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From Lawn to Productive and Profitable Mini-Farm – Thur Jan 21, 2016 at 7pm – Pasadena

In this presentation Curtis Stone will walk you through the process in which a 2100 square foot lawn can be converted to a productive mini farm.

He’ll discuss the technical process of conversion, and the economics of producing out of that plot once it has been converted.

Curtis will demonstrate that your average lawn can be a considerable source of revenue, generating $18,000, or a significant source of food for the community.

This talk will be useful for anyone who is curious about how much food can be harvested from an average lawn space, or anyone who is interested in commercial urban farming.

The presentation will be followed up by Q&A.

This talk is an introduction to the full day Profitable Urban Farming workshops which will take place in Pasadena on January 23 and San Diego on January 24. For more information on those workshops visit permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmertour

When and Where:
Thursday, January 21
7-9PM
The Shed
1355 Lincoln Ave
Pasadena, CA  91103

Register in advance or pay at the door.

 

About Curtis Stone:
Curtis Stone is an urban farmer, author, speaker and consultant. His area of expertise is in quick growing, high value annual vegetables for direct consumer market streams. His book, The Urban Farmer, demonstrates organic intensive techniques with a focus on business and systems to stream line labor and production. He offers a new way to think about farming. One where quality of life and profitability coexist.

 

You can learn more about Curtis in this interview, Profitable Urban Farming with Curtis Stone at: permaculturevoices.com/26

About The Urban Farmer book:There are over 40 million acres of lawn in North America. In their current form, these unproductive expanses of grass represent a significant financial and environmental cost. However, viewed through a different lens, they can also be seen as a tremendous source of opportunity. Access to land is a major barrier for many people who want to enter the agricultural sector, and urban and suburban yards have huge potential for would-be farmers wanting to become part of this growing movement.

 

The Urban Farmer is a comprehensive, hands-on, practical manual to help you learn the techniques and business strategies you need to make a good living growing high-yield, high-value crops right in your own backyard (or someone else’s).

 

“The Urban Farmer is simply the best guide out there for anyone wanting to grow vegetables for market. Chock full of practical information on costs, business planning, the best crops to grow, how much land to farm, growing techniques, and how to develop markets, this book covers it all.” Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden and The Permaculture City

 

“I have no hesitation in saying that The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone is one of the most important, and overdue, books on urban agriculture ever published. It is simultaneously deeply visionary and immensely practical.” Rob Hopkins, Founder of the Transition Movement
Learn more about the 2016 Book Tour at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmertour

Questions?
Email info@permaculturevoices.com

Founder, Permaculture Voices
PV3 | March 2-5, 2016 | San Diego
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for a sustainable water future

Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 7:30pm: The Low Down on Pee and Poo: Composting Toilets & Urine Reuse – A talk at L.A. Eco-Village

Composting toilets offer a sanitary and ecological solution to the flush toilet. (Did you know that around 890 billion gallons of untreated sewage flows into US waterways each year?) Learn about waterless composting toilets, reusing urine, and considerations for installing a system into your home. This presentation will cover homescale composting toilets from urban to rural applications, large scale systems, operation and maintenance needs, codes, and common problems and solutions.

Learn about

  • Types of composting toilets
  • Benefits of using urine as a fertilizer
  • Maintenance requirements
  • Common problems and solutions
  • System costs
  • Codes and regulations
  • Artistic toilet designs

EVENT DETAILS:

Location:
Los Angeles EcoVillage
117 Bimini Place
Los Angeles 90004

Date/Time
Thursday, December 3, 2015 from 7:30 pm to 9pm

Cost:
$5 to $15 sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Reservations:
Not required, but if you’d like:  crsp@igc.org  or 213/738-1254

Sponsored by Greywater Action: info@greywateraction.org

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“Falling for the Mountain” an evening of film, veggie potluck and dialog, Thursday, December 10, 2015 at from 7 to 10pm

     About the film: Falling for the Mountain, a film by Suzanna Knittel, is the intimate and urgent story of a family (her family) that must come together to steward their ancestral home in the majestic Swiss Alps in the face of climate change, and other modern challenges. Most of these relatives now live in cities, yet all have deep ties to this bucolic land. Now the next generation is coming to terms with the needs of land and of the ancient buildings housed there.
     But never before has this family’s stewardship been more sorely tested.
This is not just the story of one family’s dilemma but an environmental crisis that is repeated all over Europe as contemporary lifestyles and urbanization affect alpine regions. What can be done to preserve this precious resource for all? We are introduced to the farmer who views it this way, and the brother who views it that way. Each must find a way to engage with the great turning from patriarchal ways of management towards more cooperative guardianship of nature. But what shifts need to occur in heart and mind for tending and caring to become the way they connect with one another and the earth? What about the life of the soil and the soul?

More info on the film

EVENT DETAILS
Location:
L.A. Eco-Village
117 Bimini Place
Los Angeles 90004

Schedule:
7 to 8pm:           Veggie potluck*
8 to 8:30:           Film screening
8:30 to 10:         Dialog about our own experiences and questions with thefilmmaker Suzanna KnittelReservations please:  crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

Fee:                                   $15 to $5 sliding scale

* Please bring your own non throw-away eating ware to make this a zero waste event.More about Susanna Knittel:
Susanna’s career as a filmmaker, writer and photo journalist spans 30 years in Europe and in the United States. After working in somatics, she returned to her first medium, Impelled by the culture’s rapid loss of connection with nature and the body. Raised in Switzerland, she divides her time between Santa Monica and Switzerland.    www.susannaknittel.com

“You Are Here Intentional Community Los Angeles” Forum, Thursday October 29, 2015 at 7pm at L.A. Eco-Village

Join You Are Here: Intentional Community Los Angeles and Lois Arkin, founder of the Los Angeles Eco-Village, for a panel discussion of what works and what doesn’t, in intentional communities.

Current and former residents of communities in Southern California will share their experiences with important issues like governance, shared space, decision-making, getting along, privacy, food and sharing.

Bring your questions and curiosities, this will be your chance to get a sense of what it might be like to live in a functioning community, navigate challenges and avoid common pitfalls.

The Los Angeles Eco-Village is one of the city’s largest and longest-running intentional community.

EVENT DETAILS:
Date and Time:     Thursday, October 29, 2015 from 7 to 10pm
Location:                Los Angeles Eco-Village, 117 Bimini Place, Lobby,
Los Angeles 90004  directions
No Charge:             Donations accepted
Reservations or more info:         crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254 or just come.
Light Refreshments:                    Bring something to share if you’d like.
More info on “You Are Here Intentional Community

MORE INFO ON PANELISTS:

Elektra Grant,  Lecturer Otis College of Art and Design and associate of the The Regenerative Co-op of Pomona, an intentional community of approximately 30 residents distributed among 4 homes.  The Community strives to incorporate sustainable and regenerative principles in an urban/suburban environment. Most members are students or recent graduates of various local colleges, including organizers, teachers, technicians, students, business people, philosophers and artists. The group has vegetarian community meals 5 nights a week, uses solar power, and maintains a gray water system, edible landscaping and organic gardens. Community decisions are consensed upon during monthly community meetings. In addition to hosting skill shares throughout the year, the Community organizes a Sustainability Seminar every Spring with workshops and speakers on topics from solar power and making bio-diesel to activism and social justice.

Watch for more details.

 

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Starhawk Halloween/Samhain Spiral Dance Ritual & “Stories for the New Era” Workshop – Saturday, October 24, 2015 from 2 – 9pm in Los Angeles

Workshop and Ritual.  Tickets available on-line at:
http://StarhawkLA2015.eventbrite.com

Sponsors:
Reclaiming LA
Code Pink
Gaia Green
The Gaia School of Healing & Earth Education
The Readmond Company
Cross Pollinate
Way2Much

Read about Starhawk here:  http://starhawk.org/

MORE DETAILS:

WHEN

Saturday, October 24, 2015

2:00pm-9:00pm

[come for all or part of the day]

WHERE

Fais Do Do Ballroom
5257 W. Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
http://www.faisdodo.com

*Carpooling and biking encouraged!

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION ~ “Stories for the New Era”

Stories tell us who we are and who we can be. Stories can limit us… or liberate us. The stories we share are integrally part of the magic we weave – they determine what images fill our minds, what possibilities we believe in, what forces we set in motion. Magic teaches us that to make a change, we must first envision it. In this half-day workshop, we will use ritual, trance, meditation, and song to identify our underlying personal and collective stories and transform them into tales of liberation that can heal the world (and us, too).

RITUAL DESCRIPTION
After the workshop and a delicious organic dinner, we will anticipate Halloween with a Samhain RITUAL & SPIRAL DANCE led by Starhawk and Reclaiming LA. For modern witches, Samhain is the time to honor one’s ancestors and celebrate the cycle of death and rebirth – the beginning of the spiritual new year. Join us in sacred space as we dance the spiral with the Star Goddess, celebrate community, and rebirth our selves and our world. [In support of those in recovery, this ritual is drug and alcohol free.

SCHEDULE
2:00-2:30pm – Doors open for workshop, socializing, music by Amy Clarke & Gaia Grove (with Rene Collins, Devon Rachelle Kouadio & more guest artists)

2:30-5:30pm – “Stories for the New Era” Workshop with Starhawk

5:30-6:30pm – Delicious Organic Vegetarian Dinner

6:30-7:00pm – Doors open for Spiral Dance

7:00-9:00pm – Halloween/Samhain Spiral Dance

(come for all or part of the day)

ADVANCE TICKETS DISCOUNTS!

http://starhawkLA2015.eventbrite.com/

COST

Workshop + Ritual + Meal :: $60 in Advance by Friday, Oct. 23 | $75 Door

Workshop + Ritual [No Meal] :: $50 in Advance by Friday, Oct. 23 | $65 Door

Workshop + Meal :: $45 in Advance by Friday, Oct. 23 | $60 Door

Workshop Only [No Meal] :: $35 in advance by Friday, Oct. 23 | $50 Door

Ritual + Meal:: $30 in Advance by Friday, Oct. 23 | $45 at the Door

Ritual Only [No Meal] :: $20 in advance by Friday, Oct. 23 | $25 Door

Delicious Vegetarian Organic Dinner :: $12

PARTNERS 

The Readmond Company, Gaia Grove, Cross Pollinate, The Gaia School of Healing & Earth Education California Branch, Way 2 Much Entertainment, Code Pink Women for Peace

ABOUT STARHAWK
Starhawk is one of the most respected voices in modern Goddess religion and earth-based spirituality. She has authored or coauthored twelve books, including the classic The Spiral Dance and The Fifth Sacred Thing, now in development as a feature film. A veteran of progressive movements, and deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism, Starhawk directs and teaches Earth Activist Training, which combine a Permaculture design certificate course with a grounding in spirit and a focus on organizing and activism. http://www.starhawk.org/

ABOUT RECLAIMING LA
Reclaiming LA is a community of women and men in the greater Los Angeles area who celebrate earth-based spirituality in support of justice in all its forms – environmental, social, political, racial, gender, and economic. http://reclaimingla.org/

Tickets & More Information

http://starhawkLA2015.eventbrite.com/, info@reclaimingla.org

 

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Restoring Water and Healing Love as Keys for a New Culture, Thursday, September 24th, 7:00 pm at Agape International Spiritual Center, Culver City, CA 90230

A rare opportunity to meet and hear some of the pioneering internationally renown people  from Tamera Ecovillage in Portugal plus the “Water Gandhi” from India.  Details below.

Thursday, September 24th, 7:00 pm
Agape International Spiritual Center
5700 Buckingham Parkway
Culver City, CA 90230
Tickets in advance:  $15 at Eventbrite. Or for $20 at the door.

Our ability to create a future worth living essentially depends on rediscovering our sacred relationship with two basic sources of life: healthy water and vivid love. What water is to nature, love is to humanity. Our modern culture has been following systems incompatible with the true nature of both water and love. Today’s world is marked by progressive desertification and thirst – in nature as well as within people’s hearts – which poses a serious threat to our common future. However, this is not the way our future has to be!

We are excited to announce that two global pioneers will be speaking in Los Angeles, who have been working for decades on revolutionary answers for these pressing crises, showcasing concrete models for the future:

Rajendra Singh, also known as “Water Gandhi.” is a well-known water conservationist from Rajasthan, India. Using a traditional method for retaining rainwater, Rajendra led a popular initiative that transformed approximately 8,600 square km of India’s Thar Desert into fertile land, providing a hundred thousand people with a decent living, and causing dried-up rivers to flow throughout the year again. As a result of this project, regional weather patterns changed causing overall precipitation to increase and extreme storms and droughts to dramatically decrease. The principles used are not limited to India, but tackle the global roots of our current water crisis and could be applied in California as well. Honoring his outstanding initiative, Rajendra just received the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize, an award commonly referred to as “the Nobel Prize for water.”

To him, water is more than only a chemical substance; he sees it as an ensouled being with which we can communicate.

Sabine Lichtenfels, is peace activist, spiritual teacher and co-founder of Tamera Peace Research Center in Portugal, where she heads the “Global Love School.” She is a source of profound feminine wisdom and peace knowledge, grounded in nearly forty years of experience co-leading one of the most radical experiments in community building and healing love of our times. She is the author of many books (among them Temple of Love and Grace. Pilgrimage for a Future without War) and has led international peace pilgrimages through Israel-Palestine and Colombia. Sabine was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as one of the “1000 Women for Peace” in 2005.

The event will be introduced and accompanied by Benjamin von Mendelssohn, director of The Grace Foundation and one of the next-generation leaders of Tamera, offering a brief insight into the “Healing Biotopes Plan,” the global peace strategy of the heart of Tamera’s work. Operating in the frame of holistic sciences, the plan starts from the premise that a few highly complex model centers around the world might suffice in replacing the informational matrix of violence that steers this planet within a relatively short time with a new global matrix of trust, compassion, and peace; creating a new morphogenetic field of global peace.

More info on Tamera Ecovillage here:  http://www.tamera.org/index.html

For more events with Tamera Team in California, go here:
http://terranova.tamera.org/#events

 

 

 

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Regenerative Water Harvesting and Land Restoration Training Course October 7-11, 2015

Quail Springs Permaculture
www.quailsprings.org

Regenerative Water Harvesting and Land Restoration Training Course
October 7-11, 2015

Location/Climate: Southern California, High Desert

With Instructors:
Craig Sponholtz – Watershed Artisans, Inc.

Brenton Kelly – Quail Springs’ Land Steward, Farm Advisor & Restoration
Program Director

Neil Bertrando – R T Permaculture Designer

Quail Springs Permaculture invites you to learn about what constitutes
regenerative landscape design & restoration. Craig’s workshops offer an
understanding of the science of water on the landscape.

This 5-day Regenerative Water Harvesting & Land Restoration training
offers hands-on experience in the assessment, design and construction of
an on-going restorative and regenerative watershed project with intensive
immersion and experiential training in:

-  Healing degraded land by harvesting runoff
-  Reading the landscape and making informed decisions
-  Recognizing the symptoms and causes of degraded land
-  Identifying regenerative natural processes
-  Understanding how humans affect and are affected by the landscape and
watershed
-  Designing resilient solutions
-  Understanding management options for degraded land
-  Deciding what is doable and what should be done first
-  Planning and preparing to complete a successful project
-  Maintaining a project and ensuring its long-term success

Participants will learn skills needed to do high quality work that will
stand up to natural processes over time. These skills will serve a wide
spectrum of people and professions, from backyard restorationists to
farmers and land managers. Craig Sponholtz believes in doing it right the
first time and spends extra time with students on projects to ensure that
they understand the subtleties of the work being done. Emphasis on quality
ultimately fosters immense pride of a beautiful job well done.

"Craig Sponholtz’s Applied Watershed Restoration courses are a must. I was
very impressed with the thoroughness, hands-on learning, and Craig’s deep
knowledge – based on years of real-life experiences. The strategies taught
are simple and effective. They build on natural patterns so you work with
natural processes not against them. This way nature does the bulk of the
work once the structures are in place. I highly recommend these courses
for anyone working with the land and water."  - Brad Lancaster, author of
Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond

~~~~~~~~~~~

Course Cost:
$750 (includes camping and meals)
$650 *EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT* until September 1, 2015

For more information and to register:
http://www.quailsprings.org/regenerative-water-harvesting-training/

Contact with questions:
Danielle Brehmer, danielle@quailsprings.org, 805-886-7239

* Financial aid in the form of payment plans and limited partial
scholarships by application.  Inquire early.

 

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Permaculture Design Course Certificate – Last weekend Mar 5-6, 2016

Can register for last  individual weekend upcoming March 5-6, 2016
Or get on mailing list for next completed Permaculture Design Certificate course:
http://www.permacultureacademy.com/pdc/
Where: Eastside and Westside locations.
In and Around LA -directions and more details with registration

Additional Hands-On Training locations will also be offered.

The Permaculture Design Course has truly transformed the lives and enhanced the careers of thousands of people around the world, including architects, developers, social workers, city planners, teachers, students, gardeners, landscapers, homeowners, business owners and others.

• Modern Homesteading
• Elegant, Ecological Home & Garden Design
• Natural Building & Property Development
• Resilient Community

• Green Business Models

THE PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE EXPERIENCE
http://www.permacultureacademy.com/pdc/
Permaculture Design touches on all aspects of life, offering decision-making protocols based on nature, for problem-solving, critical thinkingTHE CURRICULUM
The learning focus will be to design a community project- and extracurricular hands-on opportunities for home and garden design. Team projects are showcased on the final weekend of the course.TEACHING TEAM 
Teaching team is led by Larry Santoyo and include Internationally Acclaimed Leaders in the Worldwide Sustainability Movement.REGISTRATION & PAYMENT
You can register for the day, the weekend or the full course
Work-trades and Payment plans still available

http://www.permacultureacademy.com/shop/fall-registration/

QUESTIONS?
email: info@PermacultureAcademy.com

(323) 206-5134

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Larry Santoyo, Program Director

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It Takes a Village – October 9 – 11, 2015 at rural Emerald Ecovillage in San Diego County

Play . Learn . Vision . Connect . Nourish . Explore

Three days of family-focused, community-driven festival fun.

Also featuring Diana Leafe Christian

Details:  http://www.theemeraldvillage.com/itav/

We invite YOU into the “Emerald Village Observatory” for an immersive community experience that will inspire all ages to explore and celebrate what it means to be part of the global family. Bring your childlike curiosity to delve into the science of sustainable shenanigans, get down and (literally!) dirty as we dance in the gardens and then get foamy with your homies!

We are excited to also offer a series of WHYshops that create space for a deep investigation into emerging culture and topics that are relevant to evolving families and burgeoning communities. Conscious parenting, family well-being community building, permaculture, rites of passage, intimacy, spirituality, emergent technologies, and financial and global health are the focal points of “It Takes a Village.”

 

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International Permaculture Conference & Convergence, September 8 to 16, 2015 in London, U.K.

IPCUK will bring together leading experts and practitioners from around the world.

We have everything we need to create a sustainable world and future. Together we will create a vision of a near future society that is caring, sustainable and fair, and explore how we can collectively design strategies and pathways to make it happen.

Conference, 8-9 September 2015, The Light, Euston Road, London.
Designing the World We Want – two days packed with presentations, workshops, academic papers, exhibitions, music, and art.

Convergence, 10-16 September 2015, Gilwell Park, Essex.
Designing the network we want – for people from around the world using permaculture in their everyday lives and communities.

Edge events, throughout the UK and Europe.
From tours and courses, to talks and more.

Book now for early bird tickets.

We’ve received a range of questions about the cost of the IPC in Britain – conference and convergence. This blog post gives some background information.

Like every other convergence, and permaculture conference, by far the biggest input is the time and labour of hundreds of volunteers, most of them also participants in the event. The permaculture movement has a strong tradition and ethic of everyone being active contributors. No one is just an attendee or delegate.

We have had lots of people working within one of the 13 IPCUK working groups, some for over a year. Without them it would be impossible to organise a coherent, engaging and inclusive event. Thank you to those dedicated individuals.

Read More…

Formidable Vegetable Sound System have released a new remix album Radish Beets!

You can see Charlie Mgee at the International Permaculture Conference and Convergence in London, this September. See details of Charlie’s Conference workshop, Sing the Change You Want to See.

Read More…

The IPC is a truly global event with participation coming from at least 50 countries. Here is a snapshot analysis to give you a bit of a picture of who is going to be at the convergence. Next month we will show a similar break down for the conference.

400 people have already bought their tickets to the convergence, and they come from 6 continents: Africa (3%); Latin America (5%); Asia (7%), North America (10%), Australia & Aotearoa (9%); Europe (65%). Amongst the list of delegates are people from some countries that have never been into an IPC.

Read More…

A team of intrepid IPCUK convergence coordinators met up at Gilwell Park, the site of the IPCUK Convergence. We spent 3 days on site with a mission to come up with some design suggestions for the site layout of the IPCUK.

Part three of three.

Read More…

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