Sunday, October 30, 2011

Inaugural Sherwood Forest Celtic Festival and Highland Games

A few weeks back we had the first annual Celtic Festival at Sherwood Forest. What a great time! The folks at Sherwood Forest Faire decided to have this Celtic festival to fill in a bit of the off season. Our third season of the actual Renaissance Festival starts next February 11, 2012 and runs through April 1. I'll be posting more, no doubt about it. You can also see pictures posted in my past blogs here.


We had many people coming through who were there for the first time. I'm afraid a few were disappointed. It did look a bit underwhelming. I mean, the grounds are great, but only a few of the usual vendors set up for this one weekend event. Many are busy at other faires or getting ready for the Texas Renaissance Festival starting soon.


Everyone was surprised by the turnout. I don't have the final numbers, but there were already 3,000 people there by 2 pm on Saturday. The food and drink vendors were running out of supplies already by then. Cat Dancing Creations, our booth #309, had our best sales day ever.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Upcoming Permaculture Classes in Austin!

Classes are currently forming for two upcoming Permaculture Design Certificate courses in Spring of 2012. Sign up now, they fill fast!


2 Upcoming classes:

Spring Weekend Permaculture Design Course with Dick Pierce.
Held in Austin, Tx. Location to be announced. 10 Saturdays- Jan. 28 - Apr 7.
The cost of this Permaculture course is $600.
Reserve your space now with a NON-REFUNDABLE deposit of $120. The deposit can be paid to your registrar, William Seward,  (512) 468-7835 (raincrow_permaculture@yahoo.com ) or see the PayPal button in the sidebar. Be sure to indicate which class you are registering for, and include your name, email, and phone number.
The balance of $480 is to  be paid to Dick Pierce on or before the first day of class.

Winter/Spring 2012 Saturdays Course dates and topics:
Jan 28: Basics 1
Feb 4:
Basics 2
Feb 11:
Soil & Water
Feb 18:
Building & Energy
Feb 25:
Urban Permaculture; Gardens
Mar 3:
Design Basics
Mar 17:
Rural - Farm & Ranch NOTE: no class Mar 10)
Mar 24:
Design Workshop
Mar 31:
Design Workshop
Apr 7:
Design Presentations/Wrap-Up
Date & Location TBD: Graduation Potluck & Celebration
This course includes classroom instruction, hands-on projects (including your site design project), presentations by guest instructors, and field trips. 

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Dick Pierce
is a permaculture teacher and designer with many years of experience in central Texas and New England. He has studied permaculture design with Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton, and Patricia Allison. Dick’s experience includes working on farms, working with Native American tribes across the US, and running a greenbuilding program for young people at American Youthworks, a nonprofit high school in Austin. He also helped launch the popular “Citizen Gardener” program, aimed at promoting food self-sufficiency in Austin through gardening. Dick was born and raised in New England but has called Central Texas home for over a decade.

Spring Intensive Permaculture Design Course with Kirby Fry.
This two week intensive course will begin at 9am, on Saturday, April 21, 2012 and conclude at 5pm, Friday, May 4, 2012.  It will be held about 40 miles east of Austin, at 1483 CR 311, McDade, Texas 78650.  There will be some camping/overnight space available (please let us know, in advance, so that we can make sure we are able to accommodate you).  Basic meals will be provided daily (bringing something extra to contribute to the group is encouraged, but not required).
The cost of this Permaculture Intensive is $600. Reserve your space now with a NON-REFUNDABLE deposit of $120. The deposit can be paid to William Seward,  (512) 468-7835. (raincrow_permaculture@yahoo.com ) Or, use the PayPal button on the sidebar of this blog. Be sure to indicate which class you are registering for, and include your name, email, and phone number.

The balance of $480 to be paid to Kirby Fry on the first day of class.


CURRICULUM As taught by Kirby Fry (see bio, below):
Day 1 (April 21, 2012): Introduction of teachers and students, definitions of Permaculture and sustainability, state of the world, ethics, principles, zones, sector analysis.
Day 2 (April 22, 2012/Earth Day): The function of design, methodologies of design, patterns, observation exercise, the soil food web, the function of forests, the function of prairies.
Day 3 (April 23, 2012): Annual gardening, perennial gardening, food forests.
Day 4 (April 24, 2012): The bio-regions of Texas, ecological restoration.
Day 5 (April 25, 2012): Grazing systems, introduction to design projects.
Day 6 (April 26, 2012): Earthworks, aquaculture, aquaponics.
Day 7 (April 27, 2012): Design strategies for Central Texas prairies.
Day 8 (April 28, 2012): Tour / Work Day.
Day 9 (April 29, 2012): Day of rest.
Day 10 (April 30, 2012): Green building, natural building.
Day 11 (May 1, 2012/May Day): Rain water harvesting, grey and black water harvesting.
Day 12 (May 2, 2012): Strategies for sustainable job creation and local activism, in class design project time
Day 13 (May 3, 2012): Invisible Structures, career opportunities, in class design project time.
Day 14 (May 4, 2012): Design presentations, Permaculture design course certificates awarded.

Teacher Bio: Kirby Fry studied conventional agriculture and forestry at Texas A&M and has nearly 20 years of expertise behind him in the fields of natural building, rainwater collection systems, and passive solar cooling systems, among other things.  He studied with Bill Mollison (co-founder of Permaculture) and Scott Pitman (founder of The Permaculture Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico).


Citizen Gardener
Not a class by the Austin Permaculture Guild, but brought to you by the Sustanable Food Center and taught by Dick Pierce. (See above for bio.)
Austin Spring planting. Learn what you need to go home and DO IT- locate, build, plant, harvest.
Hands-on classes over two Saturday mornings and one Wednesday evening. Mid Jan - March.)



Here are the links for further information.

Austin Permaculture Guild website  (classes, news, other vital information, more links)
http://www.austinperm.com/

The Austin Permaculture Guild group on Yahoo!   (discussion, conversation, what's happening.)
austinperm-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Citizen Gardener  (great local class for Austin area gardeners.)
www.sustainablefoodcenter.org