SayPermaculture! 2010 AHS National Youth Symposium
By: Erin Marteal
The planting methods in the Permaculture Sphere follow two basic permaculture principles: 1. Make use of the resources you have, and 2. Mimic nature. When you eat a tomato, simply smoodge the seeds out on the ground and let nature take it from there. Look to the fruits of the market to provide your seeds rather than those little expensive packets. The squirrels might make off with some, but they’re bound to leave a few behind to take root in your garden.
Visiting the Permasphere, L.A. Arboretum‘s Permaculture garden was a highlight of the 2010 AHS Children & Youth Garden Symposium in Pasadena. The excursion day offered three options; a public garden tour, a school garden tour and an environmental education tour. The public garden tour included a visit to the Permasphere, which for me was a launch of sorts for my permaculture travel-research. With so few public gardens in the world that actively engage in permaculture, and the L.A. Arboretum the only U.S. example I have identified that actively practices permaculture and calls it that, I was eager to see it for myself. However I managed to get on the wrong bus and about ten blocks after we’d pulled out of the Westin, our tour guide introduced herself and announced the itinerary, which was NOT the itinerary I had signed up for. I grabbed my bag and asked the bus driver to kindly let me out, then jogged 10 blocks until I found an open business: Bally Total Fitness from whom I borrowed a phone book. About twenty minutes of phone time and two cab companies later, a yellow taxi pulled up and I was off to my true destination: The Los Angeles Arboretum. My cabbie, a lovely Armenian man who spoke of his neurosurgeon nephew and his teenage daughter who excelled in math and science chuckled as I told my wrong bus story, and appreciating my plight, delivered me to the arboretum in what must have been record time. I thanked him and approached the desk positioned out front of the main entrance, which was staffed by what appeared to be day-camp greeters. None of them knew about the permaculture garden, and directed me to the front desk. I hurried in.
The woman at the front desk graciously allowed me to the front of the line when she saw the sweat on my brow, conference badge around my neck, and twinge of panic in my eye. A lost duckling her expression read. She kindly invited me to the front of the line and pulled out a garden map. “Yes, let’s see, I hope we can find it here. Oh, yes, here it is,” she said, as she pointed to the perennial garden. Eager to lose no more time than necessary, I said, “I’m looking for the permaculture garden.” “Hmmmmm….” she said. “Best to check with Mark – mustache, hat, guy who knows pretty much everything, and you can find him in the gift shop.”
Moments later Mark was lamenting there was no staff to lead the way; it was nearly impossible to find on my own, he said. He paused, reconsidered, then thoughtfully explained how to find it; “follow this path straight ahead until you get to the circle plantings; bear left then right and go through the gate into the back alley, parking area, and you will see it on the right.” I started on my way and soon realized there were multiple paths spurring off in different directions and with no signage or clear landmarks I abandoned my map and asked a visitor (or maybe it was a camp counselor?) who, fortunately, knew just where it was. I arrived at the Permasphere in time to catch the last half of Caitlin’s tour.
If you’ve ever attended a conference that includes excursions, you know what it is to be whisked along on a time-table that belongs to someone else. Large group field trips rarely allow time to soak in a place or experience. The goal is to introduce a place or project, a whetting of the whistle perhaps, not in-depth exploration. I was fortunate that the group had been split into two and I tacked on to the next group for a repeat of the 15 minute tour of the garden. Caitlin explained the state of the site when it came under her purview not even one year ago.
Old furniture and trash filled the site. In addition, thousands of gallons of rain water were swept across the adjacent asphalt, down the drains, and out to the ocean during rain events.
After ridding the site of the debris, a team of volunteers cut the curb and dug swales to invite rain water in to the garden. From there, the site design emerged. The garden has only been ‘finished’ (in as much as a permaculture garden is ever ‘finished’) in the last few months and now features a hand-crafted cob oven and welcoming keyhole cob shaded seating area. The food forest includes bananas, figs, rosemary, poppies, tomatoes, chard, among many other species of edible and medicinal plants. The space, though only recently planted, is already becoming lush and inviting. And it all exists on a very modest and replicable scale: about 20′ x 40′ (74 square meters).
Caitlin was originally hired as a nursery horticulturist and with the support of the arboretum’s CEO, Richard Schulhof, moved into her current role as Permaculture Curator. By all appearances, it seems the Permasphere and the permaculture principles demonstrated and taught there have been very well received by the public…
… To continue article and find other fantastic resources on Erin’s work with Permaculture in Public Gardens, please see website.
SayPermaculture! In ArtPlantae News
Rain Garden Reduces Water Runoff to Pacific Ocean
April 16, 2010 by ArtPlantae Today
http://artplantaetoday.com/2010/04/16/ee-week-permacultur/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wordpress%2Fartplantaetoday+%28ArtPlantae+Today%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail
Authentic Passion
Caitlin Bergman knows permaculture.
She lives it, she feels it, and she shares her authentic passion with others in her role as designer, instructor, and lead permaculturist at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. The enthusiasm Caitlin exudes for her subject couldn’t possibly exist in a purer form. Caitlin “does permaculture all day and dreams about it at night.”
A graduate of the University of Hawaii, Caitlin earned a degree in Botany, with a focus on Ethnobotany. While at UH, she researched native forest restoration, focusing on soil seed bank and community structure studies at Lyon Arboretum. She also did a year-long study on the unusual produce found within Honolulu farmers’ markets.
Since being hired to work as a propagation specialist two years ago, Caitlin has served as interim-curator of the LA Arboretum’s Grace Kallam Garden, and is concurrently the curator and designer of both the Vegetable Garden and the Permasphere, The Arboretum’s new permaculture garden. She received a certificate in permaculture design and has become a popular spokesperson at the Arboretum.
Current projects include designing Pasadena City College’s first permaculture garden, mentoring Barnhart School (a local elementary school) with the creation of a permaculture garden to serve as a teaching tool for students, as well as creating a food forest at Chateau Colombier, a bed-and-breakfast in Provence, France. Caitlin’s largest project at the moment is the creation of the permaculture garden at the LA County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.
The Arboretum’s permaculture garden has been designed to harvest rain. The placement of this garden is deliberate. It is to serve as a water retention garden whose primary function is to capture runoff from the compost area at the Arboretum. Currently, water flows freely from the piles of cut vegetation destined for mulching and redistribution throughout the Arboretum’s many gardens. When water flows out of this area, it flows rapidly down internal access roads, through the parking lot, onto busy Baldwin Avenue, and continues down to the ocean. Now that the permaculture garden is in place, water will enter the garden and be stored in swales carved out of an area that used to be a simple patch of flat dirt. Swales are channels on contour in which water pools. The water collecting in these gentle contoured areas percolates into the soil. Barrels will also be used to harvest water. These barrels will hold both rain water and gray water. Caitlin estimates the Arboretum will be able to capture hundreds to thousands of gallons of water and reduce street runoff which is the source of 70% of all the pollution entering the ocean.
In addition to serving as a rain garden, the permaculture garden will serve as an outdoor classroom. Visitors to the Arboretum will learn how to create food forests at home and learn how to prepare the food and other useful products growing in their urban forests. There are plans to build a cob oven in the new garden and this will enable visitors to learn new green building techniques as well.
What is permaculture exactly? The word “permaculture” is derived from the word perma meaning “permanent” and the word culture which refers to human culture or agriculture. This word was created by two Australians who use it to refer to “permanent culture” and “permanent agriculture” (Hemenway, 2009). Permaculture is about sustainability. It is a systems approach to creating a sustainable landscape for humans and other animals. Permaculture isn’t about planting a specific type of plant. It is about creating an “ecological garden” (Hemenway, 2009) that encourages biological processes observed in nature. Naturally occurring events such as the accumulation of leaf litter that creates habitat for earthworms (and eventually nutrients that will be used by plants) are allowed to happen. Caitlin constantly reminds people that Mother Nature does not own a weedwacker, a rake, or a rototiller. She explains that “permaculture is about unity and support of each other and of nature. Monocrops we depend on in agriculture (and in our gardens) are forced upon nature. Because this system is working against nature, it can not be separated from herbicides, pesticides, and a tremendous amount of work.”
Caitlin is documenting the progress of the new rain garden on her blog SayPermaculture.com. She has also documented the development of the Peacock Food Forest that was created in 2008. Be sure to read about this lush forest located near the Arboretum gift shop.
Would you like to learn more about creating a sustainable homestead? Save these dates!
Los Angeles Garden Show
www.lagardenshow.com
LA County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
April 30 – May 2, 2010
9 AM – 4 PM
Visit the Permashpere! The new permaculture garden will be open this weekend. Demonstrations, lectures, hands-on activities and cooking lessons are planned. Also, attend Caitlin’s presentation, Enter the Permasphere: Portal to Permaculture in Ayres Hall on May 1 at 2:00 PM.
Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course
LA County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
Saturdays, May 8 – June 26, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
This 72-hr, hands-on course will cover: urban food forestry, landscape design, habitat restoration, rapid soil rebuilding, earthworks, sustainability, food production, rain and grey water use, and community integration. This course is open to anyone with an interest in sustainable, solution-based design. Cost: $200 non-refundable deposit due by May 3, 2010, plus $1000 tuition for this certificate course. See course description.
Water Harvesting
LA County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
Saturday, May 22, 2010
10am-12pm
Learn how to contour the earth to create water-collecting swales in the urban landscape. Also learn how to harvest rain water and how to use rain water and grey water at home.
Caitlin asks EE Week Readers:
How does the Earth design gardens? Do we garden like nature? If not, what could we change to garden naturally?
Literature Cited
Hemenway, Toby. 2009. Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. Second edition. Chelsea Green Publishing. Buy
SayPermaculture! Lasagna Mulch and Seedballing Workshop
From esteemed board members and administrators, to teachers, to students, to film directors, to friends who were interested in learning the art of sheet mulching and making seedballs, everyone had a great time.
Examining different types of mulch (Photo: Rochelle)
In addition to learning two new and highly useful, cutting-edge sustainability techniques, participants found a welcoming, communal environment. “I learned a lot and am ready to make-over my yard taking the workshop,” Rochelle, Media Producer explains. “But I was really surprised that I was able to make a lot of personal connections for projects. Everybody was so willing to share and help out.”
Precious cardboard (Photo: Rochelle)
Desere and Chuck hauling materials
The simple and creative “work” techniques utilized in the gardening side of permaculture have their way of transforming, uniting, and supporting each other too. “I never thought people could be so excited about finding cardboard in the dumpster! They were gleaming at their finds,” exclaimed Leigh Adams.
Person after person bounced off and built the co-created energy of the event. Participants and Arboretum staff are unanimous: ”This type of gardening makes so much sense. Where are we going to do it next? We should have permaculture front and center everywhere.”
Permaculture is all about real sustainability that puts the power into peoples’ hands and people are feeling the power already. “Everywhere I go now after participating in the workshops, I’m noticing things that I didn’t before,” said Carmen Cisneros, in awe.
Gathering under the sweet shade of melaluca trees to make seedballs (Photo: Rochelle)
SayPermaculture! is jumping off the walls to find that you all are highly interested and want to learn more. Imagine if 1 in 10 of us living here in Los Angeles had a few fruit trees, beneficial flowers, veggies, and herbs. It would change everything.
We deeply encourage you to peer into nature and find out how she works. When we let nature do the work effortlessly, we’ve got plenty of time for freedom.
To further your fun and education in permaculture, we invite you to our upcoming lecture Introduction to Permaculture Pt.2. Also check back for details about our upcoming Permaculture Design Course (PDC) this May.
When hands are many, the work is light.
SayPermaculture! Breaks Ground at Pasadena City College
By: Hannah Leyva
Over 40 volunteers comprised of students and faculty planted a new, more environmentally friendly landscape on Wednesday morning.
Volunteers and media lining up to break ground at 10 am!
The project, brought about by natural sciences professor Ling O’Connor, focused on transforming an island on the eastern edge of the quad from a grassy area into a sustainable garden.
The process of planting began at 10 a.m. and ended in the late afternoon, with the final touches being added just before sunset.
Volunteers from two PCC student groups, Seeds of Change and AS Sustainability Committee, teamed with students from La Causa, the East Los Angeles-based branch of YouthBuild, a national non-profit organization that helps disadvantaged youths rebuild their lives through rebuilding communities. Several professors as well as students just passing by also offered to help out.
Permaculture Designer and Curator, Caitlin Bergman, and Leigh Adams, artist-in-residence at the Los Angeles Arboreum and Botanic Garden, designed the space in a very limited amount of time.
Students, staff, and several volunteers getting in on the fun installation action
“We had four days to complete the design,” said Bergman, a former PCC student. “We bought the plants right after we got the approval.”
By lunch time the garden was taking shape!
“We bought what we liked and designed around that,” added Adams.
The designers submitted their final design on Tuesday to O’Connor, who then sent it to Interim Vice President of Administrative Services Rick Van Pelt on Wednesday for final approval. The green light was given on Thursday.
Permaculture environments are being introduced to the campus through the “Landscaping the Future” project, which hopes to make the majority of the grassy areas on campus more drought-friendly by creating xeriscapes.
SayPermaculture! explaining the next steps: planting and sheet mulch
The two terms, which are new to many people and often times confusing, differ only in the means they use to achieve the shared goal of requiring minimum amounts of water to maintain.
Diversity is the key in permaculture, where plants of different shapes and sizes, mulch and other natural elements help the soil retain water and nutrients. Xeriscaping focuses on using plants, preferably native to the area that can survive without much maintenance, with gravel replacing mulch in the designs.
Bergman put it in simpler terms.
“All permaculture is xeriscaping, but not all xeriscaping is permaculture,” she explained. “Xeriscaping is just using low amounts of water, which the new landscape will accomplish through the sheet mulch that was installed by the volunteers.”
“We’re hoping to trap natural resources,” said Eric Recchia, Director of Progressive Transit on the Sustainability Committee.
The layers of mulch that were set used items recycled from other parts of campus, such as cardboard from the dumpsters and green waste (such as branches) that had been pruned from trees.
La Causa volunteers sourcing materials around campus for sheet mulch
“We’re reusing nutrients and other stuff that’s available,” said Recchia.
“It’s a way to work with nature,” said O’Connor.
The plants replacing the grass include guava trees, white sage, oregano, and myrtle, all of which have both aesthetic and practical uses.
“Most plants are edible or medicinal,” said Adams.
Those involved in “Landscaping the Future” hope that this new campus feature will foster awareness of what can be done to make PCC more sustainable.
The first fruit of PCC’s food forest (aside from the numerous myrtus communis purple berries)
“We want to make a paradigm shift by creating different ways of looking at things,” said O’Connor.
Added Recchia, “We’re trying to show what the alternatives are.”
“We hope this is the first of many (permaculture gardens),” said Adams.