Event Synopsis
Eco Experience
Permaculture Research Institute at the 2009 MN State Fair!
We can grow more food in the city. You don't need a lot of space to grow food. Through companion planting and healthy soil you can grow lots of food in containers and raised beds in a small space. Planting 'polycultures' - multiple crops in the same space, designed to
mimic natural ecosystems - greens your garden by connecting to the soil
food web.
Comments from Recent Classes
Member Karen Graham, a student in our multi-part Homestead and Landscape Design Course (May 2009), writes about what she learned after 3 evenings :
Workday at Welch Forest Garden - March 2006
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Welch Forest Garden, home of Bruce and Brenda Blair and their two sons, was the site of a March 2006 Work and Learn event. As a new member of the Permaculture Collaborative I was looking for ways to become involved and to gain experience with permaculture principles and practices. I’ve always been a fan of stacking functions (at least three for each element), so the Work and Learn Day seemed to fill the bill by offering opportunities to learn techniques, accomplish some onsite work, and get to know other members. All that plus a drive through a beautiful part of Minnesota that is quite different from my western prairie home.
Twenty-two volunteers converged at WPG on Saturday morning. Armed with rakes, shovels, wheelbarrows, and other weapons of mass construction, we were ready to work. Bruce was supremely organized and ready to supervise. Our learning experience began with tours of the property, with special attention to Bruce’s response to the 1997 flooding of the nearby Cannon River, which was the primary driver of his initial design. A popular attraction on the site was the chicken house and yard with its unique waste treatment plant. |
Removing wet sod for the rock wall project. |
Perennial Get-Together 2008
Our 2008 Perennial event featured food, sharing of books and site plans, a slideshow with several members describing Collaborative events and giving updates about their permaculture sites, and a puppet show about changing agricultural practices.
New Forest Farms Site Tour - July 2006
Touring Mark Shepard’s New Forest Farms near Viola, WI in July 2006.
Cold Climate PDC - 2006-2007
PRI Cold Climate's professionally trained and certified instructors taught a seven month Permaculture Design Course in the fall of 2006 and the spring of 2007.
Land Institute Prairie Festival - September, 2006
A group of Permaculture Collaborative members attended the Land Institute’s Prairie Festival near Salinas, Kansas in September 2006.
We learned about carbon sequestration and root growth in Indiangrass.
Workshop with Dave Jacke - January, 2008
Work & Learn with Geoff Lawton - June 23, 2006
During Geoff Lawton's visit to Minneapolis, the Permaculture Collaborative scheduled a Work & Learn event at member Dan Halsey's property Southwoods, near Prior Lake, MN.
