Category: Unique Genius

Community Building, Green Collar Economy, Infrastructure, Local Economy, Pathways to Thriving, Permaculture, Synergetic Genius, Systems Thinking, Turning Point Gratitude Project, Unique Genius

Turning Point Gratitude Project Course Outline & Registration Forms

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We are less than a week away from the first session of the Turning Point Gratitude Project Ecological Design Course. The first session begins at 8 a.m. on Tuesday June 2nd and runs until 1 p.m. Here is what will be covered next Tuesday:

Session 1 ~ Introduction to Permanent Agriculture and Ecological Design Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Cost: 5 BTT Hours or $35 (Free with EBT Card)

Certification Course Registration Form: TPGPCourseReg
Individual Course Registration Form: TPGPCourseBTTEBTReg
To view the Course Schedule: TPGPCourseOutline

In this session you will learn the origins of Permaculture and how it is meant to provide a means to ecological justice for all beings. The earth and other living beings demonste what works best, what they need to thrive, and how to live in an integrated landscape. Permaculture is a way of life, not a different way of gardening. What are your hopes for the session?

Knowledge covered
Principles: Observe & Interact, Catch & Store Energy, Obtain a Yield, Self-Regulate/Accept Feedback,  Use & Value Renewables, Produce No Waste, Design from Patterns to Detail, Integrate, Slow, Small Solutions, Use & Value Diversity, Value the Marginal

Ethics: Care for the Earth – Environmental goal, Care for People – Social goals, Fair Share – Embrace justice for all beings

Learning Objectives
The origins and goals of the Turning Point Gratitude Project will be explained. You will meet the Executive Director, Susan Walker of Turning Point of Windham County, and some of the Board Members and Volunteers who will be working with us throughout the project.

How can we slow the damage being done to our planet, and even begin to restore ecosystem services? How much you learn and what your takeaway from the class will be up to you. The best question is the one that is asked. We will begin to develop relationship, and plot our session.

Skills covered:

  • We will begin building a cooperative and non-threatening environment in which to learn.
  • An understanding of the Principles and Ethics, and why they are the bedrock of our practice
  • Principles of Ecology: An understanding of how climate change is affecting us in our daily lives, in our home environment (land practices contributing to Stormwater runoff).
  • We will review the cycles of Earth and the food chain. What are limiting factors?
  • We will begin to understand how time, diversity and stability are related.
Collective Genius, Community Building, Edible Brattleboro, Green Collar Economy, Infrastructure, Local Economy, Pathways to Thriving, Permaculture, Synergetic Genius, Systems Thinking, Turning Point Gratitude Project, Unique Genius

Turning Point Gratitude Project:  What is a “Gratitude Project”? Why Turning Point?

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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) TPAprilShowers (25)

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.      

TPGPHarvestingRockApril (6)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!