 | Food Forest Design & Urban Regeneration
11/4/2009 9:40 AMPermaculture is the art and science of designing healthy, sustainable lifestyles that reintegrate people into the natural world. Permaculture solutions creatively respond to global realities such as climate change, human population growth, increased development, loss of biodiversity, and the shift away from a petroleum-based economy. Toby Hemenway, permaculture pioneer and author of the groundbreaking book Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, will discuss agriculture, food forest design, and urban regeneration in several Twin Cities events on January 7, 8, and 9.
Thursday evening’s lecture on “How Permaculture Can Save Humanity and the Earth, but not Civilization” will explore the claim that agriculture in any form is inherently unsustainable. “Farming must always drain energy and diversity from the land surrounding cultivation,” Hemenway wrote in a recent essay. “Eden was a garden, not a farm.” The lecture is open to the public, with a $10 suggested donation at the door and general admission seating.
Friday and Saturday, full-day workshops tackle practical skills of sustainable gardening and urban living. Friday’s workshop “Design and Manage a Homescale Forest Garden” will equip would-be permaculture designers and gardeners with the basic skills and knowledge to design, plant, and maintain a multi-level, productive garden of fruit and nut trees, perennial and annual vegetables, herbs, and beneficial companion plants. "Many yards already contain most of the elements of a forest garden: a few tall trees in front or at the back edge, some shrubs for a hedge or berries, a vegetable patch, a few herbs, and a flower bed," writes Hemenway in Gaia's Garden. "But in the typical yard these elements lie separate and disconnected. A forest garden integrates all these pieces into a smoothly working whole."
“Strategies for Regenerating Urban Areas,” Saturday’s workshop targeting urban designers, gardeners and city planners, calls on Hemenway’s decades spent working to improve urban food production systems in the uber-sustainable city of Portland, Oregon. Topics include learning the pattern language of the city, creating business guilds and networks, getting access to land for gardening, and even building urban ecovillages. Learning from Portland’s experiences could help Twin Citians significantly boost our sustainability quotient. In an interview for the city’s Diggable City Project, www.diggablecity.org, one Portland resident says, “If we make that shift where we’re producing food locally and eliminating packaging, we don’t have the need for garbage trucks to come around as much, and we’re composting... in Portland it is happening on different levels, and it’s exciting to see.”
Each full-day workshop costs $100 per person, or register for both and save $25. Space is limited. Advance registration is required. For more details or to register, visit http://www.pricoldclimate.org/event/homescale_food_forests_and_urban_strategies_2_workshops.
Contact Evelyn Hadden at comcoord@pricoldclimate.org with any questions.
Toby Hemenway worked for many years as a genetics and immunology researcher before shifting gears to devote his time to learning, doing, and eventually teaching permaculture. His current project is developing urban sustainability resources in Portland, Oregon, where he lives. He also teaches at Portland State University, is Scholar in Residence at Pacific University, and consults, teaches, and lectures on ecological design and permaculture throughout the country. He was associate editor of Permaculture Activist, a journal of ecological design and sustainable culture, from 1999 to 2004. Find out more about him at www.patternliteracy.com.
Hemenway’s Twin Cities events are being organized by Permaculture Research Institute Cold Climate, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping residents of cold climate areas to achieve more healthy and eco-friendly lifestyles. Visit http://www.pricoldclimate.org for a listing of current events and projects.
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