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 8^th, 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 18^th, 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 18^{th --} 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 15^{th  --} 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 20^{th  --} 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 17^{th  --} 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 21^{st --} 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 12^th (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 16^{th --} 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