Greetings all,
Below is an amazing collection
of upcoming springtime permaculture and sustainability events in the central
Virginia bioregion, including a great
permaculture film and workshops in Charlottesville. If you know anyone else that would like to
sign up for this newsletter, they can sign up here. If you have an
announcement, email us at blueridgepermaculture@gmail.com for the next monthly e-newsletter. Click here to view this email as a webpage. Happy Spring!
Best,
1.
FILM - Thursday 4/11 “Relocalisation: How Peak Oil Can
Lead to Permaculture”
A David Holmgren
film presented by Gabriel Engle
7 pm at The Bridge
PAI, 209 Monticello Rd., Charlottesville, VA
In this film,
permaculture co-founder David Holmgren connects peak oil, climate change and
energy descent to small-scale grassroots, personal and community action. Gabe
Engle apprenticed at Melliodora, David’s home and permaculture demonstration
site in Hepburn Springs, Victoria, Australia. Gabe will answer questions and
talk about his experiences working with David and David’s partner Su Dennett.
Saturday April
20th, 9 am-noon, cost $75
Learn simple
methods for growing mushrooms as garden allies on straw, woodchips and
compost. Hands-on demonstrations include: preparing materials by
composting, pasteurizing and fermenting; and inoculation methods for
intercropping several species of mushrooms in your garden including: Garden
Giant, Oyster, and Almond Portobello.
Mushroom Cooking
Demonstration and Farm Lunch follows the workshop.
Register for both
at
www.sharondalefarm.com/workshops
Sharondale Farm is excited to offer a Mushroom Cooking Class and Farm Lunch on
April 20 from 12:30 - 2. We'll fire up the earth oven (pizza!) and Angel will
prepare three seasonal dishes, each featuring one of our farm fresh mushrooms
and other garden goodies. In addition to a tasty lunch, you'll learn
nutritional basics about mushrooms and come away with some culinary
inspiration.
April 20
12:30 pm - 2pm
Cost: $30 per person*
Save $5 when you register for a mushroom growing workshop and the lunch.
3.
4/13 Fruit Grafting and Propagation All Day Intensive
This all day workshop will be an overview of growing fruit
and nuts in Virginia without pesticides and fungicides. Participants will learn
which fruit trees can be grown from seed, which can be rooted, and which must
be grafted. Participants will learn how to prepare fruit tree seeds for
planting, how to root fruiting plants, and how to graft. The focus will be on
techniques that can be used at home with a minimum of tools and expense. Each
participant will take home two fruit trees that they graft themselves.
Additional rootstock and seeds will also be available. Rootstock and scions
(grafting wood) will be provided.
When: Saturday, April 13, 9 AM to 5 PM
Where: 912 Woodfolk Drive, Charlottesville VA, 22902
Cost: $50, checks made payable to Living Energy Farm
4.
When its time to
cultivate your garden…
WayCoolTools.com, is a local web resource for practical
garden tools to suit discerning gardeners.
We have recently introduced a light weight all steel broad fork
guaranteed not to bend or break even in the heavy clay and rocky soil we have
here in the Blue Ridge. Broad forks make
soil cultivation easier on the gardener and help minimize disruption of the
garden soils structure. These new broad
forks are an answer to requests for a broad fork that is stronger and more
durable than light weight broad forks that tend to bend tines and split handles
and lighter weight and easier to manage than other steel broad forks on the
market that tend to be too heavy or bulky to work with for long periods of
time. Here is a recent blog post with
more information and a link to our website:
http://waycooltools.blogspot.com/2013/03/dig-smarter-not-harder-with-lighter.html
5.
City Schoolyard Garden has been selected to
make a
pitch at the TomTom Festival's $10K u.Pitch event on Thursday, April 11
at 6:30. The event costs $10, and admission includes a vote for the pitch of
your choice. We hope you will come out and support our pitch for funding to
help finish the installations at our elementary school gardens!
Donate to Kickstart a Hoophouse at Buford Middle School
in Charlottesville, VA
City
Schoolyard Garden is dedicated to providing year-round, hands-on
educational opportunities to students in the City of Charlottesville. We’re
building a brand new space at Buford Middle School to better serve our young
gardeners. The 360 sq. ft. hoophouse will greatly increase our capacity to
start seeds and process our garden’s bounty. With our increased capacity
we plan to expand our curricular connections at Buford and supply student-grown
seedlings to the City’s elementary school gardens, community garden plots, and
neighborhood gardens throughout Charlottesville. We’re hoping to raise $6,000
through our kickstarter campaign. To donate to the project or learn more
about what we do visit us at:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/828385493/hoist-up-our-hoophouse/
Saturday 4/20 City School Garden Work Day
5.
4/11-4/14 Tom Tom Founders Festival
A four day festival in downtown Charlottesville featuring
innovative talks, concerts, block parties, pitch competitions, and creative
expositions.
Saturday, April 13 is Tom Yum - an all-day community food
festival at the Charlottesville City Market, sponsored by Albemarle County and
the Local Food Hub.
6.
|
Over 75 Earth-Friendly workshops plus music and dancing
in the evenings
Thursday - Sunday July 11-14, 2013
At HomeGrown HideAways near Berea, KY
|
7.
The UVa Food Collaborative and Environmental Sciences Department
will be hosting a GMO panel discussion
on Tuesday, April 23 at 6:00 pm in Nau 101. T
he event will feature several speakers, including Manuel
Lerdau, Professor of Environmental Sciences and of Biology, Michael Rodemeyer,
Executive Director of the Policy Internship Program, Jean Halloran, Director of
Food Policy Initiatives with Consumers Union, NY, and Eric Hallerman, Head of
the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Department at Virginia Tech. Admission is free and Whole Foods will be
providing some refreshments.
8.
New Branch Farm is
looking for farm help 2 mornings a week: Monday and Wednesday
mornings from 8am to 11am. Work would be
assisting with planting, weeding, and harvesting. Pay is $8 an hour. New Branch Farm is a small farm growing
vegetables naturally since 2005. For more information about the farm
please visit our website:
www.newbranchfarm.com
If you are interested in learning more about the position,
please email Stephanie Meyers at
newbranchfarm@gmail.com
9.
Earth Day
Celebration at the White Hall Community Center near Charlottesville, VA
April 20, 2013, from 9 AM – 3 PM, with local business
Playville of Cville.
10.
Events from Transition
Cville – Charlottesville events
Saturday 4/13 Spring Garden Expo
Demonstrations on mushrooms, fermented foods, goats &
goat cheese, home brewing, kombucha, raised garden beds... not to mention pizza
from Mona Lisa Pasta and a 10% discount on everything in the store.
*******************
Tuesday 4/16 350 Central Virginia Meeting
6:30-8:30pm at Charlottesville Friends Meetinghouse, 1104
Forest St.
350 CVA, the first officially recognized Virginia chapter
of international
350.org, meets on the third
Tuesday of each month. At least one hour of the monthly meeting is set aside
for activist program work. Everyone is welcome, from high school students
up to adult seniors. Light refreshments are provided. We seek to grow in
numbers and effectiveness, specifically effectiveness for changing our future
to one that is safe from the looming, catastrophic amount of climate change
that science predicts, unless we quickly and greatly reduce or replace our use
of coal, oil and gas for energy.
*******************
Tuesday 4/16 Wild & Scenic Film Festival
7:30pm at PVCC’s Dickinson Center (AND April 18, 7pm at
Visulite Cinema in Staunton)
Award winning films about nature, community activism,
adventure, conservation, water, energy and climate change, wildlife,
environmental justice, agriculture, Native American and indigenous cultures.
This year’s festival theme is “A Climate of Change.” Purchase tickets ($10) at
Blue Ridge Mountain Sports.
*******************
Wednesday 4/17 Cville TimeBank Orientation
4-6 PM at Northside Library
Want to learn more about this novel approach to time, work
and community? Orientation is the place to find out how it works and meet your
fellow Time Bankers.
*******************
Saturday 4/20 Dogwood Parade
Have you ever wanted to march (or stroll) in a
parade?
This is your chance! Transition Cville and 350 Central VA will carry handmade
windmills to spread the word about climate change, clean energy, and building
community resilience. We’ll meet up after the parade for a bring-your-own
picnic in McGuffey Park on 2nd St. NW - all are welcome! To join the parade
please email
transitioncvilleinfo@gmail.com.
*******************
Sunday 4/21 Eco Fair
Noon-6pm at the Main Street Arena.
Eco Fair is an AMAZING collection of practically every
group working for a better, more eco-conscious community in Charlottesville
& surrounding areas. Workshops this year will include Kombucha making,
practical permaculture, home energy efficiency and more. Plus kids’ corner,
live music, eco book swap, and tons of delicious local food & bevs.
Transition Cville will be one of 75+ awesome exhibitors at
Eco Fair! Want to help out at our table? It’s fun, all you have to do is smile
and enjoy great conversations :) Please email
transitioncvilleinfo@gmail.com.
*******************
Help wanted.... share your skills!
Transition
Cville Initiating Group puts on our monthly public meetings and provides
strategic direction for the local movement. We’re especially looking for
leaders to help with awareness raising, communications, and local government
engagement. Contact Joanie Freeman,
freeman.joanie@gmail.com
or 987-1026.
11.
Beginning Beekeepers Workshop:
April 24 from 6PM - 9PM at the Virginia Tech Roanoke
Center
April 27 from 8AM - 5PM at the Catawba Sustainability
Center
12.
Mushroom Workshop
near Staunton, VA Sunday, April 14th, 1-5
Come learn all about growing edible mushrooms from local
expert Mark Jones of Sharondale Farm in Keswick. We'll start inside with
an overview of edible mushroom varieties and growing methods. Then we'll
move outside to start mushrooms growing in logs to take home. We will
mostly be starting oyster mushrooms in Ailanthus logs. This is a great
use for this invasive and fast growing tree. There may be some oak logs
available for shiitakes. Everyone will take home a log that they have
plugged. Extra logs may be available. Cost is $50. Call
540-292-0991 for more info and to sign up. Holly Parker, Moon & Stars
Farm, 229 Blackberry Ln, Staunton, VA
13.
Living Earth School
– 2013 Adult Programs – in central Virginia
April 5, 6, 7 - Traditional Long Bow Workshop
9am - 5pm.
Cost $200 plus a $75 material fee.
April 20 – 21 - Father/Son Weekend
Saturday 9am -
Sunday 11am. Cost $175 (includes father and son age 6+, each additional
child $50)
April 20 – 21 - Mother/Daughter Weekend
Saturday 9am -
Sunday 11am. Cost $175 (includes mother and daughter age 6+, each
additional child $65)
April 27, 28 - Bird Language
Weekend
Saturday 9am to
Sunday 3pm. Cost $170
May 4 - Animal Tracking Essentials
9 - 4pm.
Cost: $50
May 11 - Wild Edible Plants- Forage the Abundance
10am - 4pm. Cost
$50. Located in Afton.
May 11 - Tree I.D.~ Learning the Trees in Your Backyard
Advanced Class: Useful Trees and Reading the Landscape
Part one: 9am-12pm
Part two: 1pm-4pm.
Held at our Afton basecamp. Cost $20 per session or $35.
May 17, 18, 19 - The Power of Mentoring
Friday 7pm to Sun.
3pm.
Cost: Adults $195 / Kids (age 5-15) $100.
June 7, 8, 9 - Living With the Land- The Art of Wilderness Survival
Friday at 7pm to
Sunday 3pm. Cost $175.
(for adults & ages 14+)
14.
The job is Tuesday thru Saturday (Saturday is a
Farmers Market), every week, starting as soon as possible. The work includes picking mushrooms (shiitake
and oyster), cleaning the grow room, starting new mushroom blocks, preparing
for markets , helping us on other mushroom projects including construction or
inoculating outdoor logs, and doing a Farmers Market on Saturday. Training included.
Location in Madison County, in Brightwood, about
45 mins north of downtown Cville.
Employees will start at $9 per hour, and we will
reimburse them for gas used on the way to and from Farmers Markets.
15.
THIS IS YOUR GRANDMOTHER’S KITCHEN: CLASSES 2013
Come cook with me
this year!
This is your Grandmother’s kitchen: Classes 2013
Teacher -
Leni Sorensen
Including water
bath and pressure canning, flat bread, yeast bread, tamales, chocolate,
traditional Southern foods at Indigo House near Charlottesville.
16.
2013 Regional Agritourism in a Creative Economy
workshop
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Vinton, VA
The 2013 Regional Agritourism workshop will take place on
Wednesday May 8, from 9:45 am until 3:30 pm at the Braeloch, 2136 Hammond
Drive, Vinton, Virginia.
For more information on agritourism programs, please
contact Dr. Martha A. Walker, Virginia Cooperative Extension, by phone at
434-766-6761 or by e-mail at
walker53@vt.edu.
