Introduction to Permaculture

The apprenticeship here at the ETC is heavily based on experiential learning. In other words: Get out there, get involved, and learn! But, a little chalk talk is necissary to make sure that our apprentices have a base of knowledge on which to build as they learn.

Cliff Davis of Spiral Ridge Permaculture took some time this week to share with our group the basic principles of permaculture, one of the philosophies we use when designing projects here on site. Permaculture, originally a mix of the words "permanent" and "agriculture" is a system of site design that seeks to intelligently mimic the way nature works. Now, most people think of the term to represent so much more, and present it as a shortened version of "permanent culture." Since its inception in the 1970's, its principles have been applied not only to agriculture, but to also help design co-ops, homesteads, villages, and even towns. There's even a subset of permaculture that focuses on financial systems.

The facet of permaculture we focus on at the ETC relates to the ecovillage or homesteader. Our gardens and buildings have been arranged by the "zone" system. In this system of design, the main house is thought of as zone 0, then zones 1 through 5 radiate out in concentric circles. Plants and buildings accessed on a daily basis are close to the ecohostel, in zones with lower numbers. For instance, we use lots of fresh herbs in our cooking (can anyone say "basil pesto pizza?" I thought you could.) So, we planted an herb spiral right next to the inn, in zone 1. No need to tromp on out to the Organic Garden across the yard for our daily dose of basil! (Or oregano, tyme, and rosemary.)

If you are interested in learning more about permaculture, Cliff reccommends Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison or Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway.

ETC '08 - year in review 'optimistic nutshell'

In essence, the Ecovillage Training Center is little more than an educational homestead in an intentional community run as a non-profit business.  We are, at most, farm hands and teachers, helping to improve the homestead while providing ourselves and others like us with educating and edifying opportunities.  The 'ecovillage' itself is The Farm at large.  There exists a true village, and thus far, here at the ETC is enacted a training center entertaining transitory, spontaneous communities.  The true blessing of the entire place is its recognition as a place of benevolent outreach and perennial challenging of the dominant paradigm.  The Ecovillage Training Center is an integral player in The Farm's continued contributions to the creation of a culture of peace, self-reliance, and heartiness.  All the heart work that this year's crew has put in on the homestead has paid off mightily.  We scratched out a profit at times amidst economic turmoil, gave unparalleled courses, and greatly influenced the lives of many bright individuals.  The site has gained an incredible amount of embedded attentive energy, and yet still struggles to maintain itself in a state of negentropy.  We provided permaculture by merely entering our stalwart, idealist energies into a model provided to us by years of tweeking a mold carved out by countless instructors and ecovillagers from years prior.  The same model in previous years had produced some lack-luster results, yet still proved valuable enough to persist into the next season.  We now believe it is due time that some changes be made to the business model to both improve our efficacy in our mission and our business, and to improve the lives of those of us who have chosen to make our livelihoods maintaining and improving the Ecovillage Training Center.   More on that later... stay tuned.

Hohenwald Design

We are starting our Ecovillage Design Course, a 10 day residential intensive course that gives individuals and communities the tools to start an ecovillage, and design it from the ground up, or retrofit an existing community. First we are focusing on mapping community structures and creating agreements to empower a group of people to become a community as taught by author and educator Diana Lief Christain. Then we will be desinging a vision for a beautiful post petroluim version of our local county seat, Hohenwald, TN. Greg Ramsey, a renowned archetect will be leading us through the process of design. We are weaving the archetectural elements and human elements of a succesful ecovillage design together with the ethics and principles of Permaculture and applying them to the design of Hohenwald.
Hohenwald is getting a lot of postive attention...Sometimes I blink and wonder if this is allreally happening to this small southern town in the poorest county in Tennessee. In addition to the Ecovillage Design Course, our partner and ally in regenerative designa nd education, The Center For Holistic Ecology (CHE), has been running a local sustainable development program through a USDA grant, and we are collaborating with CHE, Solari and Gaia University, to run a cutting edge Financial Permaculture Workshop. This workshop is going to provide the tools needed to actualize the designs and visions of a sustainable Hohenwald. Who knows, maybe some of the designs we draw up over the next two weeks will come true!