For someone as attached to words and books and chairs as I am, gratuitous physical labor wouldn't ordinarily hold much appeal. Yet I had lately developed--in the garden, as it happened--an appreciation for those forms of knowledge that seem to yield most readily to the hands. Different kinds of work, performed with different sets of tools, can disclose different faces of the world, and my work in the garden had revealed a face of nature I'd never seen before, not as a reader or a spectator. What I'd gleaned there was a taste of what the "green thumb" has in abundance, this almost bodily sense of plants and the earth that comes from handwork, sweat, and a particular quantity of attention that involves very little intellect, but all of the senses. It reminded me just how much of reality slips through the net of our words, and that time spent working directly with the flesh of the world is the best antidote for abstraction.
-Michael Pollan, A Place Of My Own
Monday, April 5, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
MAT
I had my interview today for Graduate School. I think it went quite well, and I will know by the middle of March! Wish me luck, internet.
So, sign up for this website immediately, it's like Facebook for Permaculturists.
It is a great way to get involved with people who care about things like peak oil, climate change, community building, local foods and economies, and such. Just check out the groups, there is a little of everything.
I started a discussion just today about a slice of my vision.
Art in a Post-Oil World.
So, sign up for this website immediately, it's like Facebook for Permaculturists.
It is a great way to get involved with people who care about things like peak oil, climate change, community building, local foods and economies, and such. Just check out the groups, there is a little of everything.
I started a discussion just today about a slice of my vision.
Art in a Post-Oil World.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Food Fight
Another film that I'd love to see:
Watch the Trailer
Transition Rogers Park is hosting an event on April 14th.
Watch the Trailer
Transition Rogers Park is hosting an event on April 14th.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Guerilla Gardening
Ok, apparently Yes, people are doing this.
Isn't it great? It feels like no one is doing anything... but the minute you start researching how to do something, you find people are way ahead of you.
Isn't it great? It feels like no one is doing anything... but the minute you start researching how to do something, you find people are way ahead of you.
Webinar
The start of an 18 part YouTube series that is just fantastic.
The Case for Permaculture
Thank you, Bill and Becky Wilson.
I wish I could afford to take a certification course.
And see to me, this is another problem. The money thing. Say, Fred cannot afford to go to permaculture school, because Fred is broke. And he can't get a permaculture garden started on his apartment balcony, because he's broke. But what if Fred is just as passionate about permaculture as Bill Wilson? What are his resources? This is a problem for Fred if he lives in Lakeview or if he lives in Englewood.
At least Growing Home has an Urban Agriculture plot in Englewood. (I applied to work there- please hire me.)
Or here's another option... Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, please sponsor me through one of your design courses, or work with me to find someone who can afford to sponsor me, so that I can take this knowledge to low income communities. There are so many resources down there... talk about converting the "waste" of the industrial system into bounty.
Not to mention that people with passion from better communities can come and learn, too. Create a free learning-and-doing permaculure community. We put our brains together, I bet we can gather enough resources to get some things done.
What about guerilla planting? Anyone doing this? I'm talking about sprouting fruit and nut trees and planting them across low-income communities or in vacant lots around the city. Or scattering seeds of food-bearing plants in niches where they might prosper.
I'd love to see low income neighborhoods bursting with urban vertical gardens. Tomato plants hanging from every balcony. So much food could be grown in these communities... where organic produce is a fantasy.
But I'm broke. What happened to apprenticeship? I'll sleep on the floor. I'll clean your house. Just feed me and teach me.
...I sound like a zealot. Creepy.
The Case for Permaculture
Thank you, Bill and Becky Wilson.
I wish I could afford to take a certification course.
And see to me, this is another problem. The money thing. Say, Fred cannot afford to go to permaculture school, because Fred is broke. And he can't get a permaculture garden started on his apartment balcony, because he's broke. But what if Fred is just as passionate about permaculture as Bill Wilson? What are his resources? This is a problem for Fred if he lives in Lakeview or if he lives in Englewood.
At least Growing Home has an Urban Agriculture plot in Englewood. (I applied to work there- please hire me.)
Or here's another option... Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, please sponsor me through one of your design courses, or work with me to find someone who can afford to sponsor me, so that I can take this knowledge to low income communities. There are so many resources down there... talk about converting the "waste" of the industrial system into bounty.
Not to mention that people with passion from better communities can come and learn, too. Create a free learning-and-doing permaculure community. We put our brains together, I bet we can gather enough resources to get some things done.
What about guerilla planting? Anyone doing this? I'm talking about sprouting fruit and nut trees and planting them across low-income communities or in vacant lots around the city. Or scattering seeds of food-bearing plants in niches where they might prosper.
I'd love to see low income neighborhoods bursting with urban vertical gardens. Tomato plants hanging from every balcony. So much food could be grown in these communities... where organic produce is a fantasy.
But I'm broke. What happened to apprenticeship? I'll sleep on the floor. I'll clean your house. Just feed me and teach me.
...I sound like a zealot. Creepy.
Ingredients
Look!
I've found another promising documentary, though this trailer isn't quite as emotional as the FRESH trailer :)
The film is called Ingredients, and it talks about small, diversified family farms.
I've found another promising documentary, though this trailer isn't quite as emotional as the FRESH trailer :)
The film is called Ingredients, and it talks about small, diversified family farms.
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