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You are here: Home / Archives for regionalplanning

regionalplanning

PAN 2016 October Teachers Gathering: Report Back

December 8, 2016

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This past October the Permaculture Association of the Northeast (PAN) organized a deep and vibrant gathering of 27 teachers from the up and down the Northeast United States and Canada at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.  We gathered over many meals, fires and facilitated spaces to support permaculture teachers to continue improving the quality and outcomes of educational offerings and experiences, and to continue building a culture of mutual aid and reciprocity. Below you will find an brief report back from the gathering. Click here for a full version of the notes from the first day of the training including a resource list and detailed notes on retelling the permaculture origin story.

omega
Image Dan Schenk

The goal for this event was to increase the resilience of the Northeast region by strengthening the regional permaculture network and facilitating access to relevant education and resources.  We recalled at the 2014 North American Permaculture Convergence (NAPC) there emerged requests from the People of Color Caucus to center the topics of social justice, racial justice, anti-oppression and equity within our work.  During the first day of this capacity building and professional development gathering we responded to those requests with a day long diversity training with Relational Uprising.  Through unpacking dominant narratives, physical movement and sharing our own stories we learned that we don’t gain justice by merely increasing representation through tokenism, or shaming individuals for systemic problems. We gain justice from learning how to cultivate a culture shift in our community, deconstructing oppressive beliefs and stories and coming to embody our shared values. You can view a copy of the slides from the training here.

A delegation from this one day training is going to continue building on what we learned and network with other activists, organizers, movement builders and changemakers from diverse fields to build healthy, interdependent, relational culture in a four day training this December. Look for future report backs from this event.

We spent the second day exploring more connectivity and alignment between permaculture teachers in our region by brainstorming community-derived standards for permaculture educational quality. We did this by first getting an overview of what processes other countries and regions use to decide who can be permaculture teachers. We also heard a report back from a board member who was a part of a conversation around teacher qualifications at the recent NAPC (North American Permaculture Convergence). We then built on earlier conversations on how our region could take a bottom-up collaborative approach to defining quality standards for teachers in our region. We  broke up into small groups and brainstormed answers to four questions:  1) Why is a system of standards important or useful  2) What content considerations should be included in a quality standard?  3) What pedagogical (how we teach) or ethical considerations should be part of a standard?  4) How might PAN best implement and maintain a voluntary community-created system?

standardsDuring our February organizers retreat at D Acres in New Hampshire (February 24th and 25th) we will continue to winnow and come up with a draft round of voluntary standards that teachers will be able to pilot in 2017.  We would love your feedback and input on these questions. You can see the results of the questions and add your own feedback here.

The remaining part of the gathering was reserved for creating space for professional level peer-to-peer sharing and cross-training on quality educational and organizational practices for the permaculture community.

 

Topics included:

  • retelling the permaculture origin narrative from a social justice perspective
  • tips on how the Resilience Hub organizes successful events
  • playing the new-to-print social permaculture principles card game
  • how to tie in social permaculture by co-creating a problems mind map
  • …and many others.

We closed our gathering with several announcements including that PAN is hiring a part time virtual assistant and is looking for new board members. Information and a job description is available on our website.

We thank everyone who was able to devote their time and resources to this event.  For PAN members who could not attend, we invite feedback on community standards for quality permaculture education in our region.

If you are not yet a member, please join PAN today to keep supporting our network with events like these and our upcoming winter retreat at D Acres.

We hope to see you in February,

PAN Board,

Jesse Watson, Lisa DePiano, Steve Whitman, Taylor Rae Shuler, Lisa Fernandes, Keith Morris, Jono Neiger

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Filed Under: Blog, News & Announcements, Northeast Community Tagged With: Community, Omega, regionalplanning

PINE Supports Sub-Regional Convergence Events in 2015

April 2, 2015

PINE SUPPORTS SUB-REGIONAL CONVERGENCE EVENTS IN 2015

For the last ten years, the Northeast region has had a regional Permaculture Convergence. From meeting with David Holmgren in 2005, to yearly convergences in New York, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, each summer is punctuated by this PINE-sponsored event. The 10th Convergence was hosted in 2014 by Maine and the Resilience Hub at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) fairgrounds this past summer. (see photo below)

2014 me nepc

The convergence has been an event to bring together active permaculture practitioners from around the region to celebrate their achievements, share experiences and skills, provide solidarity in the challenges we face, and provide a chance to bring exposure of permaculture and the amazing network to the event location. It’s a place for newcomers to dip into the chaos and camaraderie of the permaculture network.

The regional convergence is a challenge to host. Traditionally, each year a team of volunteers comes together and hosts the event in their area. More recently a paid staff model was developed. The event has grown from 40 people in 2005, to over 100 in Ithaca, NY in 2007, and ballooning over the last several years to 300 – 400 attendees. Tours of nearby projects, hands-on activities, forums to discuss issues on farming, education and organizing, informational presentations, keynote speakers, panels, excellent music, and a hurricane last year have all made for great events, touching many people and strengthening the movement.

This summer will be the first year since the event began that the Northeast will not have a northeast regional convergence. We are recognizing the cycles of network organizing and the challenges faced by organizing such a big event. It seems like a good time to take a step back, look at what the regional convergence has been, what it might be, and do some open, strategic thinking. We are designers, after all. And the problems with our successes are really just opportunities.

There are several aspects to this coming year we want to specifically call attention to:

  1.     PINE (Permaculture Institute of the Northeast) will host some convergence planning sessions this fall at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. For those who feel called to participate, please be in touch. Email: info@thepine.org
  1.     Participate or develop in a “sub-regional” convergence or event for your local community. The events we know of are below. Go to an event, help organize one in your area. Let us know you are doing it! Email steve@fingerlakespermaculture.org with info.
  2.     Think about hosting a regional event in the coming years. Do you have a location that can support 300-600 people? Can you facilitate a team to carry out the necessary logistics? Hosting can be highly rewarding, but also takes a significant amount of work. Recently, budgets have been developed to make this an event where some staff can be paid. While this is a summer event, planning and organizing begins the winter prior (9 months before!). We are hoping to receive proposals for 2016, 2017, and 2018 and will be issuing an application form for this in the spring of 2015. Email info@thepine.org if you are considering applying.

Together we can continue to gather, share, and develop a robust and resilient network. Join the conversation!

2015 SUB-REGIONAL EVENTS IN THE NORTHEAST

(updated as of 3/25/14)

March 14th , 11am-4pm – Permaculture Resources of Pennsylvania invites you to

A Permaculture Gathering! – The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104

www.therotunda.org

Come network, share, & learn with the regional permaculture community. We held our first gathering in Lancaster on November 1st, 2014. Sixty permaculturists from Eastern Pennsylvania gathered to discuss the possibility of forming a regional organization to support the permaculture movement. Let’s meet again to continue building this community! Email susq.pc@gmail.com to RSVP.

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/589069707895588

June 26 – 28 – Rockaway 4th Annual Community Health Festival and Transition Convergence – NYC

The Mid-Atlantic Transition Hub and Transition NYC are joining Battalion Pentecostal Assembly and Community Service of Far Rockaway to jointly produce the event, which will aim to enhance community food security and knowledge of how to creatively and constructively manage waterfronts throughout the Rockaways.

Besides a wide range of health exhibitors, there will be presentations on an array of resilient responses: gardening, healthy food preparation and preservation; energy efficient buildings; capturing and filtering water, natural remediation of flooded and polluted soils; and much more.

See more about the Festival here.

We have also asked residents and community leaders to offer locations on which permaculture, gardening, resilient community design and art projects can be installed this spring, at no charge to the residents, to be showcased at the Festival in June.  So far, residents have submitted information and photos for four sites and we expect more. Click here for links to pages about them.

August 21 – 23 – Finger Lakes Permaculture Tours and Regional Convergence

This weekend event showcases the beautiful Finger Lakes Region and the burgeoning practice of permaculture evidence in sites, systems, and people who farm, garden, teach, and live there. Come learn about the principles and practices of permaculture and see active sites on a wide range of scales, from urban gardens to large acre farms. Connect and network with others who are interested in living more sustainably, and walk away with ideas for your own property.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

8/21     FLPCI Alumni Day and camping (at Cayuta Sun Farm)

8/22     Permaculture Tours (at various sites in the Finger Lakes)

8/23     Finger Lakes Permaculture Convergence (at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schuyler County)

More details to be announced. Email info@fingerlakespermaculture.org

August 22 – NH Permaculture Day – Inheritance Farm Chichester, NH

https://www.facebook.com/inheritancefarmnh

September 27 – Acorn Festival – Guilford, VT

We are a one-day, family-friendly event that will serve over 30 workshops, demonstrations and children’s activities to both inspire and educate the Southern Vermont community (and beyond) in the ways of the Earth. Attendees will have opportunities to learn everything from hide-tanning, to herbal medicine, to primitive food preparation and more. And not just that – there will be some great music.

http://www.acornfest.org

October 3 – 4th Annual PermaFest & Skillshare – Brooklyn, NY

Annual Permaculture festival and skillshare at the Old Stone House, a community garden and education site in Washington Park (336 3rd St. Brooklyn, NY 11215).  This is a family-friendly event featuring local and regional educators, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, talks and local goods.

http://theoldstonehouse.org/

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Filed Under: Blog, Uncategorized Tagged With: convergence, event, regionalplanning

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