Voices of Transition presents innovative, inspirational – and concrete – solutions to the food security challenges we humans increasingly face. It explores agroforestry models in France, permaculture and TRANSITION TOWN initiatives in England and the organic farming revolution in Cuba.
By focusing on immediate profit and ignoring millennia of experience in agronomy, agroindustry is responsible for the unprecedented erosion of soils now occurring around the world. Add climate change and dwindling natural resources to the picture, and it would appear that even societies in the Global North are no longer safe from famines. Voices of Transition is a film which is optimistic but clear-sighted. It makes clear that these current and impending crises are, in fact, positive challenges! 65 minutes.
After the film, Kris Hikari will share how Friends of Trees is working in Salem to build a sense of community through the simple act of planting trees together. She will touch on the many values of the “urban forest” and what we can all contribute to the growth and health of this commonly overlooked natural resource. Kris will also share upcoming opportunities to plant with Friends of Trees, and additional resources to get involved with the stewardship of Salem’s urban forest.
Friends of Trees is the northwest’s biggest and longest standing community forestry non-profit that plants trees with local volunteers throughout the Willamette Valley and into Vancouver, Washington. Our mission is to bring people together to plant and care for city trees and green spaces across the northwest. Over the course of the past 26 years, we have planted over a half a million trees and native shrubs with the help of tens of thousands of community members. FOT currently plants in over 20 municipalities, and is in it’s 4th planting season in Salem. Our efforts are largely driven by water quality goals, but also aim to increase shade and natural beauty in the city, reduce the urban “heat island effect”, and to improve urban livability overall.
Kris Hikari is a passionate steward of urban environments for the well-being of both people and wildlife. As Regional Programs Manager with Friends of Trees, she helps establish tree planting programs in new communities throughout the Willamette Valley. Kris is an ISA-certified arborist and has worked in the natural area restoration and urban forestry fields for over seven years. She holds a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Oregon, and previously studied geography of the Pacific Northwest at Portland State University. In her free time, Kris is an avid gardener, birder, naturalist, and bike builder.
Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share: Free Film and Lecture Series
Held in Salem every 4th Thursday @ 6:30pm (except November and December)
Salem 4th Thursday events include potluck & discussion
@ Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, 5090 Center Street. NE, Salem
For more information: 503-449-8077
This event is made possible by support from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, LifeSource Natural Foods, and private donations from people in our community. Thank you for your support!
Don’t delay! This will be the first time in three years that Dave Jacke’s Design Intensive will be taught in the U.S. Scholarships available, see below.
Edible Ecosystems Emerging:
Food Forestry for the 21st Century
Forest ecosystems exhibit many beneficial properties we humans would be wise to emulate in our culture, agriculture and horticulture:
They maintain, renew, fertilize, and propagate themselves without human inputs.
They build, store, and conserve clean air, clean water, nutrients, soil quality, and biodiversity.
They exhibit stability, resilience, and adaptability.
These qualities emerge from the dynamics of the forest as a whole system, not from any one or more of the elements that comprise the forest alone. To design productive edible ecosystems that express these same qualities, we must understand forest structures, functions, patterns, and processes, and use this knowledge wisely.
In this nine-day intensive course, you will dive deeply into the vision, theory, and practice of designing wholesome, dynamic, and resilient edible ecosystems using temperate deciduous forests as models. Dave Jacke and his teaching team will offer lectures, site walks, and experiential exercises to help you understand how the architecture, social structure, underground economics, and successional processes of natural forests apply to the design of edible ecosystems of all kinds. You’ll learn a variety of ecological design processes while designing a range of food-producing ecologies at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, while also providing detailed polyculture designs for an actual Public Edible Forest Garden Park, currently in the installation phase in Helena, MT. We’ll also engage with issues of garden management, economics, and the deep paradigmatic shifts required to succeed at co-creating “humanatural” landscapes and cultures. You will leave inspired and empowered to design food forests at home for yourself, and your friends, neighbors and clients.
INSTRUCTORS :
Dave Jacke is the lead author of the award winning two-volume book Edible Forest Gardens. Dave has been a student of ecology and design since the 1970s, and has run his own ecological design firm –Dynamics Ecological Design in Greenfield, MA – since 1984. Dave is an engaging and passionate teacher of ecological design and permaculture, and a meticulous designer. In addition to extensive teaching, he has consulted on, designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities in the many parts of the United States, as well as overseas. A cofounder of Land Trust at Gap Mountain in Jaffrey, NH, he homesteaded there for a number of years. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Simon’s Rock College (1980) and a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design (1984). Read more at http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/.
Juliette Olshock, M.S., M.Ed., studied sustainable agriculture and permaculture design at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and completed a permaculture apprenticeship at the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute. She is an adjunct professor with Chatham University’s Food Studies program, teaching about sustainable agriculture, permaculture and forest garden design. She was instrumental in designing and implementing the Hazelwood Food Forest. She co-founded Pittsburgh Permaculture, LLC, an ecological design and education firm. Read more at http://pittsburghpermaculture.org/.
Jessica Peterson and Caroline Wallace founded Inside Edge Design, LLC, based in Helena, Montana. Together with Dave Jacke, Inside Edge Design co-created the design for the 6th Ward Garden Park, the first public forest garden to utilize Dave’s design framework. They continue to work on the Park’s planning and implementation while offering a range of professional ecological and social design services. Read more about Inside Edge Design at www.insideedgedesign.com.
Accommodations include three organic, locally-sourced meals a day and use of all amenities – bathhouse, sauna, hot tub, as well as the Feathered Pipe Ranch facilities and grounds
OUR EDUCATION SITE: FEATHERED PIPE RANCH – Our education site is one of the oldest centers for conscious living and yoga retreats in the country. Surrounded by millions of acres of forest and mountains, your intensive experience delving into edible forest design systems will be complemented by the ability to “lounge, stretch, laugh, stroll, and savor the gift of releasing everything you don’t need…” as the Feathered Pipe Ranch’s website so aptly describes.
There are numerous private or shared lodging options, from luxurious, chalet-style rooms to tents, tipis and yurts nestled in the surrounding forest. After course registration, we will contact you to confirm your lodging preference.
Fall is one of the most spectacular times to visit Montana. Days that are still warm and very cool nights are the norm. The fall colors, and the crisp clean air will be something you remember!
PAYING FOR THE COURSE – We have been able to reduce the cost of this course to $1,580-$1,880 on an income-based sliding scale and will still be able to offer scholarships.
SCHOLARSHIPS – Payments over $1,580 will be added to the existing scholarship fund! If you are in need of a scholarship, please submit a letter (as a .pdf, please) in which you answer the following questions to InsideEdgeDesignLLC@gmail.com:
Why do you want to take this course? What do you hope to get from it?
What do you plan to do with what you learn in this course? What are your hopes and dreams as a teacher of permaculture?
Are there specific areas on which you would like to focus your teaching, in terms of topic areas, audiences, regions of the country/world?
DEPOSIT AND PAYMENT IN FULL – A $500 deposit is required upon registration, with payment in full due by September 2, 2015. $250 of the deposit is non-refundable.
Scholarships available, see the website below for details.
Note, This is not a NWPI event, but rather an exciting opportunity we believe might interest our audience. All questions about the event should be directed to Inside Edge Design.
NW Permaculture Institute 