ll probably still be cool on Sunday - http://tinyurl.com/234g33

To volunteer or for questions, e-mail Josh - yNaught@gMail.com

For a bird’s eye view of the route on Google maps:

You are welcome to join us for any part of the tour, but please do not arrive at any of the sites when we are not scheduled to be there, thanks.

11:30 Meet at North Berkeley BART Station - 1750 Sacramento St,
Berkeley
www.bart.gov - We’ll meet in front of the main entrance.

12:00 - 12:20 - Private backyard - 2111 7th St.
Sheetmulched by the East Bay Permaculture Guild last year, planted with trees and annual veggies.

12:30 - 12:55 - Berkeley Youth Alernatives garden - Bancroft Way between West and Bonar
After school program, perennials and annuals, community volunteers. -
www.byaonline.org

1:00 - 1:30 - Backyard by Earthly Arts - Mabel St and Derby St.
Guest room made from salvaged materials, water catchment, greywater,
chickens and a rabbit - www.earthlyarts.com

1:45 - 2:15 - Fort Awesome - 3090 and 3088 King St.
2 houses owned by the non-profit Cooperative Roots, garden, solar
electric and hot water, chickens -
cooperativeroots.org

2:15 - 3:05 - Snack Break at Fort Awesome
Rest and munch on lite snacks from Food Not Bombs. Optional tour of
garden on Sacramento - www.ebfnb.org

3:15 - 3:45 - Christopher Shein’s home - 1526 Fairview St
Straw bale office space, bamboo chicken coop and shower, intensive
garden, nursery, greywater - www.wildheartgardens.com -
www.merrittlandhort.com

4:05 - 4:45 - Mariposa Grove - 828 59th St, Emeryville
Cohousing community with garden, chickens, 3 buildings contain
apartments and shared space. - healthyarts.com/mariposagrove

5:00 - 5:30 - Halcyon Commons - Between Webster & Prince St on Halcyon Ct
Community designed and initiated park dedicated in ‘96 after 4 years
of community involvement. - www.bpfp.org/affiliate-groups/Halcyon

The Ecology Center is having a greywater tour from 10-11 on Sunday as well:
www.ecologycenter.org/calendar/event.php?eventID=24747
If you are interested, you MUST pre-register.

Decomposing Boxing Day

Sarah Nagy — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:35:41 +0000

I’m celebrating Boxing Day in a new way this year - I’m putting all the cardboard boxes saved up from Shipping Month, aka December, to use in my Permaculture garden, by making sheet mulch.

Google sheet mulch and Permaculture. (For those not in the know, Permaculture is a fairly recent term for cultivating an edible landscape that establishes positively reinforcing relationships between water, soil, insects, microbes, sun, etc…for the purpose of sustainably and organically feeding its designing human.)

Sheet mulches are an easy way to ‘compost in place’, delivering all the water-borne yummies to the plants instead of under the compost pile. Design-wise, sheet mulching also avoids the not-so-Neighborhood-Association-Friendly look of compost piles, so it’s a tricky way to subvert the negative effects of suburban sprawl - grow a food landscape!

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