Sunday, October 27, 2019

Upcoming events


Upcoming Events 
October 2019
Greetings all,

Below are several awesome upcoming events in our bioregion including a regional Permaculture Design Course this spring.  Folks can sign up for the BRPN e-newsletter here.  Send us announcements to: blueridgepermaculture@gmail.com, or click here to view this email as a webpage. And check out the BRPN on Facebook here.  Want to add your permaculture project or business to the BRPN member page? Just send us an email. 

Best,
Christine, Terry, and the BRPN team

1.
Project GROWS is seeking a full-time Executive Director. 
To view the job listing, please visit our website: https://www.projectgrows.org/get-involved/internships-jobs. Applications are due December 1, 2019.
Launched in 2012, Project GROWS (PG) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization with a mission to improve the overall health of children and youth in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County, Virginia. We believe that kids deserve a healthy life and future. We are changing kids’ health by connecting them to nutritious vegetables through hands-on, garden-based, nutrition education and access to healthy food. Research shows that connecting kids to healthy food through garden-based education, paired with access to vegetables, leads to significant improvements in health habits. Project GROWS currently partners with 25 schools and organizations locally to serve more than 5,000 youth each year. Learn more about our full-production farm and our children and family programming at www.projectgrows.org.


2.
Shenandoah Permaculture presents
Spring 2020 PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE (PDC)
In partnership with the University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

LOCATION: This course will be based in the Richmond, VA area.  Regional field trips will be a part of the curriculum.

DATES and TIMES: The course will be held for 9 days over 4 alternating weekends this Spring. February 21-23 (this is the only 3 day weekend of the course), March 7-8 and 21-22, April 4-5. Course days will run from 9am - 6pm unless otherwise noted.

REGISTRATION: Registration is now live online only through the University of Richmond's School of Professional and Continuing Education. 

TUITION:  Get 18% off  ($200 off) for signing up early! 
Earlybird pricing of $900 is available now until the end of November!
The course fee is $1100 after December 1st.  Course fee includes the 72 hour Permaculture Design Course, Certificate of Completion for those who attend the full course and complete all required work.  All course field trips are included, and heavy snacks are provided for the duration of course days.


3. Virginia Native Plant Society, Jefferson Chapter
VNPS Jefferson Chapter Meeting: Drivers of Plant-Insect Interaction
Wednesday, November 13th, 7:30-9:00 pm, Education Building at Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Road, Charlottesville.
Melissa Hey is a PhD candidate in the University of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Science. She has been working with Dr. Kyle Haynes’ research team at Blandy Experimental Farm since 2015. Her research interests include invasion ecology and plant-insect interactions. Her undergraduate thesis focused on how intraspecific competition and herbivory affected growth and secondary chemical defenses in common milkweed. Common milkweed serves as a significant food source for the monarch butterfly, and her research sought to delve into drivers of plant-insect interactions. Free; all are welcome.

Native Plant Walk
Saturday, November 16th, 9:00 am. Meet by the kiosk near the parking lot at Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Rd., Charlottesville.
Jefferson Chapter member Nancy Weiss  will lead a forest ecology walk. This will be an opportunity to learn more about how various tree, shrub, and herbaceous species in Ivy Creek’s forests have changed over time. See how to read the influence of man and so imagine how the forest looked 80 years ago. Free; all are welcome. Co-sponsored by the Ivy Creek Natural Area.

VNPS Jefferson Chapter Meeting: Tiger Swallowtails and Flame Azalea Pollination
 Wednesday, December 11th, 7:30-9:00 pm, Education Building at Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Road, Charlottesville.
Dr. Mary Jane Epps will join us to discuss tiger swallowtails pollinating flame azalea. Mary Jane is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Mary Baldwin University, and is the daughter of our chapter president Mary Lee Epps. Mary Jane earned her undergraduate degree at Duke University and a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona. Free; all are welcome.

Virginia Native Plant Society State Workshop
March 14th, Dickenson Building, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Save the date!
Jefferson Chapter Native Plant Sale!
April 26th, 2019, the Barn, Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Rd, Charlottesville
Save the date!
For the future: The Rivanna Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society hosts lectures at 7 pm on the second Wednesday of each month, September-May. Meetings are held in the Education Building at Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Road, Charlottesville. Meetings are free and open to the public. All are welcome.


4.
Allegheny Mountain Institute 
November 5th, 5:00 pm - 6:30
AMI Farm at Augusta Health
Address: 315 Mule Academy Rd., Fishersville, VA 22939

A cold frame can keep you in fresh greens all winter long, at a much lower cost than a greenhouse. Join us to find out how you can build one at home!
CLICK HERE to Register for this free workshop
Contact grayson@alleghenymountainschool.org with questions



November 7th, 11:30 am
Augusta County Library
Address: 1759 Jefferson Hwy, Fishersville, VA 22939
Explore delicious, good-for-you foods that can keep you healthy and happy throughout the colder months in this interactive “make and taste” class!

CLICK HERE to Register for this free workshop
Contact grayson@alleghenymountainschool.org with questions


Sunday, June 30, 2019

Upcoming events

Upcoming Events 

June 2019

Greetings all,

Below are several awesome upcoming events in our bioregion, including a Festival of the Plants today and a regional Permaculture Design Course this fall.  Folks can sign up for the BRPN e-newsletter here.  Send us announcements to: blueridgepermaculture@gmail.com, or click here to view this email as a webpage. And check out the BRPN on Facebook here.  Want to add your permaculture project or business to the BRPN member page? Just send us an email.

Best,
Christine, Terry, and the BRPN team
www.blueridgepermaculture.net 

1.
Festival of the Plants
in Afton, VA
Hosted by Botanica Mobile Clinic and Farfields Farm

Today, Sunday, June 30th at 12 PM – 5 PM

Farfields Farm
40 Farfields Ln, Afton, Virginia 22920
https://www.facebook.com/events/905512996451727/


2.
Fall 2019 Permaculture Design Course (PDC) in the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Permaculture Institute 

featuring Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm
Registration for our annual Fall PDC based in the Shenandoah Valley is now live!
Course Dates:   Sept 20-22,  Oct 19-20,  Nov 9-10,  Dec 7-8
​Cost: $1,100
Early Bird Pricing until June 30th: $900

ABOUT
Permaculture is an ethically based design approach to creating sustainable human communities. Although rooted in agriculture, Permaculture design also touches on ecological restoration, community development, urban planning, energy systems, and architecture.
This Permaculture Design Course (PDC) is geared towards serious homesteading and profitable Permaculture farming in the Mid-Atlantic. This is an opportunity to learn Permaculture Design from professional farmers who are doing the work!

We base our courses in hands-on, practical Permaculture, and we focus on demystifying foundational concepts to give our students the confidence and skills to jump right into their own projects.  We work to hone design skills as a group and as individuals, and we also really lean in to social Permaculture, giving students important framework for success in their communities.


TUITION:
$1,100 Payable to the SPI on our registration page (scroll down for a link).  Heavy snacks are provided, and camping is available free of charge.  Showers and indoor bathrooms may not always be available for campers depending on the weekend and base site. 

COURSE STRUCTURE:

Our days will run from 9 - 6pm, with an hour off for lunch midday.  The course will be taught (in Permaculture fashion) by moving from patterns to details.  We will learn foundations and core concepts first, drilling down into the details as we move along.  Each day we will spend time both indoors and outdoors as we focus on observational skills and skill-building activities.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact us at shenperminstitute@gmail.com

http://www.shenandoahpermaculture.com


3.
Planting the Perennial Polyculture with David Rain
Hosted by Farfields Farm
Wednesday, July 24, 2019 at 6 PM – 9 PM

40 Farfields Lane, Afton, Virginia 22920

Whether in a lawn, garden, or on land, a perennial polyculture offers its keeper food, forage, and function. Join David Rain to explore Farfields Farm’s many perennial plantings while discussing design and care of a landscape of complimentary species. Learn and confer how we might steward land into mixed usefulness, creating abundance of lower maintenance and more resilience.

After walking and talking, we’ll talk together more while enjoying the fruits of biodiversity. A spread from the Farfields pantry and locally produced beverages will be provided.

About the Instructor: David Rain is the ecological landscaper and regenerative forester at Farfields Farm. He has gardened in Central Virginia his entire life.

Our rain date for this event is the following Wednesday, July 31st.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1241566339364977/


4.
Nursery Sales from Blacks Run Forest Farm!

Happy Summer! Our plants are wide awake and photosynthesizing, but Fall Plant Sales are now open! When the plants are sleeping but the soil is thawed, sometime around October or November, we’ll start digging up your bareroot orders for pickups and shipping. We think our plants are hardy, healthy, and easy to propagate so you can grow more of them at home. And contact us directly if you're looking for potted selections.

Blacks Run Forest Farm is a riparian nursery and folk school rooted in love and living soil in Harrisonburg, VA. In our nursery, we grow beautiful and useful trees (and other plants) that give us food, fuel, fodder, medicine, mulch, air conditioning, carbon converting, soil building, water restoring, and beauty! We offer bareroot plants propagated from seed, cutting, division, and layering in healthy soil made from compost, woodchips, and biochar. Our nursery grows along the banks of Blacks Run. We don’t own the land we tend, instead caretaking neighborly forest gardens, backyard beds, and planting riparian buffers to nurture the stream and serve as orchards, woodlots, and seedstock. We speak and farm in ways that honor our plants as fellow creatures with histories and gifts, respecting their lives and the human cultures that cared for them. Our nursery also grows us, teaching us to be the kind of people we want to be.

Your purchases and donations support our ability to care for plants, restore our watershed, and share the wealth.

https://www.blacksrunforestfarm.org/nursery


5.
City Schoolyard Garden is currently hiring for a Youth Engagement and Garden Coordinator. This job has three main goals: to engage youth in garden-based programming that builds leadership and equity, to maintain vibrant and diverse schoolyard gardens, and to create connections among the community, schools and CSG. If you know someone that enjoys working with elementary school children and gardening, then please pass this job description along. The application call is attached below and due July 9th.
The City Schoolyard Garden cultivates academic achievement, health, environmental stewardship, and community engagement through garden-based, experiential learning. Visit us online at www.cityschoolyardgarden.org.


6.
Living Earth School Specialty Family Summer Camps 
w/ master craftsman Peter Yencken

Family Archery: Making a wooden long bow or quiver and arrows
Have you dreamed of making and shooting your own handmade bow and arrow, let alone making one with your child? What a gift to be able to do this together and to cultivate this shared skill as a family.  Both parent and child will make their own bow and arrow.

DATE: July 26-28, 2019
AGES: 8+ with accompanying adult
LOCATION: Sugar Hollow Camp
COST:$380 (1 child + 1 adult) each additional family member: $220
INFO: Basic tent camping is included, with options to sleep in our tent cabins or to bring your own tent.  Participants will bring and cook their own food and are welcome to use our primitive camp kitchen with supplies.

Family Knife Making -or- Leather Working Camp

Come get your hands in gear making your own stainless steel knife with sheath, or leather bags.  Yes, you can do it all and you can use bags that you’ve made your self, or a beautiful hand crafted knife. This is for real and this is your chance to do it!

DATE: August 2-4, 2019
AGES: 8+ with accompanying adult
LOCATION: Sugar Hollow Camp
COST: $345(1 child+1adult) each additional family member $175
INFO: Basic tent camping is included, with options to sleep in our tent cabins or to bring your own tent.  Participants will bring and cook their own food and are welcome to use our primitive camp kitchen with supplies.

https://livingearthva.com/


7.
 Sacred Plant Traditions Classes 
Charlottesville, VA

The Wonderment of Plant and Animal Medicine Presented by KARYN SANDERS
July 13 – 14, 2019         
                                   
INFLAMMATION & INSULIN RESISTANCE taught by Mimi Hernandez
Wednesday, July 17
 9am – 4pm

SACRED and SPECIAL HERBS from Mimi’s Lineage
Thursday, July 18,
9am – 4pm

For More Information and Registration

https://sacredplanttraditions.com


8. Virginia Native Plant Society
Native Plant Walks

All walks 9:00-11:00 am, Meet by the kiosk near the parking lot at Ivy Creek Natural Area. All walks are free and open to the public. Walks are co-sponsored by the Ivy Creek Natural Area
Saturday, July 20th  -- Join us for an Ivy Creek plant walk led by Mary Lee Epps. This is a time when many wetland plants flower such as rose-mallow (a spectacular hibiscus), pickerel weed, button bush, monkey flower, arrowhead, and arrow arum are blooming. We may also find various milkweed and St. Johnswort species and false foxglove in bloom.
Saturday, August 17th  -- Tana Herndon will lead a walk to look for late summer meadow flowers including spotted horsemint and slender ladies'-tresses orchids and beginning blooms of fall flowers including thoroughworts and early goldenrods. Depending on water levels along the reservoir, we might also find cardinal flower and swamp milkweed.
Saturday, September 21st -- Join Phil Stokes to see the fall blooming goldenrods and asters as well as the showy fruits of spicebush and Jack-in-the pulpit. We may also see chinquapin and hazelnut fruits. Meet by the kiosk near the parking lot. Free! All are welcome.
Saturday, October 12th (note this is the second Saturday of the month rather than our usual third Saturday for walks)  -- Join Mary Jane Epps, Assistant Biology Professor at Mary Baldwin University and Jefferson Chapter member, to hunt for mushrooms and other fungi and learn about how they interact with plants and animals to shape the ecology of our forests. Fall is the peak mushroom season in our area so there should be lots to discover.
Saturday, November 16th -- Jefferson Chapter member Nancy Weiss will lead a forest ecology walk. This will be an opportunity to learn more about how various tree, shrub, and herbaceous species in Ivy Creek’s forests have changed over time. See how to read the influence of man and so imagine how the forest looked 80 years ago.
Virginia Native Plant Society, Jefferson Chapter
Facebook page

9.
The 26th Annual Southeastern Permaculture Gathering

August 2-4, 2019
Join us in the Southern Appalachian Mountains near Celo, NC
​ for our Landmark 26th Annual Gathering!

The Southeastern Permaculture Gathering is a convergence of permaculture enthusiasts
​to learn new skills, serve the earth, create community & celebrate life.

http://www.southeasternpermaculture.org/

Friday, May 3, 2019

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events 

May 2019

Greetings all,

Below are several awesome upcoming events in our bioregion, including a mid-Atlantic permaculture convergence next month!  Folks can sign up for the BRPN e-newsletter here.  Send us announcements to: blueridgepermaculture@gmail.com, or click here to view this email as a webpage. And check out the BRPN on Facebook here.  Want to add your permaculture project or business to the BRPN member page? Just send us an email.

Best,
Christine, Terry, and the BRPN team
www.blueridgepermaculture.net 

1.
Mid-Atlantic Permaculture Convergence
June 28-30, 2019 in Charles Town, WV

The Mid-Atlantic Permaculture Convergence is a two-day festival celebrating
land-based living and self-reliance. Over 20 local teachers, experts, and gurus will teach crucial skills related to food, energy, water, health, building, and community self-reliance. Come one, come all; only we can build the world we deserve. This festival is here to cultivate inspiration and purpose, and to spread the knowledge and skills we need to understand the systems we rely on. Throughout the weekend, we will learn how to better meet our individual and community needs in ways aligned with nature and its processes. Let’s come together to shift a culture of disempowerment! There is a wealth of knowledge and experience all around us, and we can thrive off of the abundance and wisdom that this eco-region already provides.

There will be live music, meditations, forest walks, sauna sessions, campfires, and more joyous activities sprinkled throughout the weekend. All types of people are welcome to attend, and scholarships are available to make sure that no one is unable to join. Come ready to learn, share, and meet amazing people from the Mid-Atlantic!

https://www.midatlanticpermaculture.com/


2.
Plant Medicine, Plant Mindfulness
Presented by Shenandoah Permaculture Institute 
June 15th and 16th, 2019
1 Tribe Farm - Mount Sidney, Virginia

This is a weekend long immersive herbal medicine workshop hosted by SPI's core teaching team, held on a gorgeous working regenerative farm in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. The goal of the workshop is for participants to learn practical, applicable skills for taking their physical and mental health into their own hands, to leave refreshed and rejuvenated, and to have tons of fun and meet other health-centered folks. Farm-fresh meals are provided and Saturday includes an evening bonfire under the stars after dinner!
Date and Time: June 15th and 16th (Saturday and Sunday)
Saturday: 9am - 8:30 pm  and Sunday: 9am - 1:00 pm
Course Topics:  Herbal First Aid, Medicinal Plant Walk and ID, Advanced Vegetable Fermentation and Health, Nature Connection and Plant Meditation, Designing/Planting the Medicinal Herb Garden 101, including a hands-on implementation of the 1 Tribe Farm's Medicine Wheel Garden.
Course Fee (day-only, no lodging):  $195 - Includes 1.5 days of intensive and hands-on instruction plus lunch and dinner on Saturday and brunch on Sunday. All meals will be freshly prepared with ingredients grown at 1 Tribe Farm or partnering farms, including organic vegetables and pastured proteins.
Course Fee (lodging): $275 - The lodging option includes 2 nights (Friday and Saturday) at the 1 Tribe Farm BnB plus additional amenities before and after class time including farm fresh breakfast and yoga sessions. For more information on lodging contact 1tribefarmva@gmail.com
Course Teachers: SPI's core teaching team brings decades of experience in landscape design, gardening, culinary arts, and mental health. While we all share in the teaching, Emilie brings a special focus on fermentation and nutrition, Trevor is our designated plant geek, and Ryan, with his professional background in counseling, takes the lead in sharing strategies for mental health and resilience.
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/plant-medicine-for-the-body-and-mind-tickets-56258046331?aff=affiliate1       
For more information: shenperminstitute@gmail.com

3.
Living Earth School - Adult class on May 19
Wild Mushroom Foraging

A grower and forager, Charliceps has been studying and loving fungi for the last five years, and the passion is real. Prepare to share it! The Queendom Fungi is ever-present but often out of sight– and its wonders and gifts are myriad. You will learn about basic safe mushroom identification and regenerative foraging practices, native medicinal fungi, and esoteric or cryptic fungi that humans are discovering every day. We will also cover the ecology of various common species so that you can find your own mushroom spots and better understand the role that fungi play on our planet. Trust me, you’ll be hooked!
https://livingearthva.com/event/wild-mushroom-foraging-class-virginia/?instance_id=1175


4.
Allegheny Mountain Institute programs and updates
Sourdough Success
May 13th 5:30-7:30 pm
Newtown Baking
Address: 960 W Beverley St., Staunton, VA 24401
Register Here
Join baker Emily Sullivan of Wild Unicorn Farmstead for an in-depth look at all things Sourdough. Understand the science, the process, and most importantly, the flavor with our hands-on workshop and tasting session! For more information: Email grayson@alleghenymountainschool.org
AMI's Allegheny Farm is offering CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares again this year! 
Beginning in June, members will receive a weekly box full of the best of our harvest - all grown using organic practices. This community support helps us offset the costs of farming, which tend to be higher at the beginning of the season.
These fresh vegetable shares will run for 15 weeks (June 28 - October 4) for a one-time payment of $375 ($25 per box). Shares will be distributed at the Highland County Farmers Market.
$5 per box is considered a tax-deductible donation to AMI that supports our educational and outreach programs ($75 total donation). For more information or to sign up, please contact julialoman@alleghenymountainschool.org.

5.
Radical Roots Farm Day!

http://radicalrootsfarm.com/

Radical Roots Farm will be at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Plant Sale this weekend!
https://www.lewisginter.org/event/spring-plant-fest/


6.
Virginia Native Plant Society
Meeting: Tom Saielli: Status of American Chestnuts

Wednesday, May 8th, 7:30 pm, Education Building, Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Rd, Charlottesville.
As the Regional Science Coordinator for the American Chestnut Foundation, Tom Saielli oversees the Foundation’s research orchards and planting teams in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky from his office in Charlottesville. Tom will give an update on efforts to develop and return a blight-resistant, primarily native American Chestnut to forests in this region. All are welcome, as always.
EVENTS
Betty’s Native Garden

Saturday, May 18th, 10:00 am at 127 Indigo Lane, Troy, VA 22974
Betty Truax’s small native cottage garden has over 100 native plants. Betty will talk about why native plants are amazing, what she has learned about the individual plants, and what critters her plants have attracted. 
Native Plant Walks
All walks 9:00-11:00 am, Meet by the kiosk near the parking lot at Ivy Creek Natural Area. All walks are free and open to the public. Walks are co-sponsored by the Ivy Creek Natural Area
Saturday, May 18th -- Join Mary Lee Epps to seek out late spring native wildflowers. What we find will depend on how warm the spring is, but we’re likely to see Jack-in-the-pulpit, green-and-gold, the well-hidden blooms of heart-leaf ginger, and more. Meet by the kiosk near the parking lot. Free! All are welcome.
Saturday, June 15th  -- Phil Stokes will lead an early summer walk seeing blooming skullcaps and milkweeds. See unusal woodland flowering plants including indian pipe, wild hydrangea, and black cohosh. Meet by the kiosk near the parking lot. Free! All are welcome.
Saturday, July 20th  -- Join us for an Ivy Creek plant walk led by Mary Lee Epps. This is a time when many wetland plants flower such as rose-mallow (a spectacular hibiscus), pickerel weed, button bush, monkey flower, arrowhead, and arrow arum are blooming. We may also find various milkweed and St. Johnswort species and false foxglove in bloom.
Saturday, August 17th  -- Tana Herndon will lead a walk to look for late summer meadow flowers including spotted horsemint and slender ladies'-tresses orchids and beginning blooms of fall flowers including thoroughworts and early goldenrods. Depending on water levels along the reservoir, we might also find cardinal flower and swamp milkweed.
Saturday, September 21st -- Join Phil Stokes to see the fall blooming goldenrods and asters as well as the showy fruits of spicebush and Jack-in-the pulpit. We may also see chinquapin and hazelnut fruits. Meet by the kiosk near the parking lot. Free! All are welcome.
Saturday, October 12th (note this is the second Saturday of the month rather than our usual third Saturday for walks)  -- Join Mary Jane Epps, Assistant Biology Professor at Mary Baldwin University and Jefferson Chapter member, to hunt for mushrooms and other fungi and learn about how they interact with plants and animals to shape the ecology of our forests. Fall is the peak mushroom season in our area so there should be lots to discover.
Saturday, November 16th -- Jefferson Chapter member Nancy Weiss will lead a forest ecology walk. This will be an opportunity to learn more about how various tree, shrub, and herbaceous species in Ivy Creek’s forests have changed over time. See how to read the influence of man and so imagine how the forest looked 80 years ago.
Virginia Native Plant Society, Jefferson Chapter
Facebook page

7.
Grow Your Own Clothes Workshop
June 8, 2019, 9am-4pm
At the home of Walt and Cindy Conner, Ashland, VA
cost: $115 including materials
Learn to grow cotton and flax (which is called linen once it is spun) and to take the fiber from those plants all the way to clothing you can wear. You will go home with raw cotton, the line flax you processed yourself from flax straw, a wooden drop spindle, a tahkli support spindle, cotton and flax seeds to plant next year, and the knowledge of what it would take to grow your own clothes. No prior fiber experience necessary. Bring your own lunch; iced tea and water will be provided. More information at https://homeplaceearth.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/grow-your-own-clothes-workshop/.
To register contact Cindy Conner at cconner@HomeplaceEarth.com. Workshop limited to 15 people.


8.
The 26th Annual Southeastern Permaculture Gathering

August 2-4, 2019
Join us in the Southern Appalachian Mountains near Celo, NC
​ for our Landmark 26th Annual Gathering!

The Southeastern Permaculture Gathering is a convergence of permaculture enthusiasts
​to learn new skills, serve the earth, create community & celebrate life.

http://www.southeasternpermaculture.org/


9.
Strawbale + Cob Immersion Workshop in NC
Sunday, June 9, 2019 9:00 AM
Saturday, June 15, 2019 3:00 PM
$875 Early Bird Rate (register before May 9th, 2019)
$950 Regular Rate *10% additional discount for family and friends participating together
Join us as we add onto one of our strawbales cottages in the woods! We will be extending the footprint of the building with a strawbale-insulated bedroom, as well as a slip-straw insulated bathroom. Earthen and lime plastering work can be done on both of those wall systems during the week. We will additionally spend 2 hands-on days with cob wall systems, and some time installing a living roof.
 Our workshops are very hands-on! Expect to be building on site for about 7 hours each day. This is supplemented with discussion, presentations, and a home tour of some local natural homes.
https://www.muddauberbuilding.com/2018-schedule/2019/2/22/strawbale-cob-immersion




Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Upcoming events

Upcoming Events 

February 2019

Greetings all,

Below are several awesome upcoming events in the central Virginia bioregion, including the first weekend of a Permaculture Design Course (PDC) this weekend in Richmond!  Folks can sign up for the BRPN e-newsletter here.  Send us announcements to: blueridgepermaculture@gmail.com, or click here to view this email as a webpage. And check out the BRPN on Facebook here.

Best,
Christine, Terry, and the BRPN team
www.blueridgepermaculture.net 

1.
Third annual Spring Permaculture Design Course at the University of Richmond with the Shenandoah Permaculture Institute 


This course will run for 4 non-consecutive weekends this Spring, beginning in mid-February.  The lead teaching team will consist of Emilie Tweardy of ShireFolk Farm, Ryan Blosser of Dancing Star Farm, and Trevor Piersol of Wild Rose Orchard.  We will be working with former SPI student, Permaculture enthusiast and local Richmond homesteader Tom Parfitt as our Teaching Apprentice for this course.  This will be Emilie, Ryan and Trevor's 6th time co-teaching this class as a team, and we're so excited to continue to hone our craft and offer ever-improving Permaculture education in Central Virginia.
The course weekends are as follows:
2/15 - 2/17 (this is the only 3-day weekend, all others are just Fri - Sat)
3/2 - 3/3
3/23 - 3/24
4/6 - 4/
The course fee is $999 and includes lunches at the UofR cafeteria (they can pretty much cover all dietary needs!) for the days that we are on campus.  We've put together another really exciting itinerary full of hands-on sessions, field trips, guest speakers, tours, etc.  The PDC course culminates in a design project and presentation and you'll be amazed to see what professional caliber Permaculture designs can be produced in a relatively short window of time.  The quality of these designs is always the greatest accolade we can receive from our students.  Check out our Instagram or Facebook accounts to see examples of their work, as well as lots of pictures from the courses in general.
As you may know, we have begun hosting Fall PDCs also, and you may be wondering what the difference is between the two.  This course varies from our Fall courses in hosting site and regional field trips only.  The content will be the same, but we will focus in the Richmond area for this course, since that is where we will be based.  Field trips and guest speakers will be focused on the Richmond region, whereas the Fall course will focus on the Shenandoah Valley again.  We cover the same range of topics, and the same range of scales in each course, learning about backyard and homestead scale techniques all the way up to farm scale and broadacre works.  If you have further questions, please reach out to us.
For the full UofR course description, check out our website here.
To jump straight to the U of R registration page, click here.
Or contact Garrett Stern at 804-289-8937


2.
Blacks Run Forest Farm is a riparian nursery and folk school rooted in love and living soil in Harrisonburg, VA. These roots grow out as agroforestry, watershed health, and restorative justice. We tend the silver waters of Blacks Run, the Shenandoah, and beyond by farming in the image of the forest and remediating the toxins that pollute our souls, society, and soil, from chemical leaching to white supremacy. In fact, we see all this as an expression of restorative justice, a way of transforming harm and injustice by tending to needs, holding ourselves accountable, and making relationships and conditions as right as possible so that all creatures can be fully themselves!
In our nursery, we grow beautiful and useful trees (and other plants) that give us food, fuel, fodder, medicine, mulch, air conditioning, carbon converting, soil building, water restoring, and beauty! In our folk school, we educate our whole bodies through the healing work of our hands, heads, and hearts.
We have lots of plants in our nursery, consulting services for land care and community, educational opportunities, and resources to share! Visit our website and visit us!
Blacks Run Forest Farm


3.
Allegheny Mountain School - Farm & Food Fellows
Interested in joining our Farm and Food Fellowship?
Visit www.alleghenymountaininstitute.org to learn more and apply! Applications are now due March 1st!
Contact Jessa Fowler for more information.
Email jessa@alleghenymountainschool.org or call (540) 886-0160.


Produce Safety Alliance Grower Safety Course -  Allegheny Mountain Institute
We're writing to you--farmers and the people who support them--to share an exciting opportunity from AMI and the Produce Safety Alliance. On February 20, AMI will be hosting a Produce Safety Alliance Grower Safety Course at our Fishersville, VA office on the campus of Augusta Health. This course is sponsored by Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth Extension, and covers strategies for safer and more successful farming, as well as information about the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), and co-management of natural resources and food safety.
You can find more information about the training or reserve a ticket here. 
Grayson Shelor
Education Coordinator, Allegheny Mountain Institute Farm at Augusta Health
Office (540) 886-0160

4.
Living Earth School - Summer camps
Numerous excellent camps for all ages:
https://livingearthva.com/summer-camps-for-kids-in-virginia-nature-camps/


Living Earth School - Family Camps

Specialty Family Summer Camps  w/ master craftsman Peter Yencken
Family Archery: Making a wooden long bow or quiver and arrows
Have you dreamed of making and shooting your own handmade bow and arrow, let alone making one with your child? What a gift to be able to do this together and to cultivate this shared skill as a family.  Both parent and child will make their own bow and arrow.
DATE: July 26-28, 2019
AGES: 8+ with accompanying adult
LOCATION: Sugar Hollow Camp
COST:$380 (1 child + 1 adult) each additional family member: $220
INFO: Basic tent camping is included, with options to sleep in our tent cabins or to bring your own tent.  Participants will bring and cook their own food and are welcome to use our primitive camp kitchen with supplies.


Family Knife Making -or- Leather Working Camp
Come get your hands in gear making your own stainless steel knife with sheath, or leather bags.  Yes, you can do it all and you can use bags that you’ve made your self, or a beautiful hand crafted knife. This is for real and this is your chance to do it!
DATE: August 2-4, 2019
AGES: 8+ with accompanying adult
LOCATION: Sugar Hollow Camp
COST: $345(1 child+1adult) each additional family member $175
INFO: Basic tent camping is included, with options to sleep in our tent cabins or to bring your own tent.  Participants will bring and cook their own food and are welcome to use our primitive camp kitchen with supplies.

 REGISTER FOR FAMILY CAMPS NOW!


5.
One Forest Summer Camps
An all outdoor drop-off summer camp that allows children to build a relationship with nature, other kids, and themselves.  Snack will be provided, children will be required to bring a packed lunch. Ages 3-6  Visit HERE for more information.  OR email heidi@one-forest.com to reserve a space for your child today.

Forest Playgroup-FREE!
We strongly believe in access to the outdoors for ALL. Our Forest Playgroups are now donation based. We hope by breaking down this one (financial) barrier we will be able to see some new and old faces in the woods in 2019.  For more information or to book your spot CLICK HERE!
Forest Buds 
An outdoor program that allows children to build a relationship with nature, other kids, and themselves.  We will be continuing our 8 week drop-off Forest Buds sessions throughout 2019.  More information HERE.

Don't have a kid, but believe what we are doing in the woods is important?  We accept donations on venmo @oneforest, paypal info@one-forest.com, or checks via snail mail.  You can make a special note as to which program you would like your money to go towards, or we will automatically put it towards our Forest Buds Scholarship Fund.  The FBSF will subsidize the Forest Buds program tuition.

6.
VNPS Chapter Meeting: Pat Calvert: Promoting Natives and Managing Invasives
March 13th, 2019,7:30 pm, Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Rd, Charlottesville.
Pat Calvert  is the Land and Water Policy & Campaigns Manager for the Virginia Conservation Network. Before joining VCN, Pat worked for many years as the Upper James River Waterkeeper. The Virginia Conservation Network just facilitated finalization of a policy paper on prospective legislation for the 2019 General Assembly focused on promoting native & controlling/managing invasive vegetation. Pat will update us on how this work has fared through the legislative session, which ought to be very busy in January and February. All are welcome.
--
Virginia Native Plant Society, Jefferson Chapter
Facebook page


7.
From our friends at VABF:
Additional Practical Organic Production Guides available through OFRF
The Organic Farming Research Foundation has recently published several new Guidebooks for organic producers. They include:
·         Introduction to Crop Insurance for Organic and Transitioning Producers
·         Reducing Risk through Best Soil Health Management Practices in Organic Production
·         Soil Health and Organic Farming:  Organic Practices for Climate Mitigation, Adaptation, and Carbon Sequestration.
Available at https://ofrf.org/.
Funding Available to support Soil Health Practices in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
The Virginia office of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is partnering with Sustainable Chesapeake in a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project funded at $1,363,240 to provide cost share for producers in the Chesapeake Watershed within Virginia to implement cover crop, conservation tillage, and/or nutrient management practices to protect and improve water quality in the Bay and its tributary rivers and streams.
To participate, farmers can apply at their local NRCS district office – the initial cutoff date is this Friday Jan 18 – but if funds remain uncommitted, additional applications will be accepted through Feb 15.  For more information, see the VABF website announcement at https://vabf.org/new-conservation-funding-now-available-through-nrcs-partnership-with-sustainable-chesapeake/, or contact Kristin Hughes Evans at Sustainable Chesapeake,  kristen@sustainablechesapeake.org, or or Blaine Delaney at VA NRCS, blaine.delaney@va.usda.gov.

Whole Farm Planning: an introductory training program for socially disadvantaged, US military veteran, new, and beginning farmers and ranchers
Greensville Cooperative Extension office, 105 Oak Street, Emporia, VA
February 18, 9 am – 12 noon
The Carver Center, 9432 James Madison Hwy, Rapidan, VA
February 20, 3:00 – 6:00 pm

This educational workshop is free and open to the public, and will feature Beginning Farmer mentors Thomas and Anita Roberson.
Registration is limited – register ASAP at www.ext.vsu.edu.  For information, call the Small Farm Outreach Program Office at 804-524-3292, or contact Susan Cheek at 804-720-5539, scheek@vsu.edu.

12- week Saturday Sustainable Urban Agriculture Certificate Course
Virginia State University, Randolph Farm Pavilion, 4415 River Road, Petersburg, VA 23803
Saturdays March 2 (orientation) through May 25, 9 am – 3 pm.
Topics include general principles of urban agriculture, basic plant science, crop, pest, and disease management, permaculture, brownfields and safe gardening practices, greenhouse and aquaponics, plant propagation, and backyard rearing.
For information, cotact Dr. Leonard Githinji, lgithinji@vsu.edu, 804-524-5962 or Cynthia Martin cmartin@vsu.edu, 804-524-5232.

Fourth Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit
Virginia Beach, VA
April 23-25, 2019
Three days of networking for urban farmers, policy makers, government leaders, and activists.  Registration opening soon at www.ext.vsu.edu.


8.
The 26th Annual Southeastern Permaculture Gathering

August 2-4, 2019
Join us in the Southern Appalachian Mountains near Celo, NC
​ for our Landmark 26th Annual Gathering!

The Southeastern Permaculture Gathering is a convergence of permaculture enthusiasts
​to learn new skills, serve the earth, create community & celebrate life.

http://www.southeasternpermaculture.org/