Janet Dowell

Someone upthread mentioned OLCERI (the Oglala Lakota Cultural & Economic Revitalization Initiative). Just wanted to shout out that OLCERI is very much still around & is running strong, working heavily on healthy food initiatives/food hubs (one hub gave out more than 33,000 plant starts last year for Lakota gardens) and sustainable housing. They are also establishing food forests (Mark Shephard's nursery is donating 50 hazel bushes this spring) and other perennial plantings to meet the need for firewood, tools, etc. Hopefully, the Indigenous Wisdom Center will be completed this year, which will provide housing for year-round volunteers.

And they've hosted the Indigenous Wisdom & Permaculture Skills Convergence for the past three years (no word yet on this year's).

You can learn more at www.olceri.org, or for the convergence, www,iwpsconvergence.com.

I know OLCERI is always is need of funds and I believe they are working on an Amazon wish list page.

Why does it have to be him, as opposed to some other earth-destroying politician or CEO (trying not to name names.....)?

F*ckf*ckf*ckf*ckf*ckf*ckf*ck.

That's all I'm thinking and feeling right now.

His energy and contributions will be sorely missed, and are still so sorely needed.

Off to contribute.....

Welcome, Deborah! I've seen you speak at the Mother Earth New Fair (a few years back), have a couple of your books, have attended your online seminars, and also hang out every once in a while on the Ning group (does that make me a groupie?)

Look forward to hearing more!

I like the book. Can't leave a review yet...I will aim to remember to get return to Amazon next week to leave a review once they allow it. Thanks!

Yep. This is a very good one.

But here's my absolute spine-tingling favorite: The Last Nomads and The Culture of Fear

Thanks for your reply, D. I was just reading more about Sussex this morning and it looked like a breed with possibilities. I think we are going to have to try 3 or so breeds and see which one is easiest to raise. There's a lot to know! We keep a mixed flock of layers now (no roos), but he wants to get a little more serious and try to raise/sell some chicks, and maybe help an endangered breed while he's at it.

My 12-yr-old son has an interest in getting some heritage breeding stock (assuming we can find some at this point in the spring) so that he can experiment with raising & selling chicks. He has been reading and researching this morning and is considering Chanteclers. I've read a little more & it sounds like they could have a tendency to fly and be lightweight.

We have the book "The Small-Scale Poultry Flock", as well as other various books on chickens, so we have lots of book information, but I like to also get the opinions of those with 'boots-on-the-ground', especially since this is something for a 12-yr-old.

Any thoughts/recommendations?

Thanks!

It would be wonderful for permaculture to be taught in schools, as it is in Australia (have you seen any of their materials?). However, as a former public school teacher myself, I have to say that you have to show how it meets "the standards" and will improve "testing outcomes" in order for just about any public school district to use it. And, even today, nearly 90% of all school-age children attend a public school, so having something a public school could use would be fantastic. Best of luck with that (sincerely).

Done by the end of the week? That's a very aggressive timeline.

How exciting that Geoff has agreed to look at it. I'll look forward to seeing samples (hopefully) of the end result.

I am glad you are working on a curriculum. I understand that there are some (many?) from the PC community who will not want/need such a curriculum for their kids, but I think there will be a large enough market (particularly of those new to permaculture, of which there are more every year) who will.

My own two kids are in an alternative public-school program, where they are homeschooled 3-4 days a week and go to classes run by the school district 1-2 days a week. Since I have been part of this program for 5 years, I also volunteer as an advisor to parents new to schooling their children at home. For most of them, if a subject is not in a curriculum, the parents are not interested. They are too overwhelmed and too busy to grasp pulling something together on their own. I have also attended several at-PC-conference-roundtables about PC/education/children. The thing that has struck me over and over again is that no one really knows how to teach PC to kids in an ordered/understandable way that also engages the kids. I think there will always be those people who need an open-and-go book to guide their attempts. So I definitely think there is room for both the curriculum approach as well as the more organic/create-your-own approach.

My main question/concern about a curriculum is how one makes it engaging and meaningful to kids, versus just more words on a page that they don't really grasp and don't really have meaning for them (like too many textbooks that exist already). I think that will be the key to either success or failure in a curriculum. You may want to take a look at Tom Elpel's book Shanleya's Quest, as well as the SQ cards & games. I think he did a fabulous job of teaching kids about 8 common plant families with those materials, in a way that is creative & "in-a-book-but-not-textbooky".

I have some other thoughts but am out of time right now. Will post more later.

You

I made it, with the exception of the aquaponics chapter, which I will read after planting season...I am in the throes of it right now, and the weather has been nice, so I am outside every spare moment.

Even though I did not post here much, I too, am most grateful for the group slog & accountability...I never would have made it through chapter 11 without it! The. Endless. Chapter. 11.

I have a much better understanding of the underpinnings of permaculture now, and the importance of connections. I have a number of reference pages marked. I am really, really glad I read the book.