[Lapg] Urban Ecosystem Agriculture Course at the Huntington

[C. Darren Butler]

Urban Ecosystem Agriculture
with C. Darren Butler (www.ecoworkshops.com) and Scott Kleinrock
at the Huntington Botanic Garden
September, 2011 to January, 2012

To apply:
http://huntingtonblogs.org/theranch/

Announcement from the Huntington:
The Huntington would like to invite applications for Urban Ecosystem
Agriculture, a train-the-trainer course to be held between September 3, 2011
and January 21, 2012.  This series is designed to empower Master Gardeners
and garden educators with a practical knowledge base of techniques and
theory necessary to establish productive, resilient, gardens based on
principles common to functioning ecosystems. Properly designed, implemented,
and maintained, these gardens hold promise of less work, less outside
inputs, and greater resilience to disturbances (plus they literally buzz
with life)!

Darren Butler and Scott Kleinrock will provide intensive training on topics
including applied ecology and urban agriculture, living soil systems, water
and irrigation, Mediterranean climate food forestry, and practical design
for urban agriculture. Classes will be held from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm on Sept
3 and 17, Oct 1 and 15, Nov 5 and 19, and Jan 14 and 21. A $150 deposit is
required upon acceptance into the course. Need-based scholarships are
available. The deposit will be refunded upon completion of at least 42 out
of 48 hours of instruction. The application is available at
http://huntingtonblogs.org/theranch/  with notification of acceptance by
August 13.

Further information from Darren Butler:
- class size limited to 25
- intended for skilled gardeners who are actively teaching gardening,
agriculture, or related topics in Southern California
- my understanding is that tuition will ultimately be free (after refund of
deposit) to those who attend at least 7 of the 8 sessions
- those who are accepted but don't attend at least 42 of 48 course hours
forfeit their deposit

We are interested in a wide range of attendees:
- Master Gardeners
- public and private educators from primary through university
- bilingual educators who serve nonEnglish demographics
- teachers within the permaculture community and related movements
- community garden and nonprofit instructors and leaders
- leaders within the homeschool community who are also skilled gardeners
- designers who teach
- farmers who teach
- adult and academic-extension educators
- and other professionals and educators

The course will bring together information, ideas, and methods from a wide
variety of sources, particularly my many years of study, design, consulting,
experimentation, thinking, and teaching on the topic; and Scott's
groundbreaking work at the Huntington. We anticipate a course that will
raise the bar in our understanding of gardening and producing food with
natural systems for Southern California.

 My hope is that the course will:
- be mind-opening, motivating, and life-changing for attendees
- accelerate the shift toward resilient urban agriculture in Southern
California
- provide expertise to attendees that can then be taught by attendees to the
public

I seek nothing less than a collaborative, creative effort with Scott, the
trainers who attend, and all who eventually learn from the trainers, to
shift our approaches to food, local and planetary systems that sustain life,
gardening, and agriculture in ways that positively impact individuals and
communities within Southern California.

If interested I recommend you apply immediately, no later than the end of
this week (by July 29). No application deadline has been stated by the
Huntington but notifications of acceptance will be provided by August 13.
Applications may continue to be accepted into early Autust. Note that I may
provide input during the selection process but have no final say in who is
admitted to the course.

For those who are interested in taking this course but do not qualify as
trainers, I and/or the Huntington may repeat it or major portions of it in
2012. Any announcement of such a repeat will go out to my main LA County
mailing list, which you can sign up for at www.EcoWorkshops.com.

All questions about course logistics and the application process should be
directed to Scott Kleinrock at the Huntington (see application at link above
for his contact information).

Contact me at butlercdarren at gmail.com with other questions.
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