Join us for one or all of these inspiring events!
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July 20th Talk at 3:30 with Amy Meltzer: Gardening w/ Native Plants
Saturday July 20th Afternoon Talk: Gardening With Native Plants, Why and How: Providing habitat for pollinators, birds and other essential wildlife
Join Us Saturday July 20th at 3:30pm at The Permaculture Place, Inc, Center and Gift Shop at The Mill in Shelburne Falls
Description:
In this talk, Amy Meltzer will focus on the current biodiversity crisis; the evolutionary history among native plants, insects, birds and fungi, and how these interdependent relationships among diverse species are necessary for their survival. She will show how growing native plants and using ecological landscape practices can simultaneously reverse biodiversity loss, increase resilience in our landscapes, and slow climate change - all while creating a beautiful garden!
Amy Meltzer is an active member of Grow Native Massachusetts, and is on the steering committee of the MA Pollinator Network. She belongs to the Research Team and the Natural Solutions working group of Elders Climate Action. She has been researching and gardening with native plants for over ten years.
Suggested Donation $10 ( Sliding Scale Option)
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Summer Permaculture Design Certification Course Registration ~ Deposit towards Tuition!
Secure your seat at the upcoming Summer Weekend Series Permaculture Design Certification Course : July & August!
At The Permaculture Place, The Mill in Shelburne Falls, MA
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Saturday July 20, Tour Big River Chestnuts Farm!
Saturday Morning July 20, 9:00-11:00
Big River Chestnut Farm In Sunderland MA, 9:00-11:00.
- 9:30 Morning Tour of Big River Chestnuts in Sunderland MA ~ This is where Jono Neiger, co-founder of Regenerative Design Group and author of the book 'The Permaculture Promise' is developing a commercial agroforestry system based on chestnuts, small fruit, and small livestock. There are ample hands-on learning opportunities at this farm that you can also pursue!
~ Please contact us if you would like to register at a different sliding scale amount :)
~ Thank you for supporting our BIPOC Scholarship Fund!!!
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July 19th, 7pm, Movie Night: Inhabit, A Permaculture Perspective
See this award winning film!
If you are wondering what Permaculture Design is all about (or if you are already inspired by this field of study and practice), this is the best introductory film that we have found! Plus it was made by one of my course graduates after he completed his course with us at Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education!
More about this film:
Inhabit is a feature length documentary introducing permaculture: a design method that offers an ecological lens for solving issues related to agriculture, economics, governance, and on. The film presents a vast array of projects, concepts, and people, and it translates the diversity of permaculture into something that can be understood by an equally diverse audience. For those familiar, it will be a call to action and a glimpse into what's possible - what kind of projects and solutions are already underway. For those unfamiliar, it will be an introduction to a new way of being and a new way of relating to the Earth. For everyone, it will be a reminder that humans are capable of being planetary healing forces.
You can sign up here and Select the page for Community Events, or simply drop in :)
I hope you can join us! Suggested donation of around $10 goes to our BIPOC scholarship fund for the Permaculture Design Course that we offer seasonally here at The Mill.
Sending spring cheer,
Kay
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August 24th Site Tour to Humble Abode Nursery in Ashfield MA
Saturday August 24th 9:00am- 10:30am
in Ashfield, MA
Tour a new perennial nursery and learn about plant propagation!
From the Humble Abode Website: "Our nursery grows perennial food plants. We’re located in Ashfield, MA, zone 5a. We sell plants to home gardeners who want to grow their own food. Our plants will help you move your grocery store to right outside your kitchen door.We grow our plants without the use of poisons. We ship and offer local pick up of bare root plants twice per year, in the spring and the fall. We encourage you to propagate our plants. We want you to reap a bounty, so we share as much information about how to grow, propagate, and eat our plants as we can."
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August 24th Tour Wing and a Prayer Native Pollinator Plant Nursery!
Tour Wing and A Prayer Native Pollinator Nursery in Cummington MA 10:30-12:00, ($10 for the tour)
- 🦋 10:45 Tour of Wing and a Prayer Nursery in Cummington, MA ~ Meet Amy and tour her nursery of native pollinator plants. Amy is actively working to save native pollinator habitat in our area. Plants will be available for purchase at the nursery after her tour!
- 12:30 Bring a picnic lunch and shop at the nursery too!
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DATE TBD SOON: Botanical Print Workshop ~ Marjorie Liscombe of Print & Dye Workshop! Create beautiful botanical prints on paper
Create beautiful Botanical Prints on Paper
with local leaves and flowers!
At The Permaculture Place, The Mill in Shelburne Falls, MA
**ORiginally this was scheduled for July 10th, yet this workshop is delayed until later this summer ~ if you would like to register please send us an email now and we will inform you when this is rescheduled :) We are at: [email protected]
Learn from Marjorie from Print & Dye workshop in Shelburne Falls! We will lead an exciting evening of printmaking with leaves and flowers in this hands on workshop
Experience the mysterious beauty of local plants as we
coax color from leaf and petal using pressure, heat and water.
Create one of a kind, extraordinarily beautiful prints on watercolor paper.
The cost for the 2-hour class is $65 and all materials are included.
Join us! No prior experience is necessary.
Bring your love of nature along with an apron or cover-up to protect your clothing, gloves will be provided.
Please bring an old towel and some cardboard (flattened boxes) to transport your prints.
We will supply enough plant material for everyone though please feel free to bring along any plants or flowers you would like to experiment with and/or share with others.
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Aug 22, An Intro to Greywater Use and How to Save Water! 4pm
Meet Nina Gordon-Kirsh, an expert in greywater usage who will share professional experience with this strategy from out along the west coast in California where water is often a scarcity.
Learn about the basics of greywater reuse and possible ways to construct these systems.
Gather the latest information about efforts to legalize more forms of greywater reuse in MA.
Join us! 4 pm at The Permaculture Place, The Mill in Shelburne Falls, MA
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July 31, Biogas from Compost as Fuel & Fertilizer!
Meet Lisa Berkovits of Northeast Biogas Initiative! Learn how to turn your food scraps, manure and other green waste into both a gas you can use to cook with as well as a fabulous fertilizer for your gardens and orchards.
Join us at The Permaculture Place, The Mill in Shelburne Falls, MA
7pm
Permaculture Design Certification Course
Choose to start July 18th SUMMER PROGRAM or September 20th AUTUMN PROGRAM !
Offsite Tour: Visit a Straw Bale House
Tour the home of a family of 5 in Shelburne Falls, where they constructed their natural home out of straw bales, and heat their home with a masonry stove.
Offsite Tour: Visit a Permaculture Homestead and Demonstration Forest Garden
Tour a home landscape created by Jono Neiger of Regenerative Design Group and witness efficient energy systems, fruit production, water catchment, nutrient cycling systems.
Farming for Biodiversity
Designing Pollination Systems to Sustain Native Wildlife
A Presentation by Evan Abramson, Pollination Systems Designer at Landscape Interactions
Local Textiles, Bringing Regenerative, Non-Toxic, and Ethical Textile Production Back to New England
Nur Tiven, founding member of Western Mass Fibershed, tells the story of producing the first local and sustainable wool apparel fabric to come out of Massachusetts in decades, and discusses the need for and inspiring possibilities of rebuilding regional fiber systems and textile economies.
Mushroom Cultivation Demystified! Low Tech and No Waste Methods of Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Fungi
Various strategies to bring valuable mushrooms close to home. We will learn the mushroom life cycle, how they are produced, and how you can grow these delicious treats without waste or a big investment.
Teaming Up with Soil Life, Intro to Soil Biology & Chemistry (in relation to the plants we want to grow!)
Kaat Vander Straeten is a certified permaculture designer and a graduate of Elaine Ingham's Life in the Soil classes. Learn all about the soil food web, bacterial versus fungal soils, how to cook up some good compost and compost tea, what earthworms like to eat, and the real definition of a weed.
Movie Night! A Viewing of: ‘Inhabit, A Permaculture Perspective’ See the best film about the permaculture movement,
created by our very own permaculture design course graduate!
Introduction to Healing with the Five Elements Join us for a guided movement meditation and an informative talk with Tom Matherly of Fox Tracks Healing.
Introduction to Plant Spirit Medicine Join us for a talk with Clare Pearson of Wilder Brook Botanicals, healer and educator, who will guide us in a meditation and share about the healing power of plants. “Plants have Spirit. And Spirit is the strongest medicine.” ~Eliot Cowan
Mushroom Cultivation in Permaculture Systems with The Mushroom Forager!
Learn to create a landscape that produces a bounty of gourmet mushrooms while nourishing soil fertility and boosting vegetable yields.
An Introduction to Orcharding and Grafting Fruit Trees with a Biodynamic Practitioner Alan Surprenant of Brook Farm Orchard