Fwd: Permafloat a sail boat delivering permaculture to coast land areas

Sat Feb 26 22:53:02 PST 2000

>
> Delivered-To: lakinroe at silcom.com 
> Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 22:49:02 -0800 
> From: Marjorie Lakin Erickson 
> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; U) 
> X-Accept-Language: en 
> To: sbpcnet at silcom.com, lakinroe at silcom.com 
> Subject: Permafloat a sail boat delivering permaculture to coast land areas 
>
>
> http://www.permaculture.net/Colorado/permafloat.html 
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> Permaculture Afloat 
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> Our decision to launch ecological seagoing vessels is founded on the
> deceptively simple fact that most people live in coastal areas (60% of world
> population lives within 10 miles of a coastline). Positioned at the juncture
> of inland natural resources and waterbourne riches, coastal lands have
> throughout history been key to trade and cultural exchange. Coastal peoples
> are traditionally adaptable and resourceful, yet they are also particularly
> susceptible to resource depletion, pollution, climatic changes and economic
> dislocation. Global warming and sea level rise make these areas especially
> vulnerable. There are perhaps no more obvious and dramatic locales where the
> forces of collapse can be so effectively met by the forces of regeneration
> and renewal.
>
> Permaculture Afloat is delivering teachers, seeds and technologies to
coastal
> lands. Our floating educational institute provides living quarters, office
> and library space, and cooking and dining facilities. Books, journals, tools
> and small-scale sustainable technologies are the valuable cargo of our
> earth-friendly boat.
>
> The techniques promoted by the Permaculture Afloat program will enable
> farmers, gardeners, and landscapers to eliminate the use of dangerous
> chemicals, improve water quality in rivers, ground water and marine
> ecosystems; and grow more healthful food.
>
> We are addressing Permaculture on two levels in the Permaculture Afloat
> Program. First, we are promoting simple self-sufficiency for single families
> with backyard gardens. Secondly, we are introducing Permaculture design
> principals to farmers, school children and market gardeners.
>
> We first began organizing the Permaculture Afloat project in 1997 when we
> networked with government and non-government agencies in the Caribbean.
> Although we received a great deal of enthusiasm for teaching workshops in
the
> area, we lacked suitable funding to get the program off the ground. In late
> 1998 we received a donation of a 30-foot sail boat in excellent condition
and
> start up money for the program.
>
> CRMPI Director Jerome Osentowski is heading up this project but has been
> assisted by CRMPI staff and numerous volunteers. Over the next two years,
> Permaculture Afloat will focus on providing Permaculture information to
local
> native farmers and gardeners in the Bahamas. Many of the small island
> communities in the Bahamas have become dependent on food imports despite
> their year-round growing season. Unfortunately agriculture, especially
> small-scale farming, is increasingly being considered a lowly trade. We
> believe that by creating a network of Permaculture activists in the area we
> can enhance the status of small farmers, create a local source of diverse
> food stuffs, and help protect native ecosystems and cultures from the
> continuing influx of negative non-local influences.
>
> Attendance to our first Permaculture Afloat presentation in the Bahamas was
> overwhelming. Over 100 people showed up for our presentation on Man-o-War
> Cay, including local farmers, home gardeners, government officials, garden
> club members and high school students. The audience responded with a great
> deal of enthusiasm to our slides, and a great deal of questions! After the
> presentation we were approached with many invitations to do additional work,
> including the following:
>
> 1)Jerome gave a presentation to 25 local students at the Government High
> School's Agriculture class on Marsh Island and agreed to help them set up a
> demonstration plot and to help them test and develop methods of "alley
> cropping" and other Permaculture techniques for a local Neem (medicinal
herb)
> farmer. The Agriculture class's teacher, a native of Guyana, is extremely
> enthusiastic about Permaculture and is arranging to attend one of CRMPI's
> Permaculture Design Certification workshops in Colorado this coming summer.
> We are also arranging for her to spend a couple of weeks in Florida to learn
> from the agro-forestry group Echo.
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> 2) Jerome gave a presentation to a local primary school and was invited to
> help them set up a demonstration garden.
>
> 3) A local pig farmer and a local chicken farmer asked Jerome to help them
> set up more integrated systems for their operations.
>
> 4) Jerome conducted a small workshop for backyard gardeners.
>
> 5) A Customs agent (and enthusiastic backyard gardener) said he would help
> provide Permaculture Afloat with all the necessary approvals to bring seeds
> into the country. We would like to obtain seeds (donated whenever possible)
> to help local farmers and gardeners diversify their crops when appropriate.
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> Not bad for 6 days!
>
> After returning from the Bahamas Jerome gave a short presentation and a 1/2
> day workshop on Permaculture to the staff of Echo, a nonprofit with offices
> in Florida that promotes sustainable agriculture/forestry. They are really a
> wonderful group. Jerome obtained some seeds and books from them and
> established a long-term relationship with them for the future procurement of
> seeds and books for the Permaculture Afloat program.
>
> In this short time it has become quite obvious that there is a great deal of
> interest in, and a great deal of need for, information on Permaculture in
the
> Bahamas. Our goal is to provide workshops free of charge to local farmers,
> gardeners, and schools with limited budgets; and to charge those who can
> easily afford to pay or who have budgets for such presentations, i.e.,
garden
> clubs of the wealthy and some government agencies. Until the program is a
> little better established however, we will be relying on grants and
> individual contributions for support. We plan on conducting up to a half a
> dozen 4-day workshops over the next twelve months as well as dozens of
> shorter presentations.
>
> Any support you could provide towards this effort would be greatly
> appreciated. For more information please contact us at
> <mailto:permacul at rof.net>permacul at rof.net. Donations, payable to
"Permaculture
> Afloat", can be sent to:
>
> Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute (CRMPI)
> P.O. Box 631
> Basalt, CO 81623
>
> Note: Our long-term goal is to obtain a larger boat in order to carry a
> larger library and more Permaculture scholars and to take the program to
more
> distant shores. If you or your organization has a 40 to 65 foot sail or
> motorsailer that could be donated (it's tax deductible!) please contact us.
>
>   
>
> <index.htm>About Us | <Courses-workshops.htm>Course&Workshops | PC Afloat |
> <Consulting.htm>Consulting 
>


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