Event Calendar

March 2010
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Urban Permaculture: Berms, Swales & Paths

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A One-Day Design~Build~Live Workshop

Saturday, March 13, 2010, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Instructors: Kirby Fry, Southern Exposure and Gayle Borst, Stewardship, Inc.

Location: North Central Austin, Texas

Fee: $75 ($67.50 for DBL Partners) – Register HERE; Limited spaces (If you register AFTER 5:00 pm on Friday, 3/12, please call Gayle at 512-478-9033 after registering so we can update our list)

Experience Level: Beginner to Intermediate

So, you want to transform your urban or rural homestead into a productive, sustainable Permaculture landscape. You may have read the books and gone to lectures, but how do you start to DO it?! This workshop is designed to teach by doing as we begin taking a Permaculture site design into the reality phase.

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Permaculture Winter Series of Talks

This series of free presentations is brought to you by the Austin Permaculture Guild (APG), www.austinperm.com. All presentations are 7:00 pm at Habitat Suites Hotel, 500 Highland Mall Blvd., Austin, Texas.

March 11 -Restoring Soil, Bringing Land Back, Helping Nature -Talk

(Soil/Water expert, Gary Freeborg talks about how we can help Nature help our soil)

March 25 -Eco-Villages, Intentional Communities, Co-Housing – Slides/Video

(video of eco-villages in US & around world; talk on Austin Co-Housing)

April 1 -Topic is TBD –Let us know your idea, your favorite topic/speaker

Thanks to our hosts, Habitat Suites – 500 Highland Blvd. – Austin’s Only Permaculture Hotel

Schedule is firm, but all topics/speakers are tentative; please check with www.austinperm.com to confirm individual topics and speakers – there may be some shifting around.

Green Cleaning

Design~Build~Live’s March Presentation

Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Lance Armstrong Foundation, 2201 East 6th Street, Austin, TX (Map)

We are bombarded with advertisements for cleaning and sanitizing products. What these ads don’t tell us is that many of these products emit harmful chemicals that pose a danger to those apply them and those living or working in the building in which they are used. Add to that the fact that there are environmental impacts associated with their manufacture, and most are cruelly tested on animals.

There are many reasons to replace conventional, commercial cleaning products with natural “green” cleaning alternatives, including:

  • The health of those living or working in buildings
  • The health of those doing the cleaning
  • The health of the environment

Come and learn how natural ingredients, such as baking soda, vinegar, salt, hydrogen peroxide, and natural oils can be used to effectively and safely clean your home and office environment. Also learn how you can make your own safe and affordable cleaning products.

Guest Presenter: Amanda May
Amanda founded The Purple Fig (http://www.cleanfig.com), a green cleaning service that emphasizes affordable high-quality service, sustainability and the equitable distribution of profits.

This presentation is free and open to the public. No reservation required. For more information contact Gayle through “Contact Us” or 512-478-9033.

Natural Building Workshops from New Jura Natural Building

Hempstead natural builder David Reed is now taking registrations for two workshops:

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Cob Oven Workshop @ The Bone House in Huntsville, Texas

October 01 – 10, 2010

Owner Builder Cob Workshop in Hempstead, Texas

For details, go to http://newjurabuilding.info/ and select the “Upcoming Events” tab. Or call David at 713-314-6145.

Rubble Trench Foundation Workshop

A One-Day Design~Build~Live Workshop

Saturday, March 27, 2010, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Instructors: Kirby Fry, Southern Exposure and Gayle Borst, Stewardship, Inc.

Location: North Central Austin, Texas

Fee: $75 ($67.50 for DBL Partners) – Register HERE; Limited spaces

Experience Level: Beginner to Intermediate

For those seeking a more sustainable solution for foundations, high-embodied energy concrete can be minimized or even eliminated through use of a rubble trench foundation. This low-impact technique, used extensively by Frank Lloyd Wright, uses rock (rubble) to support the building above.

Continue reading Rubble Trench Foundation Workshop