Spiral Ridge Permaculture

International Permaculture Day @ Spiral Ridge Homestead

admin — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:03:06 +0000

Wow! What a great day we had yesterday here at Spiral Ridge Permaculture Homestead. The rains held off and the people kept pouring in. Over 50 people were here to build capacity for the permaculture movement. Our intro talk went well, the tour of our site was too short (we did not get through half the landscape) and we sold over half of our nursery plants. A big thank you to all the people who joined us and for those who graciously volunteered their time to help us set up the event.

If you missed this free event please sign up for our newsletter for updates on our upcoming courses and more free events.

Enjoy the pictures!

Feeding Your Soil: Creating a Soil Food Web – HandPicked Nation

admin — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:34:30 +0000

Are you feeding your micro-herd? If you have a garden, you should be. Find out what I am talking about in this article I wrote for Handpicked Nation. It is the follow up to the remineralization article I wrote last month. Leave a question or comment and share with your friends. http://www.handpickednation.com/feeding-your-soil-creating-a-soil-food-web/

Herb Spirals – How to build one

admin — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:08:24 +0000

Hello and happy spring! I (Jennifer) recently had the opportunity to write an article on herb spirals for B.Real, an online green living, holistic health and DIY magazine for Middle Tennessee. Check it out here. Hope you like it. Feel free to come back here and comment or ask questions. Now, back to planting.

University Permaculture at Auburn’s Rural Studio

admin — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:52:05 +0000

Spiral Ridge Permaculture has been working with the University of Auburn’s Rural Studio for the last two years consulting on student design projects. Every year I am amazed by the caliber of architecture students at Rural Studio. Not to mention the professors.

“Rural Studio is an off-campus design-build program of Auburn University. The program, established in 1993 by D.K. Ruth and Samuel Mockbee, gives architecture students a more hands-on educational experience whilst assisting an underserved population in West Alabama’s Black Belt region. In its initial years, the Studio became known for establishing an ethos of recycling, reusing and remaking. In 2001, after the passing of Samuel Mockbee, Andrew Freear succeeded him as director. Since that time, Rural Studio has expanded the scope and complexity of its projects, focusing largely on community-oriented work.” Ruralstudio.org

This ethos has now evolved. They have introduced Permaculture into their program. Something that all Universities will be adopting in the future due to student demand. Call us today if your University is interested.

Permaculture Design Graduates

admin — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:31:14 +0000

Spiral Ridge Permaculture Design Course Graduates

Meet our new Permaculture Design Certification Course graduates.

The final weekend of Spiral Ridge Permaculture’s annual Winter Weekend PDC was spent finalizing designs, building social capital, having lively discussions, and a lot of fun.

Students walk away feeling not only empowered to make positive change in the world. They walk away a part of the solution. They have joined an international community of activists working hard to repair the earth and create a regenerative culture.

Our teaching team was also wonderful! Thank you team! Kristin Larkin, Jessie Smith, Jennifer Albanese and Cliff Davis

I also want to thank The Farm School and all the special guests who made this event so wonderful.

If you missed this low cost weekend format make sure you sign up for next years event. The weekend format offers an affordable course without having to miss work.

See you next year.

International Permaculture Day at Spiral Ridge Permaculture Homestead

admin — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 23:25:58 +0000

We are excited to invite you to celebrate International Permaculture Day at Spiral Ridge Permaculture Homestead on May 5, 2013.

We will have a free talk on Permaculture, an educational tour and a plant sale. Registration will open April 15th.

Permaculture Course: Soil Food Web, Mushroom Farming, Design and more

admin — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:17:33 +0000

As always, Spiral Ridge’s Permaculture Design Certification course was a great success. This past weekend our students engaged in a Soil Food Web Lab taught by Joey Thomas and Troy Hinke. We built a bio active compost pile and brewed a fungal dominant tea. Then we set up a lab with a microscope, computer and camera. We identified fungi, bacteria, nematodes, minerals, and more.

The next day our students were involved in a Backyard Mushroom Farming workshop. The first half of the day we went over the theory and applications of backyard mushroom cultivation. After a delicious mushroom chili and cornbread we drilled and inoculated 20 shiitake logs. Each student was given a log to take home and grow. That evening we had a very talented No Talent show. Guitars, karate, singing, rapping, and even a brazilian jiu jitsu demo. Wow… What a fun evening!

On sunday students spent time finishing up their schematic designs. Jeremy from Nashville Foodscapes stopped in to teach our students how to successfully start and manage an urban permaculture business. After another delicious meal prepared by our in house caterers, Jennifer and Jessie, Jeremy took us on a plant walk.

This coming weekend students will complete their designs and present them on sunday. Then they will graduate with their Permaculture Design Certificate. Let’s embrace them into the worldwide permaculture movement..

Sustainability Series

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 15:51:29 +0000

Do you want to learn how to grow an abundant landscape in your backyard?

Are you driven to grow your own food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, farmaceuticals, and fun?

Hands on Nashville, The Skillery, and Spiral Ridge Permaculture have formed a triad of force to bring the greater Nashville area a hands on sustainability series. Hands on Nashville’s Urban Farm is hosting this life changing series. Come learn how to create a Ecological Oasis right in your backyard. Please sign up for our next mini course here.

Our last class was so incredible. We learned how to make bio-active compost. Built a DIY compost tea brewer for less than 40 $. Built an under the counter worm bin. Learned how to build a sheet mulch bed. We also went over the importance of remineralization. It was so much fun. You will not want to miss this next course.

Permaculture Design Course: Weekend 3

admin — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:39:48 +0000

As we move toward regenerative lifestyles it is important to think and act holistically. To realize that we are a nature working and we are all designers by birthright.

Permaculture is about the earth, the people and equality. As instructors we have to remember the importance of not only design and site analysis/assessment, we have to remember to ground our students with hands on projects.

As I teach more and more Permaculture Design Certification courses, I have observed peoples delight in creating something. It is my philosophy that we need to teach more doing and a lot less power points about doing. Design starts day 1! Hands on projects too!

We learn holistically when we involve our hands, heart and head. This weekend at Spiral Ridge Permaculture’s annual winter weekend PDC has been a lesson in how we learn and how we empower people to make positive change.

This weekend we did the design, layout and implementation of a net and pan system at The Farm School’s enchanted edible forest garden. After finishing our base maps, we started our next phase of the design process: Site Analysis and Assessment using the scale of permanence. We discussed what is appropriate technology’, ate delicious gourmet meals, reviewed the design process, watched our children play, and have had a lot of fun.

Today we learn about soils, compost, gardens, design and seed saving.

If you want to learn more about Spiral Ridge Permaculture courses see our events page and sign up today.

Tips for nutrient dense gardening

spiralridge — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:58:16 +0000

“The food world is abuzz with the topic of nutrition and while there are many approaches to optimum health, everyone – raw food vegans, Paleo eaters, farmers or healers – can agree, great nutrition comes from real food.

Our bodies’ requirements for some nutrients are minimal, yet all are essential for us to live in a vibrant state of health. The question is, how nutritious is your food? Sadly, the level of nutrition in our food has been declining due to our industrialized agricultural practices.”

If you want to learn more go to Jennifer’s new article on Hand Picked Nation