Hi Everyone-
This
month's meeting will be on Thursday, Dec 14, and we have the unexpected
pleasure of hosting permaculture teacher
Marsha Hanzi from Brazil, speaking on
PolyCultures in the Brazilian
Drylands. Although Brazil is best
known for its vast rainforests, it is also home to an immense semi-arid
region, which as a result of bad land practices causing desertification,
is growing rapidly. Located in the northeast part of the country,
the Sertão region is composed of hundreds of micro-climates and specific
ecosystems rich in fauna and flora, but it is also densely populated and
highly degraded.
Marsha
(www.marsha.com.br)
is the founder of the first Brazilian
Permaculture Institute in Bahia. She
studied with permaculture founder Bill Mollison and international
Ecovillage designer Max Lindegger among others. Her main motive for
getting into Permaculture has been the question of Brazil´s unsustainable
agricultural model. She participated in the founding of
the Brazilian agroforest
movement. In 2003 Marsha moved to a
piece of bare sand in the Brazilian drylands, where she is now
implementing the "Marizá Epicenter
for Culture and Agroecology", a
space open to courses and events, nestled in a newly-planted cashew-based
agroforest.
We of
course are very interested in hearing everything Marsha can tell us about
Brazil, in anticipation of the
International Permaculture Conference
(www.IPC8.org)
to be held in Brazil in May
2007, which some from the Santa Barbara
region will be attending. It is a vast country in size and
resources and has a population almost as diverse as America's, but most
of us know very little about it. With all the environmental
challenges facing humanity, can we afford to be so ignorant about the
rest of the world? Permaculture has a wonderful way of linking
worlds with teachers and practioners such as Marsha, please join us for
this special opportunity. Please see below for more information
about location and times, including an evening talk in Ojai.
The year
comes to an end, and so we begin planning for next year. To start
things off we hope to have a New
Year's hike to bring our South Coast Permaculture groups together
(Ventura, Santa Barbara, Ojai, La
Conchita) by going to a favorite location, Sulphur Mountain Rd near
Ojai. Please stay tuned for further announcements about this
gathering. In January we will host author Shay Solomon as she
travels through California on a booktour for her newly published book,
Little House on a Small
Planet. Darren Dougherty
(www.permaculture.biz)
from Australia will be here in April to teach
Keyline
Design, a system of repairing degraded
landscapes, based on the works of P.A. Yeomans, author of
Water for Every
Farm, a book that was the foundation for
much of what permaculture teaches.
Santa Barbara Permaculture
Network has pledged to bring five South
Africans from the Trees for the Future organization to the International
Permaculture Conference (IPC8) in Brazil, and will be
holding a
fundraiser in the new year to accomplish
that goal.
For those
still shopping for holiday gifts or wishing to contribute to worthy
causes before the end of the year, please go to the website of
Quail Springs Learning Center &
Permaculture Farm
(www.quailsprings.org)
to learn about their unique Trees for
Children gift program.
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network is a
501(c)
(3)
non-profit, that operates solely on volunteer staff hours and revenues generated by programs to create more programs, and is therefore also happy to receive any contributions to help further our work.
Thanks for a great year,
Hope to see you soon-
Margie Bushman
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
<<<<<<<<
Events/ Info Dec 2006/Jan 2007:
Polycultures in the Brazilian Drylands-
A New Version of an Old Tradition
with Brazilian Permaculture Teacher Marsha Hanzi
Two Locations:
Tues Dec 12
Talk & Slide Show 7pm, $5
(no-host dinner at 6pm)
Farmer & the Cook Organic Market & Restaurant
339 W. El Roblars Rd
Meiners Oaks (near Ojai)
Thursday, Dec 14, 7-9pm
Talk & Slide Show, ($5 donation for the speaker)
South Coast Permaculture Guild (SB Chpt) Monthly Meeting
Santa Barbara City College East Campus, Room A-162 SBCC MacDougall Administration Bldg,
Take first left after coming into East Campus Entrance for parking
(go online for Campus Map: www.sbbc.edu, About SBCC/Campus map)
721 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, CA
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Ongoing/DEC 2006:
The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is offering a extra 15% discount to members (25% total) for the month of December on purchases in the Gift Shop and Garden Growers Nursery. As mentioned in earlier newsletters, the Botanic Garden carries a large selection of books on permaculture & sustainability, including the following:
- Plants for a Future; Edible & Useful Plants for a Healthier World
by Ken Fern
published by A Permanent Publications & Permaculture Association (Britain)
Excerpt from the book:
"The way we currently produce our food is damaging both to ourselves and our planet. We need to create gardens, woodlands and farms which are in harmony with nature. Natural ecosystems are good models, but many of the plants they contain are not edible. We need to discover a wide variety of easily grown perennials and self-seeding annuals which provide delicious and healthy food"
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
JAN, 2007
Booktour, dates to be announced
Little House on a Small Planet, by Shay Salomon
"At a time when the news is filled with stories of three-car garage McMansions, Shay Salomon offers a terrific corrective. LITTLE HOUSE ON A SMALL PLANET shows how smaller, cozier homes provide an antidote to America's epidemic of loneliness, by building community, saving energy and reducing our impact on the planet. If you've ever thought of scaling down, you have a good reason to read this book. If you haven't thought about it, you have an even better one!" - John de Graaf, PBS producer and author, AFFLUENZA: THE ALL-CONSUMING EPIDEMIC
Shay Salomon, smallhouse@theriver.com
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Ongoing Discussion for South Coast Permaculture Group Meetings:
Members are encouraged to send comments from past meetings and discussions to this site location. Our last meeting had Mark Lakeman of the City Repair Project speaking at Adam Green's Santa Barbara City College Environmental Studies class, which generated a standing ovation from the students and an enthusiastic conversation that continued off site.
<<<
Resources:
Sustainable World Radio, KCSB 91.9fm, Fridays 9-10am PST, streaming live at www.kcsb.org
Program includes interviews with many permaculture speakers.
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network Website, www.sbpermaculture.org, has monthly events calendar and upcoming events page for happenings in our region and beyond (national & international courses listed), and links to other organizations in our area.
Arashi Permaculture Listserve: Post and receive announcements of permaculture events in Southern and Central Calif and beyond. Formed after Permaculture Design course in 1997 with Bill Mollison. Sign up for your location, www.arashi.com
Hopedance Magazine, www.hopedance.org, No longer hosts permaculture and natural building calendar, but will sponsor an ad with references to other websites for courses and event announcements.
Permaculture Activist, www.permacultureactivist.net, permaculture publication for North America
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, www.sbbg.org (10% discount for members)
Bookshop
Carries large selection of permaculture & sustainability books.
Nursery
Native plants available all year, hours,10-3pm daily.
-end-
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie@sbpermaculture.com
www.sbpermaculture.org
"We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order to grow." - Anonymous