Superstars of Permaculture

I had a permaculture-intensive weekend. Saturday, we took a tour of water savvy stars of Sebastopol, including Catchtail Farm on the Blucher Creek watershed, a talk with Brock Dolman on (and in) the Laguna de Santa Rosa, and a visit to the Post-Carbon Institute.

Sunday, I went to an open house at the Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas.

I have a huge mish-mash of thoughts and inspirations around this, so please excuse a scattered posting. I'll try to fix it later.

What I've seen this weekend, and really in about the past year, is that, beyond the facts of global warming and peak oil, people are beginning to see that we are really on or past peak EVERYthing, and the Republicans aren't the only party that is pretty much over. It's really rather amazing that the US culture of excess has lasted as long as it has. However, it's also evident that there will still be parties.

Here's the thing: EVEN IF NONE OF THIS WAS HAPPENING, the following would be good things to do:
. Build community
. Grow food
. Learn all you can about conservation of all kinds
. Practice conservation
. Become more efficient

These are good things to do; if the left-wing liberal screwballs and Al Gore are correct in their dire predictions, these things may also become necessary.

In a time of massive inflation, good will and food become more valuable currency than paper money.

It doesn't matter if you own or rent the place where you live, you are still the custodian of it, and you can still create what you want (and need) in that space.

The Catchtail Farm folks have a really lovely place and a great outlook, and they're the kind of community members I hope I can become. When they started at this location, they built a fire circle in their yard and invited everyone up and down the street to a party at their house (see? already! Still having parties!). They've done smart things with their land, but what sticks with me--and what I believe will carry them through any coming crisis--is that they have built--are building--a strong community.

Brock gave a great walk and talk on water, and more to the point, on watersheds, at the Laguna. He's a man who likes to play with words, so I enjoyed his talk.

The Post-Carbon (heh, I first typo'd "Post-Carob") Institute is doing amazing stuff in a town environment in Sebastopol. Besides maintaining a large "victory garden," they're setting up an electric- and hybrid-car rental service for our town.

Something Terrie noted, and that surfaced on one of my quote pages in my daily catch-up work there, that has stuck with me too: "When it comes to getting things done, we need fewer architects and more bricklayers." -Colleen C. Barrett (insert here a hundred other sayings about the relative worth of action vs. thought.)

There are a lot of people who are full of blue-sky ideas. Ideas are great. Ideas make the world go 'round. One person who can and will carry a rock 30 yards is worth approximately 15 people with ideas about how to move a rock 30 yards. Does anybody want to carry the rock? I'm here to suggest that the best architects have lain bricks, nailed boards, framed walls, hung sheet rock, and maybe even that only those people have really proven themselves qualified to BE architects... (More later)