permaculture

[Keith Morris <earthsurfing@yahoo.com>]

Hi All-



I hope you're well and enjoying a fruitful spring!

We are gearing up for our course this summer, and have just 3 spaces left 
remaining...  we'd love to fill them with folks who value the unique 
opportunities this course affords- so please share this with friends, 
networks, activists, organizers, growers, builders, and designers.

Read on for details about joining us for free open lectures and guest 
presentations- all are welcome!

The 6th Annual Prospect Rock / Burlington Permaculture Design Certification 
Course is held at Willow Crossing Farm in Johnson, VT from July 21 - August 2.

ABOUT THE SITE:
Willow Crossing Farm is Vermont's longest established permaculture research 
and education facility, and the only debt-free 'financial permaculture' 
working farm we're aware of.  Its a family-run homestead; organic fruit, nut, 
and medicine nursery; wildlife refuge and pollinator sanctuary; natural 
building and regenerative infrastructure sexperimentation site; and venue for 
farm dining, education, and music.  
We host one of the most diverse collections of tree crops and other multi-use 
plants anywhere- providing unique opportunities to practice permaculture 
directly hands-on, and to immerse yourself in wild ecology.  Our location 
allows us close working relationships with (and to visit) some of the 
nation's leading herb farms, organic seed companies, winter vegetable 
production operations, farm restaurants, and other food-system 
revolutionaries- as well as immediate adjacency some of the best hiking, 
boating, biking, and rock-climbing around!

ABOUT THE STUDENTS:
Graduates of all of Prospect Rock Permaculture's various programs comprise 
the nation's largest PDC alumni network!  Our leading permaculture design 
certification courses attract an incredible diversity of students from all 
over the world: Architects, Landscape Architects, Farmers, Homesteaders, 
Activists, Town and City Planners, Food Systems Workers, Extension Agents, 
Children and Adult Educators, Community Activists, Social Entrepreneurs, 
Graduate and Undergraduate Students, Renewable Energy Specialists, Builders, 
complete 'Noobs', and folks traveling from all over the country typically 
comprise our groups.  
The curriculum is specially designed to simultaneously accommodate the many 
students who seek us out for 'refesher' or second PDCs- seeking Advanced 
Permaculture Design Opportunities or looking to develop their skills as 
Permaculture Educators.

ABOUT THE TEACHING TEAM:
Prospect Rock and Burlington Permaculture comprise the most experienced team 
of educators, researchers, designers, builders and growers presently 
delivering courses in North America.  
Lead instructor Keith Morris has created ecological design education programs 
for the University of Vermont, Sterling College, the Yestermorrow Design 
Build School, Paul Smiths College, and has worked with the State of Vermont 
in developing permaculture education for public schools.  He's implemented 
permaculture projects throughout North and South America, in Europe, New 
Zealand, and West Africa- working with farms, towns, schools, indigenous 
peoples, squats, activists, and in solidarity with exploited populations.
Mark Krawczyk has studied and practiced permaculture all over the world, 
including working with Geoff Lawton, Darren Doherty, Ben Law, Jerome 
Ostentowski, Peter Bane, Dan Hemenway, and more.  He is presently writing a 
book on Coppice Agroforestry with Dave Jacke.
Lisa DePiano completed her Earth Activist Training (EAT), and brings her 
formidable experience in community scale permaculture design, social 
entrepreneurship, activism, and experiential education.  
Alissa White is an accomplished nursery woman, artist, ethnobotanist, and 
community organizer.  She completed her PDC with Penny Livingston Stark and 
helped co-create Permacorps International while working on the ground in 
Haiti.
 Skotty Kellogg is the co-author of the book Toolbox for Sustainable City 
Living: A Do-it-Ourselves Guide (South End Press) and is the co-founder of 
the Radix Center, teaching ecological literacy and deomnstrating sustainable 
techniques for urban areas.
We'll also be joined by the region's leading growers, designers, food-systems 
workers, natural builders, herbalists and more in our annual community 
celebration of the proof and possibilities of permaculture design.  
Feel free to join us for a meal, design presentations, or guest lectures free 
and open to the public- our tradition that we are proud is starting to catch 
on with other PDCs!

ABOUT THE FOOD!
Head chef Emily Wheeler is a clinical herbalist, Permaculture Design Course 
graduate, and specialized in creating culinary works of art from seasonal 
local organic food to deeply nourish us all.  As Emily is also a member of 
the teaching team- the meals, food sourcing, modern nutritional science, food 
preservation, wild-crafting, and localvore innovations are central to the 
course experience.  We are happy and experienced in meeting the needs of 
gluten or dairy intolerant, vegetarians and vegans, food allergies, and other 
special diets.  

Many people have expressed interest in the last few open spaces in the 
course- we will fill them based on first come, first served upon receipt of 
the deposit. 

For details or to register, please visit www.ProspectRock.org, call (802) 
734-1129, or email Keith@ProspectRock.com.

If you don't end up with a space in this course- we are happy to announce we 
will be hosting Starhawk, Charles Williams, and all the members of the 
teaching team above (yes- including the food!) for our first

EARTH ACTIVIST TRAINING!  September 7-21, 2013.

An 'EAT' is a two-week permaculture design certificate course with a focus on 
organizing and activism, and a grounding in earth based spirituality.  
Explore the strategies and organizing tools we need to make our visions real, 
and the daily practice, magic and rituals that can sustain our spirits.  
Most excitingly, this will be the first time we've had Starhawk in Vermont in 
a few years and she'll be joined by awardees of the recent Gender and 
Diversity Permaculture Educator scholarship.  This course is filling quickly, 
please reserve your space soon if you are interested.


Please like us on facebook or subscribe to our newsletter to receive 
notifications of free guest lectures, farm tours, or to receive details about 
our workshop series- including the upcoming Artisan Stone Masonry and 
Permaculture Earthworks, and Natural Beekeeping, including hands-on work with 
Warre and Top Bar Hives.

I hope you all are having an excellent spring!  Thanks for sharing our work 
with your friends and networks.

Best,
Keith
 

________________________________
Keith Morris 
Prospect Rock Permaculture 
Design and Education for Ecological Culture
[www.ProspectRock.org]
P.O. Box 426  
Jeffersonville, VT 05464 
Keith@ProspectRock.org
(802) 734-1129

"If we do not do the impossible, we shall be faced with the unthinkable."
Murray Bookchin (1921-2006) 
>From amillison@gmail.com  Thu Jun  6 11:40:33 2013
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Subject: Re: [permaculture] New online Certificate course
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Hello,
As a follow up to this conversation, I wrote an article about online
Permaculture education, for anyone who wants to explore the subject more
deeply. It's a bit long to paste in an e-mail, so here's the link:

http://www.beaverstatepermaculture.com/profiles/blogs/e-pdc-the-case-for-online-permaculture-education

Enjoy the day!

Andrew


On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 10:05 AM, Michael Pilarski <
friendsofthetrees@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hello Christopher,
>
> Thank you for your feedback on the value of on-line pdcs.  I thought it
> was the most in-depth comparison I have seen thus far and certainly agree
> with your assessment.
>
>
> In-person pdcs have a lot more depth to them than  on-line courses.  That
> said, I believe there is still room for on-line courses.  But people should
> sign on to them knowing what they are missing.  I wouldn't be surprised
> that people who take on-line courses are good candidates to sign up for on
> the ground pdcs later on.  So it is not either/or but both have their own
> values.  An on-line course may be inferior in general but they are good to
> serve the people who can only do the on-line course for whatever reason(s).
>
>
> The movement should come up with more ways to assess the quality of
> on-line courses being offered as well as in-the-flesh pdcs.  A
> high-quality, on-line course can be better then some of the more inferior
> residential or weekend courses.  Right now all we have is informal gossip.
>
>
> It is great to hear how you have continued with your pdc work and reaching
> so many people in Belize.  "Good on you", as they say in Australia. I am
> pleased to have you on my list of students who are teaching pdcs.
>
>
> Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski
> Permaculture - Wildcrafting - Medicinal Herbs & Seeds
>
>
> Sign up for my newsletter at www.friendsofthetrees.net
> www.facebook.com/michael.skeeter.pilarski
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: christopher nesbitt <christopher.nesbitt@mmrfbz.org>
> To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Cc: Kelda Miller <kelda@riseup.net>; Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>;
> Colin Doyle <colin@lostvalley.org>; Rich Blaha <rblaha@abrinc.com>;
> Albert Bates <albert@thefarm.org>; Peter Bane <pcactivist@comcast.net>;
> Deston Denniston <abundancepc@gmail.com>
> Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2013 7:47 AM
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] New online Certificate course
>
>
> I have been busy and wanted to chime in on this, echoing some of what has
> been said: I think, for me, that I feel an aspect of the in the flesh PDC
> that would have to be missing is the fellowship of being in one place, the
> community of group learning. I took my PDC in 1991, and it was
> transformative, literally. My farm is the fruit of that. Part of what I
> walked away with was imparted by interacting with other students during the
> design phase, and during the presentation of the course material. There was
> one emotional meltdown during the PDC, one bickering feud that flowered
> into yelling (one of the two participants was me), early morning coffee,
> late night conversations, and several romances that blossomed, grew and
> dissipated, or became full fledged relationships. I met my ex-wife during
> that PDC. So much of what I experienced was related to human beings and
> interactions, site observation, walking, eating, sitting, talking. That was
> a huge part of what
>  I walked away with. T
> he wisdom and teaching talent of Michael Pilarski, Rick Valley, Chuck
> Marsh, Jose Caballero and Mark Cohen would be hard to put into an online
> format.
>
> One of the things I have observed in the PDC I attended, which Michael was
> the lead teacher of, and in the eight PDCs I have hosted and co-taught is
> the amount of instant feedback available to students. Students frequently
> have questions tied to an aspect of the curriculum that can be expanded on.
> In the courses I have co-taught, Albert, for example, is fantastic at this,
> so is Toby Hemenway. I have seen this many times with Albert, who may be
> teaching something and one of the students will ask a question, related,
> but tangential to the topic, and Albert steps back, answers the question,
> ties it to other things, shows how it is in relation to the larger topic,
> or a topic previously discussed, and moves forward. I love these downloads
> because they are responsive and dynamic and informative. How can a static
> format like an online course be like that? I don't think they can be.
>
> I attended Antioch College a long time ago. I loved some of my classes,
> Harold Wrights "Cultural History of Japan", for example. I loved his
> teaching. A few years ago, I took an online course in grant writing. It was
> good, and there was some feedback and interplay between students through
> the "chalboard.com" media. I got a 4.0, a sort of triumphant return to
> academia after my meteoric Antioch College experience. I liked it. I found
> it informative, especially since the subject was all about writing, about
> how to prepare a statement of need that will make funders weep and reach
> for pens and checkbooks, and subsequently lay down the ways you intend to
> address the target issue, but I wonder how much I might have learned in an
> actual classroom. It was nothing like watching John Ronsheim (sp) teach a
> music class, animated, moving, flowing, changes of tone in speech, change
> in facial expressions, humor, sarcasm, surprise, dismay, and, above all, a
> palpable and
>  genuine love of music.
>   I didn't take his class, but merely sat in on one class, one day, and
> walked away with at least an appreciation of what a Good Teacher can to
> when presenting material they care about. In that one 90 minute class,
> there were so many subtle and nuanced relationships to the subject matter
> that, now, close to 30 years later, I remember it vividly. Can a day on the
> internet give you that?
>
> Then there is the question of pedagogy to target audience. In the 8 PDCs I
> have hosted, we have taught close to 70 Belizeans. Some were funded by
> external agencies, most were scholarships that we provided with the
> cooperation of the teachers. Some of the students  were mid-level people in
> the Ministry of Agriculture, Belizeans who have been trained in schools,
> have a high degree of written literacy. Some were part time extension
> officers, full time farmers, farmers whose primary language is either
> Kekchi or Mopan Maya, and who can read and write, but whose literacy is
> profoundly visual/botanic. Most farmers are not well served by
> chalkboard/classroom method of information transfer. Their literacy is not
> "academic". Their strengths are visual, with a high degree of botanic
> literacy. They walk through the farm and GET IT. They see what is working,
> and what is not. They know most of the plants and hone in on plants they do
> not know. Most of them have no
>  access to computers or co
> mputer literacy. That is an audience that an online PDC cannot reach. Yet
> they are the people who can IMMEDIATELY apply the information they are
> exposed to to their land.
>
> Can a PDC be presented in an online format? Not the PDC I took, with a lot
> of hands on work, a host of teachers with deep knowledge bases, students in
> comradery, fellowship, field visits to amazing farmers, and certainly not
> the ones I co-teach, which are heavy on evidence, using the venue of my
> farm as a way to present permaculture practices, decades in the making,
> well developed, having been actively managed with permaculture in mind for
> over 20 years, and field visits to some of those same amazing farmers. Can
> the internet make a batch of biochar? Can the internet collect food to send
> to an elderly feeding program? Can you walk in the shade of an agroforestry
> system designed and maintained for the last 24 years on the internet? Can
> the internet put hand in compost? Can the internet sit in the light of a
> light bulb powered by photovoltaics (well, yes, if the system is solar
> powered...)? Can the internet use an A frame level and dig a swale? Not
> really.
>  The internet is flat.
>   The textures can be rendered, but always in two dimensions. There is no
> smell, no taste, no changing sunlight, no early morning coffee, no late
> night conversation, no legs touching legs on a bench, no squeak of chalk on
> a chalk board. I would not consider them to be equal in any way. I am not
> saying that an online PDC cannot impart a lot of information, it definitely
> can, but the information will be flatter than a textured, dynamic and
> flowing PDC in flesh and blood, with dirt under fingernails, groups of
> people talking with passion, and cold coffee in 3/4 empty mugs.
>
> And $2200 for an internet course in permaculture? Sorry, but I do not see
> that! There are so many great flesh and blood courses out there for about
> half that, why would anyone take an online course for $2200?
>
> I don't see the need for a class like this.
>
>
>
> _____________________________
> Christopher Nesbitt
>
> Maya Mountain Research Farm
> San Pedro Columbia, Toledo
> PO 153 Punta Gorda Town, Toledo
> BELIZE,
> Central America
>
> Country code 501-630-4386
>
> www.mmrfbz.org
> www.facebook.com/MayaMountainResearchFarm
>
>
>
>
> On May 4, 2013, at 10:56 AM, Rhonda Baird wrote:
>
> > Bill Wilson at Midwest Permaculture offers a partial online experience.
> > People do self-study for the first week's content and come together at a
> > location to do a second week in person. I know that has been in place for
> > some years.
> >
> > I have to say that I have been developing an interest in organizing an
> > on-line course in combination with a shorter periods of in-person
> support.
> > I'm surprised at my own interest and the logic driving it, as I strongly
> > prefer in-person, face-to-face experiences. I am particularly thinking of
> > pairing with my state's technical schools as a good place to work. I
> think
> > one of the keys--and Andrew Millison seems to do this well--is to provide
> > community online and personal mentoring and support for practical work on
> > the ground where the student is located. While less perfect than a
> > residential course, I do think this has its place as time goes on and
> worth
> > careful exploration.
> >
> > I have been part of an online community for 14 years that does its
> > education and community-building online punctuated by optional weekend
> > intensives. In fact, I run a portion of the online educational programs,
> so
> > I know there are a number of challenges and benefits. There are lots of
> > options now--compared to 1998 when I got involved.
> >
> > walk in peace,
> > Rhonda Baird
> >
> >
> > On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 12:17 AM, Michael Pilarski <
> > friendsofthetrees@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> I would like to see a comparative review of all the on-line pc design
> >> courses offered. Prices, etc. Dan Hemenway has offered them for years.
> I
> >> believe there are others in Australia ? (pre Geoff L). I have deep
> respect
> >> for Andrew Millison and Marisha Auerbach who are offering a new on-line
> >> course.  Who are the others?
> >>
> >>
> >> I would also like to hear some comments by people who have gone through
> an
> >> on-line pdc. They would be the best people to judge how well it works.
> If
> >> there is no one on this list serve who has done an on-line course that
> is
> >> not a good sign.  If there is no one who has taken an on-line course
> that
> >> would give it good marks that is not a good sign.
> >>
> >>
> >> I think on-line courses have their place, but just like residential or
> >> weekend pdcs they are not all created equal.
> >>
> >>
> >> As Peter Bane opines, $2200 for Geoff Lawton's online pdc is not a good
> >> deal.  Geoff L. says his course is limited in size?  How limited, I
> would
> >> like to know.
> >>
> >>
> >> Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski
> >> Permaculture - Wildcrafting - Medicinal Herbs & Seeds
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
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--
Andrew Millison
(541) 752-9118
www.beaverstatepermaculture.com