Turn Your Garden into Gaia’s Garden

Produce more food, use less energy, conserve more water and produce less waste – all with less work!

Home-scale Permaculture Course with Author Toby Hemenway

DATES: Saturday March 31st, Sunday April 1st and Monday April 2nd, 2012, 9 - 5 pm each day.  

WHERE: 1514 44 ST SE, Calgary, AB, T2A4Z7 (The Holy Trinity Family Activity Centre)

**Update March 19th, 2012: The course spots are selling like hotcakes. We've just ten more :)

Hey there,

Rob & Michelle Avis here.

Need something to do on April Fools Day? Well, well, have we got something that just might be for you!

On Saturday March 31st, Sunday April 1st and Monday April 2nd  we are hosting internationally renowned author Toby Hemenway for a three day course on home-scale permaculture with a focus on forest gardening.

Toby is one of our favorite authors and his book Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, has been the best-selling permaculture book in the world for the last seven years.

Who is this course for? Well, you'll fit right in if:

• you are a hobby gardener, a Master Gardener or a horticulturalist and want to push the limits of your climate, grow healthier plants, get higher germination rates, and do less watering and less weeding.

• you love the idea of forest gardening (a garden that mimics a forest structure, that is!) and you want increased food density, food variety and food security all for less work. You love fruit trees and berry bushes and creating beautiful landscapes that humans and many other creatures can enjoy.

• you are a permaculture designer wanting to learn more about the practical applications of permaculture principles and design methods in an urban setting. You want to hear about successful on-the-ground projects and the nuts and bolts of getting similar projects started here. You want to see examples, pictures, specifics, and participate in class exercises that will leave you feeling more equipped to start designing and installing your own projects.

• you are an architect (landscape or other), a designer, contractor or consultant and you want to incorporate edible gardens, low-input landscapes and implement home energy-conservation through landscape planning and design.

• you are an urban farmer, SPIN farmer, small market garden owner or CSA operator and want to improve your soil health and make more money by reducing costly inputs including fertilizer, pesticides and water.

• you are a food advocate, food hub or just generally interested in local food sustainability. You’ve seen movies like “Food, Inc.”  and have read books by authors like Michael Pollen or Wendell Berry and know that we need to do things differently - but don’t know how or where to start.

• you are concerned about the environment, the tar sands and climate change but feel powerless to do anything to make a difference. You want practical ways that you can start implementing your sense of environmental responsibility right at your back door.

• you are involved with Peak Oil or Transition Town Movements and want to feel empowered and more secure about food and energy issues. You want a way to think about these issues constructively, a set of solutions for yourself, your family and community as well as a toolkit with specific strategies.

• you are a Real Estate agent, Entrepreneur or green business owner and want to better understand sustainability, ecological practices, and many of your consumers and clients.

“I will never look at the world in the same way. This course has changed everything.” —B.W., Santa Fe

“This was a transformative educational experience for me. Thank you!” —A.B., Bremerton, WA

A unique opportunity to learn from an international expert...

Toby Hemenway is the author of Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, which for the last seven years has been the best-selling permaculture book in the world.

He has been an adjunct professor at Portland State University, Scholar-in-Residence at Pacific University, and is currently a field director at the Permaculture Institute (USA). Toby has presented lectures and workshops at major sustainability conferences such as Bioneers, SolFest, and EcoFarm, and at Duke University, Tufts University, University of Minnesota, University of Delaware and many other educational venues. His writing has appeared in magazines such as Whole Earth Review, Natural Home, and Kitchen Gardener. He has contributed book chapters for WorldWatch Institute and to several publications on ecological design.

Check out Toby’s website, www.patternliteracy, for tons of great info and his latest writings.

“Toby’s teaching is well-organized, effective, and clear. I love the examples of permaculture principles in action, especially in an urban setting.” —M.J., Hillsboro, OR

Does the above resonate with you? If so, join us:

Home-Scale Permaculture with Author Toby Hemenway

WHERE: 1514 44 ST SE, Calgary, AB, T2A 4Z7 (The Holy Trinity Family Activity Centre)

WHEN: Saturday March 31st, Sunday April 1st and Monday April 2nd, 2012

COST: $375 + gst

What will you learn in this course?

Here are some of the major topics that Toby will cover:

	Permaculture Principles - An Instruction Manual for Sustainability Producing good design becomes much easier and more successful when you learn the rules that healthy ecosystems use and then apply those rules to your home, garden and community. This framework will ensure that you produce more food, use less energy, conserve more water and produce less waste – all with less work!
	Practical Examples - Putting the Theory into Practice You will hear examples, see pictures, learn about the specifics and participate in class exercises that will engage you and leave you with tons of practical and hands-on ideas for your own yard. Toby has over 20 years of experience as a permaculture designer and teacher and has visited and designed hundreds of sites. You will tap into this wealth of experience, learn from Toby’s successes and failures while giving yourself a sense of confidence that you are doing the right thing and fast-tracking your own projects.
	Patterning for Towns and Cities - Working with the Law of Nature Patterning is the glue that binds many of the components of permaculture theory. You will learn how to use pattern language to identify and use the natural flows of energy and materials in your designs. By understanding these ideas and choosing the right patterns for your designs you can influence microclimate, sun and wind and even encourage dynamics in communities and in organizing people.
	Energy, Water and Shelter - Transform Your Home into an Eco-Home Permaculture is about designing things using the same methods that nature does. This extends well beyond the garden and can be applied to your house and meeting your water and energy needs. Learn how to integrate and place your house, solar panels, rain harvesting and other elements for maximum efficiency. Reduce your need for fossil-fuel heating, harvest your own rainwater, reduce waste streams and pollution - the skills required to design your very own eco-home.
	Food Production and Edible Forest Gardens - Backyard Bounty & Biodiversity One of the biggest contrasts between most gardens and natural landscapes is that, if left untended, a garden falls apart, while nature doesn’t. You will learn to design gardens that will inherently become more fertile, healthy and well-watered and will have the dynamic stability, resilience and exuberance of natural ecosystems.
	Livelihood and Economics  - Make $$ and Do Something Good for the Planet Learn ways you might turn these ideas into an income generating project - something you can feel good about. Or, simply gain skills that will increase your security and well-being, while reducing the need to earn.
	Community Cohesion - The More the Merrier It is clear that many people recognize the benefits of a healthy community yet, especially in urban areas, don’t even know their neighbours. Not only do strong communities improve quality of life, they are a key strategy to get through challenging times. Learn how to identify the resources in your community, build community and connect people through common interest.

A few last thoughts...

There you have it.

So, on April first, make sure you join ourselves & Toby Hemenway, who is our first international guest instructor for 2012, on his first-ever visit to Alberta.

This course is definitely going to be FIRST-class!!

Hope to see you!

Regards,

Rob & Michelle

p.s.  don’t be “April foolish” and slow to snatch up a spot - we expect this April Fools course to sell out!

p.p.s. Toby is giving a public lecture and doing a book signing on the evening of Friday March 29th at the Memorial Library John Dutton Theater. This event is co-hosted by The Calgary Horticultural Society, The Calgary Library Foundation and ourselves. One hundred percent of proceeds are going to local non-profit organizations. Advance tickets will be available through the Calgary Horticultural Society Website.

p.p.p.s. Can’t make it on the Monday? No worries - you can join us for two days (Saturday & Sunday) for a reduced price. Contact us for details.

p.p.p.p.s Are you a highschool student? We have two full scholarship opportunities for this course! Download and complete this application before March 9th to apply.