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Welcome to Permaculture in the North Fork Valley of Colorado |
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The intention of this project and web-site is to develop a network and resource for information on permaculture and sustainable living in the North Fork area and beyond. In its current beginning phase, there is much work to be done gathering and weaving together the people and places that make this area special.
The North Fork Valley though relatively small, is rich with abundant locally produced food and farms of all kinds. The combination of desire for self reliance and sustainability mixed with creative expression in art, music and crafts set the tone for a thriving community
In a relatively small geographical area the landscape traverses from mountain forests through foothill shrub-lands into semi-desert canyons. The climate is overall quite mild and characterized by lots of sunny days, it has a hot dry summer, and cold winters with snow that can accumulate for several weeks and then melt away. Most farming is reliant on irrigation water collected as winter snow runoff from the mountains. The area is ideally suited to growing apples, pears, grapes, and many stone fruit.
Learn a little more about the plants and animals of this climate zone here.
More images...
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Aaron Jerad - Wellspring Design |
 I'm inspired to be actively engaged in permaculture because it offers a positive, proactive and practical approach to many of the challenges that we face at this point in history. It also just feels good in the soul and like the absolute right thing to be doing. Living permaculture is an awakening experience for me, it constantly shifts the way I look at myself and the world.
I have a background and training as an artist and love to create just for the sake of it. However the most satisfying creative work arises when functionality and usefulness blend with creative expression in equal balance. Permaculture design puts these two halves together by combining practical solution oriented thinking with creative inspiration.
However it goes even further because the canvas and media which permaculture uses are living environments, plants animals, peoples lives, their homes, and communities. To responsibly and ethically work in these areas I feel my role as a consultant is to listen, to ask relevant questions, to draw out of people what they truly want and help them arrive at a design that really works.
Here's a few sample images from a design I did for some friends in Estonia.
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Exploring Extending The Growing Season at CRMPI |
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Written by Mari
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In cool and cold areas the length of the growing season and the cold temperatures are the main challenge for growing things and supporting oneself. As a part of the search for cold climate permaculture strategies I came across to integrated greenhouse designs that seem to have a lot to offer to us in the cool climates. This is a little report from a trip to Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute's solar greenhouse workshop in Basalt, Colorado. There, during his thirty five years of living on the site, Jerome Osentowski the director at CRMPI, has overcome the challenges of his steep sloping land at 7200 ft above sea level with advanced integrated greenhouse designs as a feature in the overall system. They have stretched his climatic zones all the way to the subtropic - all year round, with no fossil fuels used.
Conventional greenhouse growers spend immense amounts of money and oil or natural gas to heat the greenhouses during winter whereas in Jerome's greenhouses the heating is powered ...Read more.
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Garden conversion project permaculture style |
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In April we put together a little "permablitz" event to help a friend and a neighbor to transform his front yard into an edible exploration to sustainability and cutting food miles into food-steps.
Getting started with growing your own food requires special attention, and often gardens and vegie patches located at the back corner of the yard tend to get forgotten or neglected. So, the closer to your daily living zone - Zone 1 - your garden is located, the more often you are likely to pass by, notice what's going on, what might need attention, and also enjoy watching and nibbling on the bounty of green. ...Read more.
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