Permaculture and The Great Reskilling

Part of Boulder County Going Local's mission is to help prepare individuals and the Boulder community for peak oil and climate change by building the local economy. To that end, this spring they have been offering a variety of free talks and fee-based workshops collectively labeled The Great Reskilling, which include everything from building greenhouses and installing solar panelling to designing your own permaculture garden. I went to a vermicomposting workshop a few weekends ago and got myself a worm bin to help build up the organic matter in the dry Colorado soil. This Saturday I attended a Permaculture Garden Design workshop with Sandy Cruz. I learned a lot about permaculture, which I knew very little about before the workshop. Mostly, I learned how we should all be to develop our gardening and food preservation skills if our communities are to become self-reliant. Here is a quote from the Boulder County Going Local website:

Many people have first hand experience in growing or eating locally produced food at some time in their life. The idea that we can eat whatever we want, whenever we want–mangoes in the winter, Thai spices in Northern Canada or an American burger in Delhi for cheap–is still fairly new and is highly problematic.

In North America a revival is taking place. More and more communities and towns have at least one farmers market. Awareness is spreading. Some people consciously choose to buy local produce when they go grocery shopping or belong to a box scheme or even pick herbs, fruits and veggies from their gardens in the warmer months. Reducing consumption and starting to produce locally is sometimes easier said than done, but this is an area where there are plenty of resources and examples of community groups and also lots of potential for individuals and communities to learn and succeed at various levels.

Why not try googling "permaculture workshop," "community gardens" or "gardening workshop" in your state, to see if you can reskill yourself?