Conversations, inspirations, and ideas that emerged in Santa Cruz during four events with Mark Lakeman about redesigning the city for urban placemaking.
This series of blog posts about Rainwater Harvesting is provides an overview of some of the key practices. The series is informed and guided by the book Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Brad Lancaster’s approachable and inspiring work on the topic of rainwater harvesting. This is blog post one of three in this series by Giovanni Castaldo.
In a rustic yet comfortable meeting room on a rain-nourished green landscape in California, critical conversations emerged like vibrant wildflowers blooming into being. Person after person stood at the front of the room to passionately announce a topic they were taking responsibility to host a conversation about. The energy in the room was hopeful, buoyant, and full of anticipation for what next steps and actions might be collectively harvested.
Spring brings with it fresh energy to get outside, participate in new experiences, be social, and learn something new. In celebration of the arrival of spring, we’ve rounded up eight inspiring events and festivals happening throughout 2019 (+ one bonus in 2020!) that you’ll want to add to your calendar now. Earth Day Santa Cruz April 20 at San Lorenzo
“Claudine Désirée, locally known as the “Santa Cruz Cob Queen,” is the proud creator of Santa Cruz’s first legal cob house. Cob is a natural building material made from Earth, sand and straw, and cob houses have been around since at least the 15th century. Since cob buildings are fireproof, resistant to seismic activity and inexpensive, Désirée says they should also be the future of housing in California.”
In anticipation of the upcoming Systems Change and the Next Economy course, we interviewed Della Duncan, alternative economist, teacher, and broadcast journalist, who will be facilitating the first weekend workshop. We wanted to learn more about her passions, perspectives, and experiences in order to give prospective students a glimpse into what they will learn later this month.
Last month in Hopland, CA, 610 permaculture-minded folks from all over Northern California and beyond gathered for the 13th Annual NorCal Permaculture “Building Resilient Communities” Convergence. Presented by Living Mandala and co-sponsored by a super rad list of organizations and businesses, the Convergence is proud to be the world’s largest permaculture event! The Solar Living Center where the Convergence is
During spring quarter 2018, UC Santa Cruz senior Kaylee Savage-Wright worked with Santa Cruz Permaculture through a for-credit internship hosted by the UCSC Environmental Studies Department. We enjoyed working with her for the ten-week quarter. At the end of her internship, we asked her to reflect on her experience so we could share some of the behind-the-scenes work that we
In this summer update to our Fruit Tree Care series, we’re covering some important best practices for summertime in the orchard: summer pruning, weeding around fruit trees, and effective strategies for designing and planting understory plant communities, or guilds. By this point in the summer, hopefully you’ve already thinned your fruit trees and have been regularly watering them if you
This is the second article in a series about how to start a permaculture guild in your community. It’s based on what we’ve been doing to start one in Santa Cruz, CA. In the first article, we explore what a Permaculture Guild is and how to host your first meeting using the World Cafe process. In this article, we describe
Grab your Felcos, folks, it’s winter fruit tree pruning season! We’re happy to share 13 reputable winter fruit tree pruning and training resources. Give your tree the love and support it needs to produce really delicious, sweet fruit season after season! “Felcos” is a brand that makes pruning tools like the hand pruners David Robles is holding in the photo
Looking for a place to share a meal and good conversation with other folks in your community who care about permaculture? A permaculture guild might be just what you need! “Ask your doctor if permaculture is right for you.” The Santa Cruz Permaculture Guild, which has existed in various iterations over the decades, is back in action and now meets
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