Idea's Brewing

Coming into Christmas Break, I didn't expect to have any big "ah ha" moments, but I did. Speaking with Patrick, my mentor, we started talking of putting on a permaculture design course on Sunrise Ranch this summer. It would include high school students from all over the front range and be 100% sustainable. All of the food would be grown on Sunrise and we would be camping for the whole week. Of course, Patrick would be the leader of the course but Stone and I would also be putting on presentations and activities. It is important that we get all students who are interested in sustainability and permaculture to attend this awesome event. No doubt we have lots of planning to go, but the ideas are in place to put on this conference. Funding is also a big question in our process.

Any ideas?
Anybody interested?

Interesting Article

http://permaculturewest.org.au/ipc6/ch04/tippett/index.html

The Power Of Community

This film will change the way you look at life and how you choose to treat the earth from here on out. At the end of the Soviet Union, Cuba's oil imports dropped, the way of living was declining and they were forced to resort to harmful fertilizers and pesticides, which required oil. Life got no better. They realized that the only way to live in there situation was to adopt organic urban agriculture and renewable energy. This was the key to survival.

    

     In the not to distant future, oil will be gone, forever, for everybody. Cuba is a model for how we will have to change our way of living in order to not only help the earth but keep humans in existence. But why wait? Why not adopt these ideas now so we can ease our way into this shift? That starts with a change of our mindset. "The promise-land is a state of mind." How can you help ease our way into a culture that is free from the chains of oil consumption? We are addicted to it, just like sugar, caffeine and corporate beef. We must find a balance. "Moderation is the key in life."

Baby Steps

I first experienced permaculture while camping with my mentor, Patrick, and some other close friends. Although the camping trip was just for fun, the ideas Patrick talked about really spoke to me. He preached the importance of observing nature and the patterns as well as designs in each living organism, then applying those to your permaculture design. One of the most important parts of permaculture is observation and planning stages. By first observing powerful patterns and then planning a bomber design, you can save tremendous amounts of energy. And saving energy is truly the beautiful essence of permaculture.

Here are some interesting designs to get you thinking:

So, how can we implement these designs not only into our sustainable systems but into our society? We have to get smart and get thinking. Could one of these possibly be used as a new and more efficient traffic movement system? Or maybe the building of a new structure?

What are your ideas?

First Blog

How does this thing work? I'm just supposed to spit all the things I am interested in onto this page? Alright that's cool, here it goes. Permaculture is my life. When my mentor Patrick first started lecturing me, I thought "this is what i will do with my life." It just made sense. If I can help educate and design this sustainable systems around the world, why not? So we got the ball rolling by putting together a set of objectives to complete. Hopefully one day these objectives can be used when Patrick's permaculture internship program is set in place at Sunrise Ranch. Although i have only completed a couple of these objectives so far, I know that I am helping something bigger form. With Patricks ideas and innovations, we can create a program that changes the lives of many, and eventually changes the world. Permaculture is life!