Pruning the Edible Forest Garden March 31

Hands on- Fruit and Nut Tree Pruning

A day long exploration of the science and practice of ecological tree crop management for diverse yields.

Willow Crossing Farm

Johnson, VT

SUNDAY, March 31

Click Here to Register

10 am – 4 pm

Join Tree Farmer Keith Morris for a day of hands-on practice with fruit and nut tree pruning, in a diverse permaculture forest garden setting.  Spend the morning in the large yurt learning the science and ecology of how trees lose limbs and ‘heal’, and explore the deep traditions of how humans beings observe and interact with this phenomenon.

We’ll synthesize a variety of pruning ideas, strategies, and techniques to help you develop your own philosophy, understanding, and confidence to go out and work with trees in your landscape in a regenerative and yielding way.   After lunch and some hot cider we’ll go outside to explore one of VT’s oldest permaculture designed food forests- a reforestation of old pasture and hayfield in the floodplain of the Lamoille River.

We’ll briefly tour ‘Productive Buffers’, wildlife corridors, and stop to work in zones of Plums, Apples, Peaches, Pears, Berries, Vines, Hazelnuts, Walnuts, and more– driven by the group’s interest, and discussing pruning techniques for trees both young and old. We’ll look at and evaluate previous years of pruning decisions and ensuing consequences, and explore some natural tree injuries and healing responses, helping participants to better understand the implications of our pruning decisions over varying periods of time. We’ll finish the day practicing with different tools to cut wood cleanly- with an eye towards maximizing production, fruit quality, ease of future maintenance, and minimizing pest and disease pressure.  We’ll also set the stage for top-working, multi-variety grafting, species changes (i.e.. Peaches on Plum roots), and other forms of propagation.  In preparation for our April 7  Grafting Workshop and Scionwood Exchange We’ll also prune mature, bearing Hazelnuts and manage black locust, walnut, butternut/ buartnut, pecans, and more for nuts, firewood, high-value lumber, succession, aesthetics, and other long-term aims.

We’ll pass around, demonstrate, and allow you to trial favorite tools, including pruners, saws, pole saws, etc.; speak to their selection and maintenance, and discuss hygienic practices to promote orchard health and reduce cross-contamination.

This workshop kicks off our series for 2018!  

Please enter your email in the box on the right hand side of the page, or ‘like’ us on Facebook to get the calendar and details for our other offerings such as:  fruit tree grafting (April 7), nursery plant sale, natural beekeeping workshop, nut production, diverse understory planting, spring development for gravity fed irrigation, natural building, compost heat, season extension, earth oven construction, stone masonry, and more. Our Nursery Plant Sale pre-orders are open now, with plant pick ups scheduled to begin April 23.

Our 2018 Permaculture Design Certification Course will be offered July 22- August 3, and they are filling quickly.  Applications for our Advanced Permaculture Design / Build /Grow / Teach internship, and APDC guided portfolio development will now be accepted on a rolling basis!

Event is $40-60 suggested donation/ sliding scale, including warm or cold cider during lunch and a round of hard cider tasting (21 and over) afterwards.  No one will be refused for lack of funds.

*We are looking for photographers or videographers to help document the event, or create a short educational video.*

Please pre-register, and dress to spend the day outdoors.

REGISTER HERE!

We’ll need your email address if you’re planning on coming because the weather will determine where we’ll have people park.  Feel free to bring your *clean, sterile, and sharp* pruners and saws.

Felco’s F 13s- the pruner of choice for large hands, or thick branches

Keith Morris has been collecting and experimenting with rare fruit and nut trees for 20 years, and teaches ecological design throughout the northeast.  He has worked to help create resilient, diverse, socially just, and economically viable food systems around the world since 1996. Please spread the word to potentially interested friends and networks. Thank you for your support of our work!

Thanks, Keith and Crew Willow Crossing Farm www.willowcrossing.org

For rideshares, conversation, or sharing with facebook friends- please visit the event page here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/270680720016950/

You can view some photos from last years event HERE.

INHABIT- A Permaculture Perspective: Pre-Order for Earth Day release!

Screening for FREE at WILLOW CROSSING FARM- This WEDNESDAY, July 22, 2015

Thanks to everyone who came out and made the Burlington screening such an overwhelming success!  Stay tuned (add your email to the top right of this page) for some other special film events coming in the future.

     We are honored and humbled to be included in this stunningly beautiful work of filmmakers Costa Boutsikaris and Emmet Brennan.  Catch it before its Earth Day release to the public, and enjoy it on a big screen!  Join with filmmakers and cast for questions, and a celebration of the film’s completion after the screening.

All proceeds from ticket sales will support the Permaculture Institute of the Northeast, and farm-based permaculture research and education.

Read more about the film below.  You can also pre-order a digital rental or purchase for Earth Day release HERE!

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We’re also excited to announce an Herbal Labyrinth Building Workshop with Ivan McBeth and Fearn Lickfield- more details will be posted here soon, but you can check out the event on Facebook

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This summer’s Permaculture Design Certification Courses are filling fast!

Register now to save your space.  We continue to deepen our practice at Vermont’s longest running Permaculture Research Farm, and invite you to join with students from all over North America and the world in

farm, nature, and ecological design immersion!

We’ll be offering two courses this year one June 20 – July 2 and another July 19 – 31.  Both are optionally available for up to 5 College Credits.

We’re very excited to announce we’ll be joined by author and founder of FOOD Not Lawns HEATHER FLORES and other VERY SPECIAL Guests!

Past special guests in our courses have included Joel Salatin, Dave Jacke, Darren Doherty, Starhawk, Scott Kellogg, and more.

We’ll tour some of the nations most inspiring orchards, vineyards, herb, vegetable, and seed farms, and other ecologically regenerative businesses and develop design for real clients- as well as your own sites!

REGISTER HERE!

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Plant sale details will be announced very soon!  We’ll have thousands of fruits, nuts, berries, vines, nitrogen fixers, medicinal herbs, and other very rare plants available in late April and early May.

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Follow this link: http://ykr.be/1efr84hjx5 to watch a preview with the ability to purchase or rent the movie.

Humanity is more than ever threatened by its own actions; we hear a lot about the need to minimize footprints and to reduce our impact. But what if our footprints were beneficial? What if we could meet human needs while increasing the health and well-being of our planet? This is the premise behind permaculture: a design process based on the replication of patterns found in nature. INHABIT explores the many environmental issues facing us today and examines solutions that are being applied using the ecological design lens of permaculture. Focused mostly on the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States, Inhabit provides an intimate look at permaculture peoples and practices ranging from rural, suburban, and urban landscapes.

From the filmmakers:

The World Premiere of INHABIT had an amazing turnout at Permaculture Voices in California, and got lots of cheers and whoops as each new scene began. We’re estimating a crowd of 500. The following day at our booth we spoke with many people eager to setup their own screenings and many wanted to “finally show a film to their families that explains what this is all about!” We are very excited to see how this film can act as an on-ramp for people new to these ideas and allow the permaculture community to setup screenings as a way to begin the conversation.

2015 Permaculture Design Certification Courses June or July

2016

Permaculture Design Certification Course

 July 17-29

This world-reknown course fills early!  Please clear your schedule and confirm your space now.

We are excited to announce that as the only Fully Accredited Permaculture Institute in Vermont

we have secured full scholarships for income eligible Vermont State residents.

Scholarship applicants should be in touch with as much notice as possible.

The 2014 summer course was a blast with students coming from across the country and with a wide variety of backgrounds and intended applications for permaculture design!    Stay tuned for photos, design work, and student comments- students’ final designs ranged from farms to apartments, communities, and businesses in a wide variety of ecological contexts.

Student Design Work for the UVM Horticulture Research Center and Catamount Farm

 

Unlike all other Permaculture Design Certification courses- students work to create both collaborative and individual designs, allowing the opportunity to practice the design process twice, work with real-world clients and sites, as well as developing ideas for your own sites, bioregions, and specific interests with professional guidance.   Students’ final individual design presentations are from a wide geographical and cultural diversity- ranging from 100+ acre farms, to vacant-lot community gardens, to natural building renovation, ‘renter’s permaculture’ apartment / urban strategies, and more!   The balance between collaborative and individual work, combined with the diverse students we attract make each design a highlight, and broaden our collective experience and practice.  This ‘two-design’ format, increasingly being used by other courses and other instructors, is Prospect Rock Permaculture‘s unique innovation to augment the requirements of an fully accredited and internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certification Course.

Read below for more course details and 2013 flyers.  Click here for more information about the Registration Process.

Burlington Permaculture and Prospect Rock Permaculture are pleased to offer our Eigth-Annual summer Permaculture Design Certification course.

Immersed in wild ecology, beautiful scenery, and the abundance of Willow Crossing- our Family Farm and Vermont’s oldest Permaculture Research Site- we practice the art of re-visioning and remaking Heathy Human Whole Systems.

The two week residential intensive course goes above and beyond the internationally recognized standard curriculum with focus on Community Resilience, Social Justice, Food Security, Farm Design, Transition, Environmental and Outdoor Education, Natural Building, Horticultural Therapy, Community/ Commercial Scale Production and Propagation, Appropriate Farm Machinery and Tools, and visits to the vibrant farms, homesteads, nurseries, and ethical businesses that contribute to the resurging agricultural economy of this most Fertile Valley of Northern Vermont.

All food served during the course will come from our farm and immediately local farms visited during the course.  With opportunities to see, practice, and implement permaculture solutions at varying scales; thorough grounding in the process of design, first-hand study of ecology- and guided by the most experienced designers, farmers, and educators in the U.S. – this course affords opportunities for development and engagement in personal and community abundance and security like no other.

ABOUT THE SITE                                                                                                              TEACHING TEAM

Hands-on Design and Co-Creation of Vibrant, Wholly Nourishing Human Landscapes:

Together, we engage in whole-systems ecological design and implementation of permaculture solutions for a multi-use community garden specifically focused on the needs of food-insecure Vermonters.  Learn alongside students, architects, activists, community planners, homesteaders, farmers, natural builders, business owners, and others while solving real-world design problems as a team, and generating full designs for a site of your own choosing– while guided by some of the world’s foremost professional designers and being immersed the wild and cultivated beauty of a 12 year old permaculture site.

Our approach explores the way human beings- as individuals and communities- can participate in the creation of ethical, socially just, and ecologically regenerative perennial support systems.  We apply the sciences of Ecology, Anthropology, Ethnobiology, and Evolution to agriculture, the built environment, and social and economic organization (‘invisible structures’) by integrating plants, animals, buildings, people, communities, economies, and the landscapes that surround us through careful analysis and thoughtful design.  We also practice permaculture ethics, principles, techniques, and skills by collaborating on real-world projects repairing, restoring, and regenerating human ecosystems.

We welcome graduates of other permaculture design courses to refresh their certification, gain new perspective and experience, build their networks, and advance their practice with the Advanced Permaculture Design and Teacher/ Facilitator Training opportunities available through this course.

Permaculture is a design science focused on the intersection of social and ecological health.  We explore the relationships between the built environment, food security, energy, water, and natural communities, in order to retrofit this infrastructure to respond to the confluent crises of the 21st century with localized resilience, abundance, and ecological regeneration.  Build your skills and capacity by taking part!

Our dynamic natural site in the midst of an agriculturally vibrant area affords ample opportunities to study and observe wild ecology, fruit, nut, vegetable, and medicinal herb production, natural/ alternative beekeeping poultry care, natural building, alternative energy, community-scale resilience, etc. In addition to all farm sourced food, immersion in wild ecology, radical sustainability, and the site offers us the opportunity to swim, hike, paddle, and camp in the beauty and inspiration of the early Vermont summer.

All farm sourced, local organic meals, travel to field trips, canoe and kayak use, and camping accommodation is included in the course cost of $1600.  There are other lodging options available at additional cost.  There are limited opportunities for professional development grants, work trade, scholarships, and other financial aid.  Discounted registration for groups, couples, referrals, and travel to the course by boat, bike, foot, or other non motorized means, is available for early registrations.  This course has historically filled quickly, please contact us to reserve your space as soon as possible.

As always, permaculture designers, activists, and alumni are welcome visit to present, review students designs, network, or just join us for a (very) local organic meal!  Many sessions will be open and free to interested public.

Instructors and guests include:  Keith Morris, Mark Krawczyk, Alissa White, Lisa DePiano, Andrew Faust, Skotty Kellogg, the Beehive Collective, and more!

This course is available for 5 credits through the University of Vermont.  Please visit http://www.learn.uvm.edu for details about registering through the University.

Our partners at WAGN The UVM Extension Women’s Agriculture Network have set some funds aside to help Vermont Women Farmers with enrollment.

We are fully accredited with VSAC (Vermont Student Assistance Corporation), and funds are available for full scholarships for income-elligible VT residents.

Thanks!

REGISTER HERE

Space is limited, and the course typically fill well in advance.

Please inquire about work trade and other scholarship opportunities.

 

Tonight! Social Permaculture with Lisa DePiano (Weds. July 23)

TONIGHT!

7:30 at Willow Crossing Farm, Johnson, VT

FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC

Farm Sourced Organic Dinner at 6 pm by reservation only.

From designing and installing the greywater system at Occupy Wall Street to co creating one of the first edible forest gardens on public land to piloting the countries only city wide- bike powered trash and recycling coop Lisa DePiano has been innovating what she calls “socially engaged permaculture”. Through story telling and slides come hear her reflect on the last 14 years of applying permaculture to both public and participatory design solutions.

Lisa DePiano is a certified permaculture designer/teacher faculty member for the the University of Massachusetts and a research fellow at the MIT media lab. For the last 14 years she has taught permaculture to hundreds of students in dozens of courses. She  co-founded  the Montview Neighborhood Farm,  one of the first human powered urban-farm and edible forest garden in the country and worked to establish the bicycle powered compost program while riding with the worker-owned collective Pedal People. She received her masters degree in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts and loves working with communities to create the world they want to live in.  She has studied permaculture with Starhawk, Penny Livingston Stark, and Dave Jacke and has taught all over the U.S including the Menominee Nation,  Homer, AK, New York City, Miami, FL the University of Vermont, University of Massachusetts, and Wesleyan University. She runs the Mobile Design Lab which specializes in participatory permaculture design and installation.

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This is a series of events which will be open to the community over the next few weeks as we host people from all over the country (and world) for our 7th Annual Permaculture Design Certification Course.

We’re so excited to continue of tradition of sharing our most excellent guests and bringing folks in to share in the experience of one of the nation’s most highly regarded Permaculture Courses!

All evening lectures are FREE and start at 7:30, donations to support farm reforestation and ecological regenerations are gratefully accepted and shared with our guests.

ALL ORGANIC FARM-SOURCED DINNER is served at 6 pm, and available by reservation only for a sliding scale fee of $12-20.  We are happy to meet the needs of vegetarians, vegans, wheat intolerant, ethical omnivores, and localvores.

To join us for dinner, please contact Head Chef Emily Wheeler by phone or text message at

(802) 505-8882

For questions or driving directions, please contact Keith@ProspectRock.org or call (802) 734-1129

MONDAY, JULY 28- MEGHAN GIROUX of VERMONT EDIBLE LANDSCAPES

Interested in attending the course?    Next year’s is already beginning to fill!

It will be July 19-31, 2015.

Thanks for SHARING this with your friends, interested networks and listservs, and on social media!

Please ‘like’ us on Facebook, and add your email address on the right hand side of this page to be kept in the loop of other events.

Open Sessions: Dave Jacke!! Monday July 21

We’re honored and excited to announce an evening presentation with Dave Jacke- author of ‘Edible Forest Gardens’ and the northeast’s most recognized permaculture pioneer-

FREE and open to the public.

Ecological Culture Design: A Holistic View

Monday, July 21

Willow Crossing Farm

Johnson, VT

Nature operates based on a set of foundational laws and principles by which all systems must abide, or they fail. These principles have much to teach us about how to organize human societies. Fundamentally, permaculture aims to design complete cultural systems that consciously mimic ecosystem properties, principles, patterns, and processes.

 

Ecologically, culture functions as the primary adaptive mechanism of our species, and it is culture, as a whole system, that we must redesign. What is culture? How might we approach the design of cultures as whole systems in an ecological context? We can design systems that minimize stress and competition, and maximize cooperation, harmony, productivity, and diversity, while allowing each community member to remain true to their intrinsic nature. We’ll get into some ecological nitty gritty and imagine how we might use what we learn for our own purposes.

Dave will join us with extra special guest and Gap Mountain Permaculture co-founder Doug Clayton!

 

This is the first of a series of events which will be open to the community over the next few weeks as we host people from all over the country (and world) for our 7th Annual Permaculture Design Certification Course.

We’re so excited to continue of tradition of sharing our most excellent guests and bringing folks in to share in the experience of one of the nation’s most highly regarded Permaculture Courses!

 

All evening lectures are FREE and start at 7:30, donations to support farm reforestation and ecological regenerations are gratefully accepted and shared with our guests.

ALL ORGANIC FARM-SOURCED DINNER is served at 6 pm, and available by reservation only for a sliding scale fee of $12-20.  We are happy to meet the needs of vegetarians, vegans, wheat intolerant, ethical omnivores, and localvores.

To join us for dinner, please contact Head Chef Emily Wheeler by phone or text message at

(802) 505-8882

For questions or driving directions, please contact Keith@ProspectRock.org or call (802) 734-1129

 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 23-  LISA DEPIANO

Will speak on Community Scale Permaculture and Permaculture Economics and share her experiences as a leading activist and empolyee-owner of a diversity of regenerative businesses.

 

MONDAY, JULY 28- MEGHAN GIROUX of VERMONT EDIBLE LANDSCAPES

 

Interested in attending the course?  Please call to see if there are any last-minute cancellations.

Next year’s is already beginning to fill!       It will be July 19-31, 2015.

 

Thanks for SHARING this with your friends, interested networks and listservs, and on social media!

 

Please ‘like’ us on Facebook, and add your email address on the right hand side of this page to be kept in the loop of other events.