17 Jul The Austin Permaculture Guild to Host Permablitz Workshops This Fall!

This past January the Austin Permaculture Guild(APG) hosted their first Permablitz in Central Texas and have hosted three more since. 

The main idea is to spread permaculture design as far and wide as possible while keeping the community heavily involved and informed. These workshops are meant to reach out to the community by joining together skilled and like-minded volunteers to build public and residential perennial food gardens and food forests. The idea for the Permablitz originated in Australia.

You get on the list to have your own Permablitz at a location of your choosing when you volunteer at three Permablitzes. We keep these locations at roughly half public/educational sites and half private sites. Everyone can learn skills and knowledge while helping others have a flourishing and functional edible forest or garden of their own. Many studies have show one of the very best ways to learn is by doing. These events put you right where the action is, getting your hands down in the dirt.

That first blitz in January was held at the Austin EcoSchool and was a great success. Along with around 50 volunteers, we installed a large berm and swale system complete with native and cultivator fruit and nut trees, perennial herbs and vegetables, and cover crops. This plant selection was chosen to reduce the amount of water needed, keep maintenance down and increase productivity.

What is a berm and swale system? A berm is a large mound positioned directly on the contour of the land. The swale is dug out immediately uphill of the berm and is generally around the same size. The berm installed at the Austin EcoSchool was about 50ft long and 10ft wide with the swale at 50ft long and 8ft wide. This is a great example of passive water catchment perfect for Central Texas.

As far as future blitzes go we have a wonderful working group put together for the upcoming workshops. We held our first meeting of the season this past Saturday to discuss the details of organization for a very exciting blitzing season ahead of us. We started off the day by going out to a few of the previous site locations to check up on their growth status. A good friend and fellow organizer with Heritage Tree Care donated a large trailer full of mulch as well. It was a perfect time to mulch down all of these sites with the summer heat ahead of us! All of that mulch is also going to hold in all of the moisture from all the rain we’ve been getting in Austin!

We have tracked down a prime location for our first Permablitz this fall, Kealing Middle School in East Austin.  A perennial food garden is really going to inspire and show the students there what really is possible with permaculture design and implementation. Growing food can be easy if it’s done the right way!

If you want to attend this next permablitz or get on our working group team just email me at monroe DOT taelor AT gmail DOT com . Please check out our website for upcoming permablitz locations or check out the Ausitn Progressive Calendar for pictures and updates on our past workshops. Every permablitz will of course be listed here on AEN as well.