permaculture

[Chad Knepp <pyg@galatea.org>]

mIEKAL aND writes:
 > This is a fascinating discussion, one that has happened endless times 
 > here at Dreamtime Village over the years & resulted in us not producing 
 > & hosting any further full length design courses.  Guessing that the 
 > average income of folks that come thru here is somewhere between 
 > $2000-$4000 a year it got to the point that no one from our scene could 
 > afford to attend, & you can't very well bring in nationally known 
 > teachers if everyone is on a scholarship or work exchange.  & our 
 > interest in producing courses was to bring the technology & skills into 
 > the rural area rather than produce a course where yuppies from the city 
 > who could shell out this amount would come from afar to attend the 
 > course.  But rather than condemn the existing system or the fact that 
 > select folks have chosen to make their living from teaching 
 > permaculture (which in itself seems like a noble but frustrating 
 > cause), maybe the wrong question is being asked.
 > 
 > What would it take to set up a free peer to peer open source system of 
 > permaculture training, knowledge base, & access to resources?
 >
 > The electronic information component of this is well on its way to 
 > being established, especially because of the efforts of a number of 
 > people on this list.  But the information in itself is so much static 
 > unless it can be connected directly to real hands-on-training, 
 > education & skill-sharing.  Right now the only groups in the US that I 
 > know that are actively promoting free access to classes tend to be the 
 > various infoshop collectives that have been setup by young urban 
 > anarchists, often times in squatted spaces that are temporary at best, 
 > but nonetheless reaching out to young folks who have boundless energy & 
 > spirit for taking action.  I'd love to hear of others attempts at open 
 > access.

Very interesting direction, if I understand you correctly.  I am
assuming you mean something along the lines of face-to-face voluntary
education/outreach.  
 
I concur with your analysis that just reading books and websites
doesn't work for everyone and there is a legitimate need to offer low
cost/free permaculture education even if it isn't by the highest
qualified individuals.  I am very interested in promoting [and
participating in] your above mentioned infoshop collective events.
Please annouce such events here.

-- 
Chad Knepp
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