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  • From: Permaculture Cooperative <permaculturecoop@gmail.com>
  • To: pil-pc-oceania <pil-pc-oceania@lists.permacultureinternational.org>, permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Fwd: Permaculture TV - Some people giggle when they are going to die - Extreme Permaculture with Steve Cran
  • Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:09:08 +1100

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Permaculture.TV free video cooperative <permaculturecoop@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 5:01 AM
Subject: Permaculture TV - Some people giggle when they are going to die -
Extreme Permaculture with Steve Cran
To: permaculturecoop@gmail.com


Permaculture TV - Some people giggle when they are going to die - Extreme
Permaculture with Steve Cran <http://permaculture.tv>

<http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/permaculture/EHmn>
------------------------------

- Some people giggle when they are going to die - Extreme Permaculture
with Steve Cran <#1271ae360f9819ea_1>
- Choosing a Farming Enterprise - Cornell University Voices of
Experience<#1271ae360f9819ea_2>
- Cooperative Learning - is it best for all students ?<#1271ae360f9819ea_3>
- Michael Pollan TED Talk <#1271ae360f9819ea_4>

Some people giggle when they are going to die - Extreme Permaculture with
Steve
Cran<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/permaculture/EHmn/~3/UJq64lM6yMk/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 01:31 AM PST

*I’m in the shower. There’s blood in the water at my feet. I’m picking bits
of glass and small stones out of a wound on my head as the cold water eases
my headache. Not a good day but I’m alive and so is my team.*

[image: Damaged car]

Source: Steve Cran, Global Sustainability
Corps<http://globalsustainabilitycorps.org/>.
Content created by Steve Cran and Global Sustainability
Corps<http://globalsustainabilitycorps.org/>is licensed under
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share
Alike 3.0 Unported <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/>

I get called to Mbale by my boss. 4 hours drive to meet him half way from
Kampala. *We have to write a proposal. *I missed breakfast and lunch and we
arrive at 3 pm. Oh Wow! An Indian restaurant!! My poor little shrunken
stomach can barely fit in the several spicy dishes. That night I realize
although I didn’t order it, I got a free Deli Belly to go with my meal. No
guava leaves here. For a day I nut out the proposal for the next phase with
a gut full of demons playing rugby.

[image: Frontier]

*It would be great to be free of organizations. *They are like the zombies
in horror movies. All they want is “more brains”. They stagger on wanting
more brains and you give them more brains but it doesn’t make em any smarter
they just want more brains! I’m supposed to train 50 “Green Warriors” over 3
weeks and set them loose to solve 40 years of food aid addiction in 6
months. Yeah right!… I have to compromise my lofty goals. I’ll at least give
50 people solid hands on training and some inspiration. Some villages will
be able to set up good demo models for others to copy but mostly its the
usual “monitoring and evaluation” with my token force running around the
edges. I grit my teeth and agree to the scheme because its a toe in the door
and my gut says something else will develop. This cats not skun yet!

I head to Morotto but its getting dark and its pouring rain. After several
hours of 4X4 adventure driving I arrive at some place called “Nuccups” with
my driver exhausted. The vehicle looks like a mud brick on wheels. Its cold
and I crash in a room buzzing with hundreds of mosquitoes. In the morning I
come out of the room to a magnificent sight. The mountains are stunning. The
shapes of the peaks are like old men looking down on us. Kenya is on the
other side and the most cattle raids happen here.* Its green and lush here.
Im putting this place on my green warrior map.*

[image: Green warriors]

I’m waiting outside the prison in Moroto with my team. Ram, Santos and the
driver Buddy. The warden is arranging a meeting with the senior prisoners
from our green warrior group. A million flies are buzzing around annoying
the crap out of everyone. The rain must have activated them. We are sitting
under a huge spreading tree with these little olive sized fruits covered in
a crisp shell. They taste like sweet butterscotch. I look around for a
fallen fruit. Dam! The goats ate them all, *Oh well…Plunk, one lands on the
bench in front of me. Thanks tree!* I say to myself as I munch on the sweet
carob-butterscotch like flavour. I don’t waste my time. I pull out an art
pad I bought in town and draw 5 designs of the gardens I want the prisoners
to build. The field we started on last week looks like a tractor went
through it. They’ve been busy.

*The big doors open and we’re led in to an ante room next to the
superintendents office.* The “super” as I call him is a friendly guy who
genuinely cares about the prisoners welfare. He stores the tools we gave him
in his office so he knows they’re still around.

The prisoners gather round a table with a blanket as a table cloth. I show
them design by design. Ram translates. *Two of the guys are being released
about the same time the Green warriors project is supposed to start. I offer
them positions on the project. They agree. They’ve already got Green Warrior
fever. *One stipulation though, I tell them they will have to come back to
prison to train their mates. This brings smiles and vigorous nods. I look
into each of their eyes…These guys may just make the difference in the
future. Yes I’m an idealist but I take risks and the combination gets
results most times.

*I tell them its up to 2 organizations and a donor to fund the project so
they’d better start praying.* One guy has dreadlocks where the rest have
shaved heads. Hey Ram, ask him why he’s got hair and everyone else is bald,
I say. Ram reports back after some exchange that the guy is an artist! Oh
right I say.

We hit the road the next day in our landcruiser Prado. Its muddy and I take
the wheel as I spy a military escort vehicle loaded with armed soldiers
speeding out of town. Best to follow them through the bush roads in case of
warrior ambush. We are in fourwheel drive sitting on 70-80 kph on the greasy
roads. Water is ponding in the potholes so its hard to judge their depth.
The soldiers ahead are rugged up in wet weather gear and sit on a central
bench seat with their weapons facing out. They have to hang on to their guns
with one hand and the vehicle with the other as the ute dodges the worst
holes. *The desert is greening up and all kinds of birds are flying across
our vision. *

The military vehicle is about 50 meters ahead. I follow its tracks through
the light mud. As I come around a slight bend at medium speed the vehicle
starts to slide. I correct but the shoulder is soft an the vehicle slews
sideways. Oh shit! We keep sliding. Nothing I’m doing to the vehicle is
working. Buddy starts giggling. As we slide the wheels catch in a deep
pothole and the Prado is flipped in the air and crashes on its roof. We’re
sliding at speed upside down. My head has been bashed in by the roof. We hit
the embankment and the vehicle rolls onto its side. I’m trapped on the
bottom side staring at dirt and glass where the window used to be. Buddy is
still giggling. *Some people giggle when they are going to die oddly enough.
*

I’m cramped in by the crushed roof and Buddy is suspended above me. The
embankment has pushed the windshield into the cab. I feel hazy. I wake up
standing outside the vehicle on the road. What the…Is everybody OK I yell.
Yes yes yes they all answer as somebody climbs out of the window. I see the
military escort racing back to us. An officer gets out and his soldiers help
us pick up all our stuff flung over the road. We cut some seat belts out of
the Prado and make a tow rope. With the aid of the escort 4X4 we and several
soldiers try to right our vehicle. No good. I retie the strap on a different
tow point just as another old pick-up truck arrives with 4 farmers and 2
soldiers.* With the extra muscle we flip the Prado back onto its wheels.*

[image: Guard]

I thank the colonel and tell him I owe him some beers. He grins and shakes
my hand. I watch them speed off as the soldiers wave. Lucky for us we still
have the other 2 soldiers for security and the farmers. The farmers are bush
mechanics and we all work together to make our car mobile. The air cleaner
is full of oil. I cut up some water bottles with my $2 flick knife I bought
in Kabong. We bail the oil out of the air-cleaner and pour it back in the
oil filler. *Finally I start the vehicle and drive it back onto the road.
Its smashed but it goes. *We go.

*We make it back to Kotido at low speed. Air conditioned of course. No
windscreen. My head hurts. *We meet another staff member in town. The
vehicle is drawing a lot of unwanted attention. Max tells me we have to get
this vehicle out of town asap. The police see a white man in a damaged
vehicle and all hell will break loose. This is not Australia. White men mean
money and a few twists of the truth and all of a sudden I’m in jail and the
vehicle is impounded and stripped. I get the picture.

[image: A Kraal full of fresh fertilizer!]

A Kraal full of fresh fertilizer!

We get another military escort and head out of town. I’m in another vehicle
following the limping Prado. Max tells me horror stories of the same
situation in the past. I force myself to relax and breath. We make it to
base but a policeman spies our wreck and starts making inquires. Max fobs
him off with a story. At base we make a plan. Get the vehicle out of here to
the next town 3 hours away before the police wake up. The driver agrees to
drive the wreck even though he is as flogged out as me. Under escort they
drive off into the dusk. Lots of phone-calls to the owner, the boss and
several other conspirators. Done, time for a shower and some medicinal beer.

[image: our new tank with garden. This tank is built with local fired clay
bricks and rendered inside and out with cement. It holds about 6000 lt.]

our new tank with garden. This tank is built with local fired clay bricks
and rendered inside and out with cement. It holds about 6000 lt.

*Town looks different. Hey, the electricity has arrived!* Finally, Abim has
light! I see the towns people at night for the first time. Ususlly its just
shadows and the flash of a few teethy smiles in the dark. Now we are moving
up! Santos and I share a cold beer.

I ask Santos how I exited the vehicle after the crash as all I remember is
waking up standing outside, the first one out. He laughs and says,* “You
just went up”. Huh? “Yes you went up, just like that”* I don’t get it. He
laughs and says. *“You got pulled up”*

I still don’t get it. *Buddy was blocking my escape route. Santos tells me
he is happy because the project is going to work and he saw with his own
eyes something strange happen*. Mmmm… Oh well, we all survived another day
in Karamoja. The batmobile is buggered but we live!

Source: Steve Cran, Global Sustainability
Corps<http://globalsustainabilitycorps.org/>.
Content created by Steve Cran and Global Sustainability
Corps<http://globalsustainabilitycorps.org/>is licensed under
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share
Alike 3.0 Unported <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/>

Choosing a Farming Enterprise - Cornell University Voices of
Experience<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/permaculture/EHmn/~3/YHKG7GdQ1EM/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 08:57 AM PST

*Farmers discuss how to choose what your farm produces. There may be an
element of passion in your decision but it’s a good idea to consider your
goals, land and facilities, and markets too.*

Embedded video from Cornell University <http://www.cornell.edu/video>

In the Voices of Experience series from the Beginning Farmers Resource
Center, you’ll find the kind of dirt-under-the-fingernails advice that can
only come from someone who’s been there.

The NY Beginning Farmer Project is led by a team of Cornell Cooperative
Extension Educators in partnership with the Cornell Small Farms Program. The
project, launched in 2006 in response to increasing interest in farm
start-ups, aims to enhance the likelihood of success of new ag enterprises
by making the best resources and training available to new and diversifying
farmers.

Source:
Cornell<http://www.cornell.edu/video?videoID=526&startSecs=0&endSecs=297>

Cooperative Learning - is it best for all students
?<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/permaculture/EHmn/~3/IpW_hRwpyXM/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 03:55 PM PST

*Video designed by student to describe the research regarding cooperative
learning. Asks the question, “Is it best for all students?” *

Source: drpratt <http://www.youtube.com/user/drpratt>

Michael Pollan TED
Talk<http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/permaculture/EHmn/~3/g0cvl5Inwrg/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 02:52 PM PST

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  • [permaculture] Fwd: Permaculture TV - Some people giggle when they are going to die - Extreme Permaculture with Steve Cran, Permaculture Cooperative, 03/01/2010

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