The Inland Northwest Permaculture Guild is very pleased to announce that the 2nd Inland Northwest Permaculture conference (INPC II) will be held in Missoula, Montana on November 9, 10 and 11, 2012 at the University of Montana’s conference center. You can help organize it! Read more...

Articles on Permaculture

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  • A HISTORY OF PERMACULTURE GATHERINGS HELD IN THE UNITED STATES & CANADA
    09/12/2011 - 7:30pm
    Michael Pilarski


    Compiled by Michael Pilarski, Friends of the Trees Society

    Michael@friendsofthetrees.net

     

    Here is a history of permaculture gatherings in the USA and IPCs

     

    The following list of permaculture gatherings, convergences and conferences was obtained by going through the calender sections of 40 out of 73 issues of the Permaculture Activist. Combined with a bit of internet research. This is not a definitive list. Going through the 33 other issues will add more (which I plan to do some day if no-one beats me to it). A very few non-permaculture events are included because they are closely related. In most cases, I give the date, the name of the event, the location and the name of the contact person/center. There is also a section at the end for the international and continental convergences.

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    Permaculture Regional Gatherings INPC.pdf
    Permaculture Regional Gatherings INPC.pdf
  • Feeding People in Hard Times
    What does permaculture have to offer?
    09/12/2011 - 7:48pm
    Michael Pilarski

    By Michael Pilarski
    December 26, 2007 version
    Friends of the Trees Society
    PO Box 253
    Twisp, WA 98856
    michael@friendsofthetrees.net

    This article is on my website in a printable form.
    www.friendsofthetrees.net

    Introduction:
    This article is intended for a number of readerships:
    1. The staff and volunteers of hunger organizations. I
    would like to make you aware of some possible ways to
    increase food security for your constituencies. You may
    be aware of many of the social policies included here, but
    less familiar with the gardening methods promoted by permaculture.
    2. The permaculture movement. Permaculture has three
    main ethics: a) care of people; b) care of land; c) dispersal
    of surplus. Permaculturists in general are well aware of
    the gardening techniques listed here, but many do not
    know of the range of social programs outlined here. This
    article hopes to stimulate more permaculture involvement
    in serving food at-risk populations.
    3. The general gardening public. All gardeners will be
    well served to increase their social-justice awareness and
    gardening skills. This article aims to do both.

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    Feeding_the _People(2).pdf
    Feeding_the _People(2).pdf
  • North American Permaculture Convergence
    An idea whose time has come?
    03/22/2012 - 6:40am
    Michael Pilarski

     Proposal: To create a North American permaculture convergence that happens every two years. The event rotates around North America and is hosted by already existing regional convergences. The N.A. convergence would bring together people from around the US and Canada and to a lesser extent, Mexico, due to language and border constraints. There have always been a lot of ties between US and Canadian permaculturists. The same is true but to a lesser extent for the ties between US and Mexican permaculturists. There have been MesoAmerican permaculture convergences held in the Spanish tongue.

     

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    North_American_Permaculture_Convergence.pdf
    North_American_Permaculture_Convergence.pdf
  • Permaculture and Some Food Production Techniques for Spokane County
    Article in the October Issue of the Green Living Monthly
    10/10/2011 - 7:39pm
    Michael Pilarski

    Please follow the link to the article.

    view
    http://issuu.com/danamichie/docs/greenlivingmonthlyoct2011?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222
  • Permaculture principles, methodology and web resources
    09/12/2011 - 4:02pm
    Michael Pilarski

    Handout for permaculture workshops - January 25, 2010 version

    Michael Pilarski wrote this version of the methodology and the list of recommended websites.

    This list of principles is from an internet source.

     

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    Permaculture principles 2010.pdf
    Permaculture principles 2010.pdf
  • Permaculture Strategies Applied to some North American Landscapes
    Cross-country on Amtrak
    03/22/2012 - 7:31am
    Michael Pilarski

    Michael Pilarski – January 6, 2009.

    I am in the process of traveling by train from the West Coast to the East Coast and back again. Here is a report on my trip. I spend most of the daylight hours observing the landscapes I pass through. In much of them I observe paradise lost and think about how permaculture could help make these areas more productive again. Here are some of the major eco-regions I passed through with some observations and suggestions. The long winter nights kept me from seeing and commenting on large swaths of the landscape.

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    Amtrak_Activist.pdf
    Amtrak_Activist.pdf
  • Russia’s Anastasia and Permaculture
    09/12/2011 - 7:22pm
    Michael Pilarski

     

    Article by Michael Pilarski. December 27, 2010 version

     

    On the international level, perhaps the biggest news for permaculture is the widespread adoption of permaculture by the Anastasia movement in Russia which is inspired by the nine books in the Ringing Cedar Series written by Vladimir Megre. If you haven’t heard of the Anastasia movement, here is a nutshell sketch.

     

    view
    Anastasia 12-19-10.pdf
    Anastasia 12-19-10.pdf
  • SHOPPING FOR A PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE?
    History and Current Situation in Washington State and Surrounding Regions
    09/12/2011 - 5:44pm
    Michael Pilarski

    By Michael Pilarski, Friends of the Trees Society, May 23, 2010

     

    [This article was written to inform people about the different kinds of permaculture design courses being offered in the Northwest in 2010. We are putting it on the INPC website to show some of the types of courses being offered. At a later date we will add PC courses being offered in the Inland Northwest in 2012]

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    INPC pcdcs 2010.pdf
    INPC pcdcs 2010.pdf
  • The Role of Home Gardens in Feeding the World & Sequestering Carbon
    09/14/2011 - 11:08am
    Michael Pilarski

    By Michael Pilarski

    January 1, 2009
    Friends of the Trees Society
    PO Box 826
    Tonasket, WA 98855
    509-486-2672
    Michael@friendsofthetrees.net

    www.friendsofthetrees.net

     

    This article explores the role of home gardens in world food production. The thesis of the article is that home gardens have the potential to become the dominant food supply for humanity. A case is made that home gardens could grow 50% of humanity’s food supply on less then 10% of the world’s arable farmland. Home gardens are one of the most reliable, efficient and democratic ways of producing food ever invented. Agriculture has repeatedly degraded its natural resource base and collapsed many societies in the past. Modern, industrial agriculture is not suited to these changing times and is liable to increasing breakdown within the next decade.

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    Feeding everyone 2.pdf
    Feeding everyone 2.pdf
  • The Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting
    01/27/2012 - 11:49am
    inpgadmin

    This is an excellent resource for designers of rain water collection systems. It's geared to arid regions so maybe it's fairly applicable to the Inland Northwest.
    Please follow the link to the article.

    view
    http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainwaterHarvestingManual_3rdedition.pdf
  • THE WELL-ROUNDED PERMACULTURIST
    09/18/2011 - 9:56am
    Michael Pilarski

     

    By Michael Pilarski, Friends of the Trees Society

    So what is permaculture? What makes it different from: organic gardening? organic farming? sustainable agriculture? ecological agriculture? bio-dynamic farming? regeneration farming? forest gardening? Holistic Resource Management HRM? ecosystem restoration? sustainability? or natural building?

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    Well-rounded permaculturist.pdf
    Well-rounded permaculturist.pdf