permaculture

[Primal Parent <primalparent@hotmail.com>]

Ray,

your idea sounds great. i look forward to seeing how it evolves into a book. 
i myself have been working off-and-on on a children's book about pc. the 
biggest obstacle i found is which age range should i focus on. teenagers can 
understand more of the complex ecological terms but i personally fond that 
it's the younger ones who like to help out more in the garden. so my 
challenge has been basically "should i make it a story book or a science 
book?"

 there are a few books out there for adults that have a chapter or two about 
working with children (food not lawns, food forest) but there's very little 
written specifically for kids.

the only exception i know of are zines: burnett's 'our allotment' and  
"permaculture beginners guide' (which is not specifically for kids but simple 
enough that older  kids can  read it) and 'the abc's of permaculture' 
coloring book (cataplasm press) that has pc terms and edible/medicinal plants 
for each letter (i.e. c = comfrey, chicken tractor, chamomile, compost, 
companion planting) that way parents can help explain the terminology. 

best of luck with that much-needed work.

please keep the listserve updated.

-Roman


p.s. - below is a post of mine on greenschooling from this summer. it might 
have some helpful links:
first off, sorry for any redundancies and for the delay but here are what i 
consider the most pc-relevant links for schooling:
 
the one thing i recommend above all other is getting carolyn nuttal's food 
forest and food forest resource sheets. they are excellent. i think they 
were both under $40 including shipping from australia. she's doing a lot 
with "learnscaping"
 
robin clayfield's manual for teaching permaculture creatively has a chapter 
on teaching children through games and active involvement. wonderful stuff.
http://www.earthcare.com.au/edu/
 
heather coburn flores book 'food not lawns' (chelse green) has a chapter 
called 'the next generation' with tips and ideas for working with kids. 
she'd doing some kick-ass work and we should all support her
 
in the same vein i also recommend sharon lovejoys 'sunflower houses' and 
'roots, shoot, buckets, & boots'. though not technically "permaculture" 
there both a lot of fun.
 
patty parks-wasserman is working on the institute of permaculture education 
for children at 78 el rey drive corrales, n.m.
patty has been very supportive of the childrens permaculture resource 
network and i look forward to working with her in the future.
 
robina mccurdy ran the (now defunct) childrens permaculture foundation from 
1989-1994
i believe she wrote a small article on 'pc for children' in the vol.3 #1 
feb. 87 issue of permaculture activist (which i believe is still available). 
i think she's doing more ecovillage-community oriented work nowadays
 
salli ramsden and tania strebl presented  'zone c: a place for children' at 
he 6th ipc. supposedly salli was working on a comprehensive list of 
publications suitable  for pc in schools.
http://www.rosneath.com.au/ipc6/ch05/ramsden/index.html
 
i believe joanne tippett has done some work in this area. holocene.net
 
jacqui hunter might be of some help as well huntergd@chariot.net.au
 
fiona campbell and ross grayson compiled the amazing 'permaculture goes to 
school..." in 1997. i'd be more than glad to send you a copy.
 
dr. charlie headington wrote teaching permaculture in a school garden. 
interesting montessori experiment.
 
robin c. moore wrote 'children gardening:first steps toward a sustainable 
future' robin does a lot of work with landscape architecture and childhood 
development.
 
some past discussions archived:
pc in schools - 
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture/2006-January/022836.html
curriculum for children - 
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture/2002-July/015300.html
workbook for children - 
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture/2006-December/025475.html
 
gardening with children has some useful links
http://www.canh.asn.au/community_gardening/sa-cgkit-Gardenin.html
 
edible schoolyard in berkely, ca http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/garden.html
 
specifically for kids:
 
elpels 'shanleyas quest' is sort of a 'botany in a day' for young readers. 
wonderful. available from hollowtop.com
 
graham burnett drew a brilliant little zine called 'our allotment'.   i make 
copies and hand them out to random kids whenever  we go to festivals and 
fairs. you can find it at  http://www.spiralseed.co.uk/
 
april's got three stories for children on her front page at 
http://permaculturevisions.com/
 
lost valley education center in oregon hosted a kids permaculture day camp 
in 2006. worth looking into
 
here is a website called Perma-Kidz. some neat stuff kids might like.  
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/6700/permakid.html
 



> Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:36:02 -0800
> From: permaquest@yahoo.com
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [permaculture] A permaculture childrens book
> 
> Dear All,
>   I'm starting a permaculture childrens book with as many models as I can 
> educating kids and parents how it all works. I have many ideas of how it 
> should look and flow, but I need all your help to add things that i don't 
> want to miss or not be fully informed on. Can you help me with what you are 
> best at and I'll give you a credit. I know we'll have to do a series, 
> because of how much there's to write about. If anyone knows of a childrens 
> book already out there let me know also. 
>   Feel free to do your own book as we need them out there now,
>   Ray
> 
>        
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