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	Courses and Education Many thanks to all the great folks from the Wildflower Festival and First Colony Winery who donated the proceeds from their July festival to the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network (BRPN)! Come help plan next steps for BRPN on Wed. Oct. 18. Blue Ridge Permaculture Network - get-together and meeting Wednesday, October 18 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM Crozet Library - Community Room 2020 Library Avenue Crozet, VA 22932 7 - 7:30 pm – Bring a snack to share and meet other good folks 7:30 – 9:00 pm – Come help plan BRPN’s next steps at this meeting Questions: blueridgepermaculture@gmail.com ___________ Check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/blueridgepermaculturenetwork/ Or blog for regional courses and events, or sign up on the contact page for our e-newsletter which lists upcoming events: http://www.blueridgepermaculturenetwork.blogspot.com/ PAST EVENTS Heritage Harvest Festival 2015 http://heritageharvestfestival.com/ Blue Ridge Permaculture presents: An Evening Talk with Dave Jacke 7 pm - Friday, February 20, 2015 At The Haven - 112 Market St. Charlottesville Suggested donation $10 We Are Nature, Working: Lessons from Ecology for Designing Human Social Structures All systems must abide by Nature’s foundational laws and principles, or they fail. The principles underlying the social structures of natural ecosystems can teach us much about organizing human societies. How can we design systems that minimize stress and competition, and maximize cooperation, harmony, productivity, and diversity, while allowing each community member to remain true to their intrinsic nature? How do racism and economic inequality fit into this picture? Social and economic justice and cooperation are actually more Darwinian than most people think! In this evening talk we’ll get into some ecological nitty gritty and then explore how to embody these principles in our society. Edible Forest Gardening Workshop October 25-27, 2013 near Charlottesville, Virginia The Blue Ridge Permaculture Network is excited to announce an Edible Forest Gardening weekend workshop on Friday, October 25th - Sunday October 27th, 2013 at Fiddlehead Farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. This course will include an overview of edible forest gardening, permaculture design, and profiles of perennial polyculture plants. The workshop will feature interactive lectures and group work, as well as hands-on experiential learning through installation of a demonstration Edible Forest Garden. Class size is limited; to encourage early registration a discount is offered. The workshop features a high student-to-teacher ratio with key teachers of the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network, and teacher bios may be found below. This workshop will prepare you to design and plant an Edible Forest Garden in your backyard or community. The workshop fee is a sliding scale of $275 - $350 before October 1st, and $300 – $350 after October 1st. Lunch will be provided for all three days, as well as a primitive camping option (with many other lodging options nearby). Limited work trade positions are available. For more information and to register, go to www.blueridgepermaculture.net or contact Terry Lilley at tygerlilley@gmail.com. Click here to download the Workshop registration form. Workshop Instructor Bios Christine Muehlman Gyovai is the Principal of Dialogue and Design Associates, a facilitator, and an avid plant lover. Christine holds certificates in mediation and permaculture design, and has over 12 years of experience in facilitation and training with a focus on increasing community and environmental sustainability. She has taught with the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network since 2007, does permaculture design consulting, and is a frequent speaker in the mid-Atlantic about permaculture ecological design. She holds a Masters of Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Burlington College. Christine lives in a straw bale home she designed and built with her husband and two small children on their homestead, Fiddlehead Farm, near the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. www.dialogueanddesign.com Reed Muehlman While studying under Dave Jacke and Peter Bane, Reed Muehlman received his Permaculture Design Certificate in 2007 and has taught green building and drawing with the Blue Ridge Permaculture Institute and served as a teaching assistant in the Architecture School at the University of VA. He is trained as an environmental planner, and an artist, and he maintains his professional practice as a registered architect with Dialogue and Design in central VA. Reed is an experienced bee keeper, chicken keeper, and keen steward of the balance between forest and field around his home. Ben Kessler is co-owner of the Charlottesville, VA edible landscaping cooperative C’Ville Foodscapes. He shares his time with Edible Landscaping, Blue Ridge Permaculture Network, and the Living Earth School. Ben has been designing gardens and teaching Permaculture classes since his Permaculture Design Certification with the Cascadia Permaculture Institute in 2008. After an eventual sojourn in the West, which included an apprenticeship to a master orchard keeper in the Sierra Nevada, a course of study in traditional land care, language and ecology with the Maidu tribe, and a year in tracking eagles for the Navajo Nation, Ben has returned to sink a taproot in central VA. Between gigs, Ben tends a rambling orchard garden in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, and is currently working on a book of folk stories from the Indo-European diaspora. Gabriel Engle was born and raised in Charlottesville VA, Gabriel Engle recently returned from over 3 years studying and living permaculture through travel and apprenticeships providing extensive amounts of practical, hands on experience. Included in this time was nearly a year and a half spent studying under and working with David Holmgren, Co- originator of the Permaculture concept, at Melliodora, his property in Australia. One of Gabriel’s main tasks at Melliodora was to guide, work with and explain the property to a steady stream of short term interns as well as being responsible for the general management of the property. Gabriel also traveled to and worked on Permaculture properties in New Zealand, Mexico, and California as well as a number of other properties in different parts of Australia. He is now back in Charlottesville establishing gardens at his home as well getting involved in the community. Soizic Ziegler started her permaculture journey through the BRPN, when she attended their PDC in 2009. After that, she spent time working with Tricycle Gardens' various urban sustainability initiatives in Richmond, where the importance of adequate water design was impressed upon her during the drought of the summer of 2010. She therefore decided to move to a water-poor and extreme growing location in Colorado, working with local farmers' water-conscious growing techniques and learning to harvest rainwater via earthworks and cisterns. Now that she has returned to Virginia, she is very excited to adapt and apply what she learned to the local resilience movement and help people reconnect with and cherish the water in their lives. She is also good at making cream puffs and pancakes. Terry Lilley has been organically gardening since 1999. She lives at Shannon Farm Intentional Community in Afton, VA where she started Heart Root Herbs, ecologically growing medicinal and culinary herbs as well as produce. She is the organizer and a teacher for the Blue Ridge Permaculture Institute and received her certification in permaculture design in 2007. Heritage Harvest Festival Events Join the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network for a workshop on Sept. 6th or our table on Sept. 7th at the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello September 6-7 Creating Abundance with Permaculture with Christine Gyovai of Blue Ridge Permaculture, Friday, Sept 6, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. • Classroom 6, Visitor Center at Monticello. Learn how to build sustainable gardens in your home and community through the use of permaculture, a system of ecological design based on natural patterns. $10 http://heritageharvestfestival.com The Blue Ridge Permaculture Network presented a PERENNIAL VEGETABLES & GARDEN DESIGN workshop with Eric Toensmeier, author of Perennial Vegetables & coauthor of Edible Forest Gardens Saturday. February 23rd, 2013, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm in Charlottesville, VA Cost: sliding scale of $75 - $100 For more information and to register contact Terry Lilley at: tygerlilley@gmail.com For more information about Eric, please visit, www.perennialsolutions.org. HERITAGE HARVEST FESTIVAL Two Permaculture Workshops will be offered with BRPN's Christine Gyovai and Terry Lilley at the Heritage Harvest Festival, held at Monticello on Sept. 14-15th, 2012. Stop by and see the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network table, with permaculture demonstrations, at this year's Heritage Harvest Festival. For more info, see: http://heritageharvestfestival.com Blue Ridge Permaculture Network potluck and Dave Jacke Community Presentation on “ Ecosystem Agriculture and Forest Gardens” Come One – Come all! Saturday, January 14, 2012 Charlottesville, Virginia (Location to be announced soon) BRPN Potluck at 6:00 pm, 7:30 Dave Jacke presentation Bring utensils and a dish to share Suggested donation $10 for community presentation to support PDC scholarships. Winter - Spring 2012 Spring 2012 Permaculture Design Course We are pleased to announce our spring 2012 Permaculture Design Course: Sustainability Strategies for the Blue Ridge, over four weekends near Charlottesville, Virginia. This Permaculture Design Course lays the foundation for understanding and working with natural systems to design sustainable environments that produce food, shelter, and energy. It also provides participants with models of community development and extension by which they can create networks of support for themselves and empower others to do the same. The course provides tools to help design and develop urban or rural properties or neighborhoods in a sustainable manner, revitalize local communities, and restore ecological balance. Permaculture promotes land use systems that work with natural rhythms and patterns to create regenerative cultivated ecosystems. Participants will learn how to design and build gardens, homes, and communities that model living ecosystems. By understanding patterns in nature, students will learn how to grow food, manage water catchment and storage, utilize renewable energy and build community. The ecological design course covers themes such as: ecological systems understanding, organic food production, natural soil improvement, watershed restoration, water conservation and management, edible forest gardening, native medicinal plants, natural habitat restoration, healthy buildings and human settlements, community and consensus building strategies, renewable energy systems, sustainable community development, local economics, and ecological planning and design methods. This 72-hour certificate course, presented by the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network, will be offered over four weekends with leading permaculture teachers including Emily Axelbaum, Christine Gyovai, Dave Jacke, Hub Knott, Terry Lilley, Dave O’Neill, and guests (teacher bios below). The course will be held near Charlottesville, Virginia, on the following dates: Dates: Jan. 13-16, Jan. 27-29, Feb. 18-20, and March 3-4, 2012. The cost for this course will be a sliding scale, including a discount for early registration. If you register by November 15 the sliding scale is $895-$1200. After November 15 the sliding scale is $995-$1200. A few work trade positions are available for partial tuition; inquire soon about work trade guidelines and availability. The work-trade application deadline ends on December 1st, 2010, and limited scholarships may be available, inquire for details. To register please contact Terry Lilley at tygerlilley@gmail.com or 434-296-3963. Spring 2012 Permaculture Design Course Teacher Bios: Emily Axelbaum works as Garden Educator at the City Schoolyard Garden at Buford Middle School in Charlottesville, VA. Since graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park she went on to instruct for Outward Bound’s At-Risk Youth Program and complete a program in regenerative design at the Ecosa Institute in Prescott, AZ. She joined City Schoolyard Garden after working for the Student Conservation Association as the RiverSmart Schools In-school Educator in Washington D.C. Emily received her Permaculture Design Certificate from the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in the fall of 2009, apprenticed for the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network's PDC in the spring of 2010, and apprenticed at the Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm in Summertown, TN in the fall of 2010. Her passion is facilitating students' fascination and connection to nature. Christine Gyovai is Principal of Dialogue and Design Associates, is a plant lover, and an avid permaculture designer. She is an environmental planner and educator with over twelve years of experience in facilitation and training with a focus on increasing community and environmental sustainability. Christine holds a M.P. in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Burlington College, and is certified in mediation and permaculture design. With authors Ken Haggard and Polly Cooper, she edited and did graphic design for the book Fractal Architecture: Design for Sustainability. A native of West Virginia, Christine was an environmental education teacher and sustainability consultant in California before returning to the Blue Ridge bioregion. She is currently living in the straw bale house that she and her husband Reed designed at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their children, Elijah and Maya. Dave Jacke is the author of the Two Volume Edition of Edible Forest Gardens and has been a student of ecology and design since the 1970s. He has run his own ecological design firm—Dynamics Ecological Design—since 1984. Dave is an engaging and passionate teacher of ecological design and permaculture, and a meticulous designer. He has consulted on, designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities in the many parts of the United States, as well as overseas, but mainly in the Northeast. A cofounder of Land Trust at Gap Mountain in Jaffrey, NH, he homesteaded there for a number of years. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Simon's Rock College (1980) and a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design (1984). Hub Knott is co-founder and co/director of Living Earth School, now in its 9th year. He also is owner/director of The Corn Maze in The Plains since it began in 2002. Hub lives in Nelson County, Virginia with his wonderful family (which includes his wife Kate, daughter Violet, a dog, cat, flock of chickens/ducks and currently 2 sheep). His backyard consists of tens of thousands of acres of rich Appalachian Mountains that are a perfect classroom. He loves to wander this land, getting to know the wild plants, the tracks/sign of animals, and discovering the magical nooks of the mountains. He loves to wander the landscape in any part of the country from desert to temperate rainforest, ocean to mountains. He has a passion for gardening, seed saving, and permaculture. Hub has a Bachelors degree from The Evergreen State College in Washington State, where he met his wife Kate. He has been studying natural history and survival skills since 1991 and has had many great teachers along the way including Jon Young and Tom Brown Jr. He is a Certified Wilderness First Responder. Hub loves to help others learn to ask questions, and see things in fresh light. This allows one to study their passions, and find their gifts. Terry Lilley is a long time ecological gardener and farmer. She got her farming start at New Earth Organic Farm in Virginia Beach, VA. Terry now lives at Shannon Farm Intentional Community in Afton, VA with her partner and 2 children where she grows medicinal and culinary herbs as well as produce to sell at the Nelson County Farmers Market. She works as the organizer for the Blue Ridge Permaculture Institute and received her certification in permaculture design in the Blue Ridge Permaculture Institute's first design course in 2007. She has a bachelor of science in environmental science from Westminster College in PA and has taken a number of medicinal herb classes including a nine month intensive Foundations of Herbalism course. She is currently working on developing and growing her herb farm business. David O’Neill is the owner and operator of Radical Roots Community Farm and former director of the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum at James Madison University. He has studied permaculture systems in New Zealand and Australia and designed regionally adapted systems and gardens for the Shenandoah Valley. Dave teaches permaculture design and organic gardening classes at Blue Ridge Community College and has experience in landscape design. He is committed to social change through creating a community farm that fosters connections between people the land. Since 2000 the farm’s mission has been to grow high quality, organic vegetables and herbs in a sustainable way. Whether gardening on intensively cultivated, beautiful garden soil, growing permaculture plants in a 3,000 square foot greenhouse, selling produce and plants at the Charlottesville City Market or through a 40 member CSA; Dave is always pushing the edge of productivity. Spring 2010 Sponsored by Local Food Hub and Blue Ridge Permaculture Network. Professor Barkslip's Fruit School Date: April 16 & 17, 9am - 5pm Location: Educational Farm at Maple Hill Cost: BEFORE MARCH 19: $60/day, $120/weekend. AFTER MARCH 19: $70/day, $140/weekend Register: info@localfoodhub.org or (434) 286-2176 http://locallectual.com/tenants/local-food-hub BRPN Potluck and upcoming workshops Blue Ridge Permaculture Network potluck and seed swap on Friday, Feb. 4th Weekend Workshop with Dave Jacke: February 5-6, 2011, 9 AM – 5 PM, with a Saturday evening lecture. Gardening Like the Forest: Designing Perennial Polycultures Fall 2010 Stop by and see the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network table, with permaculture demonstrations, at this year's Heritage Harvest Festival, which will take place Saturday, September 11, 2010, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on the West Lawn of Monticello and the new Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center in Charlottesville, VA. Thanks to Vicky, Terry, Denise and the BRPN crew for being at the table!For more info, see: http://heritageharvestfestival.com Winter and Spring 2010 PERMACULTURE COMMUNITY PRESENTATION and POTLUCK in Harrisonburg, VA - Sat. Feb. 13th, 2010 With special guest Dave Jacke, for a talk on “Ecosystem Agriculture and Forest Gardens” Spring 2010 Permaculture Design Course We are pleased to announce our spring 2010 Permaculture Design Course: Sustainability Strategies for the Blue Ridge, over four weekends in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. This Permaculture Design Course lays the foundation for understanding and working with natural systems to design sustainable environments that produce food, shelter, and energy. It also provides participants with models of community development and extension by which they can create networks of support for themselves and empower others to do the same. The course provides tools to help design and develop urban or rural properties or neighborhoods in a sustainable manner, revitalize local communities, and restore ecological balance. Permaculture promotes land use systems that work with natural rhythms and patterns to create regenerative cultivated ecosystems. Participants will learn how to design and build gardens, homes, and communities that model living ecosystems. By understanding patterns in nature, students will learn how to grow food, manage water catchment and storage, utilize renewable energy and build community. The ecological design course covers themes such as: ecological systems understanding, organic food production, natural soil improvement, watershed restoration, water conservation and management, edible forest gardening, native medicinal plants, natural habitat restoration, healthy buildings and human settlements, community and consensus building strategies, renewable energy systems, sustainable community development, local economics, and ecological planning and design methods. This 72-hour certificate course, presented by the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network, will be offered over four weekends with leading permaculture teachers including Christine Gyovai, Dave Jacke, and Dave O’Neill (teacher bios below). The course will be held in Harrisonburg, Virginia, on the following dates: Jan. 15-18, Feb. 12-15, March 13-14, and April 10-11. The cost for this course will be a sliding scale, including a discount for early registration. If you register by November 15 the sliding scale is $895-$1200. After November 15 the sliding scale is $995-$1200. A few work trade positions are available for partial tuition; inquire soon about work trade guidelines and availability. The work-trade application deadline ends on December 1st, 2010, and limited scholarships may be available, inquire for details. To register please contact Terry Lilley at tygerlilley@gmail.com or 434-296-3963. Click here to download the Spring 2010 Registration Form. Apprentice Teachers for Spring Permaculture Design Course The Blue Ridge Permaculture Network has selected two Apprentice Teachers Positions for the Spring 2010 Permaculture Design Course. Thanks to all that applied! Spring 2010 Permaculture Design Course Teacher Bios: Christine Gyovai is Principal of Dialogue and Design Associates, is a plant lover, and an avid permaculture designer. She is an environmental planner and educator with over twelve years of experience in facilitation and training with a focus on increasing community and environmental sustainability. Christine holds a M.P. in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Burlington College, and is certified in mediation and permaculture design. With authors Ken Haggard and Polly Cooper, she edited and did graphic design for the book Fractal Architecture: Design for Sustainability. A native of West Virginia, Christine was an environmental education teacher and sustainability consultant in California before returning to the Blue Ridge bioregion. She is currently living in the straw bale house that she and her husband Reed designed at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their one year old son, Elijah. Dave Jacke is the author of the Two Volume Edition of Edible Forest Gardens and has been a student of ecology and design since the 1970s. He has run his own ecological design firm—Dynamics Ecological Design—since 1984. Dave is an engaging and passionate teacher of ecological design and permaculture, and a meticulous designer. He has consulted on, designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities in the many parts of the United States, as well as overseas, but mainly in the Northeast. A cofounder of Land Trust at Gap Mountain in Jaffrey, NH, he homesteaded there for a number of years. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Simon's Rock College (1980) and a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design (1984). David O’Neill is the owner and operator of Radical Roots Community Farm and former director of the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum at James Madison University. He has studied permaculture systems in New Zealand and Australia and designed regionally adapted systems and gardens for the Shenandoah Valley. Dave teaches permaculture design and organic gardening classes at Blue Ridge Community College and has experience in landscape design. He is committed to social change through creating a community farm that fosters connections between people the land. Since 2000 the farm’s mission has been to grow high quality, organic vegetables and herbs in a sustainable way. Whether gardening on intensively cultivated, beautiful garden soil, growing permaculture plants in a 3,000 square foot greenhouse, selling produce and plants at the Charlottesville City Market or through a 40 member CSA; Dave is always pushing the edge of productivity. Fall 2009 Blue Ridge Permaculture Network Presents Introduction to Permaculture Movie and Discussion (Free!) Tuesday December 8th at 7pm Clementine Cafe, Harrisonburg www.clementinecafe.com ________________________ P3: Permaculture Presentation and Potluck Planning the Sustainable Vegetable Garden, including Cover Cropping, with Cindy Conner Thursday, October 15; 6:00 pm talk; 7:00 pm potluck ______ The Blue Ridge Permaculture Network will have a table at the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello on Saturday, September 12 - come on outand say hi. Dave O'Neill will give a talk "Permaculture: Design for Abundance: from 3:00 - 4:00 pm. Click here for more information. Christine Gyovai will give a talk on the Principles of Permaculture at the Green Building Institute Principles of Permaculture, Saturday, September 26, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon near Baltimore, Maryland. Click here for more info, and a description of the talk is below. Spring 2009 Permaculture Design Course: Sustainability Strategies for the Blue Ridge Community talk with Joel Salatin on Building a Local Food System that Works Fall 2008 Introduction to Permaculture: Sustainability Strategies for the Blue Ridge Rain Barrel Workshop Spring 2008 Drawing for the Permaculturally Inclined Plant Propagation Fall 2007 Permaculture Design Course: Sustainability Strategies for the Blue Ridge Spring 2007 Permaculture Design Course: Sustainability Strategies for the Blue Ridge