Pine Ridge statistics
These statistics and the photo piece are tough to look at – they are why we are there. We and you can make a difference. We welcome your assistance, it is rewarding work. There are many cultural revitilization activities on the rez and some amazing and beautiful people. Please see the photos in our gallery after you read this to see some of the positive that is happening! But it is also important to understand the overall state of the rez because it becomes apparent how much of a difference a combination of permaculture and cultural revitalization can make.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/behind-22/
* 97% of of the population at Pine Ridge Reservation live below federal poverty line.
* The unemployment rate vacillates from 85% to 95% on the Reservation.
* Death due to Heart Disease: Twice the national average.
* The infant mortality rate is the highest on this continent and is about 300% higher than the U.S. national average.
* Elderly die each winter from hypothermia (freezing).
* Recent reports point out that the median income on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
* At least 60% of the homes are severely substandard, without water, electricity, adequate insulation, and sewage systems.
* Recent reports state the average life expectancy is 45 years old while others state that it is 48 years old for men and 52 years old for women. With either set of figures, that’s the shortest life expectancy for any community in the Western Hemisphere outside Haiti, according to The Wall Street Journal.
* The 11,000-square mile (over 2 million acres) Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation is the second-largest Native American Reservation within the United States. It is roughly the size of the State of Connecticut.
* There is no industry, technology, or commercial infrastructure on the Reservation to provide employment.
* The nearest town of size (which provides some jobs for those few persons able to travel the distance) is Rapid City, South Dakota with approximately 57,000 residents. It is located approximately 120 miles from the Reservation. The nearest large city to Pine Ridge is Denver, Colorado located about 350 miles away.
* Teenage suicide rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is 150% higher than the U.S. national average for this age group.
* The topography of the Pine Ridge Reservation includes badlands, rolling grassland hills, dryland prairie, and areas dotted with pine trees.
* According to the 1998 Bureau of Indian Affairs Census, the Pine Ridge Reservation is home to approximately 40,000 persons, 35% of which are under the age of 16. Approximately half the residents of the Reservation are registered tribal members of the Oglala Lakota Nation.
* The population is steadily rising, despite the severe conditions on the Reservation, as more and more Oglala Lakota return home from far-away cities in order to live within their societal values, be with their families, and assist with the revitalization of their culture and their Nation.
* More than half the Reservation’s adults battle addiction and disease. Alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and malnutrition are rampant.
* The rate of diabetes on the Reservation is reported to be 800% higher than the U.S. national average.
* Recent reports indicate that almost 50% of the adults on the Reservation over the age of 40 have diabetes. Over 37% of population is diabetic.
* As a result of the high rate of diabetes on the Reservation, diabetic-related blindness, amputations, and kidney failure are common.
* The tuberculosis rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately 800% higher than the U.S. national average.
* Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S. national average.
* It is reported that at least 60% of the homes, many of them government housing, on the Pine Ridge Reservation are infested with Black Mold, Stachybotrys. This infestation causes an often-fatal condition with infants, children, elderly, those with damaged immune systems, and those with lung and pulmonary conditions at the highest risk. Exposure to this mold can cause hemorrhaging of the lungs and brain as well as cancer.
* Many Reservation residents live without health care due to vast travel distances involved in accessing that care. Additional factors include under-funded, under-staffed medical facilities and outdated or non-existent medical equipment. There is little hope for increased funding for Indian health care.
* School drop-out rate is over 70%.
* According to a Bureau of Indian Affairs report, the Pine Ridge Reservation schools are in the bottom 10% of school funding by U.S. Department of Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
* Teacher turnover is 800% that of the U.S. national average
* The small Tribal Housing Authority homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation are so overcrowded and scarce that many homeless families often use tents or cars for shelter. Many families live in shacks, old trailers, or dilapidated mobile homes.
* There is a large homeless population on the Reservation, but most families never turn away a relative no matter how distant the blood relation. Consequently, many homes have large numbers of people living in them.
* There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (a home which may only have two to three rooms). Some homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people living in them.
* 60% of Reservation families have no telephone.
* Over 33% of the Reservation homes lack basic water and sewage systems as well as electricity.
* Many residents must carry (often contaminated) water from the local rivers daily for their personal needs.
* 39% of the homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation have no electricity.
* 59% of the Reservation homes are substandard.
* It is reported that at least 60% of the homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation need to be burned to the ground and replaced with new housing due to infestation of the potentially-fatal Black Mold, Stachybotrys. There is no insurance or government program to assist families in replacing their homes.
* Many Reservation homes lack adequate insulation. Even more homes lack central heating.
* Without basic insulation or central heating in their homes, many residents on the Pine Ridge Reservation use their ovens to heat their homes.
* Many Reservation homes lack stoves, refrigerators, beds, and/or basic furniture.
* Most Reservation families live in rural and often isolated areas.
* The largest town on the Reservation is the town of Pine Ridge which has a population of approximately 5,720 people and is the administrative center for the Reservation.
* There are few improved roads on the Reservation and many of the homes are inaccessible during times of heavy snow or rain.
* Weather is extreme on the Reservation. Severe winds are always a factor. Traditionally, summer temperatures reach well over 110*F and winters bring bitter cold with temperatures that can reach -50*F below zero or worse. Flooding, tornados, or wildfires are always a risk.
* Many of the wells and much of the water and land on the Reservation is contaminated with pesticides and other poisons from farming, mining, open dumps, and commercial and governmental mining operations outside the Reservation. A further source of contamination is buried ordnance and hazardous materials from closed U.S. military bombing ranges on the Reservation.
* The Pine Ridge Reservation still has no banks, motels, discount stores, or movie theaters. It has only one grocery store of any moderate size and it is located in the town of Pine Ridge on the Reservation.
* Several of the banks and lending institutions nearest to the Reservation were recently targeted for investigation of fraudulent or predatory lending practices, with the citizens of the Pine Ridge Reservation as their victims.
* There are no public libraries except one at the Oglala Lakota College of the reservation.
* There is no public transportation available on the Reservation.
* Ownership of operable automobiles by residents of the Reservation is highly limited.
* Predominate form of travel for all ages on the Reservation is walking or hitchhiking.
* There is one radio station on the Pine Ridge Reservation. KILI 90.1FM is located near the town of Porcupine on the Reservation.
* Alcoholism affects eight out of ten families on the Reservation.
* The death rate from alcohol-related problems on the Reservation is 300% higher than the remaining US population.
* The Oglala Lakota Nation has prohibited the sale and possession of alcohol on the Pine Ridge Reservation since the early 1970’s. However, the town of Whiteclay, Nebraska (which sits 400 yards off the Reservation border in a contested “buffer” zone) has approximately 14 residents and four liquor stores which sell over 4.1 million cans of beer each year resulting in a $3million annual trade. Unlike other Nebraska communities, Whiteclay exists only to sell liquor and make money. It has no schools, no churches, no civic organizations, no parks, no benches, no public bathrooms, no fire service and no law enforcement. Tribal officials have repeatedly pleaded with the State of Nebraska to close these liquor stores or enforce the State laws regulating liquor stores but have been consistently refused.
* Scientific studies show that the High Plains/Oglala Aquifer which begins underneath the Pine Ridge Reservation is predicted to run dry within the next thirty years, possibly as early as the year 2005, due to commercial interest use and dryland farming in numerous states south of the Reservation. This critical North American underground water resource is not renewable at anything near the present consumption rate. The recent years of drought have simply accelerated the problem.
* Scientific studies show that much of the High Plains/Oglala Aquifer has been contaminated with farming pesticides and commercial, factory, mining, and industrial contaminants in the States of South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
* The Tribal nations are considered to have sovereign governmental status and have a government to government relationship with the United States. The Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribal government operates under a constitution consistent with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and approved by the Tribal membership and Tribal Council of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe. The Tribe is governed by an elected body consisting of a 5 member Executive Committee and an 18 member Tribal Council, all of whom serve a four year term.
Pine Ridge – Donate Now…
AND/OR Purchase Books and Products. Portions of the proceeds allows us to reach out to communities such as these.
Books-Products
Source: http://4aihf.org/id40.html
New energy arriving in Haiti
One of our team members who spent several weeks in Haiti as a first responder, Andrew Larsen, has put together a contingent of experts to return to Haiti on May 9 in order to expand the delivery of sustainable sanitation solutions. He will be returning with Joe Jenkins, author of “Humanure” and a leading expert on composting human waste, and another sanitation expert from Australia to work with the Give Love project (givelove.org) and expand on the work Rodrigo Silva continues to do in the sanitation arena. Andrew has continued to work with his university to bring interest to the Haiti project.
Cory Brennan of Permaculture Guild will be traveling with the group and additionally will be touring with a representative from the Ministry of the Environment to give recommendations on remediation of erosion and other environmental degradation. We will be solidifying relationships with local NGOs and educational organizations created earlier and planning future projects. Paule Jacque, a Permaculture Guild PDC graduate from Miami and Haitian, will meet the group in Haiti to help coordinate expansion activities via her connections. Paule has been working with another graduate, Linda McGlathery, to create economic opportunities in Haiti in the form of cooperative business models.
Our intention is to create the conditions for rapid growth and expansion of sustainable solutions in the core devastated areas – the pieces are gradually coming together, and like an ecosystem, we are finding the beneficial connections we need to flourish with balance and sustainably – stay tuned for more news as the story unfolds. There are so many worthy projects with heart occurring in Haiti – we would like to assist and facilitate all of them, and we feel we can do so by observing the system thoughtfully, creating connections where they will do the most good, and utilizing energy wisely.
Keeping Heart in Pine Ridge, Part II
Many good things came from the Permaculture Design Course we held last September in Pine Ridge Lakota reservation. Our project is on target to be self-sustaining within three years and has moved beyond that in a number of ways.
Bryan Deans and OLCERI (Oglala-Lakota Cultural and Economic Revitalization Initiative), who hosted the course, decided to focus on the economics side of permaculture, the benefits of which would move far beyond Bryan’s own self-sufficient ranch project and throughout the entire reservation.
Almost immediately after the course, Bryan began teaching a farmer/rancher program on the rez, incorporating permaculture principles such as microlending. Ranchers are lent five cows which calf, thereby giving them a small herd which they can build up. They can give back the cows, or younger ones, once the herd is established. Farmers are given seed and loaned equipment as needed as well. A cooperative is in its formative stages which will allow the farmers and ranchers to share equipment, buy in bulk and market more effectively.
This is a true community effort that, if translated to other industries as well, could spread throughout the entire reservation and reverse the long term cycle of poverty which has continued to make this county the poorest in the US. It will also set an example for industry throughout the US.
Other potential economic engines and cooperatives include sustainable logging and milling, biodiesel, manufacture of high efficiency rocket/sawdust type stoves and water heaters, natural home building, traditional Lakota crafts such as leatherwork and beadwork, and the raising of other types of animals including horses and buffalo.
Medicine Hat horse, prized amongst the Lakota
These cooperatives can be woven into the lives of the People and their ancient ways. The successes of the Mondragon cooperative, which was created by the Basque tribe in Spain and now includes dozens of profitable enterprises, are an inspiration – the Lakota will bring their unique traditions and wisdom to the council fires. Bryan’s vision is to focus on industries that complement and support one another, and are environmentally and culturally sustainable or regenerative.
The tribe has received a substantial grant, part of which can be used toward rehabilitating the two million acres of prairie that the reservation encompasses. The rez has been heavily damaged by overgrazing and other abuse to the point where the clay-silt soils are so impacted that succession has not moved beyond pioneer stage in many areas, and only short, tough buffalo grass survives in clumps – in contrast to the tall, diverse prairie grasses that grew thick and rich as far as one could see when the People managed it. Erosion is a huge problem, with dams blowing out regularly from the heavy force of water and canyons being cut deeper and deeper. For generations, the plains were sustainably managed by the People who used controlled burns and buffalo to revitalize the fertile prairie grass system and keep it healthy. Last year, Bryan and Warren Brush of Quail Springs, who taught the PDC then and will teach it again this August, created plans to use keyline and permaculture techniques to regenerate Bryan’s 8000 acre ranch, but since then the plans have gotten much bigger.
Diverse prairie grass systems are one of the best carbon sequestering systems on the planet, even better than forests in some cases. Pine Ridge reservation consists of two million acres that could be rehabbed, and Bryan has a plan that could leverage available funding into a 10 year program to do it (via the economic cooperatives). Not only will this create carbon sequestering on a huge scale, it will create substantial long term employment on a rez that experiences between 60-90% unemployment, and will revitalize natural resources and ecosystems for the tribe that will last for many generations. This is OLCERI’s vision – and Warren will teach a Keyline course this summer to kick it off. OLCERI is looking for donations for keyline plows as the grant money does not necessarily cover equipment like this. The entire machine is not needed, but only the plow head, as tractors are available that can be used. We would like teach the first crew of Lakota this July how to keyline design and plow and get them started on an historic 3000 acre watershed on tribal lands that OLCERI controls currently.
Last year’s course had some other great results. One student is doing a permaculture project at a different location on the rez and will be offering a number of courses this year including cob building and food forestry.
Two other students are currently working on an economic and water revitilization project with the Huichol Indians of Mexico, and another student has brought the 13 grandmothers into her network of sustainability in Northern California.
OLCERI, in tandem with Permaculture Guild will be holding four permaculture courses this year on the rez and is also offering internships and apprenticeships. The courses will be: Straw bale building (to complete a workshop on OLCERI’s site that will have multiple functions); Regenerative Skills – a unique course for young adults which will incorporate ancient Lakota skills such as hunting with bow and arrow, tracking, beadwork, medicinal herbs, etc, with permaculture design; the Permaculture Design Certificate Course, and Keyline Design. In addition, Permaculture Guild is partnering with Sustainable Homestead Designs (http://www.sustainablehomesteaddesigns.org/Sustainable_Homestead_Designs/Welcome.html , a project to create a fully self-sufficient off the grid demonstration homestead on the rez, to teach a food forestry course and plant a food forest at that location.
All of the courses will serve multiple functions – bringing new energy to the reservation via outside students, completing strategically key projects to move toward regenerative self-sufficiency, and creating economic engines that will move beyond OLCERI to positively impact the entire reservation and set a model and example for others.
The course for young adults flanks successful Lakota youth programs, such as Kiza and Running Strong, that focus on empowering youth at risk by providing cultural opportunities. In addition, youth will learn the rudiments of marketable skill sets such as straw bale building and sustainable farming and ranching.
Kiza horse race at Pine Ridge
Because of the work we did last year, we are already getting strong interest in the courses for this year, so early enrollment is encouraged. Our goals to fund significant Lakota participation via paying students from outside the rez will be met with full enrollment.
Additional intern/apprentice projects at OLCERI this summer include:
Planting a kitchen garden
Planting a communal food forest in the riparian area of tribal lands
Planting wind breaks on the ranch for energy efficiency and to protect the animals and gardens
Creating water catchment and irrigation
Completing the wind power and biodiesel project so the ranch is fully off the grid energy wise
Building a straw bale workshop
We continue to seek funding for materials for the straw bale building, keyline plow, trees for the food forest, and heavy equipment needed for prairie rehabilitation.
Pine Ridge – Donate Now…
For more information contact cory@permacultureguild.us.
Miami students continue to expand
Roots in the City Overtown project is now offering a Farmer’s Market from 1-4 every Wednesday. Overtown is the Harlem of Miami, with a rich history of culture, that has been economically devastated by a freeway running through the middle of it and a number of other factors. PDC student Maggy Pons is working on six gardens in Overtown which will provide fresh, organic food and economic stimulus to the neighborhood. Food stamp purchases are doubled at the market, encouraging consumption of healthy, organic food and the support of locally grown food.
Marcus Thomson will be holding an Intro to Permaculture lecture Tuesday, April 27, from 7-9 PM.
You will learn common sense easy application techniques on sustainability along with the joy and wonder of a vibrant future you can create for yourself and others! Contact Marcus (Deva) for early registration. Love, peace and light…
Location: The Sacred Space
Address: 100 NE 25th Street in Wynwood
Contact: 954-856-3775
Cost: $60 at door, $30 in Advance! (that’s 50% off!)
More info at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110372132314453
Permaculture as a career
From Florida Earthship PDC grad Diann Dirks: It was so sweet to be reminded of our Permaculture course in Fla. last March. Since then I have been using so much of what I learned and integrated there.
Right after completing the course I taught 3 series of classes in organic gardening – 13 classes all told at the local libraries and at a local forming sustainable farm. I became a the paid consultant on the creation of a community garden for a Jewish Temple, consulted at a CSA to increase yield, as well as a multitude of private gardens. And one of my students formed a CSA after taking my classes. I created my own school, Mother’s School of Self-Reliance, which has taken off, and I have been giving classes between one and three course days a week since January. Classes have included hand sewing, sprout bag making, sprout bag growing, sprout bread making, and seed propagation classes.
I have also incorporated so much of what I learned in putting in 1800 sq. feet more garden space. And I have been growing some food all winter, even in sub-freezing weather.
Soon after the course I set up a community garden in our own area and am the director. Since then we have acquired a 22′x60′ professional steel green house which is being built this spring on site of the garden for propagation and year-round growing of food.
I also founded a local farmers market that enjoyed a successful season last year, and participated and help found another one beginning this fall into winter, and participated in one all last summer selling instant raised bed gardens which helped over 100 new garden beds be set up in people’s yards where they had never gardened before or extended already growing gardens.
I have been interviewed twice on the radio, and have been writing articles for the local newspaper on sustainable issues all year and have my own column now called “Surviving the Times”.
I’m going to be on the panel of the film “Fresh” tomorrow after the film is shown, and have a booth where I will be promoting my school, community garden, and selling seeds.
I founded last year’s first City of Auburn Garden Expo and did a seminar on Permaculture Princliples to about 25 people.
Our teacher Wayne (Weisman) told me I should teach so I have been.
And I have grown enough food and herbs over the last year to provide a vast amount of food for myself and my husband, as well as sell at the farmers market. I have a .7 acre steep hillside yard which is 1/3 zone 5 (wild), with a house and large lawn which gradually I have been converting into garden by raised beds and terracing.
Anyone visiting the Atlanta area need only call for a tour. 678 261 8141
Best,
Diann Dirks, Certified Permaculture Designer
Taste of Freedom Farm
Andrew Wolfe wasted no time using the techniques he learned about in the permaculture course held at the Florida Earthship in March of 2009. His goal is to get completely off the grid and make a living from what he produces in his yard. He named his urban Pinellas County homestead “Taste of Freedom Farm”, and in a few months has created a fish farming pond, planted citrus trees, grape vines, blueberries and a raised bed garden with rainwater catchment, composting bins, greenhouse, roof-top beehives, chicken coop and brooder box, duck house, a well, and wood source for his Franklin stove.
Here’s a note from Andrew about his project:
Thanks for the interest in my progress. I have not yet found it necessary to hire a board of directors to help manage my vast enterprise. But I have since the start of my little endeavor, seen almost nothing but advances and very few set-backs to acheive success.
My background has been in construction. I was a sheet-metal worker for 6 years and before that a renovater. My choice to change direction was fueled directly by my reading. I’m an avid reader of the classics and early American literature. I was reading some founder comments when I ran across one quote that struck a chord with me. It read “A person who wants to be ignorant and free, wants what never was and never will be”-Thomas Jefferson. It was at that point I reflected on whether my intrinsic right to be free made me free in actuality or just in theory. I rationalized it in this way; I may in fact be free to take a stroll down my street, but am I actually taking the stroll, or just sitting on my rear thinking about it. I was done wearing the vestiges of freedom without being so. All of it was hinged on me providing for myself. And all though it’s a very respectable thing to go to work and make a living wage, and as a result of your labors bring home bread for the table, you can never be certain that your job will be there forever. The stability of my lifestyle was rooted in the stability of my job, the stability of my job in the stability of the economy. There were far too many things in control of my destiny! So I set out to find what I could do to start to provide for myself and my family in a way the was tangible and concrete. The answer???—Overwhelmingly AGRICULTURE!!!! The wellspring of functional freedom in society in my humble opinion is Agriculture. So I set about learning the “trade” so-to-speak. I have learned a basic working knowledge of: gardening, fish farming, beekeeping, and the raising and keeping of chickens and ducks. My hope is to try and be as self reliant as possible. The attainment of that final goal is yet to be had but the pursuit is a pleasure, and that is success.
To answer the specific questions you had
1-I have been tending bees for about 8 months now.
2-I decided to sell the honey when I found out it had value:)
3-My plans for the future are to expand my honey production by finding more suitable bee yards within the county, increase the number of stores it’s available at, and lastly, which happens to be the most ambitious, try to show people the value of providing for themselves.
4- People can find my “Taste of Freedom Farm Honey” at Rollin’ Oats on 9th St, Natures Food Patch on Cleveland in Clearwater, and many of their local fresh fruit and vegetable stands. If your local stand doesnt carry it, that of course is a problem I would love to remedy!–Andrew Wolfe 727-439-4885.
Sustainable solutions for Haiti
Currently, our team of permaculture experts in Haiti have expanded to implement sustainable solutions to food and water supply, sanitation, and shelter. The focus is on using locally available, inexpensive, low-tech resources to create water catchment and filtration, earthquake and hurricane resistant shelter from renewable materials, sustainable sanitation, particularly for human waste, and food forests and other high production/low maintanence food techniques.
The team is connected up with the Ministers of Environment and Agriculture in the Haitian government and have coordinated on what is most badly needed in the areas they are working. They are “teaching the teachers” at a number of local NGOs in Port Au Prince and other areas how to implement these techniques. These organizations have been chosen because they focus on teaching, so will be able to continue to spread this knowledge. This has been determined the fastest way of implementing real, doable, and sustainable solutions to some of the major problems that existed prior to the earthquake and have deteriorated, as well as addressing the immediate emergency situation. They are seeking funding for instructors, materials and lodging for students.
There will be15-50 students per class. Each group being taught is selected because they are either already sharing or plan to be distributing knowledge in the form of classes, workdays, or workshops.
Budget which includes transport, food, lodging for students and wages for instructors and others is $5000
Ideal outcomes would include a strong base of interested groups that future projects could follow up with. Also the development of a permaculture basics in Creole.
To donate, go to http://earth-learning.org/index.php?option=content&Itemid=77&task=view&id=60
This is our partner non-profit organization that is accepting funds for our projects exclusively, via their Haiti fund.
AND/OR Purchase Books and Products. Portions of the proceeds allows us to reach out to communities such as these.
Books-Products
For more information about this program, please contact Cory Brennan at cory@permacultureguild.us
Miami permaculture students in action
Graduates of the recent Urban Permaculture Design Course in Miami have not wasted any time applying what they learned.
Marcus Thomson, who organized the course, got his first permaculture design job before the course ended – installing a food forest in a suburban yard. He has offered to employ other course graduates for this project and is in the process of looking for more design work. He has planned a series of seminars on permaculture as well, and has offered to bring other graduates in on a community garden project in Little Haiti. He is already applying permaculture techniques to gardens and planting areas of Earth N Us farms, collecting and planting seeds, seedlings, sheet mulching with terra preta and using plant guilds.
Nancy Arraiz has also gotten her first job as a permaculture designer, installing rainbarrels for a household. She has started designing her own yard and is burning terra preta to enrich and stabilize her sandy soils.
Linda McGlathery is planning the planting of native edibles in a public space to beautify a homeless housing project. She is also in discussion with project management to create water catchment and a planting area for the homeless.
Ben Thacker has been planting fruit trees and veggie beds at a school for youth at risk for some time, and is now incorporating more permaculture techniques in his work.
Maggy Pons (only able to attend part of the course) was already managing six community gardens in historical Overtown, under the name of Roots in the City. Because of what she learned in the course, she has now created the beginnings of a mandala garden and keyhole beds and is using sheet mulching techniques and rainbarrels – she is also contemplating planting a food forest.
Check back to read about more adventures from Miami PDC graduates!
Ecozoic in Mexico
Alan and Ryan from our Pine Ridge PDC in Mexico
EcoZoic’s Shop Announcement
EcoZoic Era works with remote indigenous communities, marketing their traditional art to new audiences in an effort to raise global awareness, increase economic opportunity, and offer resources to address self-identified needs.
The Water for Huicholes! campaign is an effort in partnership with the community of La Laguna to assist with the issue of water access for Huichol villages throughout the Sierra Madre Occidental. Proceeds from the online auctioning of Huichol art and jewelry will support educational opportunities in sustainable design for the Huicholes, with an emphasis on hydrological systems.
Each piece was made freehand, in a ceremonial manner, by the family of Mara’kame, Jose Luiz Ramirez, who has requested that this art be sold for this purpose.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EcoZoic
Word from one of our recent Miami PDC graduates, Rosalia Cannava:
Hello conscience co-creators!
We are joining together in energetic support of creating a community/ Ashram/ Food Forest at “Nectar of Devotion” Even if you are not in Miami or south Florida you can empower this project by joining if even just in thought! Open for all bringing good vibes, love and harmony.
This group is a call to unite and join together in promoting harmony and love within ourselves and with all life. Self sufficiency is the key to freedom. Lets end our reliance on corrupt systems and embrace the divine within us and all around us. GROW YOUR OWN FOOD! MAKE YOUR OWN CLOTHES! FREE YOURSELVES FROM ALL ATTACHMENT!
Much love and many blessings and as my Permaculture Design teacher Cory says “To the garden!”
We are creating an ashram/food forest. I think it would be beautiful to have a vegan potluck so to see/feel the place where this is happening. Just a few weeks ago I finished the Permaculture Design course being held at “Earth n’ Us” farm in Little Haiti. During the course I settled with Silvana and her 2 daughters in Liberty City (just south of Little Haiti). We both maintain a vastly similar vision of living a highly conscience lifestyle through devotion to reaching our fullest potential in mind, body and spirit. She invited me to come live in commune with her and create a highly balanced diversified system. In mind, body and spirit we are taking steps towards our devotion and invite you all to join. “Together we’ll move a mountain!” Yoga weekday mornings at 8am (donations appreciated) and gardening daily except Wednesday and Thursday afternoons I’m out of the area but you would still be warmly welcomed. We are working on a schedule to include more things like Tai Chi, clothes making workshops, skin/hair care product making workshops, green building workshops, ceremonies, potlucks, food demonstrations (many of which raw vegan) and last but most definitely not least various yoga worskshops. Anyone interested in AcroYoga we will hold an afternoon workshop probably on a Sunday in April with Arianne Oomm (her FB name). She is an amazing Yogi spreading the AcroYoga/Thai message vibes.
Friday was such an amazing day for us. Under Father Sun with our hands in Mother Earth we aligned ourselves further down that path! We prepared a garden space for planting right by the front door. We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, green onion and marigold directly into the soil and Papaya, 3 varieties of tomatoes (LOVE them!), rosemary, oregano, celery and other various greens (can’t remember all) to transplant later. So many people all across S. Florida have been uniting realizing that this is really something we need to work towards a harmonious balance with all life. Permaculture is just that!
I thank Silvana, Adam and Ben. Thank you for the love you’ve all put into our forest!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=331390166455&v=info