June 2009

News from PRI-CC

It's been a busy Spring for PRI Cold Climate, and it promises to be a busy Summer as well. Here are a few organizational updates:

- We are now a certified 501(c)3 nonprofit. We hope our new status will help us to marshall the necessary resources to build and foster restorative human culture for cold-climate regions.

- Our beautiful new full-color brochure was designed by Reed Aubin, Matt Kumka, Eric Holt, and Lindsay Rebhan. It's available online for viewing and printing.

Upcoming events

We've already hosted many well-attended events this year, and even more are coming up, thanks to the tireless efforts of Teacher's Guild Coordinator Dan Halsey and Permaculture Collaborative Coordinator Geoff Boeder. Check out our diverse offering; there's something for everyone. If you live in the Twin Cities or surrounding areas, we hope to see you at one or more events this Summer!

June 6, 9-11AM : Get a guided tour through a prime example of oak savanna, which provides an ideal landscape pattern for human habitat. Free, open to the public, carpool available. more details

June 13, 9AM-5PM : Spend the day at Southwoods Forest Garden working with pavers and wallstones. Still a few spaces left in our hardscaping workshop, only $25 including lunch. more details

June 20, 5PM & 7PM : Two public showings of Homegrown Movie, a Midwest premiere! Get inspired by the phenomenal harvest from this small urban backyard farm. more details

July 1, 5:30PM : Our monthly roundtables begin. Join the informal discussion of permaculture topics at Black Forest Inn. more details

July 17&18 : Learn more about strawbale building in cold climates. Attend a lecture and slideshow Friday night, get your hands dirty as you learn by doing on Saturday morning. more details

August 1 : Save the date! Learn to make a solar oven. more details

Want to know what people are getting out of our events and classes? Read some recent comments from participants.

Participants in the recent Urban Soils class brought samples from their land to analyze.

Design Charette site update

Member Katie Ibes sent us an update on the Design Charrette Group that met over the winter to help each other develop permaculture landscape designs. See photos of one of the resulting projects, Katie's new mandala garden. more details

Note that we'd love to see more small groups like this coalesce, as participants can rapidly develop their permaculture skills through intensive practice in a supportive setting.

Backyard Harvest report

Our Backyard Harvest program has already set up eighteen urban gardens in South Minneapolis yards, stocked with plenty of future produce and tended by our urban farmers. Here's a program update from our coordinator, Krista Leraas:

• We're excited that this program has been featured in quite a few local news stories this Spring. Visit links to the articles on our News & Events page.
• Our urban farmers are now offering a garden coaching service. If you would like advice or assistance in your own garden, we can help with basic vegetable/herb garden design, sourcing materials & plants, installation, maintenance, &/or troubleshooting. This service is available in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Edina, Golden Valley, and St. Louis Park for $30/hour (2 hour minimum). Contact Krista for more details or to sign up.
• Keep up with this program on our blog, Growing in the Twin Cities with Backyard Harvest, where you''ll find beautiful photos & updates weekly from garden-owner Lisa Mason as well as cameo posts from farmers, staff, interns, & others.
• Finally, I want to thank the folks who have volunteered their time & skills to make Backyard Harvest happen these past months. Jackie McGraw is our indispensable Program Coordination Assistant/Intern, Matthew Kumka & Eric Holt designed our brochure, Jonathan Huebner delivered nearly all of our soil, and Bob Dahm applied compost tea to each of our gardens. Much gratitude to these folks and to everyone who has chipped in time, money, & materials!

---Krista

Support PRI Cold Climate

If you haven't yet become a member of PRI Cold Climate, consider joining with us to develop knowledge and skills for sustainable cold-climate living. It's easy to join or renew online!

Your tax-deductible donations and volunteer help also make a huge difference in what we can accomplish.

Permaculture mini-quiz : Do you know the identity of the plant at right? How about the flowering plant pictured at the top of this newsletter? Answers here.

Note from the Editor

Greetings, and Happy Summer! I hope you've had a chance to enjoy this beautiful seasonal change. Isn't it fulfilling to actually begin doing some of those projects we've anticipated during the colder months?

These longer days of summer provide more real chances to work and play together, building our individual skills and knowledge and developing our connections with each other. We can do (and become) more together.

This is what drives our evolution as an organization. We are committed to ongoing mentorship of our members, with the intention that their diverse talents and relationships will fuel our synergistic growth as a community.

We know many of you are looking for ways to plug in. We've lifted the requirement that members contribute a fixed number of hours in addition to their fee. Instead, we want to urge you to actively make a place for yourself in our expanding community, whether you join in our online discussions, donate time or money, and/or participate in our events.

Choose a role that suits your needs and your gifts. You are an important part of our future, and a key to our effectiveness at supporting and encouraging healthier lifestyles in cold climate regions.

We look forward to growing with you!

-- Evelyn Hadden

quiz answers: horseradish with bumblebee, purple asparagus