Synergetic Genius – Page 2 – Cimbria Badenhausen, MBA, ENV SP

When I moved to the One and Only Brattleboro VT in September 2014, I felt called to demonstrate my gratitude. This community feels like home. I began planning how I could combine my life philosophy, permaculture, with a service project which would help improve food justice, provide stakeholders with a natural landscape in which to congregate, create workforce training opportunities, and slow, spread and sink stormwater currently inundating the Whetstone Brook. Turning Point’s location at 39 Elm Street is the perfect site for this project, and the staff and stakeholders are just as excited about it as I am. The Board is terrific, and there are many Master Gardeners already tied into the group.

Turning Point Addiction & Recovery Center moved to downtown Brattleboro after being located in a more remote area. The move helped increase their ability to provide services to area residents who don’t have access to private transportation. There was damage in the basement from Hurricane Irene, which brought more than 2′ to the Frost/Flat/Elm corridor. TPAprilShowers (18)

Water from sites above, all the way to Western Avenue and beyond, eventually settles in this neighborhood, as do all the pollutants. This makes the area around the building very rocky.

Volunteers have begun harvesting rock to be used as materials once the design is completed.

A full Permaculture Certification Course will be offered based at the site during June and July 2015 for a cost of $500. (This is less than half of what courses usually cost, and is mainly to cover expenses for the Gratitude Project.) The course schedule is almost finalized.

We’ll invite individuals to attend the workshops singly. Stakeholders for Turning Point and people receiving EBT (3-Squares VT) will be able to attend the training sessions at no cost. We are also offering an option to attend individual sessions through Brattleboro Time Trade. Participant hours received for attendance of the courses will be used to “pay” volunteers who help implement the project. This could only happen in a town that has hundreds of engaged Time Trade members, as Brattleboro does!

We would appreciate any donations of materials or plants. Right now we need barrels which can be used to hold rocks until the implementation begins. A wheelbarrow or two would be nice!

The Grand Opening of the new site will be in September. That will be quite a celebration for Turning Point staff, stakeholders, and for me. A real celebration of their mission and vision, of the committed staff and Board, and of this town that I love, the One and Only Brattleboro, Vermont!

Check out the program schedule here!

The weather was ideal yesterday as A. Laurel Green and Steve Crofter welcomed us to walk the land at Singing River Farm. Laurel, Steve and I met recently at a meeting of the Southern Vermont Permaculture Guild held in the community room of the Brattleboro Food Co-op, where they invited us to participate in a design charrette on their farm. The three of us decided it would be fun to work on the program for the charrette together.

Cimbria prepares to facilitate the design charrette — I prepare for the design charrette at Singing River Farm 12/27/14

Loosely defined, a design charrette is an opportunity for permaculture designers to learn about a specific piece of land, and then suggest ideas for incorporating permaculture principles into the landscape design. Laurel and Steve had completed their PDC online, and so had not had the chance to participate in a charrette before. They asked me to facilitate for them, which I was very happy to do. Landowners would benefit from input at any time in the implementation process, it’s really never too late to incorporate restorative measures into your design. Ideally, the earlier in the design process the charrette takes place, the better.

Coming into our planning session, Laurel was feeling an urgency to plant her edible forest garden in the coming Spring. She will be ordering trees quite soon and wanted to have a good idea of what she’ll be planting. After we’d had a chance to discuss the flow of the charrette, Laurel and Steve decided we might be rushing things. Permaculture is built on small and slow solutions. It might be best if we accepted that walking the land with our fellow permies, and then doing a sector analysis, might be the best use of our time. Nurturing our permie community could be the primary goal for the day, with design outcomes an added benefit.

Due to the charrette taking place over a holiday weekend, we offered a casual schedule and were happy to have 6 local homesteaders join us for the afternoon. We started the day with introductions built around an ice-breaker, then headed out to walk the land, making note of existing conditions.

A sector analysis is based on the first permaculture principle: observe and interact. Steve and Laurel had been observing the land for almost 3 years, and wanted help from fresh eyes. Where is water available? What are wildlife and human access patterns? Where are woody plants already thriving? How would existing conditions on abutting properties affect her design? Steve and Laurel were inviting us to listen to their land as it suggests a design that could be restorative. I asked each of the participants to spend some time walking by themselves, making note of anything that could be instructive, then we all returned to the house, and hot beverages.

SingingRiverIntroPermie (4) Laurel had identified a great deal of information including historical uses of the land, the location of various existing gardens, weather patterns, micro-climates, etc. on her base map. We were able to expand on that, each making note of our observations in the appropriate sectors. Next, Laurel considered what our findings suggested. It helped to clarify for her that the entire farm is really an edible forest garden. She and Steve began identifying which sections would be suitable to develop production gardens such as blueberries, and how to make best use of wet areas, highlands and lowlands.

Laurel and Steve now have a clearer idea of what they projects will be over the next several seasons, and and are ready to decide which trees they will plant come Spring. Everyone agreed it would be nice to participate in charrettes at some of the other homesteads, which we’ll plan during the regional Permaculture Guild meetings. My hope is that I will be asked to help facilitate these charrettes for rural and urban/suburban landowners. ThIs was a very enjoyable way to spend a winter afternoon! My thanks to Laurel and Steve for inviting me to play with them!