Bring Permaculture to the White House!

Help bring ecological awareness to those powers in the White House! UMass Amherst Permaculture needs your vote to get to the White House and be featured on MTV~ they have made it to the top 15 finalists for a CAMPUS CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE AWARD!

UMass Amherst Permaculture is a student group that educates the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and the local community about ecological permaculture solutions by demonstrating edible perennial landscapes that are highly productive, low maintenance, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible!





"Finishing in the top 5 means permaculture and UMass Amherst will get national attention from the media, President Obama and his staff, plus millions and millions of people worldwide! This one has the potential to be a game-changer, everyone! It may very well be the most important Facebook post I will ever share. " -Ryan Harb

Here is what you can do to help:
1) Simply click the link and vote (all 3 of your votes!) for "UMASS Amherst Permaculture Initiative"!
2) Share this message on your Facebook wall so others in your network will also vote!
3) Post this message on appropriate Facebook groups you belong to! 4) E-mail this link to your friends, family, listservs, etc! Ask them to vote and share it with others as well.
5) Keep checking back, sharing this on Facebook during the next week, and keep the momentum high! Thank you so so much, everyone. We could be at the White House on March 15 with your help!

Vote here:
https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge

Facebook Event:
http://www.facebook.com/events/309134875814270/

How to run a PERMABLITZ!

Adam Grubb from Permablitz Melbourne shows Sydney how its done!

See also:

• DIY Permablitz Kit

What is a permablitz? 
A permablitz is a permaculture-inspired backyard, frontyard or community makeover where people come together to build a food garden, share knowledge and skills about organic food production in urban gardens while building community and having fun. Anyone can come, and for many it’s their first experience with permaculture design or food gardening. Basically we get a lot of people together with tools, plants and knowledge and we go to someones house and build a permaculture vegie garden. This is a not for profit, volunteer based idea with reciprocation in mind. If you want a permaculture vegie garden at your place then you are encouraged to help out at other permablitz's first. People who have had a blitz at their house are encouraged to repay the favor by helping out at other blitz's.

We incorporate the principles of permaculture and sustainable living.

Each permablitz: includes planning via a pre-blitz design visit or visits, prior organisation of labour, materials, tools, plants and knowledge needed for the blitz, and follow up visits after the blitz to see how people are going with their new gardens.

Permaculture is a broad-based and holistic approach to life systems design and has a set of ‘core values’ or ethics Earthcare - Peoplecare - Fairshare

Modern thought about permaculture began with the issue of sustainable food production. It started with the belief that for people to feed themselves sustainably, they need to move away from reliance on industrialised agriculture. Where industrial farms use technology powered by fossil fuels (such as gasoline, diesel and natural gas), and each farm specialises in producing high yields of a single crop, permaculture stresses the value of low inputs and diverse crops. The model for this was an abundance of small-scale market and home gardens for food production, and a main issue was food miles.

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The Living Landscape: How to Read and Understand It

Patrick Whitefield shares a lifetime's knowledge of the myriad interactions that go to make up the fascinating and varied landscapes we see all around us. He will inspire you to reconnect with the land as a living entity, not a collection of different scenery, and develop an active relationship with nature and the countryside.

The Living Landscape opens with a chapter on how to go about reading the landscape. The following chapters then go on to look in detail into landscape formation, from rocks, through soil, to vegetation, and the intricate web of interactions among plants, animals, climate, and people that makes the landscape around us. Each chapter is interspersed with diagrams, sketches, and notes that Patrick has taken over two decades of living and working in the countryside.

This book invites you to engage actively with nature and experience it firsthand. Understanding how landscapes evolve is a useful skill for landscape designers, gardeners, and farmers large and small, but it is also a life-enhancing skill all of us can enjoy. Whitefield offers us the enduring pleasure that costs nothing and yet offers everything.

Patrick Whitefield is one of Europe's foremost authors, teachers, and practitioners of temperate-climate permaculture. Patrick's previous books include: Permaculture in a Nutshell, The Earth Care Manual, How To Make a Forest Garden, and Tipi Living.

See also eBook previews:

• The Earth Care Manual: A Permaculture Handbook For Britain & Other Temperate Climates - The long-awaited exploration of permaculture specifically for cooler Northern Hemisphere climates is finally here! Already regarded as the definitive book on the subject, The Earth Care Manual is accessible to the curious novice as much as it is essential for the knowledgeable practitioner. Patrick Whitefield is a permaculture teacher, writer, designer, and consulting editor for Permaculture Magazine. He is the author of the mini-classic Permaculture in a Nutshell, which has been translated into four languages. 

• How to Make a Forest Garden - A forest garden is a food-producing garden, based on the model of a natural woodland or forest. It is made up of fruit and nut trees, fruit bushes, perennial vegetables and herbs. It can be tailored to fit any space, from a tiny urban back yard to a large rural garden. This highly practical, yet inspiring book gives you everything you need to know in order to create a beautiful and productive forest garden. It is also a low-maintenance way of gardening. Once established there is none of the digging, sowing, planting out and hoeing of the conventional kitchen garden. The main task is picking up the produce!

• Permaculture in a Nutshell - is a concise and accessible introduction to the principles and practice of permaculture in temperate climates. It covers how permaculture works in the city, the country and on the farm and explores ways in which people can work together to recreate real communities. This inspiring book clearly describes how we can live fruitfully and sustainably and is essential reading for anyone wishing to reduce their environmental impact. Patrick Whitefield is a permaculture teacher, writer, designer, and consulting editor for Permaculture Magazine.

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