lessons, lessons, lessons

It's official-I'm a certified permaculturist! Yay! The Green Apprenticeship program was incredibly life-changing in more ways than one, from as small as being aware from where my food comes from to figuring out bigger pictures, such as how I want to live my life. So many life lessons learned, and so many more to come from my time spent at Lotan. I don't know if I can adequately describe my experience spent at this little oasis in the desert. One of my fellow participants and friends, Arielle Danon, describes the experience pretty well:


I find it quite difficult to summarize the experience into any sort of coherent message. I can't even seem to recall which order the magic came in. Did the mud building lessons come in between the sunny weekend jam sessions? Which took precedent; the lectures on the global economy or midnight baking in the field kitchen? I know somewhere in there there were lessons on permaculture, sheet mulch gardening, compost building, soil testing, wetland construction, irrigation, rainwater harvesting, grey and black water purification, straw bale construction, passive heating and cooling, solar power, seed saving, transplanting, companion planting, community building, urban ecology, peak oil, genetic modification of plants, geodesic domes, and economic localization. Throw in fourteen amazing and hilarious people, salsa dance lessons, frolicking in the garden, and sunrise yoga, and I'm sure I got at least half of it.

Check out her incredible blog: http://fivefootfarmer.blogspot.com

In a nutshell, here are the few, yet extremely poignant lessons I learned through the GA:

• Trust the process
• Conflict is where two good ideas meet
• Fall in love-with people, ideas, and yourself
• Start small
• Just do it - experience is the best learning technique 
• See the problems as the solutions
• Believe in miracles
• Every master started somewhere
• Change is exponential - once it starts, it picks up like wildfire

I've continued to grow and stretch everyday since leaving there, and know it will only continue. The next stops on my list are Adamama and Yesh Maein, two ecological farms practicing permaculture and sustainable living. I'm really looking forward to putting my newly acquired skills to practice at these places and to continue to develop the new eco-village curriculum for camp this summer. Stay tuned!

Perma-what?

So, I’m in the middle of the desert living in a mud dome, composting just about everything, and studying permaculture. What is permaculture, you ask? Here are some lovely quotes I’ve encountered that explain the beauty of this philosophy:

“Permaculture philosophy is one of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation, rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions rather than asking only one yield of them; of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolution.”

“Choose to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

“Creating abundant and sustainable human habitats by following nature’s patterns.”

“Permaculture is a life philosophy in which there is no waste, only resources. Reduce, reuse, recycle.”

“Get creative with change.”

“Permaculture is a system for people who have gone to school, gone to university, believe in ingesting information from the television, the computer, the book, pieces of paper, conversation…it is a system of learning to take people down the road enough that they can shut out all that stuff and start to hear.”

Plainly put, permaculture completes the circle. It’s a very positive mindset and way of living that facilitates creativity, change, and fun. People even sing about it! Enjoy :)

Mud + Gardens = Friends :)

Building a mud bench!

Our progress after 2 days building from scratch

The wonderful GA's!

Building a sheet mulch garden in the desert

Yummy rainbow chard 

Whirlwind

Wow, what a whirlwind my life has been these past few  weeks. In a nutshell, returning to Lotan is amazing. When I was here in May, I was an observer of the place, program, and community, whereas this time, I’m living what I observed 7 months ago. The Green Apprenticeship program is way more than just a permaculture certification course – it’s an all-encompassing community building, intentional living, “eco-freako” experience where you live everything you’re learning, from the practical techniques to the social dynamics. The first couple of days were quite relaxing and a good amount of time was allotted to us to get to know each other, settle in, figure stuff out, etc. Our group is amazing – very diverse, positive, fun, and interesting. We all want to be here and come from very different backgrounds, which ironically brings us closer together. As I’ve learned in one of my ecology classes, diversity is what sustains ecosystems – many species lead to cooperation and partnership.

Our days are full from sunrise to bedtime. We start lessons at 8 and go till 1, where we get an hour break for lunch. We then continue with a lesson starting at 2, which goes till either 4 or 5 depending on the material. Some nights are different from others, but there’s usually an activity planned for us after dinner and into the evening. Amongst all the lessons and activities, socializing (or otherwise known as 'community building') and experimenting with food, bicycle powered washing machines, and solar ovens seem to make the days pass with no sense of time whatsoever. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.

So by the time the day comes to an end, I’m exhausted. It’s taken me forever to write this one entry because I’ve only been able to write a few sentences every couple of days. I love every minute of it though – I end each and every day with an overwhelming feeling of fulfillment, enrichment, and happiness rooting from my inner core. It just feels so good to work every part of your body, from your brain to your hands to your feet. The power of change seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life – when it starts, it picks up like wildfire. Living here is a 24/7 educational experience in which a new realization is made just about every day, and these realizations feed into the next ones, exponentially building on one another.

So I’ll leave you all with some pictures of my past couple of weeks. I know it’s taken way too long to post an entry, but don’t lose faith! Another one will be coming soon! 

Parabolic Solar Oven

Beautiful Flowers!

Fresh Broccoli

Visiting the Date fields 

Fresh Dates :)

..and we're back!!

My last entry was 7 months ago, when I was leaving Kibbutz Lotan in the Negev of Israel. Can’t believe it’s only been 7 months – so much has happened since then, hitting home on the idea that when change begins, it picks up exponentially. So let’s see – what’s happened since then?

Camp – the impetus to my Kibbutz Lotan trip. What an amazing summer it was! Brian Hertz and I worked our little bums off (with the help of so many wonderful folks – Adam Allenburg, Michelle Renfrow, Scott Brasewell, Loui Dobin, the amazing Maintenance team, and every single staff member and camper for their love and support) planning programs, running programs, re-running programs, taking care of the garden, and developing the culture of camp to be more sustainably oriented.  Here are a few highlights:

·         Bunk day – Bunk day is the first full day of camp that is all about building your bunk community. For Bunk Day, Brian and I ran an individual program for each unit, which focused on the environment and Judaism. There was an activity adapted for each age group, but the point of the program was constant throughout – Sustainability is about sustaining the world, it's creatures, and most importantly, ourselves. In doing this, environmental stewardship became a full-frontal focus for the summer.

·         Kibbutz Program – The Kibbutz kids (14-15 year olds) were the prime ingredient for keeping the garden and the sustainability program alive this summer. A set of 10-13 kibbutznicks came every day for a week, weeding, harvesting, and tending to the garden, all with a great attitude. When I say these kids were the prime ingredient in the success of the sustainability program, they were like the broth in a pot of soup – the one thing that made it complete. It is because of these kids that the sustainability program at camp has blossomed.

·         The Garden – this was only the second summer for there to be a garden at camp, and this garden lasted almost all the way through, which is saying a lot for Texas. It was unbelievably hot this summer, temperatures rising to 101 degrees, sometimes higher. But our garden stayed strong, producing copious amounts of okra, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and collards. I’m convinced it was more than just the drip irrigation that kept it going – there was a whole lot of love and support throughout the entire summer for the sustainability program, and plants tend to pick up on those kinds of things J

·         Earth Night – Earth Night was an all-camp program that was all about – you guessed it – the Earth! We ran the evening program as an eco-fun house, each room focusing on a different subject of sustainability. The themes? Alternative energy, soil, pollution, and sustainability in Israel, topped with segments of Discovery Channels Planet Earth to conclude the evening. The most amazing part of Earth night was the Havdallah services, which took place as the beautiful sun was setting over camp.  Campers from the Sustainability Limud wrote about appreciating the environment and nature. Here’s one a camper wrote about their feelings towards the environment:

‎"Do you ever wonder why you close your eyes when you kiss someone, or why they are shut when you dream? It is because the most beautiful things can't be seen, but felt with the heart. Take a second and close your eyes. Can you hear the birds, the bugs, maybe even the wind? Can you sense twilight coming with the sunset? Don't try to think; just be one with the world."

If you’d like to read more about Earth Night, here’s the link to the blog entry posted over the summer: http://greene.rjblog.org/2011/07/26/earth-night/

So, what happened after camp was over? An amazing donation to build an eco-village on the camp site where the new Kibbutz program will reside. Jaw-dropping, right? I may or may not have freaked out just a little bit when it happened…more emphasis towards the may. So as of August, camp has been undergoing a huge new project to build an eco-village, modeling it after the Bustan Neighborhood at Kibbutz Lotan, domes and all!

Where do I fit into all of this? At the end of the summer, camp offered me the position as the Eco-Village Director for the following summer, which I gladly and have enthusiastically accepted. I’m incredibly thankful for such a wonderful opportunity. So now, I’m returning back to Israel and Kibbutz Lotan to complete the Green Apprenticeship Program and get my certification in permaculture and eco-design. After Lotan, I will be traveling to other sustainable kibbutzim to see what and how they do what they do, and am then coming back to the states to work/volunteer at Jewish-based sustainable farms to learn as much as I can about Judaism and the environment. Then, it’s back to camp to implement all the goodness I learn!!

I’ll be honest, I’m freaking out just a bit J Stay tuned for all of my adventures, discoveries, realizations, hardships, and whatever else comes my way!

"Enjoy the end just as the beginning..."

So, today's the day I leave this Oasis in the desert to embark on a new adventure, one that will continue and build upon the work, or avodah, that I've experienced here. It's been a truly magical experience – the people, the place, the spirit, the community – a kibbutz that embraces and lives Reform Judaism as a holistic lifestyle based in equity, ecology, community, and Tikkun Olam. In just two weeks, I learned so much about sustainability, beyond just the physical practices of turning off lights, conserving water, recycling, gardening, etc. Sustainability is about sustaining the world, it's creatures, and most importantly, ourselves. We're living in a world-wide village that's becoming more and more connected every single day and thus it is our inherent responsibility as world citizens to preserve and build upon our village for the future generations. If there is one thing we can do for those who succeed us, it is to leave a world for them that they too can leave for their children. As stated: “Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It is loaned to you by your children” (Kenyan proverb).

Human kind began our existence as guardians of the Garden of Eden, or gardeners for short. It's been embedded in us from the getgo. It feels good to get our hands dirty, to reawaken our intuition of how the earth works. Lotan brought this forgotten intuition (that is within everyone) back to life for me. The people at Lotan also instilled in me the importance of gratitude and appreciation – it is from these feelings that we learn to care, support, love, and let go. Being thankful for something or someone naturally conjures up positive traits and mindsets that help our world-wide village go 'round. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have been apart of the Lotan community and am also very thankful to those who helped make it happen, especially Loui Dobin, Alex Cicelsky, Lean Zigmond, Mike Kaplin, the URJ, and all of my friends and family for the wonderful support. All of you deserve super awesomely special gold stars :)

Lotan is a living dream of Reform Judaism, connecting the gap between people and the land. It brings intention to the connection, instilling the community in more than just sustainable practices-it teaches that the idea of sustainability is in everything, including us, just as Life is in everything and all of us. 

So the next chapter? Greening Greene in Bruceville, Texas. Get ready for a Green Revolution people :)

Days 11 & 12: it's that time of the week

The thermostat reads 41° Celsius, which is about 105° Fahrenheit. The thermostat is in the shade. It's not as bad as Bruceville, Texas though – it's nice and dry here, whereas Bruceville LOVES the humidity. But it's still toasty. Everyone's a little heat crazy today.

Today is Shabbat, so the heat came at a good time – I don't know what I would do if we were mud-building today. If anything, it would prepare me for the second half of the summer time when Bruceville feels like a sweat lodge. What I need is a nice big hat to keep me cool and shade my shoulders!

This week was full of lessons, from blackwater systems to mud-bricks 101. Here's a pictorial overview of my week!

Digging up earth for mud-bricks.

How I feel about building mud-bricks :)

Purple lettuce!

Learning about sludge traps, which are AWESOME for preventing clogged sinks and foul smells, in addition to saving a ton of money in the long run. Every house should have these!

Solar powered water heater

The door to the septic tank...yum....

Road trip!!

 

Just one more work day left here at Lotan, then heading back to the states on Monday. It's crazy how time works-the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. It's been such an incredible learning experience, and it continues everyday :)