Earth Minded Landscapes and Farm

04/17/2023

As this is our last week of sign-ups for the full access to the Asheville, NC Permaculture Design Certification course I thought I would share again the accessible options for joining us.

First I want to say thank you to a local donation sponsoring two local individuals at 60% of the cost; lowering the cost of the course to $650 for the full year access. This is huge and one individual has joined us using a scholarship! I am excited for the opportunities this will make available to those in our community!

Second we still have one work trade position available for the course. This position trades $400 of the cost of the course for work in community gardens across Asheville that I work in. That is 27 hours over the year. The cost of the course can also be paid over the course of the year in a payment plan as well. $300 by April 21 will secure your work trade spot in this course.

Lastly we do offer a payment plan through the year for those in need. This looks like $400 by April 21 to secure full access to this course.

Our goal is to make this course accessible. I will be announcing weekend access to the course next week and through the year as well for those that need a refresher or just want to come to a specific weekend host site or guest teacher.

Really looking forward to a year of permaculture in Asheville, an amazing diverse community that has built an amazing knowledge base and established sites for us all to learn from!

https://earthmindedlandscapes.com/pdc-asheville-nc

04/15/2023

Had the absolute pleasure to visit Little Bodhi Creek yesterday and get to see all the amazing things they've been doing since being there last year. Truly inspiring to step into a homestead so focused on permaculture.

The timber frame home with the cordwood basement really is coming along, and Mark got to lay some knowledge down about new plaster techniques he learned this year that he'll be using to make the earthen bathtub in their new home.

The earthwork dam was bustling when we went from Spring rains. Little baby ducks and two chickens followed us around during our tour. The quiet beauty of spring just grounded me. What a joyful day!

Cannot believe how fast the fencing went up for their new highlander cows! What beauts and recent additions to their homestead.

We checked out the cob chinking we completed last year during the PDC and it's holding strong! With an outhouse complete in the building with a composting toilet.

It's places like this that keep me going. It's people and conversations like I had with Mark that fill me up.

Cannot wait to bring our next crew of students out here this year and show them the amazing aspects of this permaculture homestead.

There's still a week to sign up! We're accepting a few more students. See the link in bio 🌻

04/13/2023

Highly recommend Hazel's new book! Use our code earthminded20 at Synergistic Press to get 20% off at checkout 🙌

Social Forestry: Tending the Land as People of Place is in production, support or pre-order now. | Check out 'Hazel's Social Forestry Book is coming soon!' on Indiegogo.

04/13/2023

Did you know that the second weekend of the Asheville, NC PDC we will be getting hands on experience creating base maps and recording observations for a real edible landscape design being created for Beloved Asheville's new housing community?

Such exciting and important work for the Asheville community! Over the next few years a crew of permaculture designers from across Asheville will be working together to support Beloved in designing, implementing and then teaching to maintain these edible spaces!

During the PDC we will start the groundwork of a design, while learning how to do this for oneself. To top it off we'll be headed to Laura Ruby urban design site for the rest of the weekend to learn soil and get our hands into different soil building techniques.

This PDC has been designed to empower, connect, educate, and skill individuals to be able to do this for themselves. Many of my students have gone on to do amazing things in the world from regenerative farming, professional permaculture designers, nonprofit professionals and community builders! Leverage mine and the amazing group of hosts + teachers to further your knowledge + skill sets.

Join us, only 9 days left to register!

www.earthmindrdlandscapes.com/pdc-asheville-nc

04/06/2023

Now you can become an Earth Minded individual by repping out one of our organic cotton embroidered shirts!

Check them out here:

Made from 100% organic ring-spun cotton, this unisex t-shirt is a total must-have. It's high-quality, super comfy, and best of all—eco-friendly. • 100% organic ring-spun cotton • Fabric weight: 5.3 oz/yd² (180 g/m²) • Single jersey • Medium fit • Set-in sleeves • 1 × 1 rib at co...

04/06/2023

Want to buy land with other people and create a community? This is the group to navigate the way to do just that. This week, April 3, we'll have Mark Fick from Shared Capital Cooperative (a lending and investment fund for coops of all sizes) calling in on Zoom to share about their financing model. Mark was introduced to us by members of the Coop Land Access group, who are working with Shared Capital to finance their cooperative land project in west Asheville.

Please register for location and event details! Don't miss this Monday's Land Acdess Panel Group meeting in Leicester, NC! Fill out the short Google doc here to get an email with the location.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScju2g6WGIfbQKA4joVVBigeE3W_ON2ysPpwGErXUlYTvMOSg/viewform

Here's our agenda for the evening:

5:00- arrive and settle in and mingle
5:30- potluck and introductions
6:15- cooperative financing intro, reflective journaling, discussion of needs and barriers
6:45- Mark Fick joins via Zoom and gives Shared Capital presentation, with Q&A
7:30- Discussion and participatory sharing around financial management for coop land projects
8:00- Next steps, scheduling next meetings and topics, closing
8:20-8:30- Close, cleanup, depart

04/06/2023

Asheville GreenWorks is excited to announce that all intern applications for Summer 2023's Youth Environmental Leadership Program are now open!

We are hiring paid high school summer interns, as well as young adults to help lead the internship.
Apply ASAP here: https://www.ashevillegreenworks.org/yelp

Young adults aged 18-25 are encouraged to apply for the YELP Assistant Position, an 11-week paid internship responsible for helping to lead an educational, environmental service-work internship geared toward BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) high schoolers. They will complete field work in the greater Asheville area and the Great Smoky Mountains, learning from experts and relevant community partners, and developing their own group initiatives. Part of their internship will include learning to hike, canoe, kayak and collect scientific data, and professional leadership training. The intern does not need to arrive with these skills.

For more information, visit: https://www.ashevillegreenworks.org/yelp

High schoolers 16 years of age and up are encouraged to apply for the High School Internship, a 6-week paid internship completing local environmental service work, learning from experts, and developing their own group initiatives. As part of the work day, interns gain skills in the areas of teamwork, outdoor recreation and environmental science.

Little to no experience required - the goal of the internship is to learn together!
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) folks are strongly encouraged to apply.

Apply here: https://www.ashevillegreenworks.org/yelp

04/06/2023

Just finished an amazing three days of an epic grey water installation with native + edible plants, a seating area, hammock stands, and hidden 220 gallon rainwater collection system!

Wes and Era with a crew of three knocked out a banging system just in time for the opening of Seven Springs Retreats! Good thing too because this is right where people first come when coming to the retreat center, just in time.

We're excited to come back in a few months and see how the grey water system is performing, along with these beautiful plants in their glory!

Huge shout-out to this intergenerational owners of this retreat center + the amazing hard work they put into make huge changes in the world.

See our installation services here: https://earthmindedlandscapes.com/installations

02/18/2023

This warm spell has the first hints of spring emerging and we are getting excited to get our seed libraries re-stocked and to put the final touches on our first ever native fruit and nut tree giveaway.

We'd love to have your help! Next Wednesday 2/22 from 4:30-6:15 pm in Marshall we will be hosting a meeting for community members to get involved with planning for the seed libraries and the tree giveaway. We'd love to have participation from local seed savers who would like to contribute seed to the libraries to help us meet our goal to eventually have the majority of seeds we give away be grown in the community. Not a seed saver? Not a problem! We will also use this time to pack seed envelopes and put the final touches on our plans for the tree giveaway and seed swap in March. Please RSVP to [email protected] if you'd like to attend the meeting and we will send you further details. If you have seeds you'd like to contribute but can't attend, get in touch and we'll find a time to get them from you.

Save the date!
Native Tree Giveaway and Seed Swap, March 11th in Marshall
We will be giving away hundreds of native trees next month including: Elderberry, Mulberry, Paw Paw, Black Walnut, Hazelnut and Persimmon as an offering to promote greater ecological resilience and food security in our community. The event will also include a seed swap and seed saving workshop and perhaps a few other fun activities. More details TBA!

Solidarity, ROAR
www.ruralorganizing.wordpress.com

Support us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/roarwnc

02/12/2023

Excited to see this article today as I was just designing these evergreen bushes along a transition space between a food forest and an outdoor seating area with a terraced herb garden sloping down to the patio. The idea was to have these beautiful flowers with an amazing smell next to the outdoor dining area. They can be harvested for tea year round. The next plant along this edible evergreen privacy hedge was yaupon. Another native that can be harvested for tea and makes an amazing understory in a food forest, which is where it is sited!

02/06/2023

Moving through the year-long Asheville, NC PDC let's jump into the concluding three hosts.

After a summer break during June + July + August full of volunteer activities in permaculture sites around Asheville, NC we come back to the design course recharged and focused.

Our first host of the fall sessions is George Brabant at Phat Ninja Foodforest Sept 9 + 10. Here we learn each of permaculture zones 0-3 and ways to design aspects of each while getting to experience these in a 10 year old permaculture design.

The second host of the fall sessions is Michael Numinous at The Hawk & Hawthorne Oct 21 + 22, where we will dive into invisible structures + communities + access to land.

Our final host of the year-long PDC is Mark Salter at Little Bodhi Creek Nov 4 + 5, where we will explore alternative economies + present our designs. Here we will have an epic celebration of our time together for a year of permaculture!

Register at www.earthmindedlandscapes.com/pdc-asheville-nc