Permaculture adventures in Sector39

trying to make sense of living in a crazy time

Archive for June, 2010

Permaculture Design Courses

Jun 28

Posted by Steven Jones in courses, permaculture, sustainability | 1 Comment


permaculture rainbow serpent

permaculture rainbow serpent

We are offering two Permaculture Design Courses this Autumn – a 2 – week intensive in October and one spread over 6 weekends and 6 months starting end September

The 72 hr Permaculture Design Course curriculum can just about be sqeezed into an action packed fortnight of classes, practicals, field trips and site visits. It is a truly intensive experience, an immersion in sustainability and a step change in your thinking and a chance to meet people with similar interests adn obkectives. For  many participants the course is a life changing and life reaffirming experience.

However it is not always possible to take 2 weeks out of your life to immerse yourself in this way.. so I am pleased to be able announce we are offering our first PDC spread over a series of 6 Weekends and six months. Starting in September 2010 and finishing in March 2011 – with the Dec/ new year off, of course.

This will be based in Llandrindod Wells, in the middle of Powys and we will be working with the Llandod Transition Towns group and the Mid Wales Permaculture Network to deliver the course.  Its a must for anyone in the Mid Wales or borders area who want to be part of this active and growing network and to be equipped with the knowledge and vision of permaculture design to create sustainable homes, lives and communities.

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Requiem for Detroit, welcome to the future

Jun 26

Posted by Steven Jones in evolution, peak oil, permaculture, sustainability | No Comments

Requiem for Detroit – welcome to the future
(not sure why I am getting auto draft as a title above.. sorry ’bout that)

With its big chrome cars, 24 hour production lines and fantastic wealth, Detroit was the very embodiment of the American dream. Consumerism began here.. and it died here. Population has collapsed from over 2 million to less than 800,000.

“Amongst the ruins of the city, what was the Paris of the midwest – the frontier city of american dream,  lies the first post-American city. Its a darkly cautionary tale for the whole industrialised world.  Its a first pioneer’s map of the post industrial future which awaits us all”

“Over the last few years 50,000 houses have been pulled down and turned into vacant lots (in Detroit)”

“the fastest growing movement in the United States today is the urban agriculture movement”

“Food is the way you begin to care for yourself and (and growing food makes you) begin to think about yourself in a very different way”

This excellent documentary is the tale of our times really. The century of the motor car, also the intransigence of big business, the inability to see ahead and to embrace change, its a tale of greed, oppression, racism, divided communities. It is about how money looks after itself and people are expendible. AND It is contains real hope, a real positive message, that you can rebuild from the bottom up, that nature will reclaim the ruins of our so called civilization and that we will be able to move on and find new, different and more creative and sustainable ways of living.

Here’s some links: BBC News story on Urbam farming in Detroit

Urban farming network, USA

Earthworks Urban farm Detroit

Greens and Greenbacks. Metro times article on Urban farms

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Yurt making course in August

Jun 23

Posted by Steven Jones in courses, permaculture, yurts | No Comments

yurt making

Yurt making

3-day Yurt making course in August
The three day yurt making course is definitely one of our most popular courses, the mix of practical work and new skills and the relaxed chatty atmosphere of doing the work makes for a great experience. We are trying to reach out a but more and work with new partners all the time and in the spirit of solidarity and spreading the good will we are planning our next course to be held at a lovely place, not far from Leek in north Staffs, called Farm2Grow.

The owners Helen and Ian came on our Permaculture Design Course last Autumn, as a way to develop their plans and ideas of how to develop their 10 acre plot, which they have the vision of developing as a care/ theraputic farm. A place for people to connect with nature, convalesce perhaps and they also work with all sorts of differently abled and special needs types groups I understand.

rhian

Rhian at the roundhouse near Rhaeadr

We run all our courses in the spirit of permaculture design ethics and principles. The idea to create beneficial links and to strengthen our community of artisan, teahcers and gardeners working for sustainability on personal and community levels. So its all about working together as best we can, to reinforce our wider goals and aspirations. So it is a great pleasure to be working with Pike at Farm2 grow…

I have also been very busy working on the Pikea website, my green wood working friends who I run this course with. We want to build a shop for products from people from the region here.. from baskets to musical instrument, Yurts to doors and windows. We are developing more course ideas with Pikea and trying to build comissions for their original work onto some of the projects we are working with. I am keen to use greenwood benches and as well as the timber frame round house on the Cwm Harry project. I want everything we use as far as possible to embody our principles of working with sustainable, natural local materials and skills to both demonstrate what is possible and hopefully inspire people to realise how easy it can be to make this kind of stuff oneself.

rh roof

Round house roof detail

I was really inspired to see the traditional  round house they are building near Rhaeadr, as part of woodland project they are running there, building space for kids and adults to connect with woodland work

rh wall

Roundhouse wall detail

The visit  has given me lots of ideas for what we might build at the project in Newtown I am working on – more fantastic green wood working ideas. We want to buld a shelter at Cwm Harry for the communty garden project to create a space for people and store our tools etc. I also want to create something striking that will stand out on the industrial estate there and get us noticed. weare working with Youth Offenders adn ohter special interest groups there and I am hoping it will generate useful interesting work for volunteers to engage in that will be genuinely inspiring for them to do and can really take pride in.

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Drill Baby Drill (not)

Jun 19

Posted by Steven Jones in climate change, energy, peak oil, renewable energy, sustainability | 1 Comment

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Permaculture Wales

Jun 18

Posted by Steven Jones in Wales, permaculture | No Comments

Innaugural meeting of the Permaculture Wales development network in Llandrindod Wells

wales permaculture group

Permaculture Wales development group

[in picture; Anthony, Rhian, Mervyn, Martin , John, Steve, Julie, Chris, Jane, Chris , Ros. Lower; Janys, Van, Steve, Mandy, Sharon, Looby.]

Huge thanks to Janys for hosting the event, Looby and Andy G for facilitating.. fantastic day and the seeds for many new collaborations sown I hope, I am sure.

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Salop star

Jun 18

Posted by Steven Jones in permaculture | No Comments

A hastily written response to a negative article in the SHROPSHIRE STAR complaining of occasional release of odours caused by the composting process at cwm harry
Dear Anwen,

Stink? We are turning it into a tourist destination!

I read your piece on Cwm Harry on Friday with great interest and would love to respond to the article.

Whilst of course i have sympathy for those complaining about he ‘stink’ fom the community composting unit at Cwm Harry in Newtown my first thought was more about the nature of the plant itself and I wondered if people were aware of the potential importance of this ground breaking project.

There are of course tight environmental controls over such things as commercial composting and the Trust is regularly monitored by the Environment Agency to ensure there is compliance with regulations. There is a regular body of staff working there who really just get used to the sweet smell of compost and dont see it as a problem at all. It is a matter of perception to a degree, we all get used to traffic noise and fumes and other discomforts and I wondered if a lack of understanding of the project’s goals might add to the grievences, so I wanted to outline what the project is all about.

As a new recruit, i started working there a month ago I am full of enthusiasm for their work. In fact we are developing the back lot of the site as a community resource and garden where we are teaching food growing skills and promoting local food production. We take visitors from the community and school groups, have regular volunteers and even the occasional green tourist!

We live in intereting times, as the Gulf of Mexico fills swith spilt oil we are reminded that ten calories of oil are currently used to produce a single calorie of food in our modern system of production. Modern food production is simply not sustainable as it is so reliant on oil, which is of course a finite resource. Here at Cwm Harry we are not about preaching to anyone, but we do have a strong feeling that composting, recycling nutrients and more local food production will be an increasingly important part of food production in the near future and I am proud to be a part of that ground breaking research.

We are planning open days and other comunity events so there will be lots of opportunity to come and find out more about the project and a chance to make up your own mind –  is it the sweet smell of a more sustainable future or the unbearable stench of decay? you decide!

As a new recuit these are my personal views and not necasserily those of the Trust.

–
Regards

Steve

Steven Jones
Sector39, permaculture courses, landscapes and design
Llanfyllin Workhouse, Llanfyllin, Powys, SY22 5LD

www.sector39.co.uk

Tel: 0771 981 8959
Skype: misterjones39

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Wild about Harry

Jun 14

Posted by Steven Jones in Cwm Harry Project, permaculture | 1 Comment

Back story: we are building a community garden on an industrial site in Newtown Powys. The unit we are connected to composts food waste from the local community, so we have lots of good soil improver, which is certainly needed as it is a very run down compacted site with no topsoil! Our vision is to create a beautiful and very productive garden, following permaculture principles and to use only donted labour and materials to do it.  If we can do it here we can do it anywhere…..

Well we are thrilled ot hear that our grant application with Environment Wales has been successful, it gives us some capital resources to invest in the garden. Paths, a shelter, rainwater harvesting and plants for starters. I am still new to this project so I dont want to go blundering in with too many ideas, but it also seems like time is the essence and we need to be progressing the project every week – seeing as the opportunity I have to work there runs out at the end of September – so if we are to get funding to keep me on there, we need to make some things happen.

garden sketch

Artists impression of the garden in Newtown, by Mark

A lot of creative thought went into the garden project on the Permaculture Design Course, with participants coming up with lots of great ideas of how to develop the project. Key to it all is the need to create a people space in the garden, a shelter, tea room and tool store, so that we can work there without being too dependent on access to the industrial unit itself, to create a functional garden zone. Gardens are places where people and plants come together, so we need to create some people habitat to compliment all the polytunnels and raised beds.

The first of the mirco allotment garden clubs is planned to begin next week, on Wednesday afternoon and the whole garden is already coming to life after lots of hard work by garden volunteers and project staff.

garden refuge

Sketch of the garden refuge hut idea

The idea is to build something organic, out of wood and mud with a living roof, that is striking and generates interest in teh garden. Also the process of building it will reguire lots of volunteer input, so a chance for lots of people to get involved and be part of the garde project. So hoepfully it will put us on the map, get us noticed and in the local press, create something really useful as well as fun and create a focal point for the whole project.

Credit to Mark and his PDC gesign group for these lovely sketches.

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Llanidloes garden party

Jun 8

Posted by accineref in permaculture | No Comments

Garden party in Llandiloes

Garden party in Llandiloes

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BP to pay $3 billion dividend to share holders this quarter

Jun 3

Posted by Steven Jones in energy, peak oil | No Comments

“It’s not going to look good paying about $3bn in [quarterly] dividends to shareholders if at the same time local fishermen are having their livelihoods destroyed in the Gulf.”

However, BP’s dividend is of crucial importance to the City and to the pensions of millions who depend on payouts from profitable companies to boost their retirement funds. Together with rival Shell, BP accounted for 25% of the total dividends of £50bn paid in the UK market last year. Any cut in the dividend could result in investors selling BP shares, further weakening the company, which has lost nearly 30% of its value since the disaster began. [guardian]

Read those figures and weep! 25% of all dividends paid on the UK share market came from 2 oil companies. It really says it all.. just how addicted are we ? and just how vulnerable are we to shocks in the oil market. Hey our present supply, transport and survival lines depend on it and our capital makrets and pensions – or those of you who have pensions are tied up in oil futures. Aint that a paradox! Oil is not the future people.. get with the programme!!

Not only are BP pumping millions of barrels into the gulf of Mexico, they are pumping billions of pounds into our economy ..  What price the envionment? We are actually investing in our own destruction.. whilst leading ourselves ever further up a blind alley of dependence on fossil fuels.

No prizes for guessing what my opinion is on the subject then?

We have to wean ourselves off all fossil fuels as fast as possible.. it will be to everyone’s advantage to do this as quickly as we can and to prioritise that over pretty much all other things. No need to go crazy, just start using less energy every day and start building strategies to work together with your local community to solve more complex challenges, like transport and energy… Its called the great transistion.. get on board folks!

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Green Drinks in Newtown for June

Jun 3

Posted by Steven Jones in Cwm Harry Project, Green events | 1 Comment

Thanks to Ruth for this.. I am interested in coming to this event  not least as I am keen to meet people in Newtown  now I am involved with the Cwm Harry Community Garden project. The talk is by the guy who runs the growing operation of the Cwm Harry veg box scheme.

It will be great to hear mroe about the growing side of the operation,as I spend all my time at the composting plant on teh Vastre estate in Newtown

I am keen to use the occasion to draw in some folk local to the area who might be interested in our micro alltment scheme.  A chance to grow some produce, help out on the gardens and learn a few new skills and meet like minded people. This is one the first of hopefully many initiatives we are planning as part of the development of the Cwm Harry Community Garden Project.

green grinks in newtown

Green get together in Newtown Powys, June 2010

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