Midwest Permaculture

Our New 6-Day 'Hands-on' Training Includes the Curriculum of this 4-Day Training, plus Additional Hands-on Experience

Pictures by Bill Wilson
& Milton Dixon.
Narration by Bill Wilson.

According to our hosts, this is one of the first permaculture trainings to be hosted in the city of Detroit.

It was a true collaborative effort cosponsored by:
Southeastern Michigan Permaculture Guild
&
The Greening of Detroit
&
Gleaners Community Food Bank
&
Midwest Permaculture

2.

The classroom was on the second floor of the Gleaner's Food Bank warehouse, a 100 year old building.

It was solid, comfortable, light and colorful. They use this space for all sorts of events including classrooms full of school children.

We'd like to thank Gleaners for the space and especially Suzette at Gleaners for her helpfulness and hospitality.

3.

What really pulled this training together were 4 women from the Southeastern Michigan Permaculture guild. All are former graduates of permaculture design certificate courses (PDCs).

It is the love of this subject that pulled them toward hosting this unique training in Detroit.

Holly Lubowicki (L-R), Claire Maitre and Vicki McLellan are three of the four. Kris Kaul's picture is coming up.

Their support and attention to detail were critical to the success of this training,

4.

As the hosting instructor for the training, I made a point to get students out each day to observe the immediate surroundings.

Even though we were in what is considered 'a depressed area' of the city we were still able to find bounty and many possibilities all around us.

5.

And I was not the lone instructor - far from it. With me for all 4 days was Milton Dixon, Midwest Permaculture's technology support person and growing permaculturist.

An accomplished grower of food in a third story apartment (Chicago) he has also become an adept forager.

Milton has a map of the 5 block area surrounding his apartment building and on it he is plotting the location of many edible foods (some wild) that are there just for the taking.

One of his best scores was a crab apple tree he found in December that still had hundreds of shriveled up fruits on it. He collected these and turned them into crab-apple mead. Mead is wine made with honey instead of sugar. We polished off a bottle after dinner one evening. It was fantastic...!!!

6.

Besides Milton and myself, we brought in 7 other teachers. Two in person and 5 over the telephone/internet.

Sitting next to me on the chair is a speaker telephone. Our guest teacher is sharing a series of slides which we are viewing while they are talking about them.

This kind of remote, yet live learning works extremely well.

Meet Robyn and Donna from Portland, OR, in the next box who called in Sunday morning.

Internet Teachers

Our out-of-state teachers gave a 30-40 minute talk each and then we opened up the microphone for students to ask their own questions.

Robyn and Donna's call-in was very well received. Their work is worth looking at.

7.

On day 1 we visited the community gardens next door to Gleaners hosted by Earthworks of Detroit and managed by one of our Permaculture Course graduates from 2007, Patrick Crouch.

8.

Patrick not only understands the foundations of permaculture as it relates to land and food production, but he intimately understands the human side of permaculture as well.

"Give a person some food and you feed them for a day.
Teach them to garden and you feed their body, their soul and their self esteem for a lifetime."
Patrick Crouch

9.

A block from the gardens, Patrick and his associates at Earthworks have a large greenhouse that churns out bedding plants for hundreds of folks in the area.

10.

It was a cool day but found the greenhouse to be delightfully warm, bright and welcoming.

11.

Three of the course participants, Annmarie, MC and Robin, listening to Patrick talk about the benefits of the balance between annual and perennial plants.

12.

Because of the fertility of the soil and the protected area next to the greenhouse (a micro-climate) the asparagus is up 2-3 weeks earlier than most in the area.

13.

On day 2, Milton led a foraging walk to see what sort of springtime edibles were cropping up in the area.

14.

I don't think we made it 25 feet from one spot to another along the alley before we found about a dozen edible or medicinal herbs and 'weeds'.

Pictured in pink is Kris Kaul, the 4th member of the Southeastern Michigan Permaculture Guild that pulled this training together.

Twyla, behind her, is a community garden coordinator from Flint, MI.

15.

On day 3 I took students to an abandoned property where we walked the entire lot while brainstorming where, why and how we could design in swales, rain gardens, pergolas, fruit tree guilds, mulberry guilds, sheet-mulched garden beds, chicken habitats and more.

16.

As we walked the property and imagined where and how different elements of a permaculture design could manifest, it created a stimulating environment for questions to be asked and brainstorming to occur.

17.

One of the greatest satisfactions for me is to watch students as this information really starts to sink in.

Pam here is one of the founders of a Transition Town initiative in her county of Oakland, MI. This movement was founded on permaculture thinking and principles so Pam took this training to better understand how the two relate.

She said this training was 'spot on' offering both the theory and the specifics on how to design a low energy, yet human oriented, future.

18.

The days were full with class time, small group exercises and outside WalkAbouts, but tying it all together were some fabulous lunches provided by various local cooks, restaurants and food services.

Most of the food was organic and much of it came from local, or at least Michigan sources.

19.

These sunflower sprouts were not only grown locally by Carolyn Leadley, they were delivered by her by bicycle as well.

She is the main grower for Raw Detroit Community Farms which makes all of their deliveries by bicycle!

20.

Making sure that all of the food prep and clean up were well organized, Holly took charge of orchestration and had the benefits of a fully stocked kitchen at Gleaners, next to the classroom.

21.

One does not learn just by listening. Over the 4 days we hosted 5 or 6 exercises that required students to work in groups as small as 3 and as large as 8.

22.

WiFi was available so students were able to access the internet to do some quick research such as for this plant guild exercise.

Kathryn, Twyla, Margaret, Irm and Kido are researching a dozen different plants.

Kido (right - Pronounced 'Key-Dough) is Greening of Detroit's educational coordinator. As such, it was he who took in registrations as students signed up for this training and he organized many of the details including finding the classroom space at Gleaners. He did a fantastic job of overseeing the entire event.

23.

Todd and Jeremy hard at work.

24.

Kathryn referring to the training text book, Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway.

25.

Dora (L) and Molly facing us.
Carol and Linda Kay from side.

30.

All in all, we worked hard over the 4 days but we also had a wonderful time.

From the feedback we received from participants, they came away with a much deeper understanding of permaculture, many ideas on where and how to begin, and were inspired by the long term possibilities this design approach affords.

I was honored to be with such a diverse group of passionate and alive people.

Bill Wilson
April 2010
Midwest Permaculture

"This is it!  Finally, there is a permaculture training that brings it all home.
We were all charged by a new understanding in what is possible in the spaces available, in the hidden ecosystems of the cities and in everyday choices we can make. 
And we do not have to wait until later - we can start now."       Claire Maitre
Co-Host of Detroit 4-Day Permaculture Training - April 2010
Co-Founder of Southeastern Michigan Permaculture Guild
Founder of Chrysalis Transitions             Picture a Summary of Detroit Training 2010

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