Francis Laurel

Hi Megan,
Just saw your post.  Yes, pawpaw grows here and in fact the neighborhoodplantingproject.org distributes them and other native fruit trees for free across the state.  Good luck!
Francis

Hi all, I wanted to share this lovely report from a mass planting day outside Olympia, Washington.  Inspiring to see permaculture scaling up.  It also has a really nice historical and ecological argument for perennial polyculture in a time of food system crisis: https://territories.substack.com/p/the-time-of-trees

"The “food court” brought a steady stream of visitors sampling fresh-pressed apple cider, wok-roasted chestnuts, entries in the chestnut recipe competition, and enough free, hearty soup to feed 200 people. We were fortunate and grateful to have incredible dedicated volunteers holding down the food zone. Ample and nourishing hot food was instrumental in creating an environment where people could mingle, talk, and participate throughout the day—as well as a small example of the kinds of communal food autonomy and culture that we believe are possible, and which underpin this project."

Hey, I wanted to share this new interview from our local radio station with David Holmgren .  He speaks on his Retro Suburbia book, with useful expansions on its patterned application, and how to adapt the retrofit approach in and outside of the Australian context.  

https://wfhb.org/public-affairs/february-2022-retrosuburbia-with-david-holmgren/ (also available on Spotify etc. I think)

That's fantastic, thank you.  Excited that these experiments are taking hold in suburbs all over the country.

I always really enjoy the Territories newsletter, from their work on ecovillage retrofits (https://territories.substack.com/p/retrofitting-community)  to climate analysis (https://territories.substack.com/p/hell-is-truth-seen-too-late).

I wanted to recommend the new PG episode about pawpaws.  Lots of great stories and info from both younger-sounding permaculture-types and old fruit explorers.  Three different takes, though, on whether you should use dumpstered meat to attract the pollinating flies, haha.

http://www.partisangardens.org/

I really appreciated these visions of banana culture and climate resilience in a rapidly-changing Louisiana.  Seemed worth sharing both for the specific notes on banana propagation and as a contribution to permaculture planning with climate change taken into account: https://territories.substack.com/p/after-the-flood-the-forest

Hey, I just posted in the ecovillage forum as well, but I saw that there's lots of people interested in southern Indiana so I wanted to shared here as well.  This is a reflection on the experience of launching a suburban permie ecovillage by its founder, Ann.  She also shares a broader vision of transitioning the suburbs through permacultural "retrofitting," and digs in on the problems posed by intergenerational living.  Here's the article:

https://territories.substack.com/p/retrofitting-community

Here's the ecovillage website: https://greenacresvillage.org/

I wanted to share this set of visions and reflections from a local (Bloomington, Indiana) suburban ecovillage.  I appreciated their takes on emergent design and "retrofitting the suburbs."  As someone else who lives in a college town, I also really appreciated how the author wrangles with intergenerationality and how to handle the flows of young people looking for community while just learning about themselves.  

https://territories.substack.com/p/retrofitting-community