Santa Cruz Permaculture – Design Course 2020-2021

First a moment of Gratitude

None of this would have been possible if it was not for the generosity of these friends and family. Thank you to these wonderful people who donated through the GoFundMe Page to help pay for the cost of this course: Chris Mavry, Andy Thomas, David Rosen, Bryan Mireles, Grace Myers, Payton Kertz, Megan Cheung, Dave Wagner, Amy Igarashi, Gretchen White, Courtney Duarte, Alex Beraut, Chris Goering, Tessa Wiley, Sophie Hayes, Maureen Bach, Leah Kolchinsky, Cerina Diesh, Allen Lapin, Joan Parsons, and Laura Lee Malooly. 

This is the wisdom I gleaned while taking the Santa Cruz Permaculture Design Course in 2020-2021. The location is at Aptos Beloved Community in Aptos, CA. The Main Instructor is David Shaw and his wonderful many guest speakers.

Permaculture 101

10/11/20 – 10/12/20

The first weekend of the class has been inspiring and magical. The first magical encounter was with the 150-year-old Live Oak Trees, lucky for me this grove is our classroom. The sunlight streams through the canopy of the ever-branching Oak canopy above, warming my being in the microclimate created by these trees. I feel that Light has been lifted back into my spirit. Listening to other humans who are passionate about permaculture and rejuvenation of the Earth awaken me from the stagnant depression brought upon by COVID. For the first time since the beginning of this year, I am hearing new hope and beautiful dreams spoken allowed. My faith in humanity working together for a common good is restored, the best part is we are all part of the solution.

  • “Be Careful – Gardening is a gateway drug, it leads to harder stuff like … farming”

  • 98% of farmland owned is white in the US

  • “What we collectively dream will manifest the future”

  • “NOT work with Nature but, We are Nature working” Penny Livingston

  • 3% of a population is all that needs to change for an entire population to change.

  • Humans are swimming in conversation like a fish swims in water – we do all things via conversation. Storytelling drives the people – every revolution begins with a story.

  • Whoever has the food holds the power. Taking the power back is crucial.

  • Humans are the imaginal body of Gaia

  • Other topics mentioned that are worth looking into:

    • Mycoremediation – Mia Scholar , Maya Elson – Corenewal
    • Humanure – Joe Jenkins
    • Public Banking – Movement for local divesting – Democracy Collaborative at community-weath.org – Pluaralist commonwealth
Common Name: California Hairstreak Scientific Name: Satyrium californica
The beautiful outdoor bathtub intermingled with their food forest at ABC, this tub is future goals.

SOILS 

11/7/20 

  • The Permaculture Egg   
    • “The great oval of the design represents the egg of life; that quantity of life which cannot be created or destroyed, but from within which all things that live are expressed. Within the egg is coiled the rainbow snake, the Earth-shaper of Australian & American aboriginal peoples… Within the body of the Rainbow Serpent is contained the Tree of Life, which itself expresses the general pattern of life forms, as further elaborated in the chapter on the pattern in this book. Its roots are in earth, & its crown in rain sunlight & wind. Elemental forces & flows shown external to the oval represents the physical environment, the sun & the matter from which life on earth is formed. The whole cycle & form is dedicated, as is this book, to the complexity of life on Earth.”
        • This explanation is an extract from Permaculture – A Designer’s Manual, the definitive Permaculture text, by Bill Mollison. Published by TAGARI PUBLICATIONS
  • Movement of water through sandy vs clay soils
    • Sandy soils will release water vertically downward. In contrast, clay soils will release the water laterally as well as vertically downward. Another difference between these two soil types is that the sandy soil is twice as fast as clay soils in releasing water downward through the soil horizons. This allows me to better understand the soil at my house, which is a sandy loam and has a low water-holding capacity compared to clay soils.
  • Importance of pH in the soil for nutrient uptake
    • The ideal pH for soil is slightly acidic, between pH of 6 and 7. When in this range, the nutrients plants need are more bioavailable. When the pH becomes too acidic or basic, the nutrients are still there, but they are not available to the plant.
  • Nutrient Importance and Use
    • Nitrogen: brings vegetative growth
    • Potassium: aids the strength of the plant
      • Horse Manure is rich in potassium, and nothing builds the soil better!
    • Phosphorus: helps flowering
      • The world’s largest source is in West Sahara, where there is a human rights violation happening due to the extraction and exploitation of the nutrient.
      • The solution is integrating animals back into the system. Chicken poop is high in phosphorus.
      • In Santa Cruz, there are efforts to start recovering Phosphorus from our wastewater.

  • Eco- nomy  = care of the home

  • The Farm Bill needs to be changed and is outdated. It allows for subsidies to continue on food produced in exploitative and unsustainable ways.

      • The Green Horns – Severine von Tscharner Fleming- modern people trying to change the Farm Bill

  • Questions that I need to research:
    • How do plants evolve high concentrations of nutrients within their composition? Why do some plants have higher nutrients than others?
Basil, onion, carrots, and a wild plantain
Kale
Strawberries

WATER

11/8/20

Guest: Lydia Neilsen, the water wizard, pictured ironically below a rainbow that was so beautiful it forced everyone to stop class and gaze upon its magnificence.

  • Water on the landscape
    • We are dehydrating our landscape
    • Did you know that water holds more heat than CO2 ? Is it really CO2 causing global climate de-stability? Decreasing global CO2 emissions feels disempowering to the individual. However, changing how we store water in the landscape is a direct and impactful solution to global climate change.
  • Heroes and Sheroes
    • “Don’t pray for rain if you can’t take care of what you get” – Brad Lancaster
    • You can’t walk away from problems where you are. Stay home and heal your nest!
  • Change the paradigm from “Pave It/ Pipe It/Drain It” to “Slow It/ Spread It/ Sink It” 
  • Hydrologic Cycle and global water reliance
    • The greatest takeaway I learned is that the Hydrologic Cycle is not an isolated cycle from all the other global cycles present (like the Nitrogen and Carbon cycle). The Hydrologic Cycle is interdependent upon all the other systems working synergistically to allow life to flourish.
    • Deforestation is a major crux and holds the potential to damage many cycles keeping us alive. Specifically, in the stomata on the leaves of trees, a special type of bacteria is produced and is evaporated into the atmosphere along with the water. The bacteria will cause the water to evaporate at a lower temperature, which shortens the water cycle and keeps the rain more local. This unique relationship between bacteria and rain highlights the crucial importance of protecting our forests from deforestation due to their incredible ability to stabilize our climate. 
  • Viktor Schauberger was ahead of his time and we can learn from his ideas still to this day. Check out “Hidden Nature – The Startling Insights of Viktor Schauberger” by Alick Bartholomew
  • The U.N. has declared 2021-2031 the decade of ecosystem restoration!
  • DIY A-Frame to measure the contour of a landscape
    • These are Lydia’s professional A-Frames that we are taking inspiration from.
    • Materials Needed: 2 long sticks of equal size, 1 short sick, 1 long piece of strong cordage, 2 short pieces of cordage, one heavy object, and a pen. First, tie a loop on one end of the long string.
    • Then use the string to attach the two long pieces of wood together near the top. Make sure to leave a couple feet of string dangling down the middle of the two sticks because this will be the place to tie our weight, which will demonstrate if the ground is level or not.
    • Next, lay the short stick across the two long sticks to create a small triangle between them. Tie securely together with the string using a square knot.
    • Tie off the heavy object so it dangles just past the small stick that makes the bottom of the triangle. Next, place the A-frame on a slope and mark with a pen on the small stick where the weight dangles. Now invert the A-frame by flipping it 180 degrees and mark the place that the weight dangles from. Lastly, mark the middle between these two points. This will roughly tell you when the contour is flat and level.
    • The last step is to use the A-frame to practice mapping contour on the landscape. First place a flag at the foot of one of the long sticks, then move the other leg uphill and downhill util the weight hangs in line with the middle mark. To get the next contour line, swivel the A-frame by moving the first stick placed down 180 degrees in the direction of the contour desired. Repeat the process until you have mapped your contour lines on the landscape
  • Swales and Berms
    • Swales and Berms are turning surface runoff into subsurface infiltration by strategically moving water across the landscape.
    • Swales can be filled with organic matter, which gives food to microorganisms, and the wood can slow down the movement of water. If the goal is to move water across the land, then you may not want to fill the swale with wood chips. You can also plant in a swale, for example, creeping fescue or native grass.
    • Pro Tip: Use Google Earth’s Polygon and Ruler feature to map out a watershed of your local mountain ridges OR even your roof for rainwater harvesting.
    • In class, we dug the swale pictured below on contour in the hillside garden.
  • Right Livelihood Award
    • Yacouba Sawadogo won the award in 2018 for their remarkable success in rejuvenating the water and plants within the landscape through a unique water infiltration system using “Zai” holes. A Zai hole works by digging holes at regular intervals, filling them with organic compost or manure, then planting a seed into the hole. A Zai conserves rainwater, improves soil fertility, and allows for the production of food during droughts. Many examples in Burkina Faso demonstrate that this practice will recharge the local groundwater, and has rejuvenated the people’s year-round water supply.
  • Waffle Gardening and the Zuni People 
    • The Zuni people come from the Zuni River Valley in western New Mexico, where they have been practicing a dry-farming technique to conserve water on the landscape for at least the last 4,000 years. “Latdekwi:we”,  also nicknamed Waffle Gardening, refers to sculpting the soil into a grid pattern or waffle layout before planting seeds. The grid pattern is made by forming small raised dirt mounds around each square, which forces the water flow directly to the plants and allows the soil to retain moisture longer.
    • To construct a Waffle garden, start with an area at least three squares across and three squares down (so it resembles a tic-tac-toe board). Dig down about one foot in each square, and place the removed soil on the edges to mound up the sides of the square. Simple yet effective!
  • Gabions
    • Gabions are a regenerative method for rehydrating the landscape using natural materials, preferably sourced on site, and are typically constructed on ephemeral streams. Most importantly, gabions are site-specific and will vary in design depending on the watershed. A Gabion is a prime example of Brad Lancaster’s vital water principle of “Slow it, Spread it, Sink it”. The gabion changes the flow of water by forcing it to pool then ripple downstream, which creates a more diverse habitat for wildlife. The pulsating movement creates a dynamic form, honoring what the water wants to do.
    • First, make sure you have observed your site characteristics and are open to experimentation throughout the design process. To create a gabion, vertical posts are placed perpendicular to the flow of water. These posts can be harvested branches or could even be living native riparian trees like Willows. Depending on your stream size, the posts are approximately 3 to 4 feet long and are buried about 1 foot deep. Notice that the posts are lower than the bank and the middle is the lowest point. This is important because we do not want to divert water from the stream channel.
    • Next, two trenches are dug parallel to the support posts in order to anchor the gabion in place. This is where the transverse pieces will go that run perpendicular to the flow of water. The key is flexible pieces of wood that can be weaved between the posts; young Douglas Fir or Redwood is a great option if available. The weaving mimics basket weaving techniques used by Indigenous Peoples, allowing for the flow of air and water to move through the structure, and the sediment to be trapped behind the structure.
    • Lydia and the folks at Aptos Beloved Community uniquely tailored their gabion to their needs by stacking the functions of the gabion. In addition to rejuvenating the water table, the gabion can be constructed to double as a small bridge. They achieved this by stuffing the middle area between posts full of tromped woody material. An added benefit of the gabion construction is that it processes woody fuels on the land, transforming fire danger into water recovery.
    • In addition to constructing the gabion, it may be necessary to reinforce or alter the stream bed upstream from the gabion. In the photo below, the stream channel was widened and rounded, then planted with native grasses and covered with Jute netting.
    • There is a myriad of possibilities when constructing a gabion. In the photo below, Lydia stands in front of a double-layered gabion featuring three parallel lines of posts. By increasing the size of the gabion, the impact of water retention on the landscape can be increased. 
    • Plants are key in water remediation and can serve as useful tools in the construction of a gabion. In this photo below, a deeply-rooted stump lay adjacent to the stream channel prior to building. They utilized this stump to strengthen and reinforce the side of the gabion.
  • Greywater Systems
    •  Greywater systems hold the potential to decrease our domestic water use by half! This is made possible by refiltering and transporting our indoor water for outside use. According to Brad Lancaster, Principle one is to observe your landscape intently before enacting action. Principle Two is finding the highest point in elevation of your watershed, or if you only own your home the highest point is the top of your roof. 
    • There are many options for Greywater systems, including the many ideas listed in the photo below.
    • Some of these practices require a permit, while one does not. The Laundry to Landscape method does NOT require a permit, as long as there is no alteration of plumbing. In addition, there are many considerations to ponder when installing a system. Most importantly, “biodegradable” soap does NOT mean it is non-toxic for the environment. Biodegradable only means that the product breaks down into smaller pieces. “Biocompatible” soaps must be used in greywater systems because they do not pollute the environment once they leave the system. 
    • Behold the holy grail of greywater systems: A greywater wetland-pond-swale habitat system. Originally created by Brad Lancaster, this system aims to restore the local ecosystem function by providing habitat for plants and wildlife, while simultaneously filtering the water through a constructed wetland. 
      • Lydia created her own unique wetland-pond-swale habitat system, pictured below.
  • Roof Rainwater Harvesting
    • Water catchment is LEGAL in California, although there are platform requirements for a 5,000 gallon or more tank due to earthquake safety concerns

Personal and Economic Permaculture

December 2020

Bioneers Conference online

  • Design for Mitigating Disaster with David Shaw
    • Design to withstand disaster at its worst and longest extent
      • Land related: floods, hurricanes, fire, drought
      • Man-made: deforestation, nuclear warfare or energy production, terrorism, climate change, land degradation
      • Secondary (most severe and longest-lasting): epidemics, mass migration, plague, social or economic collapse
    • Strategies:
      • Reduce the density of forest, silvipasture as a resource
      • We should all have an evacuation basket full of important documents ready to go.
    • Check out:

 

  • Intentions to apply to my group’s PDC Project 
    1. Design a teachable closed loop system:
      1. “Pollution is a human design failure”
      2. “Natural ecosystems are closed-loop systems because they meet their own needs internally. This includes: Pollination, Pruning, Pest Management, Nutrients for all species, Germination, Temperature Control, Soil Building and Maintenance, and Wind Control.
    2. Reduce food miles and increase local community supported agriculture:
      1. On the menu at our restaurant, every item will have the food miles it took to it to your plate. Include WHO the farmer is that grew your food.
      2. Connect directly with local farms in the region – sponsor a farmer every month
    3. Integrate the Science of Networks – everything is a network or pattern
      1. Nodes – pairs and trios first start connecting
      2. Clusters – giant 3D network emerges, everything is linked
    4. My intention with our project is to let the Earth return to its untamed state, letting the weeds return and waters flow, native bees and birds too. I want it to feel like a magical refuge and place of healing.

Home-Scale Permaculture: Creating Natural Homes and Edible Landscapes

January 2021

Guest: Della Duncan of the Upstream Podcast

A new friend, a male Western Blue Bird.
  • Rethinking Economics: 

    • We each participate every day – tending to the land, how we feed ourselves, we EMBODY the economy, so what do we want to see?

    • In college, I did a speech on the Kingdom of Bhutan’s unique Gross National Happiness system. I personally dream of all countries adopting this method to measure the health of the people, and some countries around the world are starting to adopt it as well.

      • 9 focus areas, including questions like: “How many native plants do you know the name of?” and “If you were sick or celebrating a birthday, how many people would come to help you or celebrate with you?”

    • Talk about dispelling lies that I have been taught my whole life: The Tragedy of the Commons is a MYTH!

      • Managing Accountability is the key to success

      • Stewardship – NOT ownership

    • To make a shift in our economy, we must analyze and change 3 sectors: our inner world, our behaviors, and the system itself.

      • Inner: mindfulness, empathy and compassion, redefine work, not succumbing to fear, taking a stand for your values, connecting to something larger than yourself – the Earth is our larger body

      • Behavioral: Practice the Honorable Harvest, nonviolent communication, zero waste goals, consume less and share more, accept limits of growth, grow your own food, change diets to perennial crops

        • The Honorable Harvest: Ask Permission, Give Gratitude, Take only what you need, and play a role in reseeding for the future generations

      • Systematic:  Reallocate subsidies to regenerative methods of growing food, corporate social accountability, debt forgiveness, transparent product cycle, Collectively and systematically tracking our GLOBAL natural resources as Global Citizens

  • The Work That Reconnects Spiral by Joanna Macy 
    • Gratitude – opens the door to abundance/heart/happiness
    • Grief
    • new eyes
    • Going Forth
  • Widening Circles 
    • ….

 

  • 7 Invitations for the New Economy:
    1. Rethink Economics – planetary home management is key
    2. Design in Harmony with Ecology – waste is food for something else
    3. Reassess Value – change the goal
    4. Reframe work
    5. Share Power
    6. Harness Profit
    7. Reconsider Who we want to be as humans
  • Tools for Strengthening Alternative Economies:
    1. Credit Unions – not for profit owned
    2. Public Banking – cities, counties, states
    3. Time Banking and Share Shops
    4. Community Land Trusts – takes land off-market for perpetuity
    5. MidPeninsula Open Space
    6. Santa Cruz Land Trust
    7. Worker, Consumer, and Platform Cooperatives
  • Resources to check out:
    1. Learning the Grammar of Animacy by Robin Wall Kimmerer
    2. Donella Meadows “Leverage Points – Places to Intervene in a System”
    3. “The Service Berry” by Robin Wall Kimerer
    4. Cradle to Cradle by William McDonnough 
    5. community-wealth.org and the Cleveland model
    6. Next Systems Project Democracy Collective
    7. How on Earth Flourishing in a Not for Profit by 2050
    8. Enlivening Edge
    9. “Farming While Black: SoulFire Farms Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land”
    10. Joanna Macy

Broad Scale Permaculture for Ecosystem Regeneration: Integrated Animal Husbandry and Forest Management

February 2021

Kanyon Coyote Woman Sayers Roods of Indian Canyon and Dr Lee Klinger of Sudden Oak Life

Demonstration on Sudden Oak Life procedure given by Dr Lee Klinger
Photo by Kanyon Coyote Woman Sayers Roods
The magical hillsides of the canyon

The entrance to Indian Canyon, where their old village site use to be, dated back at least 4,200 years ago

Photo by Kanyon Coyote Woman Sayers Roods
The grand old Oak tree that has witnessed all 24 years of the Annual Storytelling gathering, and many more stories to come

Social Permaculture, Community Development, and Design Presentations

March 2021

Sunday we presented, if you want to peruse our my group’s Final Design Project, here it is:

Permaculture Course Design Project Presentation 2021

Some inspiration yearned from Ken Foster and David Shaw:

  • Ken Foster wore a button that said “I am a trim tab”, which is the rudder on the rudder that makes turning a ship much easier. The impact of the individual is crucial, and it takes little effort because of the passion and excitement for a more regenerative world. This quote was on Buckminster fuller’s gravestone.

  • Permaculture is typically apolitical, but to be apolitical is a political stance!

The last day of class was unforgettable because of the tree planting ceremony at the end of class. Silently we walked to the far side of Aptos Beloved Community, where the stream meanders among the Willows.

David brought an Elderberry for us to plant collectively and send out our well wishes into the universe together. One by one, we each ceremoniously gathered a handful of soil and tucked in the Elderberry. With each handful, each person shared what they were looking forward to in the future and what they love about themselves. It was a beautiful moment of openness and truth shared by us all. I shared that I am excited to commit my career and life to plants. 
David placing the tree into the Earth


Aurore sharing her well wishes into the Universe

Amanda watering the newly planted Elderberry

This beautiful bouquet was created by Amanda of Aromas Family Farm as a display for our project presentation , she gifted it to David – such a giving class this is!

And this beautiful bouquet was gifted to each of my group members by Amanda – the magnificent King Protea will take up to two weeks to fully open up!

Its official!