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 :)