calendar at Liberation Ecology Project

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Workshop Descriptions

Sunday 4/18 Burlington, VT: Ecological Learning Institute
GreenHouse Residential Learning Community • University Heights South, UVM Campus
Free and open to the public • To register, go to http://tinyurl.com/ecolearn
1:00-5:00pm LIBERATION ECOLOGY II: POWER, PRIVILEGE, AND PROJECT DESIGN
What are the key principles and strategies, by which we can design our projects to regenerate social and ecological health? How can creating sustainable landscapes help dismantle systems of unearned privilege - and vice versa? This workshop specifically addresses the strategies that guide and shape our work in the world, through the lens of design. We will draw on the concepts that emerged in the first Liberation Ecology workshop, though this chapter stands alone, and prior attendance is not required. This is a highly interactive workshop, geared for participants with a desire to do world-changing work, who are looking for tools that will help them move toward their goals.

7:00-8:30pm COMPOST TEA FOR SOIL HEALTH
As we continue to explore the uses of the vermicompost system we set up in January, we’ll use some vermicompost to make some aerated compost tea. This is a method by which we can “brew” a whole soil ecology in a water medium, which can then be easily applied to plants and soils in order to boost fertility and health. The life in the soil is the most powerful determinant of plant health, disease and pest resistance, and breakdown of contaminants, and compost tea is a simple and powerful way to give a boost to the whole soil ecosystem.

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Saturday-Sunday 4/24-25, 5/15-16, and 6/12-13 Milwaukee, WI
MUSHROOM POWER! at Growing Power, Inc.
Growing Your Community Food System From the Ground Up - Weekend Workshops
Registration and information
$350

Join me as I work with Growing Power staff and workshop participants to integrate mushroom production with their utterly amazing, intensive urban agriculture systems. You’ll get the full Growing Power experience, and also have the option of choosing mushroom production in two different break-out sessions. The Mushroom Power! breakouts are practical training in both growing gourmet mushrooms and hands-on research and development of fresh, site-specific, DIY mushroom production techniques.

From the website:
From the Ground Up! Workshops are intensive, hands-on trainings offering diverse groups the opportunity to learn, plan, develop, operate, and sustain community food projects. Project participants leave the workshop with improved skills that they can take back into their communities and pass on to others. These workshops are for both rural and urban projects.

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Sunday 5/2 Burlington, VT: Ecological Learning Institute
GreenHouse Residential Learning Community • University Heights South, UVM Campus
Free and open to the public • To register, go to http://tinyurl.com/ecolearn 1:00-5:00pm COMMUNITY BIOREMEDIATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Toxic soil and water pollution are pervasive environmental health issues, plaguing communities worldwide. Fortunately, many of these toxins can be dealt with using accessible, ecological techniques. Bioremediation is the use of living organisms, such as fungi, microbes, and plants, to return contaminated conditions back to natural levels. We will go beyond practices for our own homes and backyards, and explore the process of implementing community bioremediation projects - focusing on underlying principles and goals of a bioremediation strategy in order to make our projects more effective and appropriate.

7:00-8:30pm SHEET MULCHING
Sheet mulching is a fun and easy way to prepare plots of land for gardening. It is a way to create and preserve vibrant soil ecology. Also, sheet mulching techniques can be used to create a barrier or buffer from contaminants in questionable soil, while also creating the conditions that will help the soil repair itself. We will be using bedding material, compost tea, mushrooms, and compost in a fun active session of garden bed preparation.

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Saturday-Sunday 5/22-23 Ithaca, NY w/ Fingerlakes Permaculture Institute
MUSHROOM WORKSHOP WEEKEND
fingerlakespermaculture.org Format: Presentation and hands-on
$100-$300 (sliding scale)
Even if you’re an avid gardener - if you are only gardening plants, you’re missing out! There is a whole other kingdom to explore - and eat. We can incorporate delicious, nutritious fungi in our veggie gardens, backyards, lawns, landscaping, balconies, and more… In this workshop, we’ll explore the basics - and not-so-basics - of mushroom cultivation, and get some hands-on experience. We’ll learn how to look at mushroom crops through a holistic, permaculture lens, and find the niche in the landscape where they can perform useful ecological functions, even as they produce food and medicine for us. We’ll review common and less-common mushroom crops, and different cultivation techniques. You’ll get some hands-on practice, and take some of your work home with you. No gardening experience necessary!

TOPICS:
Mushrooms 101 - Basic Anatomy, Lifecycle, and Function
Mushroom Cultivation in History and Today
Overview of Sterile & Non-Sterile Techniques
Foraging and Fungal Forest Ecology - Woods Walk!
Garden Polycultures, Theory and Practice
Hands-on Bed & Patch Inoculation
DIY (Non-sterile) Propagation
Overview of Urban Applications
Mushrooms and Bioremediation: Emerging Science and Practice

Saturday morning will be led by local artist and mushroom grower Steve Sierigk, who will cover the basics of shiitake log cultures; tree species to use, when and how to prepare wood, and a hands-on demo of the process inoculated with sawdust spawn.

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Tuesday-Thursday 5/25-27 Brooklyn, NY: 388 Atlantic Community Center
Contact: Melissa Ennen

Tuesday 6-8:30pm
Brooklyn, NY: 388 Atlantic Community Center Format: Lecture and slideshow
MYCOSCAPING: Mushrooms in the Urban Landscape
Contact: Melissa Ennen
Even if you’re an avid gardener - if you are only gardening plants, you’re missing out! There is a whole other kingdom to explore - and eat. We can incorporate delicious, nutritious fungi in our veggie gardens, backyards, lawns, landscaping, balconies, and more… In this workshop, we’ll explore the basics - and not-so- basics - of mushroom cultivation. We’ll learn how to look at mushroom crops through a holistic, permaculture lens, and find the niche in the landscape where they can perform useful ecological functions, even as they produce food and medicine for us. We’ll review common and less-common mushroom crops, and different cultivation techniques. We’ll get our hands dirty with a hands-on demo. No gardening experience necessary!

Wednesday-Thursday 9:00am-4:00pm both days
Brooklyn, NY: 388 Atlantic Community Center Format: Participatory Workshop
Liberation Ecology: Permaculture, Power, and Project Design
Contact: Melissa Ennen
What would “sustainability” look like, if it refused to sustain white supremacy?
What could “liberation” look like, in a society headed for ecological collapse?
In this 2-day experiential workshop, participants develop answers to these questions in an environment of collaboration, experiment, and wrestling with some hard questions. Design projects, the Daylighting Exercises, presentation, and facilitated discussion, help participants draw new maps of our situation, and chart new paths for their own work, forward to a truly sustainable society. Check out www.liberationecology.org for more details.

Wednesday 6:00-8:00pm
Brooklyn, NY: 388 Atlantic Community Center Format: Talk and discussion
Liberation Ecology: Making Sustainability Matter
Contact: Melissa Ennen
We don’t have to choose between liberating communities and protecting ecosystems - and we shouldn’t! There is an emerging paradigm that builds on the connections between healthy, empowered communities and diverse, resilient ecosystems. Come join us for an evening of presentation and facilitated discussion, as we explore how to strategically connect our own work with this emerging movement.
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Saturday 5/29 10:00am-4:00pm Northampton, MA
Montview Neighborhood Farm
MYCOSCAPING: Mushrooms in the Edible Landscape
Registration and directions Format: Participatory Workshop
$60-$100 (sliding scale)
Even if you’re an avid gardener - if you are only gardening plants, you’re missing out! There is a whole other kingdom to explore - and eat. We can incorporate delicious, nutritious fungi in our veggie gardens, backyards, lawns, landscaping, balconies, and more… In this workshop, we’ll explore the basics - and not-so-basics - of mushroom cultivation, and get some hands-on experience. We’ll learn how to look at mushroom crops through a holistic, permaculture lens, and find the niche in the landscape where they can perform useful ecological functions, even as they produce food and medicine for us. We’ll review common and less-common mushroom crops, and different cultivation techniques. You’ll get some hands-on experience, and take some of your work home with you. No gardening experience necessary!

Sunday 5/30 1:00pm-6:00pm Scituate, MA
MYCOSCAPING: Mushrooms in the Edible Landscape
Contact Kim Almeida for Registration and Directions Format: Participatory Workshop
$60-$100
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Friday July 23 - Sunday August 8
Permaculture Design Certification Course/
Fingerlakes Permaculture Institute (FLPCI) • Ithaca, NY
http://www.fingerlakespermaculture.org/

This internationally recognized 72-hour curriculum is the most powerful and effective route to ecological design literacy - period. This is my second year as part of the core teaching team at FLPCI, and their 8th full Pc Design Certification Course.

From their website:
We train people of all backgrounds to mimic natural patterns and principles in their yards, on their land, and in their homes and businesses. This affordable course highlights hands-on learning in the beautiful rural Cayuta Lake Valley. The class equips students with the knowledge of whole systems and the principles, techniques, and challenges of permaculture as a system of sustainable design. Our off-grid learning community explores topics such as soil regeneration, water conservation, building ponds and swales, managing woodlots, building natural and efficient homes, utilizing renewable energy, and designing gardens.

We teach these topics through presentations, case studies, and student design projects and exercises. Our student design practicum will inform the final design of the Cayuta Sun Homestead (cayuta.org). Instruction is augmented by presentations from local experts, field trips, and games. Completion of the course earns participants an internationally recognized design certificate.

Topics include: Ethics - Principles - Ecology - Whole Systems - Water - Soils - Pattern - Climate - Earthworks - Forests & Trees - Economics - Governance - Gardening - Waste Treatment - Buildings - Tools - Appropriate Technology - Design Practicum -
and more…

$1200 tuition includes prepared meals and camping.
Sign up by May 1 and save $150. Sign up by July 1 and save $50.
Please register to attend: fingerlakespermaculture.org/courseregistration.htm
Class size is limited. There are no scholarships available.

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Exploring and Creating the Connections Between Sustainability and Justice

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