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Permablitz & Community

March 8, 2019 by Myke Johnson Leave a Comment

As we plan for a new Permablitz season, I offer you some reflections about the Permablitz held at Margy’s and my house two years ago. (A version of this post first appeared in my blog, Finding Our Way Home.)

Over 20 people came to our yard and worked together on projects organized by the Resilience Hub. They installed rain barrels, built a composting system from pallets, built a fire circle, and created five more growing beds for future fruit trees, raspberry bushes, & hazelnut bushes, and one bed for flowers & herbs.  We also got the first shovelfulls dug for a pond.

Opening Circle-Sylvia, Cathleen, Ali
[Opening Circle]

At the end of the day, I felt teary-eyed with the sense of Gift.  The generosity of so many individuals coming together and creating something so beautiful and full, helping us to realize our dreams for this piece of land, was deeply moving.  There is something about this giving and receiving of human attention and wisdom and care, that feeds our hearts. Much of our lives are shaped by transactions—we pay a certain amount of money, and receive a product. Or, we put in so many hours and receive a paycheck.  But giving and receiving freely and generously touches something much deeper. Giving and receiving must trigger deep neurotransmitters in our internal chemistry, sparking a profound sense of well-being and belonging.

I also realized how many layers of community are involved in such a project.  One layer is this community of people who care about the earth, and who come together to give and receive, to learn, to share, to grow, to get to know each other.  People connections are made.

Another layer is the community of the soil itself.  During the blitz I was mostly working with several others on the project for creating new growing beds.  We were adding nutrients through sheet mulching so that the soil could create a thriving fertile community.  I have learned so much about the variations in soil communities from the book The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips.

What a food forest needs, what fruit trees need, is soil whose fungal community is stronger than its bacterial community.  In contrast, annual vegetables and flowers and grasses prefer soil with a stronger bacterial community.  A bacterial community is enhanced by tilling the soil and incorporating organic matter by turning it into the soil.  A fungal community is enhanced by no tilling, but rather adding organic matter on the top of the soil to decompose, as it happens in the forest. (Similarly, compost that is left unturned will generate a stronger fungal community.)

Forking the beds Cathleen
[Cathleen forking the soil]

We prepared the soil by aerating it with garden forks–since it had been rather compacted.  We added some granite dust for mineral enhancement, then put down a layer of cardboard to kill grasses and weeds.

Raspberry Bed-manure & chaff Mihku & Heather
[Mihku & Heather adding manure and chaff]

Then, we added chicken manure, coffee chaff, seaweed, leaves, grass clippings, composted manure, and a really thick layer of deciduous wood chips.  We were able to get a delivery of 8 yards of wonderful ramial deciduous wood chips–these are chips which include lots of thin branches, which have more lignin content that is not yet woody.  The wood chips are the most important part of enhancing the fungal community.

After-Fruit Tree & Flower/Herb Beds

We also made several pathways with cardboard and wood chips, and I worked to complete those bit by bit in the days after the blitz.  Wonderfully, the process then works on its own–we add some water or it gets rained on–and the microbes will work together over the next several months and years to create a thriving soil community.  We planted trees and bushes the following spring.  My friend Roger Paul said that the Wabanaki word for “soil” means giver of life.

I encourage you to consider participating in a Permablitz to experience this sense of community for yourself!

Filed Under: food forest, Permablitz, Soils, Uncategorized, Urban Permaculture Tagged With: community, food forest, fruit trees, gift economy, orchard, permablitz, resilience, soil

Call for 2016 #PortlandME Permablitz Hosts (Especially Renters!)

April 22, 2016 by Heather Foran Leave a Comment

We are so excited to launch the fourth full season of permablitzes in the greater Portland area and we’re looking for hosts!

01Are you interested in moving your home towards greater resilience? Have you been interested in implementing a permaculture design but didn’t know where to start? Are you interested in exploring ways that your space or property can support the wider community? Click here to apply to host a residential or community permablitz!

What are Permablitzes?
Permablitzes are day-long work parties in service of a permaculture design. Typically a group of people gathers on a property fueled by teaching and learning important skills, good food, good conversation, and the common goal of implementing a phase of a permaculture design. Click here to learn more about permablitzing in Portland.

Imagine 20-40 permaculture folks working side-by-side for six hours resulting in more than 180 labor hours completed in one day – not to mention equivalent hours of experiential learning, great fun and connection.

Community Blitzes!
In addition to our slate of residential blitzes, we’re excited to both organize (and support the self-organization of) additional community/public/multiple stakeholder blitzes into the mix! Examples would include neighborhood blocks, parks, school yards, co-housing units, areas around businesses or religious spaces, abandoned lots, etc. If you are connected to a space that you think might be a good match, we encourage you to apply for that space!

Important: Please read through the following criteria for this year’s permablitzing sites (we hope to expand this for future seasons as resources allow!). If you feel like a good match, please submit your information by April 29th by clicking on the link at the bottom and we’ll get back to you to see if it will work for this year! And if you don’t feel you meet the criteria this year, consider getting your own local permablitzing network going or hang in there for a future season!

Portland Permablitz Host Requirements for 2016:

21.1Priority for this season’s blitzes will go to renters, as well as to people who are able to be active in reciprocity to the wider community (either through attending blitzes previously or committing to those on other people’s property this season, in actively providing food/medicine, etc. to the wider community, sharing growing space, etc.)

In addition, hosts must:

Have a permaculture design for the property already created OR be willing to a) pay for a design by a permaculture designer, b) have a design done by a permaculture design course student or c) host an “intro to permaculture design class” at your home

Willing to put in 10-15 hours in the month or two prior to the permablitz towards seeking out and providing materials as specified in the design (this might mean purchasing and/or gathering and recycling with the help of the permablitz organizer).

Capacity to maintain the permaculture systems post-permablitz for the duration of the time that they’re designed for.

Located in Portland, South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Westbrook, Scarborough, Falmouth (we’re maintaining our focus in the immediate vicinity of Portland. If you’re from another area please email us, as we’re psyched to help catalyze permablitzing capacity in other towns!)

Space for 10 to 20 people to work, park vehicles, sit down inside or outside for lunch

Able to provide a soup or other main dish for lunch, with attendees bringing other lunch items potluck-style to compliment.

Criteria for selection:
Host selections will a) give preference to those who have participated in permablitzes previously, and b) people who don’t own their own homes, c) seek to attain a diversity of space options (urban and rural, design constraints, etc.) and project possibilities (including expanding into weatherization and energy projects), and d) seek hosts who are interested in building systems of mutual aid: creative ways that they might give back to the wider community after receiving the blitz. e) seek to support bridge-builders in our community and to bring networks or groups of people together to do shared work.

27More about our goals for this year…

  • Permablitzing at least ten sites: both urban and suburban residential, owner-occupied as well as rental; and at least three of those as public, community, or multiple stakeholder sites.
  • Generating new and creative grassroots ways of leveraging space in support of the wider community.
  • Working with mutual aid and shared work to connect different networks and communities of people.
  • Demonstrating and documenting options for urban permaculture that work within the constraints of rental situations.
  • Supporting renter capacity for self-sufficiency and mutual aid in the face of the rising rent prices.
  • Building reciprocity and a network of mutual aid.
  • Building collaboration across public, private, and non-profit sectors, as well as empowering the grassroots.
  • Working with neighborhoods and city blocks to build organizing capacity for permablitzes.
  • Expanding beyond food and water resilience, building in energy and weatherization projects.
  • Supporting the self-organizing capacity of the amazing folks in the permablitz network to accomplish new and unforeseen projects!
43If you’ve read all this and you’re still interested in hosting a permablitz on your property, get your name on the list by filling out this host application now!

If you have any questions, please email our Permablitz Coordinator Heather Foran (hforan@gmail.com) or LisaFernandes (lisa@resiliencehub.org).

Best,

Everyone at The Resilience Hub

Filed Under: DIY, Permablitz, Resilience Hub News Tagged With: permablitz

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