permaculture

["Robert Waldrop" <rmwj@soonernet.com>]

We had our first-ever Oklahoma permaculture weekend workshop this
weekend, with
Jerome Osentowski of the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture
Institute.  www.crmpi.org .  It was a riot.  An utter riot!  People
running around, planting, mulching, watering, learning.  nearly 50
people!  people were throwing handfuls of crimson clover and vetch
seed in the air (there was a Fukuoka subtext maybe, although we didn't
make any seedballs).  There was a lot of sentiment to organize a
continuing Oklahoma permaculture organization, get nonprofit status,
have a design course here.

one of the popular ideas for activities was to repeat this weekend's
adventures, at other locations.  it didn't escape anyone's notice that
having a bunch of people together made a lot of heavy work go lightly
and get done efficiently.  People mentioned house raisings, and barn
raisings, and so maybe now we'll have "garden plantings".  We learned
about forest gardening, and on breaks we talked about adapting that as
"prairie gardening", several attendees had been at the Land Institute
in Salinas, Kansas in September.

The event was at the Regional Food Bank in OKC, which serves all of
western Oklahoma, and is also a central supplier of foodbanks in
surrounding states. It was a presentation of their Urban Harvest
Program, and was sponsored by the Sierra Club, Kerr Center for
Sustainable Agriculture in Poteau, and the Noble Foundation in
Ardmore.

We planted our forest garden guild in a pasture area next to the
building.  The soil was really bad, about 1 inch of topsoil and then
red clay.  we and the earthworms and the rolly pollies have a lot to
do.

Here's what we planted.  The food bank supplied the apple and redbud
trees, asparagus, baptisia, blackberries and grapes, but everything
else was brought from attendees gardens, which also contributed a
variety of soils and microflora and fauna to the new garden, also
earthworms and rolly pollies.

2 Apple trees
1 pecan tree
2 redbud trees
asparagus
grape vines
blackberries
baptisia
clove currants
Sand plum
Lemon balm
Maximilien sunflower
chocolate mint
Rue
Thyme
Horseradish
Walking onions
potato (multiplying) onions
Day lilies
French sorrel
Salad burnett
Tarragon
garlic
garlic chives
Perilla
common oregano
ornamental pepper
Snow on the Mountain
apple mint
purple and pink coneflowers (seeds)
elderberry
hairy vetch and crimson clover (seeded over the new forest garden and
the surrounding pasture area

Another good thing about the event is that it drew together an
interesting collection of people. There was a neighborhood association
president, the Organic gardening club president, Oklahoma County
extension master gardeners, an MD who does nutritional counselling
(based on whole foods, not supplements), students and white-haired
elders, women, men, the group was culturally very diverse, there were
Christians (of several varieties) and pagans (also presumably of
several varieties), African Americans, Hispanic, Native Americans,
farmers and city folk (from the central city and from the suburbs).
People came from all over Oklahoma, and from as far as Topeka, Kansas.
Cultural creatives and cultural conservatives.  hmmm. . . what can
this mean?

Like I said, it was a riot!  (in the good sense of that word).

one of the long-term "fruits" of this weekend will be the organization
of an Oklahoma Permaculture Guild.  We have started a new discussion
group at  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/okperma/  to discuss Oklahoma
permaculture in general and organizing a permaculture organization in
particular.  Everybody interested in permaculture in Oklahoma is
welcome to subscribe.

Jerome did real good.

Robert Waldrop, Oklahoma Food project
http://www.oklahomafood.org