Regenerative Design Institute Visits The Energy Garden
In a brief six month turn of the calendar the garden
at the Post Carbon Institute in Sebastopol has become a living demonstration of
possibility. With fall upon us, and a vernal growing season under our belts,
the best harvest of all has been the feedback from the community. Coming in the
form of encouragement, insightfully probing questions, group brainstorms, and
design charrettes, this garden has lit a spark.
Beyond the beautiful and energetic presence of the
plants and their relationship with the soil, the garden is beginning to come to
life. With each new visitor, from neighbors detoured on their walks to
permaculture courses of 20 students, visions are entertained of an abundant
relocalized future.
Sunday October 14th, was an
especially engaging day. The Regenerative Design Institute’s Four Season
Permaculture Course visited the Energy Garden and left a beautiful mark. They came with
twenty students and naturally, due to the style of the education at RDI, formed
a circle in the gazebo. President Julian Darley welcomed them to the garden and
provided the context for the work here saying, “We want to leave something for
the next generation. We know that there will be big changes in the Twenty First
Century and our goal is to ensure a future for the twenty second century.”
After going on a tour of the Garden the students
broke into four design charrettes. A charrette is a small group brainstorm that
focuses on specific design objectives. On Sunday we focused on:
- Stage One Water
Catchment and Constructed Wetlands - The Processing /
Harvesting / Potting Bench / Workshop Area - Site Access Pathways
and Water Reclamation - The Social Structure of
an Energy Network
After the tour the students chose a charrette and
over the next hour proceeded to engage in a condensed design process. Each group was given design objectives and
asked to create a recommendation to address the needs.
The “Stage
One Water Catchment and Constructed Wetlands” charrette was given the
following objective:
With
the given plot, design a system for catching water from the asphalt roof of the
1,500sqft house. Consider how the water will be caught, filtered, stored,
cleaned, and distributed into the garden. There is the constraint of a having
to maneuver a previously existing concrete wall. Please include the biological aspects of permaculture,
(appropriate plants, soil, bioremediation, etc.) as well as the mechanical aspects (pumping,
filtration, storage, collection, distribution, etc.) in your design. Please
consider all inputs (i.e. water,
energy for pumping, money) as well as how the outputs (i.e. biomass, clean water) of this system may be
maximized. Try to integrate a means of measuring water input and output into
your design.
Their
design focused on the principle of “Slow it, spread it, and sink it”.
SLOW
IT: From roof via a water chain into a three barrel system. The first barrel is
for catchment, the second for habitat and plants, and the third for storage and
plants. The output is a y-valve to either a faucet for a watering can, or to
swales.
SPREAD
IT and SINK IT: From barrels into swales going to the garden. Or with watering
can.
The
“Processing / Harvesting / Potting Bench
/ Workshop Area” charrette was extremely creative. I facilitated this
group and given the following objective they created a beautifully dynamic
design.
The
Energy Garden at Post Carbon Institute needs an outdoor processing area and
workshop space. There is a current and pressing need to have a zone to prepare,
handle, and process the seasonal harvests yielded from this garden. Please
consider a constant flow of inputs and outputs. Try to design a system that
handles large harvests (corn, sorghum, community compost) and create stocks of
seed balls/ seedlings on a regular and monthly basis. Key needs to be incorporated are:
Large
surface space for seedling bench, Accessibility,
Efficient use of space (stack the func),Outdoor water source for spray table and sink, Outdoor kitchen
capacities, Greywater/ reclamation/ catchment, Shelter, Weighing area (with
good access), Weatherproof logging area,Storage area (seed starting materials,
harvest baskets, hand and small harvest tools)
Reese
Baker, graduate of New College’s eco-agriculture program facilitated the
charrette focusing on the Site Access
Pathways and Water Reclamation. Given the time, they were able to
analyze a little more than half of the property. Their challenge was:
As
a group, your goal is serve as a consultant with the objective of creating a
design for an in ground water catchment system for this site. Be sure to take
into account basic design considerations when creating the site plan. These
include the directional flow of water such as runoff from hardscapes and access
points such as pathways.
Utilizing
the eight principles of rain water harvesting taken from Rain Water
Harvesting for Drylands:
- Thoughtful
Observation: Low + High Spots. - Start
at the top - or highpoint - and work your way down. - Start
small and simple: labor, materials, etc. - Spread
and infiltrate the flow of water: swales, keyline, ponds, etc. - Always
plan for an overflow route and manage that overflow water as a resource:
spillways, runoff. - Maximize
living and organic groundcover: native vegetation. - Maximize
beneficial relationships and efficiency by “staking functions”: plant used to
harvest water could include food, fiber, fuel, wildlife habitat, medicine etc. - Plan
for reassessment of the system: will the materials be appropriate over the long
term?
Their
findings were:
- Incorporate
in ground biofilter at the highest point (near road) - Replace
concrete driveway with permeable pavers - Divert
runoff water from curb and water through a biofilter and into a small pond or
ethanol producing plants near front fence. - Use
on contour drainage to avoid driveway runoff into garage. - Create
a dry creek bed from front steps connecting to the back garden. - At
the bottom, shaded part of the property, create mulch pile under trees for
mushroom cultivation. - Slow
it, spread it, and sink it.
Mark
Sardella, our new director of operations here at Post Carbon facilitated the
charrette that focused on the design of an Energy Network. Mark’s background is
in engineering and renewable energy systems and for the past six years he has
focused on local energy solutions. He was also core faculty at Ecoversity in
Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His group looked at the social
design of a local energy network, and therefore faced the hardest challenge of
our four charrettes. Essentially, in one hour’s time, they discussed the
transition from the current design of the industrial system to a more
integrated and local system that honors all life.
Impressively, they were able to come
to a general consensus on an approach to take. They decided that focusing on
the promotion of the non-dual nature of reality, giving children and the youth
a voice, developing local energy descent plans, revoking corporations from their
status of personhood, and creating and networking collaborative co-operatives of
groups doing similar things (i.e. guilds of people doing childcare, ecological
restoration, etc.) Given five minutes to
present these were their findings, and their charrette rose to the challenge.
The Energy Garden at
Post Carbon Institute was greatly enhanced by the two and a half hour visit
from the folks at RDI. Like rich compost, the input of these budding
permaculturists will be integrated into our operation here in the future. As we
move into winter we will be focusing our attention on the systems for
processing the harvests, retaining the water, and designing systems for
networking the Energy Farm concept. With mutually beneficial alliances and the combining
of resources and ideas, visits like these have shown us that the best harvest
of the season has been the input from our community. With gratitude, we keep
planting.
♥ Aaron
- Aaron Friedman's blog
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