NW Permaculture Institute

Earth Care, People Care, Future Care

Tag Archives: drought


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Registration has begun! Permaculture classes starting in Salem Sept 10th…

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Permaculture Essentials for the Pacific NW, 36 hour class

Build resilience, save money and energy, save water, and feed your family or community.
Come join our latest classes!

12 classes – $15 each (If all classes are paid in advance, course discounted to $160)

Permaculture is “Earth Care, People Care, and Return of Surplus,” combining traditional and innovative methods that are sustainable and energy saving, enriching to the soil and all life. Design a system to feed your family, or complete additional short classes to earn your certificate and work as a consultant.

Permaculture Essentials for the Pacific NW covers permaculture history and ethics and goes into depth on the core concepts for creating sustainable systems by observing connections and capturing energy. Explore the energy transactions of trees, the roles of fungi, and the many functions of living soil. Learn pH, mineral availability, and enriching your soil with worm beds, weeds as repair tools, and compost fixing strategies. Study landscape effects on climate and temperate climate design for your home and landscape from kitchen gardens to main crops and food forests. This course prepares you to design a sustainable system for your yard or small farm in the Pacific NW.

Saturdays, starting September 10th, 2016, 10am-1pm,
@ Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, 5090 Center St. NE, Salem, Oregon.
Instructor, L. June, email nwperma at gmail dot com, or call 503-449-8077 for questions or registration

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Salem Free Film Event, Abundance on a Dry Land: Water Crisis or Run-off Crisis? Harvesting Solutions, August 25th @ 6:30pm

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Abundance on a Dry Land: Water Crisis or Run-off Crisis?  Harvesting Solutions

 

In California and other regions affected by drought, agriculture is suffering from a lack of water and farms are being abandoned at an alarming rate. Fortunately, some people have developed solutions to capture the rains that DO fall. In many dry regions around the world, land restoration helps water penetrate healthy soils and in turn increase crop yields.

Even in dry areas, water which typically might run off, can be harvested and stored in tanks, ponds and swales. By using swale systems, gabions, biodiversity, mulching, pioneer trees, animals both wild and domestic, check dams, fruit forests, keyline plows, compost teas and many other methods, it is possible to turn the soil into a large sponge, and design new productive landscapes.

Abundance on a Dry Land explores the work of Erik Ohlsen, Geoff Lawton and other growers, permaculture designers and educators, showing how intentional design can benefit both humans and nature.  52 mins.

 

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 email nwperma@gmail.com or call 503-449-8077


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Save money, energy, and water growing healthy food at home, new permaculture class starts September 28th @ 6:30

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Design your own lower maintenance garden and reap the benefits for years to come

Permaculture Essentials for the Pacific NW
12 classes – $15 each (If all classes are paid in advance, course discounted to $160)

Permaculture is “Earth Care, People Care, and Return of Surplus,” combining traditional and innovative methods that are sustainable and energy saving, enriching to the soil and all life. Design a system to feed your family, or complete additional short classes to earn your certificate and work as a consultant.

Permaculture Essentials for the Pacific NW covers permaculture history and ethics and goes into depth on the core concepts for creating sustainable systems by observing connections and capturing energy. Explore the energy transactions of trees, the roles of fungi, and the many functions of living soil. Learn pH, mineral availability, and enriching your soil with worm beds, weeds as repair tools, and compost fixing strategies. Study landscape effects on climate and temperate climate design for your home and landscape from kitchen gardens to main crops and food forests. This course prepares you to design a sustainable system for your yard or small farm in the Pacific NW.

Let’s build resilience, save money and energy, save water, and feed our communities now.
Come join one of our latest classes!

Monday evenings, starting September 28th, 2015, 6:30pm-9:30pm,
@ Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, 5090 Center St NE, Salem.
Instructor, L. June, call 503-449-8077 for questions or registration

Presented by the NW Permaculture Institute. Our instructors and staff studied permaculture with world renowned permaculture designer & instructor, Geoff Lawton, of PRI, Australia, and his students. We offer classes at low rates, as well as free film and lecture series to further educate our students and the community. NWPI works with homeless and low income families to provide education to those who would otherwise be unable to take a permaculture course. Scholarships are available on a limited basis for those with financial need. Contact us for information on applying, or on donating to our scholarship fund, or to support our free film and lecture series, nwpermacultureinstitute.org


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Climate Refugees, Free Film and Potluck in Salem, September 24th @ 6:30

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Climate Refugees
A concrete human problem with enormous worldwide consequences

Experts predict that by mid-century hundreds of millions of people will be uprooted as a result of sea level rise and an increase in extreme weather events, droughts and desertification. Little is being done to plan for the potential mass migration of millions of refugees who will be forced to cross national borders, nor the food shortages this will cause worldwide. According to the UN, there are already more environmental refugees in the world than political or religious refugees. The Pentagon now considers climate change a national security risk and the phrase ‘climate wars’ is being talked about in war-rooms. This film features a variety of leading scientists, relief workers, security consultants, and major political figures, including John Kerry and Newt Gingrich. All make a strong case that, whether human-caused or a product of nature, the changing climate is already creating humanitarian disasters and will inevitably lead to worldwide political instability. Filmed in Bangladesh, Tuvalu, China, Fiji, Chad, Sudan, Kenya, Maldives, Europe & the US, 86 mins.

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, Life Source Natural Foods, and private donations from people in our community.  Thank you for your support!


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Two Free Films for February: Growing Cities and The Man Who Stopped the Desert

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Growing Cities: A Film About Urban Farming In America
A documentary film that examines the role of urban farming in America and asks how much power it has to revitalize our cities and change the way we eat.  In their search for answers, filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette take a road trip and meet the men and women who are challenging the way this country grows and distributes its food, one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time.  Join them as they discover that good food isn’t the only crop these urban visionaries are harvesting. They’re producing stronger and more vibrant communities, too.

Febuary 17th @ 6:30 pm, Pringle Creek Community 3911 Village Center Drive, SE, Salem.  Made possible with support from the Pringle Creek Community.  For more info call Diana Cason  941-735-0452

 

 

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The Man Who Stopped the Desert
“Yacouba Sawadogo, a peasant farmer from northern Burkina Faso in Africa, has succeeded where international agencies failed. Over the last twenty years he has become a pioneer in the fight against desertification and hunger. Yacouba’s struggle is pure, inspiring drama. It is about one man’s determined efforts that have the potential to benefit many thousands living in the Sahel region of Africa.
As early as the 1970′s, the Sahel became a bleak land as a result of severe drought combined with overgrazing, poor land management, and overpopulation. By the 1980′s the region, which once had a population of some 30 million, suffered from severe poverty and starvation. Yacouba remained undaunted. Through the combination of his vast reforestation project and the adaptation of an ancient agricultural ‘zai’ planting technique, his name is now synonymous with reversing the process of desertification and combating food shortages. Yacouba’s work over a quarter century has resulted in the successful rehabilitation of farmland, the regrowth of forests, and the return of many to their homeland, as well as praise from international organizations eager to learn more about his techniques.”

February 26th @ 6:30pm, Event includes finger food potluck and discussion, @ 5090 Center Street. NE, Salem.  Made possible with support from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem and Life Source Natural Foods.  More info call: 503-449-8077