| Exploring
Permaculture from Principles to Practices:
Learn to Design and Create Sustainable Permaculture
Systems
in Your Yard and Home
New Life Retreat Centre
for Wellness and Eco-Living
Lanark,
Ontario
May 21-23, 2005
 The
Victoria Day Long Weekend (Saturday, May 21st to Monday,
May 23rd, 2005) saw an exciting event at the New Life
Retreat Centre for Wellness and Eco-Living in Lanark,
Ontario: a permaculture workshop.
The workshop was called : "Exploring
Permaculture from Principles to Practice: Learn to Design
and Create Sustainable Permaculture Systems in Your
Yard and Home". 25 people from the local area,
Ottawa, and Toronto spent three days learning permaculture
from international permaculture teacher, Jillian Hovey.
Participants learned the fundamentals
of permaculture and put the information into practice
by creating designs for client Chas Dietriech, owner
and operator of the 100-acre organic farm that is home
to the New
Life Retreat Centre. A smaller group of participants
stayed until Thursday May 26 to do hands-on projects
and implement some of the designs created by the group.
The curriculum featured an introduction
to permaculture, with a focus on how to bring it to
life in our own spaces- whether they be rural lands,
backyards, urban lots, or window boxes. We learned how
to:
• Develop skills of observation, plant identification,
and landscape reading
• Perform a zone & sector analysis, and
a needs & yields assessment
• Create synergistic designs through a fun and
engaging wild design exercise
• Perform a site assessment, and learn to map
an area
• Build soils, create no-dig beds, and compost
properly
• Explore vertical growing, including multi-story
forest gardening
• Get an edible landscape started from scratch
by planting fruiting trees & bushes,
and other cultivable annuals and perennials
• Explore the integration of grey water systems,
and ponds into the landscape
• Examine plans to add structure to the property:
solar shower, composting toilet, and a greenhouse
• Develop real-life designs for the New Life
Retreat
Centre yard and for our own yards back home
Those that stayed on
to build what the group began to
design over the long weekend workshop focused on:
• Sheet Mulch
Bed
• Living Fence
• Solar shower
• Garden beds featuring nursery stock from WindMill
Point Farms
All participants were treated to healthy, revitalizing
meals of raw and living, organic
vegetarian foods. Our talented and creative
raw foods chef, Yesim Gumus, created the menus and oversaw
food preparation. The New Life Retreat Centre focuses
on living foods preparation and education year-round.
Chas has a greenhouse and sprout room for growing his
own sprouts, and he makes his own dehydrated crackers
for sale at the organic market in Ottawa. He believes
that since all 80 million of species on earth but us
are eating their food raw, there must be something to
it. Simply put, eating enzyme rich and nutritionally
dense, tasty, living foods is nature's way. The meals
were light, easy to digest and energizing without being
insubstantial- since we weren't wasting energy processing
heavy meals we found concentrating on what we were learning
much easier. They also happened to be light on environmental
degradation, and absolutely delicious.
When we weren't busy working, we were busy
having fun. We enjoyed taking dips in the spring-fed
pond, soaking in the hot tub, going for walks, or singing
and playing songs in the main room. Jillian, who sells
books as part of the Sustainable
Living Books project, brought a wide selection
for us to browse or buy during our down time. The books
were carefully selected to complement and supplement
the workshop. Final features of the New Life Retreat
Centre were the bee hives. Tended by Chas' sister, Madelaine,
the bees produce
an exceptionally delicious variety of wild-flower honey
in the late summer/early autumn.
Written by Anna Przychodzki (workshop
participant, volunteer at the Sustainable Living Network)
Original
workshop information: webpage describing the workshop
Poster
advertising the workshop (for Toronto area)
Poster
advertising the workshop (for Ottawa area) |
