[Scpg] AUG 2007/South Coast Permaculture Guild (SB Chpt) Monthly Mtg. & Events Announcement List/Brazilian Celebration Announcement (Sat Aug11)

[Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

August 2007 Events & Calendar. 
Special Invitation:
Saturday, August 11, 2007, 5:30-10pm
312 E. Sola Street, in the Courtyard

Brazil, Brazil, we loved Brazil..
Please join Santa Barbara Permaculture Network for a mini-Brazilian
celebration 
as we talk about our recent month long trip to Brazil and 
the 8th International Permaculture Conference (www.ipc8.org).

Food & Potluck, Music, Slide Show,  and plenty of space at the early meeting
for all those who just completed Permaculture Design Courses in our area to
talk about their experiences and plans for local organizing, so much
enthusiasm
in our region! (more info in events calendar below)
There will be prizes for those coming in Carmen Miranda attire!

August 2007 South Coast Permaculture Guild/SB Chpt. Newsletter
(Calendar of Events listed at bottom)

Since this is probably our last newsletter, a bit of storytelling &
reflection...

Hi Everyone, 

It's our 10 year Anniversary! 

In 1997 we took a Permaculture Design Course with Bill Mollison in Ojai
California, coming back to do grassroots community organizing in our region. 
How appropriate that exactly ten years ago this summer, we found ourselves in
Brazil for the the 8th International Permaculture Conference (www.ipc8.org ).

        Whew!  what an amazing journey.  In this ten year period, we
participated in two parallel endeavors in our efforts at community
organizing. 
With other communities we helped form the South Coast Permaculture Guild, a
membership based, informal affiliation of people, groups, and organizations in
our region of Santa Barbara, Ojai, and Ventura. This included anyone
interested
in doing Permaculture activities in any shape or organization form they
chose. 
Locally we formed the Santa Barbara Chapter of South Coast Permaculture Guild,
holding monthly meetings, roadtrips,
Eco-Film Nights, and other activities that all could be a part of.

        We were new at community organizing, but Wes Roe in his usual
"seize the
day" style, started things off with a Ferro Cement workshop just a couple of
weeks after our big design course (we had over 100 in our class), knowing the
value of linking people together before the good energy dissipates.  For that
weekend workshop approximately 60-70 people showed up, and a ferro cement
water
tank was built with only a small instruction book and lot's of enthusiasm. Our
monthly meetings started soon after with anywhere from 5-60 participants, but
big or small, we committed to always holding them, knowing over the long term
momentum would build.

        In time we also felt it would be valuable to form an educational
non-profit, so Wes and I did that in 2000, to specifically bring a wide
array of
educational programs and teachers to our area, with a mission of permeating
and
saturating our community with all things relating to permaculture and
sustainability, until no one could say they didn't know what the word
"permaculture" meant.  And thus, Santa Barbara Permaculture Network was
born. (
www.sbpermaculture.org). The two organizations existed side by side, one with
plenty of room for others to come in and experiment with many formats, the
other remaining true to a specific educational mission.

        Our beginning years included many collaborators (bless all
collaborators, for indeed, they make the world go round).  Oscar Carmona
working
at the Community Environmental Council (CEC) as Director of Gardens made space
for us, we worked together as co-sponsors of many programs we dreamed up,
holding them at the old CEC Gildea Resource Center and Gardens, which we still
miss to this day.  We did many innovative programs those first few years,
including our first, a series called "Visions of Gardens & Communities, Learn
the Wisdom of Sustainable Living", with Fairview Gardens director Michael
Ableman, Biodynamics expert Steve Moore, John Jeavons with a Biointensive
Mini-Farm workshop, and permaculture designer & teacher Larry Santoyo.  Soon
after we held a two day Harvest Festival with music, exhibits and
demonstrations, that among others included Lorenz Schaller of KUSA Seeds
teaching us it is still possible to grow ancient seed grains, even in Santa
Barbara. Without Oscar, this ambitious endeavor that launched us into the
community would not have happened, and set the tone for everything that
followed.  Thank you Oscar.

   Larry Santoyo came down from the San Luis Obispo area and did some of the
most innovative programs ever, starting with a two day pattern course called
Visioning a Permaculture Site that included five different locations for
participants to observe and make attempts at design as we learned about
pattern
literacy, in locations urban and rural, and even a juvenile detention
center in
the mix.  Penny Livingston arrived to teach a four day introduction to
permaculture workshop. Remember, in those days we were still in the Intro
mode,
permaculture for the most part new to the local vocabulary.  Bill Roley did a
Permaculture & Healthy Watersheds workshop that brought a whole new group into
our permaculture world, those from government agencies, held at the South
Coast
Watershed Resource Center, another great collaboration. We explored topics
from
Holistic Range Management to Permaculture Credit Unions, and never missed an
Earthday, LiveOak Music Fest, Organic Festival, or any other public venue
where
our exhibits could be shown and we could talk Permaculture.  We developed very
successful book tours for authors of permaculture, sustainability and natural
building, many self-published, to travel minstrel style up and down the coast
and sometimes even to other states, sharing their expertise.  We developed
great skill sharing methods to help empower communities to do their own
organizing around events.  These authors never failed to leave behind a
tremendous wake of interest.

        We began to include Natural Builders, like  Gary Duncan, Robert
Bolman,
Catherine Wanek, Joseph Kennedy, Robert LaPorte and Ianto Evans, explaining to
those of us who were still new to the subject, that Green Building and Natural
Building might be two different things. Strawbale, Cob, and Superadobe became
part of our vocabulary.  Lots to learn.  

        Getting the word out to the community on what we were up to was
greatly
enhanced by a wonderful association with Bob Banner, publisher of Hopedance
Magazine (www.hopedance.org)  Creative meteorite energy that he is, he
blazed a
trail with his publication around sustainability issues, and allowed us to
be a
part of that by coming in as contributors and local editors for several years,
and even let us do one issue devoted entirely to Permaculture.  It's can still
be viewed on our website,  (www.sbpermaculture.org, go to related articles). 
More recently, Jill Cloutier, with Sustainable World Radio (www.kcsb.org), has
given space and exposure to many of the Permaculture programs and teachers we
have brought to Santa Barbara.

        We became a member of the Santa Barbara Ecological Education Coalition
(SBEEC), a group of local environmental groups participating in the Santa
Barbara City College Adult Education program, and a series called "Living
Smart,
Living Sustainably", exposing us to students young and old, reaching a very
wide
audience.  We also collaborated on programs with a dynamic group of students
from SB City College and their new organization, Santa Barbara City College
Students for Sustainability Coalition.  We formed a mutual admiration society
with two wonderful people, Larry Saltzman & Linda Buzzell with their Santa
Barbara Organic Club, sharing ideas and strategies for bringing good stuff to
our town.  

        Others over the years have included Permaculture co-originator David
Holmgren speaking about Energy Descent; Mark Lakeman of Portlands City Repair;
Toby Hemenway & Gaia's Garden, Robina McCurdy from New Zealand with
thoughts on
Permaculture and Education; Brad Lancaster on Rainwater Harvesting, Declan
Kennedy on EcoVillages around the globe, Geoff Lawton on Permaculture &
Sustainable Aid; Starhawk on Earthbased Spirituality, and many, many
more---exposing us to the amazing depth and width of this subject of
Permaculture.  Most recently Darren Doherty came from Australia with a six day
intensive on Keyline Design, with implications for large scale agriculture and
even strategies to address climate change.

        So what does our future hold?  After our recent trip to Brazil and the
International Permaculture conference, we hope to concentrate on support for
the next International conference in Africa in 2009.  We would also like to
host
with others a regional convergence for the Southwest and Drylands regions.
Our
non-profit, Santa Barbara Permaculture Network will still bring educational
programs to our area, but we are looking forward to handing over the local
meetings and anything else they might think up, to the many enthusiastic
graduates of recent Permaculture Design courses in our area.  There is a new
Sustainability Center on the horizon with Santa Barbara City College, and
under
the direction of Enviromental Studies coordinator Adam Green, permaculture and
some of our programs will be a part of that.

        So with GRATITUDE to all, we invite you to come be a part of a
celebration on August 11, 2007, where we share our experiences of the
International Conference and month in Brazil, and take time to reflect on the
experiences of the last 10 years.  Brazil held so many extraordinary
experiences, it deserves a storytelling session all it's own, including
time in
the big city of Sao Paulo, an Eco-Village in the Cerrado (savahnna
drylands), a
boat ride on the Amazon, and the beautiful historic city of Salvador, Bahia. 

Since we can no longer afford despair, let's try joy! (with a brazilian theme)

Hope to see you soon-

Margie Bushman
SB Permaculture Network

Upcoming Events:

August 11, 2007, Brazil Night
Location, 312 E. Sola St, in the Courtyard:   
5:30-6:30 South Coast Permaculture Guild/SB Chpt Mtg 
(bring your recent experiences to share and ideas for local organizing) 
6:30pm -10pm SB Permaculture Network hosts a Brazilian Celebration: 
6:30pm Food (provided, but potluck encouraged, take the challenge, have fun
with
Brazilian recipes) 
7:30pm - Brazil Slide Show & Talk 
8:30pm 10 pm Music, Dance, Joyful Brazilian stuff, bring your CD's, music
makers, drummers welcome. (The Soho in downtown SB is also having a Brazilian
music night August 11, after 10pm, those wanting to continue the fun can walk
over. Entrance fee, $10).  
<<<
October 13 - Permaculture Lecture with Darren Doherty, Ojai, Contact Quail
Springs, info at quailsprings.org, www.quailsprings.org

October 15-27 - Permaculture Design Course - 12 day - Cuyama, CA, Contact
"Quail
Springs" <info at quailsprings.org>

November 2-4 -  Keyline Design Course - 3 day - Marin, CA, Contact Penny
Livingston-Stark,
info at regenerativedesign.org, www.regenerativedesign.org

Nov 8 7-9:30pm - Keyline Lecture, Santa Barbara City College, Contact Margie
Bushman, margie at sbpermaculture.org

November 9-10 - Keyline Design Course - 2 day - Santa Margarita, CA,
Contact Larry Santoyo, santoyo at earthflow.com www.earththflow.com 

November 12-13 - Keyline Design Course - 2 day - Goleta, CA, Contact Guner
Tautrim,
gunerandheidi at yahoo.com

To find out more about Darren Doherty and Keyline Design: www.permaculture.biz

Upcoming Event, EcoNest workshops:
The beginning stages of the EcoNest will involve workshops in which builders,
home owners, or other interested folks will work with the EcoNest team in a
series of two workshops that give the participant a solid foundation in
understanding this unique system of sustainable building.  The Timberframe
Workshop is scheduled for November 5-11.  The Clay/Straw Building Training is
November 12-17.  Cost is TBA.   If you would like to be on an initial interest
contact list, please email
<mailto:info at quailsprings.org>info at quailsprings.org. 

October 2007 through March 2008  5th Annual Los Angeles Permaculture Design
Course 1st weekend of each month In and Around Los Angeles County, Contact
Larry Santoyo, santoyo at earthflow.com www.earththflow.com 

Jan- June 2008 Santa Barbara Permaculture Design Course, 2nd weekend of each
month, in and around Santa Barbara County, Contact Larry Santoyo,
santoyo at earthflow.com www.earththflow.com 

-end-








Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie at sbpermaculture.com
www.sbpermaculture.org

"We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order to
grow." - Anonymous

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