There’s fantastic event for local bee enthusiasts next Saturday (March 6, 2009): The Bee Symposium, featuring biodynamic and bee expert, Gunther Hauk, of Spikenard Farm:
The Honeybee Crisis: A Critical Point in Evolution
“Beekeeping that Respects the Colony as an Organism”
Holistic Solutions to Colony Collapse Disorder
This year’s symposium will explore our critical point in evolution, and how [...]

Quail Springs, a permaculture center in Santa Barbara County, is hosting a West Coast Women’s Permaculture Gathering in May.
We propose a casual gathering of women interested in Permaculture for a long weekend at Quail Springs. The weekend will include workshops, group sessions, skill shares, hands-on, networking, project sharing, teaching support and training, natural building, permaculture [...]

After attending yesterday’s class at Beekind, we are enthusiastically reading up on apiculture. One name kept coming up during class: Serge Labesque. Labesque is a beekeeper, teacher, and researcher who shares his knowledge and skills with other members of the Sonoma County Beekeepers’ Association. See what Labesque has to say in this [...]

hepherd Bliss is a Sebastopol area farmer, writer, Vietnam vet and peace activist, and psychology teacher at Sonoma State…I’ve gotten to know him for his work as an ardent supporter of backyard chickens. He recently published an article, Agrotherapy: Farms Heal. Permies will recognize themes they’ve heard or experienced before:
Though the words agropsychology [...]

Rob Hopkins at Transition Culture posted a review of this instructional video from Geoff Lawton.
Where this film really comes alive is the point when Geoff leaves the classroom and heads outdoors to introduce us to food forests at a range of stages. We see those just being started, as ground is sown with [...]

On Friday night, Dmitry Orlov gave a Long Now Foundation talk titled “Social Collapse Best Practices”. He’s posted the text of his talk on his blog, and I think it’s required reading for anyone wondering how permaculture might fit in with current events.
Orlov was a witness to the collapse of the Soviet Union and [...]

The Sonoma County Meat Buying Club is another Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organization we belong to. But instead of getting vegetables, our subscription provides a monthly box of meat.
From farmers markets to retail stores, market channels are expanding for locally produced foods in response to booming demand; yet meats remain a challenge due to [...]

Laguna Farm is one of the oldest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in Sonoma County.

For a one-time $75.00 membership fee, you get a glorious box of truly sustainable “beyond organic” veggies for just $17 per week.
Laguna Farm is located on 30 acres adjacent to the Laguna de Santa Rosa, northern California’s largest freshwater marsh. Using [...]