Upcoming Permaculture Events
By Daniel Mottola, Fri., Jan. 20, 2006
Saturdays Jan. 21-March 18 (plus Sundays Jan. 22 & March 12). Learn about techniques, tools, and design ideas to: mimic nature in gardening and vegetation, capture and re-use rain water, build an herb spiral, install a pond, maximize food output in a small area, design homes and landscapes that serve people, attract wildlife, and create a restorative habitat. The classes take place at the Treefolks headquarters, near the Hornsby Bend Center for Environmental Research in Southeast Austin and are taught by Selwyn Polit, Dick Pierce, and other Austin permaculture experts. Cost: $60 per class or $500 for the entire course. For more info, contact Selwyn Polit at 926-7876, or selwyn@austintx.com.
Fundamentals of Permaculture, Sustainable Family Farming
March 3-12. Providing a plan to disengage from the dominant culture of consumerism, competition, and fossil dependency, this course details the principles of permaculture, the design process for reading landscaping, economic strategies for sustainable lifestyles, gardening and farming to feed a family and heal the land, plus erosion control, healthful processing of human waste, and integrating animals and aqua culture into a home system. It's taught by 25-year permaculture veteran Patricia Allison, a nine-year resident of the Earthaven Eco-Village in Ashville, N.C. Participants camp in a rural setting near Red Rock, east of Austin. For more info, contact Lyndon Felps at 448-0717, or dillohour@yahoo.com.
Living on Earth
March 11-18. Austin landscape and site designer Patricia Michael teaches this permaculture design certification course, held at Pacifica, an eco-village in northern Mexico being developed by Eduardo Longoria, founder of Austin's Casa de Luz and Habitat Suites hotel. Cost, including bed, meals, and tuition, ranges from $600-$1,000, with participants choosing how much to pay. E-mail elongoria@austin.rr.com or patricia@patriciamichaeldesign.com or call 291-4300.
Radical Urban Sustainability Training
March 25-26. An intensive seminar presented by the Rhizome Collective, exploring the convergence of permaculture and social activism in building sustainable communities. Find out about city chickens and micro livestock, gray water processing using constructed wetlands, soil repair and asphalt removal, passive solar and windmills, humanure and worm composting, DIY air purification, food forests, struggles for land and gentrification, and much more. A free class taught at Rhizome's Center for Urban Sustainability, 300 Allen in southeast Austin. See www.rhizomecollective.org/rust.html.
