I received a partial scholarship to attend a 2-day workshop on Permaculture with Midwest Permaculture next weekend! This is really exciting, because I've been keeping my eye on their classes for quite awhile now, mmm hmm, and to my luck they decided to come to Omaha. I'm also looking very lovingly and jealously upon their 9-day course with Winona LaDuke, but alas, it is not in the college-student-part-time-non-profit-worker budget. :) This 2-day workshop is a really incredible opportunity and I can't wait to practice and share what I learn.
PERMACULTURE
"Permaculture is about designing ecological human habitats and food production systems. It is a land use and community building movement which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way we place them in the landscape. This synergy is further enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature."
This is my first permaculture training, but I have done a little reading and incorporated some permaculture practices into my gardening.
What I know
- perennials and trees are really important
- composting toilets ... are awesome :)
- companion planting
- the idea of water gardens
- vermicomposting
What I hope to learn about
- green manure
- crop rotation
- more about cover crops
- keyhole gardening
- building water garden
- spiral herb gardens
- sheet mulching
- swales
- backyard aquaponics (ah, cool!)
BARTERING
So, this permaculture training experience made me think a lot about bartering. I didn't have the financial resources (aka bones) to attend, but I was really hopeful some kind of bartering situation would work out, and it did.
Tim and I recently did some house-sitting for our friends, they let us use their kitchen and eat our meals there as well as wash our clothes. Afterward I felt really satisfied, because it was a mutually-beneficial trade for both of us. I've had plenty of other bartering experiences that were equally satisfying, which makes me want barter a lot more.
Websites like CraigsList and Facebook can be really good tools for bartering, actually. There are a lot of postings on Craigslist for trading material resources for material resources or skills for skills. Also I've seen many people use Facebook in really creative ways like, "if you help me move I'll cook you lunch." I like it. When I looked up bartering I also found a page dedicated to it called Tradeaway. No surprise here. I don't know much about it, but I'm really intrigued. Research project for another day.
I think one of the main reasons I like bartering so much is because it births creativity. Figuring out how to do things without currency is very creatively stimulating for me. :)
GRATITUDE
Many thanks to the Midwest Permaculture folks for helping me out so I can attend the training, and my dear friend Brandon who is going to let me borrow his car so I can get to the farm these next few weeks. :)
love and beets,
c.
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